Hal Jordan and the crayola-verse have entered the universe explored by Capt. James T. Kirk and the Starship Enterprise. All the rings have flown off to find their new bearer and lines have been drawn in Star Trek/Green Lantern #2. A ship without power, a Klingon holding the power of Fear, and a crew who has no idea why their uniforms have changed colors, and why they’re glowing and flying. Both Hal Jordan and Captain Kirk have their hands full to deal with. Hal wants to get ahead of the rings still missing a hand to go with (insert Beyonce joke here).
Captain Chang has figured out how to make constructs, and makes a Parallax-like monster to finally destroy the USS Enterprise. Luckily for Hal, none other than Chekov, powered with the blue light of Hope is able to administer the power to the ship so the Green Lantern can focus on the giant yellow construct in front of him. In the meantime, the red ring of Rage and the Orange light of Avarice find themselves a host. As Hal Jordan is dealing with everything, he asks himself a question, if Ganthet, him, and the rings made it to this reality, who else did?
Once again this issue misses the mark, unfortunately this time it did so in both the writing and the art. There’s a lot of talking in this issue, even more so for unnecessary things. I understand giving me an introduction to the characters and the races who become red and orange lanterns, but as a Green Lantern reader, I don’t really care for the politics of each race, instead of spending 2 pages on their political climates to see them turn into greed or rage filled creatures in the last panel, I’d rather see a page of introduction, then a page of what they do with their newly found powers; something that would make me go “Oh shit! if they did that to their people. What’ll they do to our misfit band of intergalactic heroes?”
And there’s my biggest beef with this issue and probably this entire mini-series in general. Almost everyone who got a ring is male, except for Uhura who got the Sapphire ring. Are you serious? The one girl who is chosen and she’s given the Star Sapphire ring. It’s one of the most blatant “Well, she’s the girl so she has to get the power of love, right?” How about mixing it up a little? One of my biggest complaints about Star Trek Into Darkness was turning Uhura from a strong female character who can stand on her own and reject sleazebags like Kirk into an overzealous girlfriend who existed almost solely to be angry at Spock or just worry about his well-being.
Mike Johnson putting the Sapphire ring in the only woman in this comic feels cheap and terribly thought out. I’m not saying there is no bases to make Uhura a member of the Star Sapphire, but when the rings are coming from a universe where John Stewart, the architect, war veteran, Green Lantern, and killer of not one but TWO planets, is also a Star Sapphire; where the leader of the Indigo tribe is a female; and where a very powerful princess is ranked among the Red Lanterns, slapping rings on all males except for Uhura feels not only like a regression, but it might as well have been given the ring to Nichelle Nichols.
Bones, the healer and carer for the whole crew could have easily been a Star Sapphire as well, Uhura would be perfect as a member of the Blue Lanterns since she always works for diplomatic ways to solve conflicts. Show me a female Romulan getting the red or Orange ring. Hell, throw the house out the window and make Spock’s human side so filled with love that he’s deserving to be a member of the Star Sapphire. All of these could have been better options to what was done in this comic.
The art suffers from the same issues I mentioned on my last review. And they’re more noticeable now that they have the rings and should be succumbing to their emotions. Colors on the other hand, are beautiful, Alejandro Sanchez knows very well how to make the page vibrant with the contrast of the different lanterns battling each other.
Score: 2/5
Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War #2 Writer: Mike Johnson Artist: Angel Hernandez Colorist: Alejandro Sanchez Letterer: Neil Uyetake Publisher: IDW/DC Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 8/12/15 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital