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‘The Green Lantern #12’ (review)

Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Liam Sharp
Published by DC Comics

 

“When you have nothing else.
No hope, no way out.
Who can you rely on?
Who but your Blackstar Comrades?”

 

Of course, as Hal Jordan is about to find out, there is a very good reason there’s no hope.

A reason there’s no way out.

And that reason is the indomitable will of Controller Mu.

This month’s issue, the final in Grant Morrison’s first season of The Green Lantern is called the Return of the Qwa-Man.

But really, it’s more accurate to say that it’s the return of… most everything.

The Qwa-Man, the No-Zone, the dessicated planet of Weirwimm, the United Planets’ Superwatch, Trula Tru and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps, the traitor in their midst, the Blackstars themselves, Beelzebeth, the Guardians, the new Weaponeers of Qward, one surprisingly charming Sinestro, one Durian Luck Dial, one Star Band, one Anti-Matter battery, one particular Green Lantern ring, one co-opted Anti-Matter universe Borderman, and one perfectly timed Zeta Beam.

It’s all here folks. How it all hangs together however, now that is a master class in comics storytelling. For twelve issues Grant Morrison and artist extraordinaire Liam Sharp have been bearing down on this month’s conclusion with a smorgasbord kaleidoscope of the weird and the space operatic that we all knew must fit a greater pattern.

One by one, we’ve been introduced (or re-introduced) to each element of the puzzle. But if you think you really know what’s been going on, well, guess again.

There are so many pleasing twists and turns in this book, and so many critical revelations, it’s almost as if Grant Morrison deliberately plotted things out to be a fun house hall of mirrors once he’d decided to reintroduce the Anti-matter universe to these pages. And boy, has he.

But not all of the Green Lanterns’ threats come from Qward. Some have taken shape in our very own universe. Indeed, for the true Mastermind of our story, anti-matter is simply one more tool to bend towards the realization of his grand designs. (And boy, are they.) The inscrutable, implacable Controller Mu has been playing the long game since the start, one that’s been playing out before our very eyes to its relentless and inevitable end – the inevitable end, of Mu’s choosing.

A little thing like his death must not stop you from understanding the truth of Controller Mu. After all, he made it as plain as he could to Hal Jordan Blackstar Parallax back in TGL #8 – that all things, all outcomes, and all the players in this game exist only to serve his will – the singular Will of Mu.

And in this, our final act of the game, Contoller Mu demonstrates exactly how true that is.

He will destroy this universe, remake it anew. And he will use Hal Jordan as his instrument to do it.

Hal can’t do that, of course. Surely not!

But then, in the end… does he really have any choice at all?

 

Next Issue: Utopia? Maybe? Maybe not.

Blackstars #1 – Coming in November!

 

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