HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #16

Writer: Robert Venditti
Artist: Rafa Sandoval
Colours: Tomeu Morey
Publisher: DC Comics

Last issue's tease of the epic confrontation between Guy Gardner and Arkillo gave us one of the bloodiest fights in Green Lantern history.

While John Stewart's Green Lanterns and Soranik's Yellow Lanterns are off to find rogue members of the Sinestro Corps, Guy spends the entire issue taunting and getting his ass handed to him by Arkillo. Their fight was, surprisingly, interspersed with scenes from Guy's childhood, when his father regularly beat him for no reason. These scenes were a welcome addition and can offer new readers a better perspective on Guy and why he is the way he is. I felt for Guy during these scenes, and Robert Venditti paced these emotional scenes fantastically.

Rafa Sandoval continues to impress me. His art is the best part about this title, even surpassing Ethan Van Sciver in my opinion. His art provides such a different take on the characters and the overall Lantern universe, which is also achieved with Tomeu Morey's exceptional colouring. The team shines on whichever issue they work on, and Sandoval only seems to be getting better.

Aside from this seriously epic fight and the amazing art, a lot of the book's main problems still find a way to bubble to the surface. Hal feels like he doesn't have much of a place in this title. All he does in this issue is arrive on Mogo, and that's it. Venditti seems to have a problem outlining the focus between Hal and John's story, which obviously seem to be going in different directions with John taking the lead, while Hal does behind-the-scenes work. Why wouldn't Hal go find Guy along with John and Soranik? Hal and Kyle would follow John in a heartbeat. There's some good humour concerning Saint Walker and him not remembering Guy at all. This could've paid off if we went with Hal and Kyle and remembered who Guy was. That would have provided the perfect payoff to the joke.

Despite its flaws, the third instalment of the Quest for Hope storyline fleshes out the universe more while reuniting former friends.