Green Lantern Corps: Emerald Eclipse (Green Lantern Corps (Quality Paper)) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

The concept of the Green Lantern Corps is one of the genuinely genius ideas in comics period. Superficially similar in nature to the Jedi Knights of Star Wars, the Green Lantern Corps are essentially space police, and their tales chronicle the exploits of sentient representatives from various solar systems around various galaxies, given immensely powerful green rings that are powered by will. Lanterns know no fear, or are at least able to overcome it.

This volume collects issues 33-38 of the regular ongoing series, and NOT 33-39 as you will see from the inside page if you purchase it. There are however, pages from issue 39 included in this volume as part of the collection but they're sandwiched in so sneakily you won't realize unless you own the individual issues. I suppose there are two ways to look at it. You can see the "extra" pages as a bonus or you can see it as a rip-off considering that they could have just thrown in the entire issue 39 and be done with it.

In whatever event, Emerald Eclipse is yet another excellent collection in one of the best series being published by DC comics right now, which is the Green Lantern Corps (GLC). It builds on an increasingly impressive library of great stories about the GLC that are all available on Amazon and which I highly recommend for anyone interested in science fiction/fantasy, comics, horror, superheroes, space, alien worlds, aliens, and the military. It's a dense volume in which a lot happens, many characters lives are changed or affected by the events unfolding and where the action, once it starts, is pretty much non-stop.

Essentially two stories told side by side, the main plot of the volume revolves around a riot on Oa, the home planet of the GLC and the Guardians of the Universe; incredibly old immortal beings who have appointed themselves as cosmic judges over all creation. The other plot involves the attempted occupation of the planet Daxam by the ruthless and cruel alien Mongul, who has usurped control of the fear powered rings of the Sinestro Corps, (so called because it is named after the founder of that corps and the greatest enemy of the greatest Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. Hal's stories take place in the main GL series.) Members of the Sinestro Corps wear yellow rings analagous to the rings worn by members of the GLC, only powered by fear instead of will. And in addition to these two main stories, writer Peter J. Tomasi weaves in one or two additional subplots which dovetail in and out of the main action pretty seamlessly and expand our understanding of our cast of characters.

Everything about Emerald Eclipse is dense. From the art to the plot to the dialogue to the cast, the story is chock full of everything. For one thing, expect something significant to happen in each chapter and for events to unfold at a breakneck pace. The book itself is about a large rotating cast of characters, which adds to the sense of complexity and which could make this volume tough for newcomers to the GLC concept. Sparked by the "accidental" release of a newly incarcerated Red Lantern, a full blown riot on Oa quickly engulfs the planet and the Lanterns must do all in their power to prevent it from destroying everything they hold dear. The riot itself is entertaining and is the result of a betrayal from a source the Lanterns would never suspect. Compromises are made, uneasy alliances forged, and brutality ensues at some cost to the rioting prisoners and the Lanterns as well.

The writing by Tomasi is solid and even confident in places, if also somewhat bombastic. Tomasi's villains are grand talkers, and Tomasi continues an error from previous chapters by making Mongul - one of the main villains here - a mad despot suffering from delusions of grandeur instead of a simply menacing manifestation of evil incarnate. His dialogue is occasionally over the top ("It's blazing combat time," exclaims Lantern Guy Gardner, while even Mongul quotes "The Ten Commandments.") In the first chapter, the writer's habit of having main characters quote lines from famous films is a little silly and draws you out of the action. But overall, Tomasi's strength is an ability to deliver complex plots and to write action that always entertains. A brutal fight between Mongul and Arkillo, one of Sinestro's first lieutenants, is a highlight, as is the actual riot sequence itself. And Tomasi gives his characters some shades beyond the simple archetypes normally served up in comics. Kyle Rayner's method of dealing with his grief over the loss of fallen comrades is much in character, while Sodam Yat's response to the plight of his own people is surprising but nonetheless reassuringly heroic. The intrigue involving the truth about Soranik Natu's true lineage is genuinely ironic, and all the characters seem distinct and mostly three dimensional.

Perhaps my only major complaint with the story is that in the end, the intervention of the Alpha Lanterns helps to resolve the wholesale violence somewhat too easily, but Tomasi is smart enough to understand that the action is merely a prelude to the real story going on in GLC at the moment, namely the role and nature of the guardians and their recent decisions, and the ethical implications of their self-appointed status. Part of the attraction of GLC and the Green Lantern concept as a whole these days is all the political and cosmic-moral intrigue that informs so many of the stories.

As usual, Patrick Gleason does a reasonably good job on the art, and produces some of his most assured, most consistent work to date. Although he never completely surpresses his cartoonist urges, he manages to be more penciller than cartoonist in this volume. The problem with Patrick continues to be that his panel and page layout leave something to be desired and his story flow suffers a bit. He's not a lazy artist though, and his panels are all full of astounding detail which unfortunately add to the confusion on some occasions. Basically, he sure can draw the heck out of a panel, but don't always count on being able to tell what's going on. I think Patrick just doesn't realiz that a human brain just can't process the level of information he's tryng to include in each panel on each page. But overall? The art is entertaining and serves the frenetic, intense energy of the writing and multi-plot approach reasonably well, and the good outweighs the poor.

I highly recommend this volume. And you can tell it's something special, as it's the first hardcover collection of GLC that DC has done since this new series was launched a few years back. All the others have been paperbacks. If you're a GLC fan, and just want some GL goodness, you can't go wrong with Emerald Eclipse!

The Sinestro Corps War' pushed the 'Green Lantern Corps' series in new directions and opened it up to a myriad of possibilities. After that, Peter Tomasi began preluding the 'Blackest Night' event with story arcs that incorporate themes of sci-fi and horror and that laid down the foundation for a climactic and epic War of Light . The story's complexity steadily increases as Tomasi builds on the concepts and premise of the comic.

The notion behind the War of light, with its rainbow assortment of Lantern Corps, each powered by the emotional spectrum, chanting oaths and shining their rings across the galaxy, is admittedly a pretty silly one at its core. But with a great deal of help from Geoff Johns, Tomasi transcends the series beyond the superhero genre and transforms it into the compelling character-driven space opera, that it is..

Personally, I am not a fan of Peter Tomasi or Patrick Gleason. I think Tomasi's writing style is cheesy, cut & paste and awkward. His humor is often misplaced and sometimes completely out of place. And Gleason's artwork is too cartoony to effectively portray the gory violence and the emotional suspense that is ever-present in the title. However, this story arc along with 'Sins of the Star Sapphire' manages to surpass my expectations.

There are a lot of moving parts in 'Green Lantern Corps', and 'Emerald Eclipse' is a perfect example of that. I don't like spoilers so here's a vague description of what to expect:

Soranik Natu is a rising star in this mini-series. She finds love with another GL, despite the Guardians new law, and she's also confronted by her long lost father, which ends up being a big twist for her character.

The Sinestro Corps invades and occupies Sodom Yat's homeworld, Daxam, and makes it their new base of operations. Mongul is back and more powerful than ever. He takes command of the Sinestro Corps after a brutal face-off with Akrillo. FYI: This development is pretty exciting, but once 'Blackest Night' begins, it sorta gets thrown on the back-burner.

The Daxamites are spineless xenophobic bigots, who descended from Kryptonian colonists. They manifest powers and abilities similar to those of Superman when exposed to the light of a yellow star, including vast strength, damage resistance, super speed, flight, enhanced senses and heat and X-ray vision. However, their own sun Valor is a red giant, so while on their homeworld, which they refuse to leave, they do not have their powers. The notion behind the Daxamite's self-imposed weakness, is that prejudice and hate-mongering hinders a society from reaching it's full potential. Sodom Yat must find a way to save his species, despite his warranted resentment towards them. The odds are stacked against the new Ion, and you won't believe what he does to even them out and to save the Daxamites.

Meanwhile, on OA, excrement is truly hitting the fan. A Red Lantern is incarcerated in the science cells. He doesn't stay behind bars for long, and from there, a bloody epic battle ensues. It's Green Lanterns vs. the Sinestro Corps vs. one Red Lantern. You'll be amazed at how much damage one Red Lantern can cause. The Guardians are off planet in the Vega System with Hal Jordan, facing Agent Orange, so the Green Lanterns must struggle with the prison breakout on their own. By the end of 'Emerald Eclipse', OA is changed forever.

Some of the main protagonists like Guy Gardner and Kilowog are outshined by newbies such as Soranik Natu and Sodom Yat. The mixed cast of characters not only diversifies the comic; it provides multiple vantage points that allow a larger story to be told.

There's just so much that happens in this arc, it can't help but make a great story. 'Emerald Eclipse' also showcases some of Tomasi's and Gleason's best work together. Although, Tomasi still uses cheesy dialogue with generic one-liners, he manages to stay focused and encompass all elements of the plot. Gleason's sharp, oddly composed and slightly askew panel layouts and his fluid depictions of movement and angular designs of characters compliment the crammed and busy structure of 'GL Corps'. Rebecca Buchman's coloring is also noteworthy; she's the best colorist the series has had so far. She uses a fairly standard color palette, that gives weight to Gleason's pencils.

Overall, 'Emerald Eclipse' layers the series with more interpersonal drama, plot twists and foreshadowing of things to come. It's loaded with more action and suspense, than you'll get from most other comics, and it's more fun than most too. I highly recommend picking it up.

In the volume the build up to the blackest night is in full swing. This book follows the best of the green lantern corps books. It is hard to rate exactly where you you would put it in the history of the green lantern books since Johns, Tomasi,Gleason, Mankhe, and the rest of this cast. But it is worth owning. In my opinion it's no Sinestro Corps War (which has become the greatness which I measure all Lantern stories) but it is better than the over-hyped Blackest Night. The Blackest Night again was a good read but the build up to it i.e. Secret Origin, The Sinestro corps War, Rage of the Red Lanterns, Emerald Eclipse and others were just better. The same thing happened with Infinite Crisis, O.M.A.C., Villains United, and Day of Vengeance set the bar so high that Infinite Crisis could not be as good as the build up.
Buy this book it is well worth the read It stands alone well and comparatively is better than the sins of star sapphire. It is a fantastic build up to the Blackest night and unveils more of the history of the the new GL legend Sodam Yat of Daxam.
If you are choosing one story in the Green Lantern Series to get I would put them in this order
1. The Sinestro Corps War boos 1 and 2
2. Secret Origin (reveals Red Lanterns and sheds light on the upcoming stories)
3. Rage of the Red Lanterns
4. Rebirth
5. Revenge of the Green Lanterns
6. Agent Orange
7. Emerald Eclipse
8. Wanted-Hal Jordan
9. To Be A Lantern
10. No Fear
11. The Sins of Star Sapphire
12. The Blackest Night
If you wanna go back further to Ron Marz's Green Lantern Emerald Twilight/New Dawn is a ten as is Giffen's Emerald Dawn. I don't write many review but I have read al9ot of comics and the green Lantern and The Green Lantern Corps have been rock solid for the last 4 or 5 years at least. My list is debatable but the premise that the stories are excellent is not.
All are worth the read. If you dig the Green Lantern and the GLC (the two are part of the same great tale to me), then I would suggest reading all these GL books.