Green Lantern Corps #15: John Stewart’s Inner Turmoil

Green Lantern Corps #15 continues the two track storytelling that began in the previous issue with one track focused on Guy Gardner and the other on John Stewart. Similar to the previous issue, these two storylines are particularly distinct in that one is considerably more character and emotion based than the other.

Guy’s storyline in Green Lantern Corps #15 packs a touch of emotion in its final pages, but it is largely a nuts and bolts continuation of the emotional entities plot that spun out of DC K.O. This is easily the most A to B to C storyline the series has seen since Starbreaker Supremacy. As such it’s the least accessible so far without having read the previous entries.

John Stewart’s confrontation with Parallax in Green Lantern Corps #15, on the other hand, is almost entirely character based. There is a real world conflict against a Parallax controlled John on Korugar, but that’s not where the meat of the storyline is. Hampton uses Parallax as a means to take a journey within John’s mind to both explore deep seated issues that John has and to reconcile him, at least in part, to the life his double lived before his death in the Starbreaker Supremacy. John’s guide through this experience is a vision of his mother, the person who he feels he let down the most.

This is actually a very good use of Parallax. Since the villain feeds on fear, this kind of internal confrontation is far more interesting than a fairly standard fight sequence against a possessed John Stewart.

Art duties in Green Lantern Corps #15 are handled by Pasarín and Albert, making two issues in a row that they have done so. It’s been since the Starbreaker Supremacy that there’s been any artistic consistency on the series (that was also Pasarín and Albert), so this is a welcome development and hopefully a sign of things to come.

Pasarín and Albert continue to have a good handle on delivering expressive and, as a result, emotional characters. This is key in John’s storyline where the real power is in his internal struggle. Their work is best showcased in a sequence where John and the vision of his mother are standing over a representation of her grave. A combination of very thin, short lines, heavier longer lines, and groups of lines for greater shading create significant depth in John’s features. This is clearly evident in both wider pulled back views and closeups when tears are streaming down his face. Pasarín and Albert create a good sense of dimension.

High levels of detail aren’t just reserved for character features and expression, though. Action sequences benefit considerably as well. Guy’s storyline sees his team of Lanterns confront an army of Manhunters. Their features are well defined even in huge group shots and wider, pulled back views. The backgrounds on the Manhunters’ native world Biot are of similar high quality. And an explosion of Manhunters delivers layers of flames and Mahunter parts, creating a sense of size and dimension as one of Guy’s team flies through the middle of the conflagration.

Coloring further enhances the art’s overall depth and dimension. Prianto’s ability to layer colors is especially complementary to Pasarín and Albert’s work. This is especially clear in that same explosion.

These various action sequences are full to bursting with sound effects. Sharpe does a very good job tying the sound effects to physical impacts and explosions, such as placing them in front of and surrounded by a row of sequential explosions or setting them on the same angle a character’s body is as it impacts a surface.