Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #40 Review

Writer: Robert Venditti

Artist: Rafa Sandoval

Inker: Jordi Tarragona

Colourist: Tomeu Morey

Letterer: Dave Sharpe

Imagine my surprise when I found out that this issue is part four of the ZOD'S WILL arc. I'd be hard-pressed to truly describe in immaculate detail exactly what has been going on for the past few issues. The characters essentially go back and forth from Mogo to Zod's planet with many action scenes peppered in between. I don't think Robert Venditti is going to stop with part five. No. I think Venditti is going for the full trade count with this one. I appreciate the guts of this guy; he has a non-story and somehow found a way to milk a full six-parter out of it. It's frankly embarrassing and disgusting. This issue isn't necessarily bad, as most issues of the series are, but when viewed in the context of Venditti's extremely poor series plotting, I just feel soured by the whole experience.

This issue is almost entirely driven by one huge action scene between the Green Lantern Corps and the Zod family. Rafa Sandoval gets a chance to really shine here. His pencils, along with Jordi Tarragona's inks and Tomeu Morey's colours, make for an extremely gorgeous book and I really like how he gets to just go all out with the action. Sandoval's layouts are always impressive and he doesn't disappoint.

There are a whole lot of Green Lanterns that show up and I think this is the aspect of the issue that most people will connect with and appreciate. Some characters that have just been background fodder get some forefront action and it's simply fun to see.

As you can tell, there just isn't much going on here. This issue is an entire action scene and is despicably the fourth part of an arc which I assume will go on for another two issues. As is the case with this book, the art is incredibly strong and the action looks simply gorgeous. Venditti's plotting just sours me on the whole experience, though.