A new war is brewing.
The Green Lantern Corp are tasked with the detail to bury Sinestro's yellow power battery. Guy Gardener handles it his way which surprisingly leads to him being promoted by the Guardians of the Universe. Later, the Alpha Lantern Corps. appear to the GL's demanding that one of their most respected members, John Stewart, surrenders to face a murder charge. -summary
The Green Lantern Corps, like Green Lantern's own book also didn't receive a reboot during DC's New 52. In fact, most of the GL universe was left untouched with the titles fully acknowledging past storylines that lead to the series end, Blackest Night, War of the Green Lanterns, and perhaps also The Weaponer. Now unlike Green Lantern: Sinestro which wasn't exactly newbie friendly yet plenty of people still enjoyed it. The Green Lantern Corps. Volume One: Fearsome felt just right for newbies as it focused on outstanding artwork delivering awesome action sequences and some character development. Green Lantern Corps. Volume Two: Alpha War focuses a bit more on a character study. Please don't take this the wrong way though, because readers will eventually be treated to some gruesome action segments. Written by Peter J. Tomasi, this volume collects issues 8 - 14, and #0.
For the most part a new reader can start with this book because there is quite a bit of background from last volume provided here. Last volume, in order to protect some of the Guardians closely guarded secrets, John Stewart was forced to kill another Green Lantern during their torture due to him attempting to provide information to his captors for self-preservation. In this volume, the Alpha Lanterns, whom work as The Green Lantern's internal affairs with authority to arrest them; seize Stewart with intentions to put him on trial. Stewart admits to his guilt to the chagrin of those who knew what happened, but at the same time, Stewart is amazed that none of the facts leading to the killing are brought to the table. This leads to Guy Gardener and others not happy with what's going on.
There's something worth noting here. The TPB in the beginning lightly crosses over with Green Lantern: The Revenge of Black Hand in story content only as it brings to light that the Guardians are up to something. Tomasi reveals small portions of the story at a time and eventually just gives everything away. It all falls in line in what exactly is taking place in the Green Lantern book as it builds up towards the next event, Rise of the Third Army.
Tomasi deserves lots of credit as he focuses on dealing with the content he brought to the table, and not falling back on the building blocks of the next big event. Although Stewart's trial isn't that action heavy in the beginning, the themes played with are handled well. The Alpha Lanterns are interesting in a way that they allowed themselves to be corrupted by the power that comes with authority, and this is felt amongst the Green Lanterns as they quickly get angered at the verdict. It comes across to them that they can be arrested for very little reason, subjected to a kangaroo court, then receive a conviction that doesn't fit the crime at all. Of course, this is going to lead to a mutiny. Tomasi gets his point across well enough in short time dealing with the struggles a soldier will have to face: doing what's right instead of doing what you're ordered to. I mainly enjoy that Tomasi didn't forget this is a comic book and went into long winded speeches. He went to the action instead and kicked out a quick battle between the two Lantern sets.
The book completely feels like a Guy Gardener tale with origin story and all. Therefore, your enjoyment of this book will be determined by how much you enjoy Gardener's outspoken and rebellious attitude. While I enjoyed him on some occasion, others he kind of grated on my nerves. The latter portion of the book crosses over into Rise of the Third Army, and this is when you get more details on what the Guardians are trying to accomplish. There is an encounter with the Third Army and my only problem is that it feels too... zombie apocalypse like and from that view I was never feeling them. I'm tired of zombies and parasites in every form at the moment. Seriously, they need to give this a rest.
Like all the Green Lantern books, Red Lanterns as well, the artwork is simply stunning from start to finish. Fernando Pasarin and Scot Hanna feel high up the food chain. The character designs are finely detailed, very nice lining and they nail it marvelously with dozens and dozens of characters cluttered together for action; and once again, I'm still digging the various alien species. Hardly ever do you see the same aliens more than twice unless they're being developed. I don't like the Third Army designs though. I see no imagination with those things, but I can definitely get into how they kill their victims. The action is sick and that's about all I can say. I will admit some of the action can be a bit hard to follow.
Ignoring how derivative the Third Army are in terms of skill set, and maybe some action being hard to follow. This is a very solid book and it continues to provide more proof, in that the Green Lantern neck of the woods is right next to Gotham City as the place to hang out. If you like DC comics at all, or comics in general and you want something easy to dive into outside of Batman. There's no going wrong with the Green Lantern Corps.
Pros: Interesting stories, once again amazing artwork
Cons: New threat not that amazing
