Brightest Day
Geoff Johns – Writer
Ethan Van Sciver – Penciller
Marlo Alquiza, Ethan Van Sciver, Mick Gray – Inkers
Moose Baumann – Colorist
Rob Leigh – Letterer
Harvey Richards – Asst. Editor
Peter Tomasi – Editor
Our cover by Ethan Van Sciver shows the main group of Green Lanterns, who are the heroes of this story. From left, Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, Hal Jordan, Kilowag and John Stewart. It is a fairly heroic pose, but the more I look at it, the more ... off ... it seems. Like the anatomy is off. Of course, this is still better than the regular artist on Teen Titans at the time, so I shouldn't complain.
Our story picks up at Coast City, where the JLA, JSA and Teen Titans are still standing around helplessly while the Green Lanterns battle Parallax. Batman demands an explanation from Hal Jordan, who not only refuses to speak to Batman, but also punches him out. Batman tries to regroup the heroes to battle Parallax, but Sentinel and Jade block them off with a wall of green fire, telling all the other heroes to let the Green Lanterns handle this.
So all the Green Lanterns battle Parallax. We see that each one of them uses the power ring slightly differently, which is pretty cool — except for Kyle Rayner, who is now literally creating a giant hand holding a pencil to "draw" his constructs. You know, 'cause he's an artist? Anyway, they fight and fight and fight, finally winning by ... I don't know ... blasting it a bunch? Well, all that matters is the day is saved, and the Green Lanterns come back down to confront the other heroes once more.
Batman stares down Hal for a moment before asking if he's supposed to believe that Hal had been possessed by Parallax for all that time. Hal says he doesn't care what Batman thinks. Batman gradually accepts that Hal is "back," and says the universe could use a little more light. The story ends with Hal checking in on the recovering Green Arrow and retrieving his power battery.
Am I supposed to like Hal Jordan? He comes off as a huge jerk in this issue. And yes, I'm going to complain again about that Kyle Rayner bit. Kyle has shown up quite a few times on this blog, and he has never done that. But my biggest complaint, by far, is the inclusion of all these other heroes to only have them stand around and look stupid. That's just cheap storytelling, in my opinion.
Next time, we'll return to our fight with Doctor Light in Teen Titans #22.
Guardians of The Galaxy was what I wanted from the Green Lantern movie. A sci fi superhero movie that actually took place in space.
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