I’m not going to lie, the cover for Absolute Green Lantern #16 had me excited. After all, the series had been putting a cosmic horror spin on plenty of iconic figures from the Green Lantern mythos, and its take on such an iconic villain has been one of the creepiest. However, it turns out Sinestro is not in the comic. At all. While normally this would be another case of “comic book covers being the original clickbait”, Al Ewing and Sid Koitan manage to introduce a surprising character from Green Lantern lore in the final pages.
Prior to that, Ewing splits Absolute Green Lantern #16 into two separate plots. Plot A, which takes up roughly half the issue, is focused on Cameron Chase and feels more like a spy thriller than the cosmic insanity that’s fueled previous issues. Plot B deals with the impending threat of Mogo and the conflict of interests between Tomar Re and Jo Mullein. It’s here that Ewing’s gift for character work and “Big Ideas” really shines, especially as Jo pushes back against the idea of using the people in her town as “ammunition” for a gun.
It’s the “Big Ideas” that might prove to be divisive for some readers. Understand: I’m not against “Big Ideas” in comics, especially when they’re done well, and Ewing is one of the few writers outside of Grant Morrison and Jonathan Hickman who manages to do “Big Ideas” really well. Look at his work on Immortal Thor and Mortal Thor, which examines concepts of stories and their everlasting power. With Absolute Green Lantern #16, the way to beat Mogo isn’t with big flashy constructs but by drawing on Jo’s memories of her home and why she’s stayed connected to it, which leads to the big reveal I mentioned earlier.
DC
The horror vibes of Absolute Green Lantern haven’t lessened, thanks to Koitan’s work. I must admit that Koitan is growing on me thanks to his work on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder, which has featured a similar mix of horror and action; throughout the issue he manages to display the Lantern entities and normal humans in truly disturbing ways. It helps that he has Prasad Rao backing him up on color work; a gunshot piercing a man’s skull is backlit by a flash of blood red, and Mogo itself is a living shadow that seems to pull all of the light out of the room whenever it’s on the page.
The real standouts, though, are the different Lanterns represented throughout. Hal Jordan, thanks to an power shift, now embodies love and has become a bright violet. Tomar Re crackles with the crimson energy of rage. Jo is always a standout thanks to her bright green hue. Even their word balloons are affected by this, courtesy of Lucas Gattoni. Jo speaks in green, Re in blood red that flickers in and out, and the Blackstars have jet black word balloons that immediately draw attention.
Absolute Green Lantern #16 is a mix of “Big Ideas” and big reveals, with some paying off and some falling flat. Either way, Ewing and Koitan have set the stage for the next big story arc, which promises to ramp up the horror.
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