Just as Geoff Johns completes his lengths run on The Flash, he's just warming up on this title, featuring another DC icon of comparable pop-culture status. Johns's approach to dealing with these solo super-hero stories is pretty clear: he's really just as interested in the villains as he is in the hero, if not moreso. He and artist Ethan Van Sciver cast Hector Hammond in a truly creepy light, radically altering how the character is perceived not only by the reader but by other characters. There's a nice mix of traditional, old-school super-hero genre storytelling and a more modern, darker sensibility.
Hal Jordan visits Oa and discovers the Guardians are well on their way to rebuilding the Green Lantern Corps, but the GL for sector 2814 is summoned home by authorities. It seems Hector Hammond, a psychically powerful but physically infirm old enemy of the Lantern's, is causing trouble from his cell and refuses to stop until he meets with his former nemesis. Hammond has two goals in mind: to issue a warning of a coming threat and to pry a small glimpse of freedom from the hero.
Van Sciver's art is shadowy and often full of detail, and it serves to paint Hammond in a monstrous, sleezy and pathetic light. There's a wonderfully creepy atmopshere that looms over the book thanks to the inkiness of the line art. Unfortunately, that darker quality interferes with lighter segments in the story, such as Hal and Kilowog's playful sparring session on Oa. It's not entirely clear what's happening there, and the flow of action in the final cliffhanger scene could be clearer as well.
The Oa scene is an accessible one and serves to tee up the events of the upcoming Green Lantern Corps: Recharge limited series, but it really contributes little to this story. As a result, it feels like filler material designed for marketing purposes rather than storytelling. WE don't even learn much about the new recruits, nor about Hal and 'Wog's friendship.
What's most interesting about this story is how Johns is establishing a logical link between two radically different Green Lantern villains to fashion a new and suspenseful plotline. The vision of an X-Files-like alien talking about a smoke break is almost laughable, but ultimately, it's just as creepy as the two GL villains who turn up in this story. 7/10
