Blackest Night Review – “Green Lantern Corps: Ringquest”

This is the next part in a multi-part series of reviews priming the reader for the upcoming Blackest Night.

General Information

Title: Green Lantern Corps: Rinquest (aka Green Lantern Corps #19, 20, 23-26)

Author: Peter Tomasi

Illustrator(s): Patrick Gleason, Carlos Magno (pencils); Prentis Rollins, Derek Fridolfs, Tom Nguyen, Drew Geraci, Dan Davis, Rebecca Buchman, Rodney Ramos (inks); David Curiel, J.D. Smith, Guy Major (colours)

Cover Date: February 2008 – September 2008

Cover Price: $2.99 US per issue, or $14.99 for the collected edition.

Premise

With Sinestro captured by the Green Lantern Corps, the fear-creating Sinestro Corps finds itself leaderless. Mongul, son of the original Mongul, learns of the Corps and decides to take over as ruler himself.

High Point

This is potentially very spoilerish, but it’s an idea that excites me a lot. Highlight to read: call me crazy, but I’d swear the telepathic speech balloons of Mother Mercy are indigo in colour…. End spoiler guard.

Low Point

Mother Mercy gets both, but one rejected Batman after exposure to the other? This strikes me as logically inconsistent from a story perspective.

The Scores

This is an original take on the Black Mercy plants and their origins, which I suspect the series will eventually return to. I give it 5 out of 6.

The artwork is good. It’s not quite up to the same level that Reis has delivered in the main title when it comes to maintain consistent looks to the faces, but the layouts and action sequences are great. I give it 4 out of 6.

The story flows pretty well, considering there was a two issue interruption as originally published. I also suspect it will have more bearing on the Blackest Night than one might assume. I give it 5 out of 6.

The characterization is well done. We get a feel for how the Lanterns are dealing with the new laws of the Book of Oa, while simultaneously revealing the attitudes of some of their foes. I give it 5 out of 6.

The emotional response is stronger on a second read. The first time through, with the War of Light seeming so far away, I missed a lot of the hints and clues that had been dropped here. Even without that, the story works on its own, bringing Mongul and the Black Mercy plants back in a very different fashion. I give it 5 out of 6.

The flow works pretty well, with very few scene changes in the latter half and clear action throughout. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, the story arc is well worth reading to prep for Blackest Night. If you like the Black Mercy plants or Mongul, you can grab it for that, too. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Green Lantern Corps: Ringquest (originally published as “Green Lantern Corps #19, 20, 23-26”) receives 34 out of 42.

Blackest Night Checklist

Preliminaries

The Main Event

  • Blackest Night #0 (Free Comic Day edition), #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, , #7, #8, complete series
  • Green Lantern #43
  • Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1-3
  • Green Lantern #44-??
  • Green Lantern Corps #39-??
  • Blackest Night: Batman #1-3
  • Blackest Night: Superman #1-3
  • Blackest Night: Titans #1-3
  • more to come…