Green Lantern #39 review

And the pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right?

Am I the only person unable to remember which coloured lantern does what, who the players are and why we should believe any of this mythology when none of it was mentioned in 50 years of Hal Jordan stories? Honestly, we've still got months of Blackest Night plotlines to go and already I need a scorecard.

That aside, there were some things I liked about this issue. The artwork by penciller Philip Tan, inker Jonathan Glapion and colourists Randy Mayor and Gabe Eltaeb, is a joy to look at; Orange Lantern Larfleeze is an amusing fellow, an evil Muppet with a three-year-old's views on sharing; and the Guardians are hilarious, the way they throw tantrums at every opportunity, declaring new laws like Queenie in Blackadder II; and the simpering Blue Lanterns are, as ever, a hoot - if Walter the Softy from the Beano were given a power ring, it'd be blue.

Thing is, I'm supposed to take this seriously, and the more complicated the story gets, the funnier I find it. That may be enough to keep me reading when I'm actually yearning for shorter storylines featuring a bit of Hal's private life and villains not sucked into the ever-growing Guardians backstory. But there's a good chance I'll wave the white flag and duck out.

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