COMIC BOOK REVIEW: Green Lanterns #48 (Jessica Cruz on the Run from the Corps!)

Jessica tries to piece together her memories of the past 24 hours, and runs from the Green Lantern Corps.

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Green Lanterns # 48
Writer: Aaron Gillespie
Artist: RonanCliquet
Colorist: Hi-Fi
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Cover Artist: Paul Pelletier, Danny Miki, Adriano Lucas
Variant Cover: Warren Louw
Editors: Brian Cunningham Asst. Editor: Andrew Marino
Publisher: DC Comics
What You Need to Know:

Jessica wakes up in a hungover state, only she has never tasted a drop of alcohol. She is confused by what has happened, as she has lost a good amount of time that she cannot account for. While she pieces her last day together she is chained up by a New Green Lantern named Tig. He tells her that she is under arrest for crimes that she just does not remember, and that the order came from Hal Jordan himself.

She asks the ring to recount for her lost time, and luckily it has been recording every moment since she first put it on.

She finds out that she was tasked by the GL Corps to escort Transport of food and supplies to a Max Security Prison. After her meeting with the driver, the local police arrive and Jessica reacts by attacking the Police with reckless abandon!

What You’ll Find Out:
On the run, Jessica goes to the place besides Earth that she feels most at home, the Planet Ungara. She shows up at the now retired Regent Vok’s Home and is welcomed by Liseth!

It appears that she is still working out her injuries, but is very much alive and out of the coma! Her mother, the once leader of Ungara, has retired to take care of her daughter. They each agree to help Jessica evade the Lanterns, at least until Jessica can figure out what just happened.

Since the Green Lanterns have a tracking beacon on all of the rings, Hal, Arisia, and Kilawog show up looking for Jessica. They tracker her straight o the bedroom, and as Hal Opens the door, he is surprised to see, the Green Lantern Ring attached to their Cat! A ruse that Hal himself would normally be proud of.

Jessica is off to the Spaceport and on the run! No ring, as she left it in the paws of her host.

What Just Happened?
Jessica sets up a meeting with the last person that he remembers Accampo the driver. He is skeptical of a trick, and she has already risked too much by contacting him directly. They decide to meet on the Moon of Ageax.

The Authorities recognize Jess, and she runs away to make a Space transport, narrowly in time. She makes it to the Moon port and decides to have her first bit of Alcohol ever. A rash decision I say, especially since she’s basically in Mos Eisley Cantina! The two meet up and have a chat about what was going on. He asks “Do you remember our Deal?” and pulls something out of his coat pocket, but he smells a double ross, as Simon Baz descends from the sky!

Rating: 7/ 10
Final Thought:
I am very excited by the return to the art of Ronan Cliquet, and the new direction with the writing of Aaron Gillespie. The subtle changes in the dialogue and story exposition make for a welcome change from Seeley who had been the tile’s mainstay writer for some time. The art is what I expect the standard to be, and the covers are excellent both regular and the Variant covers. Hal is up for a Chase as Jessica is a crafty one. It makes sense with all the time that she spent on Ungara that she would head back there, but I didn’t expect to see Liseth still breathing. The small touches in this issue are what I enjoyed most. The Fake ring construct, the jokes about the Cat that Jessica left the ring on, and Liseth asking about Simon. This is clearly a take from a fresh writer that is getting their footing with a new project, as opposed to one that seemed to be stuck in mediocre stories with a parade of fill-in artists. This is the best issue that I have read in ages! Run Jessica Run!