In 2004 Green Lantern received a reboot courtesy of Geoff Johns, returning Hal Jordan to the forefront of the Lantern mythos much to the delight of most fans, except those who were to see Kyle Rayner take a backseat to the legend’s return.  After a number of years rebuilding the book from the ground up as well as many successful stories and crossovers, DC was about to restart their entire universe in an initiative entitled the New 52.  Whether due to fortunate circumstances or something otherwise, Johns would be integral to this rebranding and his book would be the only one left literally unscathed.

At the start of the new series, Sinestro takes center stage stealing the spotlight from Jordan and then eventually sharing it as the book progresses.  The Guardians of the Universe, who were becoming erratic even in the previous series, continue their downward spiral until they finally decide on a course of action that names them the judge, jury and executioner of the entire universe.  Black Hand makes a return and a new Lantern is chosen after the seeming deaths of Jordan and Sinestro at his hands.  Soon, things go from bad to worse, Jordan and Sinestro manage a comeback but only end up facing the might of The First Lantern.

As with the previous book, John’s continues his world-building with some new concepts and some new characters and even moving some out of the way to make room for future storylines without his involvement. It was interesting that this book remained untouched while every other book had to essentially start over.  It really did not even skip a beat as the final issue of the previous run and the first issue of the new just kept things moving along.  As John’s had made the book a success, and he now held a position within DC to essentially save all the work he had poured years into, then why would he not?  In the end it was one of the smartest things DC did at the time and at least appeased some of their fans.

Johns’ writing is just as strong on this book as it has ever been.  Hal and Sinestro have many great scenes together and Johns’ lets Sinestro make the spotlight his own.  The interplay between the two is one of the most fun and one of the best things about the series.  The other Lanterns are written just as well and are just as nicely defined as the two leads, and it was good to see Carol struggle with being a Star Sapphire as it added another level to her persona.  The introduction of Simon Baz to the Corps was a welcome addition and his character is more interesting than Guy Gardner ever was.  He’s dynamic and smart, carrying a gun for a back-up plan which makes perfect sense and why no other Lantern ever thought of having a plan in case of ring failure is strange indeed.  But with the good there must also be some bad.

One of the worst things about the book was Simon Baz.  As previously mentioned he is a great character and brings a lot to the table.  The bad part about it is we now have another human Green Lantern making for a total of four, not counting Kyle Rayner as a White Lantern or Carol as a Star Sapphire.  It is ridiculous in the fact that after Hal passed, the ring did not automatically default to John Stewart or Gardner.  How many Lanterns does Earth need?  It is common knowledge that man thinks they are all important, in comics and the real world, but four Lanterns for one sector of the universe while every other sector has one is hubris and narcissistic.  It is hopeful that this will be the last occurrence of this happening, but only time will tell.  At the very least, the story was done well and we got a good supporting character out of the deal.

There is not too much to fault in almost ten years of stories, or when looking specifically at the last two in the New 52 and Johns does a great job on his swan song.  Doug Mahnke, who followed him from the old to the new, keeps on getting better with each and every issue as well.  His lines are much cleaner than they used to be when he started the book and it is refreshing at just how crisp and beautiful the book is to look at.  Over the course of twenty-one issues and an annual, it remained engaging and exciting right until the end.  It remains to be seen just how well the book will fare without its creator at the helm, but it is doubtful that DC will let one of its largest franchises head into choppy waters.  There are not too many really good books in the current DCU and this book is an example of one of them.