Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #5

“Last Will” part five by Peter J. Tomasi and artist Fernando Pasarin.  Guy and his companions are ambushed by a cadre of Green Lantern Rookies who are under the hypnotic influence of Zardor, and believe Gardner and the others to be members of the Sinestro Corps.

Realizing that only through pain the rookies will be able to snap out of their trance, the Emerald Warriors quickly turn the tables on their attackers.  Unfortunately, before they could be sent to Oa for observation, the trainees commit mass suicide by mental command of Zardor.

Once again we see Kilowog’s compassionate and gentle side, while it is Arisia who consoles him.  Tomasi continues showing a different angle of Kilowog’s personality, one that handled properly, could end up giving us a “Master Yoda” kind of character for the Green Lantern Corps; after all, we cannot expect any of the Guardians to ever become that with all their dirty secrets and refusal to feel emotion.

We had been promised a big revelation on this issue, and we got it -sort of.-  Guy starts vomiting blood again, but this time Atrocitus is manifested out of the red exposing Guy’s secret, so Mr. Gardner has no other option but to tell Kilowog and Arisia the truth about the pact he and Ganthet made with the leader of the Red Lanterns.

When you take into consideration that the pact with Atrocitus is the premise of this entire series, the revelation becomes kind of a let down, and there is nothing about it that we don’t already know either through other titles or the teaser from issue #1.  Even the way in which it was presented was uninteresting.  Actually, if you take a look at "Green Lantern Corps #55", where a similar situation happens with Ganthet, we have the same revelation presented in a much better way.

Fernando Pasarin’s pencils are great in this issue; much better than the iffy number four.  This time around, there is no rushed art, there is a lot of detail, and his spread in pages two and three is majestic. Randy Mayor and Gabe Eltreb’s colors once again enhance Pasarin’s art and take it one step forward.  Sadly, what should have been the strongest point of the issue fell short, the revelation was a let down in the art department as well.

The issue ends with Guy telling his friends that no matter what he does, his premonition is coming true, but here is where I ask: five issues and what has Guy done?  When you think about it, so far he has just made it to the unknown sectors, and that’s about it.  Another problem I see is that you definitely need to read the other Green Lantern titles to understand what is going on here.  I am okay with that because I am enjoying all three series, but for someone who is on a budget or only likes Guy Gardner, this is not good news.

Overall, part five of “Last Will”, although a solid issue, it does not deliver after what had been promised to be a big unveiling, and the cracks are starting to show on a series that is becoming too dependent on other titles, and where little progress has been made story wise.  So far, Guy's adventure could have easily been a subplot in one of the other two GL titles.