Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #33
DC Comics
Written by: Robert Venditti
Art by: Jack Herbert
Colors by: Jason Wright
Letters by: Dave Sharpe
“Twilight of the Guardians Part 1”
In an unknown sector of space, alone Guardian is on the run. As he is easily hunted down and taken, a new Green Lantern is testing the limits of her new powers under the watchful gaze of Ganthet and Sayd. Even John Stewart takes a few moments out of his day to watch the child discover the power and privilege of being a Green Lantern.
On the planet Molta, Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner are doing everything they can to evacuate the citizens of the capital city before it’s covered in volcanic lava. As Kyle and Hal build a wall around the city to stop the lava flow, Kyle laments the never-ending struggle they seem to face all the time and questions whether it’s still worth it. Hal tells him he needs to get over Soranik and Kyle brings up someone from Hal’s past who leaves the seasoned Lanterns stunned.
As the Guardians continue to train young Somar-Le, they are attacked. The young Lantern goes to find Stewart and Guy Gardner and when John discovers who has taken the Guardians, he puts out an alert calling Hal and Kyle back to Mogo. He’s going to need his biggest guns on this rescue mission because the threat they face is as powerful as the Guardians themselves.
Beyond the action in this issue, one of the things I truly enjoyed was Venditti taking the time to remind the Lanterns, both Hal, and John, that there are things outside the job. John taking the time to admire a young Lantern enjoying the freedom of learning to fly and Kyle telling his mentor that he yearns for more out of his life than just being a Green Lantern are moments of profound emotion. They add layers to the characters that help them endure. Herbert’s art is very well done as well. There are some great facial details that I had to go back and look at again.