GREEN LANTERN #45

Green Lantern #45 (September 1993)

title: "Turf War"

writer: Gerard Jones

penciler: Gene Ha

inker: Romeo Tanghal

colorist: Anthony Collin

letterer: Albert De Guzman

editor: Kevin Dooley

cover: Gene Ha & Romeo Tangal

Recap: Several planets came under attack by mysterious, powerful beings. After Green Lantern encountered one, he returned to Oa and explained to the Guardians what happened. They recognize the name of Quarra and were terrified that it meant the return of the Triarch, a race of Gods from Maltus, the same homeworld as the Guardians. Long before the Guardians or Controllers existed, the Triarch slayed their own father, Daalon, on Maltus. The three that made up the Triarch were Quarra the Creator, Archor the Sustainer, and Tzodar the Destroyer. They departed Maltus but promised to one day return and lay waste to the planet, which would supposedly renew the universe.

On the planet Elyrion, the Darkstars battled Archor the Sustainer and suffered several casualties. Meanwhile, the L.E.G.I.O.N. were setting up a new base on Maltus when they come under attack by Tzodar the Destroyer. Green Lantern arrived to help but did not fair well and Lobo rescued Hal by pulling him out of the battle. When Hal awakened, he found a very angry Vril Dox awaiting him. They argued and Dox ordered Lobo to subdue Hal. Dox also ordered Lady Quark to battle Tzodar while he investigated his own suspicions. Eventually, Comet interrupted Lobo's battle because they received new orders and were told to leave Jordan to the newly arrived Darkstars, led by Colos. However, they were more concerned with seeking revenge on the Triarch and suggested an alliance with Jordan. Meanwhile, the Controllers learned of the Triarch's return, and since their legends said the Triarch must succeed at their mission, they sent other Darkstars to stop Jordan. The two teams of Darkstars clashed while Dox located the mountain range that each of the Triarch were heading towards. His investigation led him to the father of the Triarch, who still lived, buried deep underground.

The two teams of Darkstars are battling over the Triarch and Hal Jordan when Killowag arrives with reinforcements.

While they fight, each of the Triarch prepare separate segments of Maltus for renewal. Some of the population actually appears excited, believing that their actions are fulfilling the prophecy. They are troubled to see the L.E.G.I.O.N., who they had hired for protection, oppose them. 

Bek warns Dox that that there is a split among the populace, and that many are turning on the L.E.G.I.O.N., but Dox's only concern is that the Darkstars and Green Lantern Corps remain preoccupied while he completes his mission of awakening the Triarch's father. 

Unfortunately, things do not go according to his plan as Bek observes both the Corps and the Darkstars moving closer to the Triarch. Dox sends the new recruits to stop them, and they use Borb to set a trap. He convinces the Corps that the Controllers are coming to aid the Darkstars and convinces the Darkstars that the Guardians are coming to aid the Corps. When the two groups converge again, the Corps succeed at taking out much of the Darkstars, but they are then attacked by the L.E.G.I.O.N. As they fight, Dox awakens the Triarch's father.

Despite Dox's success, Bek is concerned that the situation is spiraling out of control as the Corps continue attacking the Triarch and the Maltusions began attacking the L.E.G.I.O.N. He receives a call from Telepath, who tells Bek not to worry as Dox arranged for him and Lady Quark to deal with the situation with a fleet of yellow ships.

Well, if you've been following along with me through this crossover, you know I have not been a huge fan of it so far. Its felt like we have gotten very little progression of plot over each installment, and its been pretty much punchy-punchy for our heroes the whole time. And thats fine to a degree as thats often how superhero crossovers start out. There is a misunderstanding and then they come to a truce. But so far, this has been all misunderstanding and very little truce. 

It is not that I dislike the overall plot, it is actually pretty interesting. My problem is that the storyline that has progressed over the last several installments really could have been condensed into one or two issues. It very much has the feeling of padding. I am used to that in more modern books, but its been a bit frustrating here. Unfortunately, this issue did not really change my impression so far. We did get a bit of development in Dox awakening the father of the Triarch. But otherwise its been more of the same. 

I could forgive if there was a more development at the character level or progression in the relationship between the Corps and the Darkstars. Or either one with the L.E.G.I.O.N. But instead it feels like we have been spinning our wheels for the last few issues. Each one has had about two pages of development versus twenty or so of rinse and repeat.

One thing I will give this issue is the art. This is early Gene Ha but I did really enjoy it. While the plot may not have progressed much, I did enjoy the pretty pictures. Also, I realize I am reviewing this as a man in his 40s, looking back 20+ years later. It is possible that if I read it as it initially came out, I may have been much more engaged. It is not short of action at all, and I have acknowledged some smaller moments I enjoyed in earlier reviews. But I have to be honest in that so far, it really has not grabbed my interest much and I do not regret missing out on it when I was a regular L.E.G.I.O.N.  reader back in the 90s.

With that, I am going to wrap it up and I hope I have not been such a Debby Downer that you won't check back with me next week. As I said, I do think the basic storyline is interesting even if it has progressed far too slowly, so I am still interested in seeing how it resolves. And next week we get to return to the L.E.G.I.O.N. title and our regular crew!