By Cat Wyatt

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #45 continues the "Darkstar Rising" plot that’s been running for the last few issues, and man has it been an intense run. With the Darkstars going after every ranking criminal with lethal force, the Green Lanterns have found themselves desperately seeking ways to stop them.

A quick side note before we begin this review. The first page of this issue isn’t part of the story, but it’s absolutely worth talking about. It’s a full-page spread of Hal Jordan, and it’s pretty badass. He’s dressed half in his Green Lantern uniform, and half in his air force clothing. The combination makes him look even tougher than normal. Definitely adds a whole new level of appreciation for the guy.

Now, back to the plot at hand. Remember in the last issue, where the Darkstars spared the Green Lanterns but warned them if they got in the way they’d be dealt with? Well, it turns out that they weren’t kidding. Weggett is transporting Star Pharoh, a killer for hire when he gets stopped by half a dozen Darkstars. Being a true Green Lantern, he refuses to give up his prisoner when they demand it of him… and things go very poorly for him. Shockingly so, actually. They said they wouldn’t have mercy next time, and we already know they deal with lethal force, but the fight was so brutally efficient it’s hard to get over.

Meanwhile Hal is still working on getting his recruit free. His recruit being none other than Hector Hammond. Yep, you read that right. Hammond, to his credit, it overjoyed by the fact that Hal came back for him, and thus seems more than willing to go along with Hal, though Hal hasn’t exactly had time to explain the situation just yet. He seems to think that this will be his chance to finally be there hero. We’ll see how that goes for him.

While the mission of Hal’s has been interesting, we might as well be honest with ourselves here, that wasn’t the moment we’ve been waiting for. We’ve all been waiting to see how things play out between Jon and Zod. Their encounter in the last issue was pretty insane, and will be very hard to follow up.

If there’s anybody that can follow up an action like its Jon Stewart. There’s a reason that Jon Stewart was put in charge of the Green Lanterns, and this sort of move really proves it. Not only did he plan out the fight here, knowing to bring a weapon that’d give him the advantage, but he planned out their conversation too. He knew exactly what to say to get Zod interested in taking up arms alongside the Green Lanterns, and you’ve got to admit that’s pretty impressive.

While all of that has been going down Guy has been hanging out in a bar with Ark. They appear to be pretty good drinking buddies, all things considered. It actually makes an odd sort of sense. Anyway, Guy makes his appeal to Ark, hoping he’ll get them to step up and help out. To be fair, the Yellow Lanterns would do well with helping to defeat the Darkstars, as it really is only a matter of time before they become the hunted as well.

During their chat a couple of the Darkstars actually show up. To Ark’s credit he immediately powers up and shows all appearances of being willing to help Guy out here. Granted he’s not one to turn a fight down anyway, but still.

There’s a problem though, the Darkstars aren’t here to fight. They’re here to recruit, and no, they’re not here for Ark. Think about that one for a minute. There are only two people in that bar, not counting the bartender. Yeah…didn’t see that one coming, did you? This was a tough pill to swallow, but it should make the rest of the Darkstar conflict significantly more interesting.

This has been a fantastic plot. Every time it looks like they’ve hit the top, they manage to find a way to up the ante again. It’s hard to say how things are going to play out, with two Green Lanterns on the wrong side of the fight now. It’s possible we don’t know the whole story of what is going on here, but we won’t know for sure until the next issue, or later. They’re certainly setting up for another major fight. On the one side we have the Darkstars, aided by two Green Lanterns, and on the other we have the Green Lanterns, Hammond, Zod plus family, and maybe, hopefully, the Yellow Lanterns. They’re interesting choices, but it makes sense. These characters are not overpowered or overused, and that should keep the conflict interesting.

Score: 4/5

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #45
DC Comics