Love is in the air for our two Green Lanterns of Earth. There has been a new dating app named Caper that is exclusively for superheroes. Simon has been on it for months, soon finding a girl named Night Pilot. After their split, Night Pilot has vanished along with many other heroes who have been using the app. When the Lanterns find the app’s base of operations, they find a surprising intruder— Scrapps of the Omega Men. The Lanterns take her down in the hopes of her knowing where the heroes were taken. Will they find the heroes before something bad happens to them?
**Some Spoilers Below**
Story:
After capturing Scrapps, the Lanterns are led to planet Garnet, lovingly nicknamed “Hellhole” by the inhabitants. Their hope is that they can find the human traffickers that kidnapped Night Pilot. It’s a wretched hive of scum and villainy, but the pair is able to find the kidnappers. This leads to a pretty awesome chase scene across the planet which ends with our protagonists getting sent in the right direction.
To those who watch movies as well as read comics, this issue feels like the casino planet storyline in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It’s just a detour that takes up space that feels more like it’s showing off the world than progressing the story. The entire progression of this issue can easily come down to a single speech bubble. One could argue that the chase for said speech bubble was important, but it has no relation to the true villains. These two kidnappers will fade into the background as our Lanterns take on the real threat. After it’s all wrapped up, we’ll be left wondering what’s the point of this world?
There are some humorous moments from time-to-time and an obscure Green Lantern reference, but other than the chase scene, there’s nothing that stands out. Unless this planet plays a bigger part than what is implied, this might actually be an issue you could skip without any consequences.
Art:
The art is by far the best thing about this story. The whole team is firing on all cylinders to give us a great book. Barnaby Bagenda has proven time and time again that he’s skilled in a Sci-Fi environment. This issue is no exception. The planet the Lanterns travel to is amazing, looking like an amalgamation between Mos Eisley and the city from Blade Runner. Bagenda’s pencil work makes the city feel so large on the page. Ulises Arreola helps this city feel more alive with his epic color work as well. His skills shine (no pun intended) when it comes to the Lanterns constructs. They pop right off the page and when it’s combined with Bagenda’s pencil work, it creates the coolest part of the book.
Conclusion:
While the art is amazing, I’m going to have to say readers should skip this issue. It barely has a connection to the last issue and feels like will be forgotten as the story moves forward. The art really is the only reason to pick up this issue as the team made it look amazing. Maybe it’ll have a bigger purpose when the story concludes, but as it stands, save the $2.99.
