If the most powerful weapon in the universe is ineffective, resort to guns.
Last issue, Guy Gardner put together a plan to rescue John Stewart and the other Green Lanterns held hostage by the Keepers of the Lanterns. The Keepers are pissed that their economy was destroyed when the Oans pulled out of their contract with them and now the Keepers want revenge. Until they can torture the Oans themselves, they've settled on murdering and maiming Green Lanterns. Guy Gardner put together a team of tough old fogeys called The Mean Machine and some of Kilowog's toughest new recruits and gave them a shit-ton of stolen guns. The plan is to drop a Fear Bomb on the Keepers (composed of two Sinestro Corps Members named Fat Man and Little Boy) and then follow up guns blazing. Finesse isn't really Guy Gardner's strong suit.
In high school, our English teacher, Mr. Borror, took our class to San Francisco to see a play. He would have fit right in with the Mean Machine. He also spent the entire play snoring away in the darkness.
The Green Lanterns offload far away from the aliens on their planet but still yell, "Lock and load!" as they fly from the ship. I don't know when they'll drop the fear bomb. I also don't know why they dropped off on the most uninhabited spot on the planet ready for war. Just drop the bomb and swoop in and kick some ass already! Geez. You're wasting my time!
Meanwhile, John and the other hostage Lanterns are being tortured so that they'll reveal some important key-code to disabling the force-field on Oa. But even after being tortured for days and on the verge of death, John Stewart still has the nerve to judge the victims.
This guy isn't really raping his people for power and immortality. Well, kind of. But his people were probably more than willing to give up their free will to power the stargate on the back of the frog that would get revenge on the Oans that destroyed their world. What else was their to live for when everyone was already starving anyway?
This conversation is pointless anyway. The only people who are willing to lead are people who want power and/or people who really care to make things better for everyone. And the people willing to make things better usually lose out to the people who simply crave power because they're not willing to fight dirty or use any unethical tactic to get the position. And even if they do get the position, there's always that thing about absolute power co-opting absolutely.
The weakest Green Lantern by the name of I'm not going to bother learning his name because John Stewart kills him in a second is killed by John Stewart before he can reveal the code to disable the force-field.
Just for anyone who is curious, John Stewart struggled out of his arm restraints and broke the neck of the weak coward hanging next to him.
After this moment that was spoiled for me by the cover of Issue #7, John wills one last charge out of his ring to fuel an escape for him and Vandor, the other Green Lantern with enough willpower to not rat out the Corps. Or at least more than that other dead guy. Which is just enough to seem like a hero! But this last charge lasts only long enough to bust them out of the prison and a few hundred feet away. John and Vandor are left powerless while dozens of Keepers attack.
Mutton Stew?
Oh yeah! Fire!
The bullets work much better than the Green Lantern Light since the Keepers didn't spend generation after generation gaining immunity to them. Sometimes simpler is better!
I just said that, Guy! Sheesh.
That last exchange reminds me of something I can't stand to hear people say: reading is active and watching television is passive. Bullshit. Reading is also passive. Writing is active. The only difference in watching television and reading books is time. People like to evoke the whole imagination concept and how that's so much better that you get to imagine the hero and the landscape instead of it being fed to you through visuals. But that's bullshit. Pictures are worth 1000 words and anybody who has ever read Fantasy Literature knows an author will spend at least that many words making the reader see what she wants him to see. The only real differing factor is time. Television comes at you relentlessly. And if you watch a continuous block of shows, you never pause to consider or reflect on what you just watched. Reading allows you to stop and contemplate as I just did in that last exchange. I pointed out what was going on and then continued reading to have Guy point out the same thing. If I were watching television, what are the odds that I would keep pausing the program to think about the show?
But that can be true of reading as well. How many people read a comic book in short bursts, thinking about what was just read and guessing what the outcome may be? Many just read the book straight through and enjoy it. Then they spend the time in-between the issues to discuss what may happen just as people discuss television shows between episodes. Obviously watching television is easier than reading. But they're both passive activities but they're only as 'passive' as the audience consuming them. Don't blame the media if you're not willing to use your own mind. If you want an 'active' activity, consider writing or punching some know-it-all asshole in the face for preaching to you about passive and active entertainment.
Enough with my preaching; let's get back to Tomasi's!
Stewart tries to confess to Guy that he killed a fellow Lantern but Vandor interrupts and tells Guy that all the other Lanterns were tortured to death and they only escaped because of John. Then the Stargate begins to act up and John tells Guy they need to rescue the people powering it. It's at this moment that the Mean Machine declare that the Keepers will not surrender. They're going to fight to the last man. And it's back to the World War II analogy and the old "we had to use the atom bomb to prevent more deaths" defense.
What will a Sinestro Fear Bomb be like? Big yellow mushroom cloud made of snakes, clowns, and public speaking?
No. It just looks like a giant piece of pollen.
The fear bomb causes all of the Keepers to instantly surrender. Seems like it could have been dropped first! The innocent Keepers being used to maintain the Stargate were fine because they were hooked up to the life support running the system. All of the aggressive Keepers surrendered in fear. Seems like every life could have been saved if they'd dropped their fear bomb immediately. I think the World War II analogy breaks down since the fear bomb didn't actually kill any innocents. So it should have been done first and it would have saved the lives of all the aggressors shot by the Lanterns as well as any Lanterns killed in the raid.
The Guardians hold a tribunal and sentence the Keepers running the show to dig graves for all of their innocent victims. Which means they'll need to bury every being killed on the planet Nerro which is all of the beings that had lived on the planet Nerro. And like the Oans usually do, they disregard any part they played in this tragedy. Sure, the Keepers went about restoring their planet in a violent and ill-conceived way. But the Oans could have prevented everything by helping the Keepers maintain their civilization once they began pulling out the Green Lantern Batteries. Kind of like a pension for having kept the batteries safe for so many years. Oh well! The Oans serve some American Style Justice! All's well, right?
Green Lantern Corps Issue #6 Rating: +1 Ranking. I enjoyed this comic even with the heavy handed morality and analogy that didn't quite fit. Seriously, drop the fear bomb immediately and nobody dies! Dumb dumb Guy Gardner! What a lousy leader!
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