Green Lantern #41

I can see those idiot Guardians choosing The Joker as a Lantern.

Are y'all ready for tough guy, on-the-run Hal Jordan?! I hope he has a leather vest and a bad attitude! He should take up smoking and dealing space meth! And he should answer every questioned posed to him with, "Whattya got?" Also he should bang loads and loads of space broads! Unless that's sexist and then he should tenderly make love to consenting space women. Not that the space broads in my first example weren't consenting! But as a tough guy, you don't wait for a woman to say yes because she's practically already tearing your jeans off right when she meets you. At that point you're going to ruin the moment if you lean down and say, "Are you sure you want to suck my fat cock?"

This issue begins at yet another Space Gladiatorium. Bets are being wagered on the battle about to be fought. Some prince or something is about to face off against a Kreeak which is a creature that goes, "KREEAK!" Hal Jordan is probably in the crowd somewhere. He might be the human looking guy in the green robe. Or he might be somewhere else.

Speaking of Gladiatoriums, is everybody going to watch Battlebots on Sunday night? Barbarians. As soon as the ATMs and Electronic Grocery Store Checkout Machines and CoinStars hear about what we're doing to their brethren, we're fucked. Start building your homemade EMP bombs now because after Sunday night, the machines are going to come looking for vengeance!

The guy in the robe is Hal Jordan and he saves the princely guy in the arena by making a sword appear on the prince's arm. This pisses everybody off because I guess this wasn't so much a battle as an execution. Some guy named Trap notices the Krona Gauntlet on Hal and drags his friends off to a later scene to confront Jordan.

Speaking of whispers, I still need to watch last Monday's episode.

Hal Jordan creates a Giant Light Squid to defeat two out of the three bad guys. The third bad guy, Trap, he leaves conscious so he can explain to him that he's not with the Green Lantern Corps because they're good guys who didn't disappoint the universe at all and they really should be given a fifteenth chance. Hal also tells Trap that he's going to jail for a long time but not because Hal is arresting him. Hal's just this guy, you know? No, Hal will leave Trap where he can be found by the Green Lantern Corps but don't think that means Hal has any ties to them! That would be completely wrong to think that.

Hey DC Comics! Notice how I'm ignoring the weirdness in your continuity between this comic book and Justice League #41! See how I'm just enjoying each story as they're being presented without too much editorial control? See how I love that you're letting the writers write whatever they want to write? It's not causing me to grind my teeth at all! You've done it! You've let go! It's all downhill and blown up Death Stars from here!

I meant "downhill" in it gets easier and not in sales!

Before Hal can smash Trap's face into a wall and knock him out while still maintaining the upper hand, Trap tells Hal a secret.

The secret is in Old Portugese [sic]! It reads, "We're too far away to hear it." It was almost too far away to read it too! Stupid old person eyes! I wonder if there are some homeless youths in the area with great vision?

Here we get the time honored tradition of a comic book character discovering something while the reader is left in the dark. It's bullshit, Venditti! Take your Mystery MacGuffin and enjoy it in the other room where I don't have to watch. At least Trap gives us a clue that he told Hal about something rare and mysterious, perhaps even legendary and mythological! I bet Trap told him that he recently saw a fabled Magenta Lantern!

Hal decides Trapper's information is worth taking him along, so he knocks him out and throws him over his shoulder as he and the Prince make their escape. They head back to Darlene, climb inside of her, and they're off to Sector 0000! I don't think the Prince is from there so Hal's probably going to check out the information he received from Trapsie.

Aha! Trapper sure does know a lot! Which is why he must know the reason for the Green Lantern Corps disappearing. That's why he was prompted to tell Hal his secret when Hal mentioned the Green Lantern Corps. Then he asked Hal when he last saw one (meaning a Green Lantern) which lead to Hal flying through Sector 0000 for a quick peek.

Hal Jordan discovers that Mogo and the Green Lantern Corps are gone. Hopefully the destroyed planet he finds at the center of the universe is Oa and not Mogo. Although given John Stewart's history, my guess is he tried to make breakfast and destroyed the entire Corps except for the handful that wound up in a secret breakfast dimension.

Green Lantern #41 Rating: +1 Ranking. Competently written with an ability to write comic book tropes in a way that works within the context of the story and dialogue. Also Hal is casually building a Serenityesque crew for Darlene. I have a feeling the Prince and Trapper might be around for awhile.