Green Lantern Issues 22 and 23 Review: Cruz’s Journey

It’s been a tough road for lantern Jessica Cruz. After being agoraphobic for nearly three years she is chosen to wield a ring that chooses people who have the ability to overcome great fear. The irony running amuck in Green Lantern is the perfect set up for what she and her partner Simon Baz are going to encounter on the planet Mogo (a fellow green lantern and yes, apparently planets have the ability to wield a ring). Now, since the joining of both yellow and green lanterns, everyone has been called to home base. In this case, Cruz and Baz are due for some serious training. Admittedly, Cruz has yet to handle the responsibility of being a lantern. She’s reacted out of terror with nearly mission. Still, she’s been part of the Justice League and has helped thwart the plans of the Red Lanterns. Even if she cannot quite overcome great fear, Cruz is working her way through it. Then there’s Baz. His arrogance and the unusual way in which he got his ring has made an explosive combination. Together they will now go through real training, where they’ll be wishing for the quiet of Kilowog.

Meanwhile, the Guardians’ legacy is playing out. There are thousands of green rings with no owners all because of a glitch in the system. It seems the old fashioned way of searching for a new ring bearer has burned out. Luckily, Rami, the rogue lantern is there to rectify the situation. But this is yet another layer in the space opera. What writer Sam Humphries has planned for readers is a trip into the past, of how the lanterns were created. At the dawn of a new time for all lanterns and the last of the guardians, there’s a shift in what’s about to come.

There is so much readers have to discover about these species who have been chosen to wield will or great fear. For Cruz and Baz there are in a way neophytes. Even Kyle Rayner has the full aplomb of what it takes to be a lantern. However, no one knows the full story of how the green lanterns came to be. That’s something readers may find out before anyone in the comic. It’s the secrets that have kept a stranglehold on the corps. In order for them to have a chance the old guard must die out. With a new mass of enemies between Robert Venditti’s ‘Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps’ and Humphries’ ‘Green Lanterns’ they may not be anyone left to continue the experience of rebirth.

About Donna-Lyn Washington 641 Articles
Donna-lyn Washington has a M.A. in English from Brooklyn College. She is currently teaching at Kingsborough Community College where her love of comics and pop culture play key parts in helping her students move forward in their academic careers. As a senior writer for ReviewFix she has been able to explore a variety of worlds through comics, film and television and has met some interesting writers and artists along the way. Donna-lyn does a weekly podcast reviewing indie comics and has also contributed entries to the 'Encyclopedia of Black Comics,’ the academic anthology ‘Critical Insights: Frank Yerby’ and is the editor for the upcoming book, ‘Conversations With: John Jennings.’

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