Green Lanterns #21

Writer: Sam Humphries

Artist: Robson Rocha

Colourist: Alex Sollazzo

Publisher: DC Comics

This series has been problematic as of late. The story hasn't been moving much since Volthoom begun impersonating Rami. We haven't seen any interactions between the Lanterns and faux-Rami yet. This issue was the best issue in the arc but all emotion involved got squandered when Sam Humphries rushed the ending in order to set up the next arc, which has absolutely nothing to do with Volthoom. I'm all for long-form storytelling in comics, but this is too much. This is the 21st issue.

Polaris is an interesting villain but at this point he's just running around in circles. I want to care about his relationship with his brother Seth, but I just don't. These past few arcs have been busy recapping Simon's relationship with his best friend Nazir, which clearly indicates that Nazir is going to be playing some kind of villainous role in the future, especially when considering Nazir's confrontation with Simon at the beginning of the arc a couple of issues ago. I also expected Polaris to develop a bit more and come out of this story a changed character, but we get nothing of the sort.

Robson Rocha's art is the best part of the issue. His art is epic and detailed, and he displays some inventive panel work here and there to coincide with a character's deteriorating mental health. It's good Lantern art, and we need to see more Rocha.

While my emotional investment in the story was stunted as a result of the rushed ending, I still somewhat enjoyed the read. The art is fantastic and it's clear that while Humphries didn't know what to do with the story, he still poured as much heart as he could into the character of Simon.