Green Lanterns 2: The Phantom Lantern

Could do without some of the socio-political commentary that crops up. That's not why I read comics. But the stories overall are better than I expected them to be, and the art is generally superb.

A better read than I expected. Nice to see Jessica starting to come into her own. Plus the phantom ring...what more needs to say?

I enjoyed it, good for fans to add to their collections!~ NorthRustic.com

great art and interesting story. pansica delivers on th art

This book collects Green Lanterns #7-14 with Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz. This time, we get two inter-related story arcs. The Exiled Guardian that arrived in Issue 6 is present for Baz's family Halloween but also is kidnapped by hostile aliens who want what he possesses which turns out to be the phantom ring which sets up the titular Phantom Lantern Arc.The series really does focus on these two characters and their own personal struggles. Yet, it doesn't depend on retreading the same ground, going back to the same well over and over again. The two are definitely comfortable with another as a team. Jessica shows more of a sense of humor and friendliness. She has insecurities and fears that come through the story particularly that she may not really fit as a Green Lantern due to the power of the Phantom Ring's ability to bring out whichever energy is the strongest. I like the resolution to that arc a whole lot. Simon is not sure he's strong enough. They literally have to face their fears in the course of the story.At the same time, the Phantom Lantern is a great character: a man who was saved by Hal Jordan and who became obsessed with becoming a Green Lantern. He gets the phantom ring and we find he may be the worst person in the world to wield it due to his emotional instability and his tendency to drift across the emotional perspective. He's dangerous and unstable, but he's not a monster. It's interesting to see how this plays out.The long-exiled first lantern was the key to helping him achieve his goal, but what that figure is playing at remains a mystery until the end and even then, it appears only acquired a means to an end.Overall, this book exceeded the first and I like Simon and Jessica more than I did after the first volume. This is probably the biggest surprise I've had in reading DC Rebirth. Highly recommended.

Sam Humphries continues his buddy cop saga.Story: After their epic showdown with Atrocitus, Bleez, Dex-Star, and several other Red Lanterns, Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz have to face their fears of social interaction and preparing cookies for an overbearing mother! lol Meanwhile, Rami, the lost Guardian is still trying to stay under the radar from everyone and anyone who would seek the Phantom Ring, but little do they know that someone is coming to Dearborn, someone who's wanted to be a GL for many years. I liked getting the extensive background story on our new villain, Frank Liminski. I was shocked to see the crucial moment in his life when he almost got what he wanted, and then to find out what happened instead! I can't wait to see a story with Liminski facing off against Hal Jordan as they are perfect mirror images of one another. It's a kind of situation where one wonders what Hal's life would have been like if he were never "chosen". This story brings Simon and Jessica closer as partners, and they need to work well together if they want to defeat the Phantom Lantern. Liminski is made even more dangerous by the fact that he is being guided in secret by an old GL enemy, who has his own agenda. It was cool to get some background on Rami as well. Liminski and the Phantom Ring make a good villain as they really represent the opposite of the nature of a GL, that is, a GL is chosen by their ring, but anyone can pick up the Phantom Ring and use it (if it doesn't destroy them). Liminski feels very entitled, especially after coming so close to being a GL. This entitlement and his relentless dedication to make himself into what he thinks a GL ought to be makes him a dangerous villain as he is SUPER motivated beyond almost anyone, and an optimist; something you don't see very often in villains. One of the great attributes about Sam Humphries' run on this book so far (and I didn't know if he'd be able to pull it off two volumes in a row) is that he progresses characters significantly further. Geoff Johns introduced Jessica Cruz and we got to see a baseline character in the main JL title and she had a prominent role in The Darkseid War, but save for becoming a GL, she was mostly the same character by the start of Rebirth. Humphries has done wonders in advancing her character, and I'm not going to spoil the end of this book, but we get exactly what we've needed from Jessica this whole time. I didn't want it to be rushed, but this story involving a ring that feeds on one's most powerful emotions allowed the character of Jessica Cruz to advance further. She's gone on a long journey for such a relatively new character, and I was getting a little exhausted with the whole "I'm not ever going to be good enough" attitude that she had. Humphries deals with this well! I'm still not sure how I feel about Baz still carrying a gun as a GL. They have characters in universe berate him for carrying a "crude" weapon when he has the most powerful weapon in the universe on his finger, but this does allow for some good development. I'd like Humphries to advance Baz some, with him either finally ditching the gun entirely (but then he'd be just like every other GL), OR writing it in such a way that Baz is smarter for having a backup as we know that GL rings run out of power from time to time, and it seems to happen when a GL needs their rings most. Jessica, being the newer character, needed to be focused on more so we could learn more about her and care more about her, but I think Humphries should now focus on Baz some. One of the things I really liked about Baz as a character was when Johns wrote that Baz was able to use his ring to have his brother in law wake from a coma, something that a Guardian said was impossible, and not even Hal Jordan could do. Things like this distinguish each Lantern from one another, and makes them more unique, which is important in a Corps of similarly uniformed officers. I guess that's the irony of the storytelling aspect of a GL book: it's book of uniformed space cops that should all act the same in the line of duty, but what makes it a great story is when we see all the idiosyncrasies that separates each Lantern apart from any other one. Anyway, this story ends with a pretty big, though somewhat predictable ending. Either way, I'm super excited for volume 3!! Sam Humphries is working magic here.Art: Robson Rocha is a great artist! I feel as though he is a worthy successor to the likes of other famous GL artists like Ethan van Sciver, and Ivan Reis. His penciling style is very similar to van Sciver's, which is good if you wish that he was on this title. Perhaps some people might wish Rocha to have a more distinct style separate from van Sciver's, and it's not an exact carbon copy, but I think it just reminds me of van Sciver's style so much. I personally don't mind. Both Rocha and van Sciver seem to be heavily influenced by Brian Bolland's style anyway, and that's fantastic if it's true. The other artists in this book also do a great job and everyone here seems to have a similar style, which is good as it gives the book a very cohesive feel. One of the things I know many people were worried about with DC announcing rotating art teams is that the books would have a very un-cohesive feel to them as if each title were worked on by 20 people, but I have to give DC credit as for the most part, they've paired artists together who have very similar styles so the titles come across as being one large work, and reading them gives this sense of one vision moving forward. This book is beautiful, and as with all GL books, very vibrant and full of color (duh).Overall: I enjoyed this second volume after reading a darn good tale in volume 1, and I'm really into this overall premise of two rookie GLs having to work together to protect Earth from any possible threat that could overwhelm them at any time! This idea of throwing the newbies into the lion's den is a great storytelling opportunity, and DC capitalized on it. This format furthers the characterization of two beings, rather than just one, in order to save time. I know Venditti's GL books of the New 52 weren't the best received by fans, but it's good to see the GL books make a great comeback with this title (and Venditti's Hal Jordan and the GL Corps is AMAZING too, if you haven't checked that out yet). I'm perfectly happy with reading two GL books as we get adventures on Earth (where I'd like to see more GL adventures) and we get space adventures with Venditti's title where we can focus on all the other Lanterns. I hope you continue to read this title as it's some great stuff. Humphries has gold here! I only gave it four stars because I didn't think this story went high enough in scope and scale, but it was still great!

Great art, great story and a great new villain in the form of the phantom lantern. Hard to say anything about the story without major spoilers so if you enjoyed volume 1 and like green lantern in general then this is a book for you. I love the fact that this series is like an 80s buddy cop film where you have 2 completely different people from very different backgrounds coming together, Jessica Cuz is the better of the 2 but I still enjoy Simon Baz.

Loved this book. Great blend of new spins with being true to the source material

Während Hal Jordan mit dem Green Lantern Corps weiß der Henker wo mit weiß der Henker was beschäftigt ist, sind Jessica Cruz und Simon Baz die neuen Green Lanterns der Erde. Simon hat eine nicht ganz astreine Vergangenheit und Jessica leidet unter einer Angststörung, aber als GLs müssen sie sich zusammenraufen und bekommen es mit der Phantom Lantern Frank Laminski zu tun.Laminski wollte schon immer eine GL werden, wurde aber nie vom Ring gewählt. Doch nun bekommt er von der abtrünnigen ersten GL, Volthoom, die Chance, den Phantom Ring zu tragen, den einzigen Ring, der seinen Träger nicht selbst wählt und alle Farben des Spektrums bedient. Tatsächlich gelingt es, den Ring dem auf der Erde exilierten Wächter abzuluchsen. Aber Laminski hat nicht das Zeug zum Helden, sein zerrissener Charakter macht ihn zur Gefahr für die ganze Welt.Die Story hat sich gut gelesen, wenn sie auch etwas pathetisch und disneyesk ist. Es geht viel darum, dass frei formuliert "with great power comes great responsibility" (kommt das jemandem bekannt vor?) und um das Überwinden eigener Schwächen. Sehr zum Lesegenuss beigetrage hat auch die Artwork, die mir ausgesprochen sympathisch ist.Jessica Cruz hat das Zeug zu einer liebenswerten, wirklich starken Heldin und wird aus dem GL-Universum hoffentlich nicht so bald wieder verschwinden.