Green Lantern #57, #58, #59, #60, #61 and #62 - DC

We start out in issue #57 shortly after Hector Hammond has stole Larfleeze's Orange Lantern from him. We catch the end of the battle, but . . Hector decides that he's more interested in obtaining Carol, so . . he heads out. Leaving Hal to console, or argue with Larfleeze. For a being of Avarice, he seems to have a hard time holding onto those items he covets the most. Anyways, while this is going on, back on Zamaron they're dealing with a crisis of their own. They've rebuilt the Star Sapphires central power battery, but . . without the entity . . whom appears to be running loose on Earth with all the rest of them . . without him, it (?), to power the battery, the Queen is left using her own strength to try and keep things going. Which is why they've got Carol, back on Earth, hunting down the Predator. I'm not sure if I've got this correct, but . . it appears that their entity has taken the Predator as it's host. So I guess Carol is trying to wrangle him and get him back to Zamaron. She doesn't accomplish that, but . . in the process of the Queen trying to help her people, she comes to the realization that Love, or power, isn't what her people are missing. What they're missing is Hope and Faith. If she can restore their Faith and Hope in their mission to find and spread Love throughout the universe, they may be able to continue without the entity's help. After Carol separates the entity from the Predator, and takes it back to Zamaron . . the Queen realizes that Carol can best encourage the Hope and Faith that her people seem to be missing. Carol comes to the realization that it's not the entity that is corrupting it's chosen hosts . . it's the other way around. The entity sought out people devoid of love . . it's opposite. And in doing so, it itself becomes corrupted. Watching Carol discover this, and confront it . . the Queen comes to a decision. 'The Lantern does not need totems. It needs our absolute faith in the power we wield.' So in her dying breath, she appoints Carol as the new Queen of the Star Sapphires. But the real revelation in this story, I think, is that if all of this is true . . this could change the whole dynamic of how the various Corps wield and harness their powers. Plus, think about it . . could it be that Hal corrupted Parallax? And not the other way around? This could change everything. But . . we'll see how Geoff Johns expounds on this interesting paradigm as this story progresses. In issue #58 we see Sinestro and Atrocitus as they begin scouring the Earth for the being that is also in search of all the various entities . . Scar. Or is it Krona? I'm not sure which, but . . either way, these two unwitting allies don't have any clue as to who it might be. We also see that Carol has decided to sink herself into her new role. Despite Hal's objections. And Larfleeze is holding somebody for Hal, who seems to know a little bit about his background. He taunts him by telling him that he knows that he was ripped away from his family, and that Larfleeze isn't his real name. And while this is going on, there's some speculation on OA as to why no one has heard from Hal since they defeated Nekron. 'I'm beginning to suspect Hal Jordan's ring is either malfunctioning . . or he doesn't want the Guardians to know what he's up to. But the truly important part of this issue is about a little girl from Michigan . . Nicole Morrison. She's been abducted, and apparently through her compassion and forgiveness for the man holding her . . the Blue entity, Adara has chosen her to be her new host. Which brings Saint Walker to Earth. She seems to want to fill everyone with Hope. She also eludes to Larfleeze's past. 'I am here to give you Hope. Your parents are still alive. And they still miss you.' And then she goes to work on Hal. But before anything can really happen . . Barry Allen, the Flash, shows up. 'We need to talk about you and your new friends, Green Lantern. Right . . NOW!' It seems Atrocitus' demolition, or murder, of the inmates in the buses in issue #58 has caught the attention of the Justice League. Flash, as well as Superman and Batman, are concerned about the people that Hal seems to be working with lately . . Sinestro, Atrocitus, Larfleeze, and in issue #59 . . the Indigo Tribe. Whom now seem to be in control of the Black Hand. The tribe has come to Earth with their entity, Proselyte, who chooses a man, Shane Thompson, to be it's new host. Everyone's immediate concern is . . 'Black Hand?' The Tribe has shown up before, when they needed them. But it surprises them to see Black Hand amongst their entourage. It turns out that their Indigo rings give their bearer 'Compassion'. But when it's explained to them, it sounds more like 'brainwashing'. And it opens up another question, 'So if the rings are forcing you to feel compassion, Indigo-1 . . what are you like without them? To which she describes, 'We are all born again.' Forcing Hal to ask another question, 'But were you all like Black Hand? Maniacs and murderers?' But rather than wait for the answer, Adara tries to help them find it. Between Saint Walker and Adara they figure out . . 'I can't sense any Hope inside of them. It appears as if Black Hand's emotions are being controlled by the ring. Perhaps that applies to all of them. The Indigo Rings are capable of channeling other light from the spectrum. I did not realize it was a necessity.' And then . . Scar shows up with Parallax. But it seems he's not interesting in re-inhabiting Hal. Instead . . he takes over Barry. So in issue #60 . . it's pretty much just a knock-down-drag-out fight between Hal and Barry. And much in the way of the Black Lanterns, Parallax taunts Hal by rehashing the failings of their friendship. But Scar shows his face, and we find out that either he's controlling the emotional spectrum's entities, or . . he seems to be trying to goad them all into coming to one place . . Earth, so that he can work out his plan. Pretty much all of the big players of each Corps, including the entities and their hosts, have shown up to try and fight this guy. Well . . all except for Sinestro . . who gets a call from his Corps-members, and races off to Qward. You can follow that story in the Green Lantern Corps title. And Atrocitus seems more interested in finding his own spectrum's entity, the Butcher, rather than following through on his agreement to help Hal. But when Scar pulls out the Blue, Yellow and Indigo entities from their hosts . . we find out his real identity . . Krona. I mean . . if you've been following this book, and the Corps' book . . we kind of knew who this was going to be. It wasn't a huge surprise, but . . it was a nice reveal. In issue #61, Atrocitus finally catches up with the Butcher, and we see it pick it's host. But it's not who we think it's going to be. We see convict getting ready to be executed for his crimes against humanity, and with his final words he taunts the father of the girl whom he killed. So when he comes busting in, I expected him to choose the convict as his host. But instead . . he chooses the father of the victim. 'James Kim of Earth. You have great rage in your heart. And I am hungry.' But that's when the Spectre becomes involved. It seems that the Spectre and the Butcher have a bit of a history. But before the Spectre can strike him down . . Atrocitus claims him as his own. But of course the Spectre has something to say about that. And while they argue . . the Butcher takes Mr Kim as a host, and then proceeds to strike down the convict. Something we find out from this exchange . . and the few previous possessions that have occurred with the other spectrum's entities . . it seems that the emotion that each of these spectrums embody isn't it's driving force. The Butcher's rage, Parallax's fear, Adara's hope . . the emotion attached to them isn't what drives them . . it's what feeds them. So as Carol discovered back on Zamaron . . it's not the entity that corrupts the host . . but the other way around. Or rather it's the raw emotion that the entities consume that seem to send them into their blind emotional rages. And when Mr Kim's rage is abated . . the Butcher can no longer get what it needs from him. And it chooses another host . . Atrocitus. However, in it's transition . . Atrocitus' willpower, along with the Spectre's help, stops the Butcher from doing so. And instead it becomes a prisoner of Atrocitus' Lantern. It seems that Atrocitus has gotten what he came for. But what about the Spectre? There's usually always some fallen soul in his wake. Well . . he begins by holding Mr Kim in judgement . . for the death that he was responsible for while inhabited by the Butcher. But Atrocitus stands up for him . . questioning the validity and function of the 'eye for an eye' principle. To which the Spectre replies . .'You dare to question scripture?' Atrocitus tells him, 'You may be objective and calm in your judgements, Spectre, but once you pass the you are no longer haunted by their victims. But the victims are our families and the hauntings never stop. No matter what blood has spilled. There will never be enough to balance the scales. So if you wish to judge James Kim, you must first judge me.' And the Spectre tries, but . .'You cannot be judged. Not now. Your mission against Krona is a holy one. But know that it will not last forever.' And finally, in issue #62, we begin the prelude to the War of the Green Lanterns storyline. We start out by learning a little about Krona's history. Including something I didn't know before . .'He was responsible for the accidental creation of the anti-matter universe and all that it gave birth to: Qward and the Weaponers, the Anti-Monitor, and ultimately, Sinestro's Yellow Ring.' We also find out that Krona discovered the pocket dimensions where a lot of the various Corps members keep their Lanterns. So most of the issue is spent in a big fight between Hal, his colleagues and Krona. But, there were a couple of 'key' moments. Having been a scientist for the Guardians . . way back when, we find out that most of the things that the various Corps now use, where actually created or designed by Krona. So there's very little they can throw at him that he hasn't already thought of, or created. Also, Krona has an 'ace' in his pocket in the form of Hector Hammond. He's still possessed by Ophidian, so . . Krona can control the entity, and thereby ,through association, Hammond's powers. Which seems to be enough to turn the tide of battle, and allow Krona to obtain the rest of the spectrum's entities. Well . . I would assume . . all except for the Star Sapphire's. But I'm not sure about that. Next thing we know, Hal's waking up in the Justice League's infirmary, and Krona has retreated into space . . the Lost Sector, maybe? I assume to plan and begin his war. But before heading off to give chase . . with the rest of his colleagues from the various Corps . . he gets a stern scolding by the 'big-guns' . . Superman, Batman and the Flash. They're trying to get him to accept their help. But, as friends . . I don't think he wants to involve them unless he absolutely has to. But there's something left hanging between Hal and his JLA peers that's going to have to be resolved sooner or later. But right now . . we're heading off into the War of the Green Lanterns. And it looks to be a doozy. Oh yeah . . there's a little preview at the end where we get to see some of the original interaction between the Guardians and Krona . . as well as a hint at some of what led to his expulsion. As well as a peak at Hal's future. Or rather, I guess, what the Guardians perceive it to be. It's also by Geoff Johns and Ed Benes. Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke have done a fantastic job of bringing us this story. And in expanding upon, and explaining aspects of the Green Lantern mythos. There's lots of little 'ah-ha' moments throughout this storyline. Doug has lots of help with the art throughout this series. It all looks great. But he also has some nice help with the variant covers. They include covers by Adrian Syaf, Alex Garner, Frank Quitely, Gene Ha, and Ryan Sook. This continues to be one of my favorite series out there. And what I believe to be one of the best written. I cant' wait to see where we go from here.