Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: Carlo Barberi, dc comics, green lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lanterns, HRL, jessica cruz, rebirth, sam humphries, simon baz

Green Lanterns #30 Review: The Battle Against Volthoom Begins

Jessica and Simon have trained the original seven Green Lanterns as much as they can in the time they've been allowed, and now it's time to face Volthoom, the First Lantern.

The fate of the Guardians and the rest of the universe hangs in the balance. They don't know if they'll ever get home, but they know they definitely won't if Volthoom kills the Guardians. This is it. The showdown for the fate of existence itself.

This is the battle we've been building up to the past few issues, folks, and it's pretty damn intense. With a force of really green Green Lanterns at their side and one Power Ring down, the odds don't look in favor of our heroes winning the day.

And the comic does little to contradict that assumption as (spoilers) the casualties are high in this battle. Don't expect a hero's ceremony a la New Hope for these Lanterns. We already lost the Kryptonian woman; expect to lose more reading this comic.

This does lead us to one of the drawbacks of the way this story has functioned. Sam Humphries did a really good job of giving interesting and compelling backstories to the original seven Green Lanterns. They were given distinct and engaging personalities, and seeing them gunned down in droves here feels kind of like a waste. It would have been nice to see them develop and change over time or at least given an open-ended conclusion in this story which would give them the chance to do so. Instead, about half of them get unceremoniously axed by Volthoom here. That does establish him as a genuine threat well, but it also undercuts the depth these seven Lanterns were bestowed.

That being said, it's still a kickass fight. It mostly goes in favor of Volthoom, but the ending is exciting and sets up a good finale next issue. The comic does a good job of making you forget those narrative problems when you can't wait to see what happens next between the Lanterns and Volthoom.

Carlo Barberi, while by no means a bad artist, is a bit of a step down from the art of Eduardo Pansica last issue. Pansica's artwork is astonishingly good, and I'd like to see him be a more regular artist on the title.

That being said, Barberi does a decent job of capturing the excitement and intensity of the battle against Volthoom, even if his style seems a bit of an odd choice for such a high-casualty issue.

Matt Santorelli's ink work is a little too noticeable here, with some characters having an oddly thick outline at times. Ulises Arredla's color work, while not bad either, is a little too pallid and not vibrant enough for a Green Lantern comic.

Despite art issues and some narrative letdowns, Green Lanterns #30 is still an exciting ride with great lead characters. This comic still dominates Rebirth and deserves to be on everyone's pull list. Grab this one the next time you see it.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!