Green Lantern (2011-2016): Lights Out

Green Lantern (2011)

by Robert Venditti, Billy Tan (Illustrator), Justin Jordan (Artist)

The epic event that will forever change the universe and the different color Lantern Corps forever!

Relic has arrived and the universe with shiver in his wake. The lights of the Lanterns are fading as the emotional spectrum is being drained. It is up to Hal and the Green Lanterns to rally the other Corps together if they are going to survive. Many won't and others will change allegiances, but one thing is certain--nothing will ever be the same.

This volume collects Green Lantern New Guardians #23-24, Green Lantern #23.1: Relic, #24, Red Lanterns #24, Green Lantern Corps #24, Green Lantern Annual #2.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

183 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 24, 2014

About the author

Robert Venditti is a New York Times bestselling author of more than three hundred comic books and graphic novels. Some of his works include the monthly comic book series Justice League, Superman ’78, Hawkman, and Green Lantern for DC Comics, X-O Manowar, Armor Hunters, and Wrath of the Eternal Warrior for Valiant Entertainment, and the graphic novel Six Days, inspired by the story of his uncle’s participation in D-Day. He has also adapted Rick Riordan’s global bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus novels, as well as Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia and Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz. His graphic novel The Surrogates was adapted into a feature film by Touchstone Pictures, and his work on The Flash was the basis for season three of the CW television series.

Venditti lives in Atlanta, where he both writes and serves as a storytelling consultant for some of the most recognizable entertainment brands in the world.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lanterns only understand violence!
So, I, Relic, will violence them to death!
And then he says that about a million more times...

Relic is a leftover being from the universe before our universe. And the Light Wielders (or whatever they were called) drained all of the emotional spectrum energy out of his universe, despite his protests that Light was a finite resource. Those darn guys just wouldn't listen to him!
And once they used it all up?
BIG BANG!
Somehow he survived (in stasis) the extinction of his universe, and he's recently been awakened (I'm thinking it was Kyle who woke him up...), and now he's on a mission to save our universe.

Alright. I've read most of this before in a different book. This is just the crossover volume that collects the majority of the titles in one place.

Here's what you need to know:
Hal, despite being told over and over and over again by Relic that the universe is in danger of running out of Light, just barrels ahead like an ass and keeps trying to punch him.
Relic, despite being told over and over and over again by Kyle that he is willing to help him sort this mess out, continues to try to suck the life out of the Lanterns.
Bottom Line?
There's a lot of fighting that could have been EASILY avoided.
But that's just Crazy Talk!

Lovely art (as always), and a few nice moments between some of the Lanterns. And I like the environmental theme they're trying to pull off here.
Buuuuut...
Unfortunately, the presentation?
Come on!?
The fighting was just redonkulous.
Relic might as well have been twirling a mustache for all the nuance his character was given.
Sorry, guys! I would love to listen to reason, but my giant ego is cackling too loudly right now.
And Hal?
He was about as subtle as a foghorn.
Yeah, I know the whole Fly Into Danger With No Plan thing didn't work the first 10 times we tried it, but I've got a reeeeeeally good feeling about it this time around!


P.S. Everything was Super-Sized in the universe before ours.
So Relic is HUGE.
And yet...still not cool.

Unless you're a hardcore Lantern fan, no.

[Koen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't know why so many people dislike this, but I'm one of the non-haters :)

Perhaps the story behind Relic is a bit farfetched but all in all it was a pleasant story, with a special twist at the end..
Not going to spoil anything, don't you worry ;)

But I saw nice teamwork, characters having fun, with some good jokes in there.. love.. hate.. the whole package..

Plus the artwork definitely the whole was a good deal!

[Malum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this a lot more than I have any right to. The villain, Relic, is an unabashed Galactus knockoff and I hated the whole "we can't use the rings anymore because light is a finite resource now" plot. But, despite that, this was really fun and almost non-stop action from beginning to end.

[Arturo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yikes! So much hate for this book, I guess I'll start with a little defense. There doesn't seem to be a lot of depth to the character of Relic, and that's something I'll agree on, I didn't even notice because I'm just used to it. Especially when you've read comics from the 90's. Even a great X-Men villain like Mr. Sinister didn't get much depth until later stories. Our villains motivation is something iv seen time and time again, from a small DC crossover like the Millennium Giants to Our Worlds at War with beings wanting to wipe out everything for new start. And any other time you consider our villains motivation as ..'well he has a point'. I was tired of it at one point, now I see it's just a trope.
Iv seen a lot of complaints about the writing, but I don't see it as a step down, just a change of pace.
One thing no one has brought up is that it's the 3rd crossover within a year, and that's where it stands out for me, I was expecting to be tired of another crossover, but there I was wondering how they're going to get out of this one.
How many times can you read about somethings destruction, something thats probably been destroyed more times that the Hellicarrier, ..but with our heroes running with building crumbling around them.. Well they got me again.
So I'll give props to the writing. I guess I'll check out X-O ManOwar sooner than later.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some how already read this in the Green Lantern, Vol. 4: Dark Days collection. To the story's discredit, I thought it was a continuation until the last couple of issues. Revisiting the story did it no favors. Hal Jordan is horribly written...and that's saying something. This was a wipe-the-slate-clean story that is the new writer of the title setting up shop, and I don't like what he's selling. I'll keep reading it because I've been reading since Green Lantern: Rebirth and it fills the space opera need in my life, but, I'm not stoked about the new NEW 52 Green Lantern title.

Oh, and the villain Relic, is about as nuanced and layered as a silent film villain. It's a shame he didn't have a waxed mustache and black top hat and cape to go with his one thing he said in as many ways as possible.

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

No, just no.

[Brent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lots of talent on view to make a cosmic story a little bland.

[Mike O'Brien · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did Robert Venditti actually read Green Lantern before writing this? Because there is a clear misunderstand in how the rings work. However, before I get there, this story is just boring. Relic is a one dimension character that has zero personality and it appears the writers are trying to make us side with him because "he is right." Him being right by the way, completely contradicts everything in Green Lantern history.

Another huge problem I had is that Hal Jordan is written HORRIBLY. He does not act like Hal at all and doesn't even sound like the same character is speaking.

Robert Venditti clearly just wanted to "change the status quo" because he thought that would make a good story, but it didn't. It just made for more plot holes, and still can't mask how stale the characters act.

1 star because the art was ok.

The following can be seen as SPOILERS:
1. Everyone knows that the light that powers the lantern's rings comes from emotion. This emotion comes from every living being in the universe, NOT a "resevior" that can be drained. This makes no sense.
2. If the white entity kills itself, then why did the Blackest Night storyline happen? The whole point was to save the white entity because it represents life.
3. If the various Lanterns are killing the universe by using their rings, why should we root for them? Is the point to cancel the Lantern books? I think the point was to care about how they are going to deal with this problem going forward, but I dropped the book after reading GL for a decade. Instead, I am just going to pretend that Green Lantern #20 was the final GL book written until we get a new writer (or a retcon). You should save your money.

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book series was so awesome, and then Robert Venditti takes over and turn the story line into a thinly veiled propaganda piece for conservationism.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 3 out of 5]

I could have sworn I already read this...

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great art. But boring villain, nonsensical plot, butchered characters, etc. I think it's about high-time I stop reading GL. It was my favorite series too.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geoff Johns wrote an extended era of Green Lantern comics that finally came to an end a few years into the "New 52" era, and he passed the baton to Robert Venditti, who followed the basic pattern Johns had set by having one major story arc after another. Lights Out was the first of them, and it set the tone for what readers could expect from Venditti. I for one chose to view it, and Venditti, as good, but not really my cup of tea.

By "major story arc," I mean that Johns, and subsequently Venditti, attempted to ratchet up the stakes of the existence of all those green rings. Johns did so by expanding the concept, so that there weren't just green rings, but yellow rings (actually, those already existed when he came around, so he merely had to repurpose them), red rings, violet rings (again, repurposed), blue rings, indigo rings, orange rings, and even white and black rings. (I can see where those looking in from the outside would deem all this as silly, but the logic is sound in-context.) Some of these rings were natural allies, some naturally opposed, and in that sense generally expanded the mythology of Green Lantern. Johns could get away with writing constantly about the mythology rather than anything those using one of these rings just...did with them, because he was the one who came up with all the ideas, and no doubt it was very easy to get caught up, once the ball got rolling, in the possibilities. By the time he left, Johns had sort of realized he needed to step back a little, and so he introduced a new Green Lantern who mostly focused on his own problems (Simon Baz, a Muslim who was confused as a terrorist before he got the ring).

But Venditti was no doubt auditioned on his ability to keep that ball rolling, and so that's exactly what he did. Lights Out posits that all those rings were possibly...a very, very bad thing. As in, using-them-actually-kind-of-hastens-the-end-of-the-universe kind of bad. And it's not even the villain (Relic) who alone believes this, but Venditti has it be the truth of the matter. Star Trek (in The Next Generation) once did an episode ("Forces of Nature") where the basic concept of warp drive was similarly inherently destructive. I get it, us being in the era of awareness that oil is a finite resource, but...That's just not something that's...fun? finding out about basic elements of how the good guys operate in your favorite fictional universes as kind of making them the bad guys. I don't object to adding a little sober reality to flights of fancy, but it also seems like it's something quite different, for Venditti, than what Johns was doing before him.

Venditti's main claim to fame before tackling Green Lantern was the third version of Valiant's X-O Manowar, in that franchise starting from scratch and was therefore in complete control. I personally think it was a mistake to tap him to replace Johns. But he was also perfectly in-line with the whole "New 52" era, which sought to create a fairly self-contained version of DC continuity, a line-wide Marvel Ultimates. Perhaps too wide. By the time "Futures End" came around, it became eminently clear that DC was comfortable envisioning the end of the story for all involved, which is of course exactly what ended up happening not long after, before the "Rebirth" era began, with a more expansive, unlimited feel to the line once again.

Meaning, all bets were off. Meaning, Venditti could do whatever the hell he wanted, including Lights Out, beginning with Lights Out. He would later pit the Green Lanterns against the New Gods, and then let Hal go full rogue, using a gauntlet rather than a ring, and by the time it should've been clear that Venditti wasn't really following the Johns template at all, but doing it his own way. Some will find it easy to appreciate, a nice break from Johns, a new flavor. Others, like me, will have a harder time, especially if they really liked the Johns flavor.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uniwersum Zielonych Latarni ma się ostatnio nieźle. Na tyle dobrze, że w pewnym momencie na łamach czterech serii można przeczytać trzy większe crossovery praktycznie mające miejsce jeden po drugim. Pytanie tylko, czy takie zastosowanie nie sprowadzi na serie pewnego zmęczenia materiału, bowiem dwa poprzedzające Lights Out tytuły do najwyższych lotów nie należały.

Tutaj mamy zresztą podobnie, bowiem historia ukazana nam w omawianym produkcie jest solidna, ale de facto nie wyróżnia się niczym szczególnie dobrym. Przeciwnie, miałem wrażenie pewnej wtórności, w myśl zasady co za dużo to nie zdrowo, choć i tak Lights Out są crossoverem nieco innym, bowiem w moim zdaniu nie za bardzo opłaca się go kupić, gdyż wszelkie zeszyty w nim zawarte są umieszczone w poszczególnych tomach serii Green Lantern, Red Lanterns, Green Lanterns Corp czy Green Lanterns: New Guardians. To sytuacja przeciwna do tej z wydarzeń z Wrath of the First Lantern czy Rise of the Third Army, gdzie można było sobie darować trzecie tomy wspomnianych czterech serii, bo wszystko było zawarte w tych wydarzeniach. Tu jest na odwrót, gdy więcej zawartości jest w poszczególnych, czwartych tomach cyklów, co rozszerza nam perspektywę, np. skąd u licha Relic miał informację na temat źródła zasilania latarni, skoro dopiero co się wybudził.

Takie zagranie oznacza praktycznie, że Lights Out samo niby się broni, ale wraz z dodatkową zawartością wypada znacznie lepiej. Cieszy mnie, że obok Hala Jordana, który jest tutaj nadal sporym dupkiem, dobrano też całą masę postaci o jakichś charakterach, gdzie zdecydowanie bryluje Guy Gardner. Dawniej charakterna Zielona Latarnia, teraz nieformalny lider Czerwonych Latarni, każdym tekstem powodował zaciesz na mojej twarzy. Idealne re-lokowanie postaci. Kluczową rolę odgrywa tu jednak ktoś inny. Kyle Rayner. Biała Latarnia, który zaczyna wyrastać na naprawdę fajną personę. (choć Guy'a nie przebije).

Relic. Byt z czasów wcześniejszego, innego Wszechświata, który przetrwał zapadnięcie się uniwersum przez nadmierne eksploatowanie Światła. Tak, im więcej Latarnie każdego koloru używają swojej mocy, tym bliżej nastąpić może katastrofa o niewyobrażalnej skali. Antagonista chce odzyskać całą moc, jaką dysponują Latarnie i oddać ją do źródła, aby ponownie zasilić zapasy Światła. Cel jakby nie było nobliwy, ale sposoby jego realizacji są już nie do przyjęcia, choć tak naprawdę większość walk, gdyby nie upartość co poniektórych postaci(vide Jordan) w zasadzie dałoby się je uniknąć, bowiem rozwiązanie całego problemu okazuje się niezwykle... proste.

Tym bardziej, że tytułowe Lights Out nie ma takich reperkusji jakby mogło mieć i nie dotyczy wszystkich kolorów Latarni, bo przeznaczenie dopada jedynie te Niebieskie. Reszta pozostaje nietknięta. Owszem, całe zamieszanie ma swoje reperkusje, chociażby w takim nieco totalitarnym myśleniu Hala, który został formalnie szefem Korpusu Latarni, a któremu przyszło na myśl... Ścianie tych, którzy nadużywają mocy pierścieni, aby ograniczyć ich użycie. Tylko powstaje pytanie: Co z samymi Zielonymi Latarniami? Czy używanie przez nich mocy, aby odebrać Światło innym będzie sprawiedliwe. To pytanie na które odpowiedzi jeszcze się pojawią.

Relic jest niezbyt ciekawym villain'em. Ma racjonalny motyw i cel, ale wszystko dzieje się zdalnie. Latarnie mnie atakują, to i ja je zaatakuje, po co tłumaczyć swoje racje, bo przecież wszystkie działania usprawiedliwia zapobieżenie nadchodzącej katastrofie. To istota ślepo zapatrzona w to co sobie uroiła w główce i tylko tyle. Mamy za to sporo walk, wiele poświęcenia i całkiem dobrą finalną rozwałkę z "dramatycznym" wejściem odsieczy. Jako, że na całość składa się kilka serii to mamy tu popis całej gamy różnych artystów, ale w mojej opinii było to rzetelne.

Taki jest Lights Out. To crossover, który ma jakieś zalety, ale zdecydowanie bardziej lepiej jest go przeczytać w kolejności po nabyciu czwartych tomów serii o przygodach Latarni w ramach New 52, niźli dokupić sobie ten event oddzielnie. Oczywiście dla chcącego nic trudnego.

[Leandro Raimundo · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, I love Green Lantern and all the corps and it's story. But I can't help but feel that since Blackest Night, the writers only wanted to make another big story that "changes the DC Universe", and they don't focus on showing how the corps and the universe moves on. Instead, here is introduced a new concept of an "old universe". And from that universe came an ancient character who wants to "save this universe", even though he is a stranger. I don't understand how his plan would work, because he blames the corps of draining the light source of his universe, and he comes and wants to destroy every lantern? Wouldn't it drain the light source faster?
Anyway, at least it puts the lanterns in a new position, and I'm interested in seeing how their storys goes on, but I'm a bit exhausted of macroevents or crossovers like this.

[Eli Seibert · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I actually seem to be in the minority who enjoyed this book. I like that you actually take the antagonist's side to a degree. Relic is a scientist from the universe before this one who found out those who wield the light of emotions are actually draining energy from the universe. He's basically Jor-el telling the government to stop swiss-cheesing Krypton. And of course they don't listen, so everything explodes. And- because reasons- he survives, and finds himself in the new universe. Aha! He has a second chance to change that fate and save creation!
So even as he's battling the lanterns, I was conflicted on whose side to take. Because if what he claims is true, then the lanterns are just draining the universe's battery, and he wants to prevent that.
Everyone's the hero of their own story after all.

[Joseph Young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moderately interesting story of another universe being, from a universe that was destroyed by the Lanterns. Now he wants to save the next universe by destroying the Lanterns. Hal is stupid and constantly wants to fight. How could such an idiot be the leader of the Green Lanterns? There seemed to be some subplot about a Pink lantern being in love with the White Lantern. Overall the plot was fairly obvious and expected, but the execution of the pictures made it worthwhile. I loved the use of color and constructs. If you read for plot, don't read this one.

[violetDelights · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't get the hate for this! I get that it's a big status quo change, but i enjoyed throughout, i think there were fun interactions between all the characters. I think Hal gets the short end of the stick characterization-wise, becoming sort of a one-track-mind, attack without thinking kind of guy, but maybe that what leadership leads him to be.

Overall pretty enjoyable storyline and execution!

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d read a lot of bad reviews for this crossover so I didn’t expect much, so I was surprised by how much I liked it! I thought it was a fun Lantern event that had stakes that set an interesting new status quo for the Lantern mythology and raised moral questions that would linger for the rest of Venditti’s run. Relic is an interesting villain, and the along with all the cool space action, makes this a fun read!

[Paweł · Rating 2 out of 5]

5-zeszytowa historia przecinająca 4 serie latarników New52. Jedyne, co szokuje, to że... spoiler! moc spektrum emocji jest ograniczona i prawie już się wyczerpała, co może doprowadzić do unicestwienia wszechświata. No i Relikt zamiast pokojowo przekazać tę informację, rzuca się na nich z laserami. Good job.

[Iris Nevers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading New 52 so far after Rebrth wrapped up is really hurting my head. This trade introduced the concept that the Green Lanterns (and all corps for that matter) are using energy out of a reservoir.
But that's not even a thing anymore?? I hope this irons itself out before the end of New 52 or I'm gonna have some problems

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

As corny as I think the "power of the emotional spectrum" is, I did like what they did with it here and how it involved all the different factions. Obviously some huge changes in the "lanterns" universe going on here. Can I just say that Hal Jordan is the Scott Summers of DC? Anyone else getting that?

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this graphic novel was pretty good. I liked the story line about how Relic came from the universe before ours to try to warn the current "light-bearers" that the power they possess is not infinite.

[Paul Allard · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really my cup of tea. They've really developed the Green Lantern Universe into a very complicated and, in my view, it's all unnecessary. Disappointing effort. Lots of very colourful and reasonably good artwork.

[Kurt Vosper · Rating 4 out of 5]

The different Lantern Corps have to join together to fight a new menace, Relic who may be actually saving them from oblivion. At the same time the Lanterns learn that the use of their powers may not be as benign as they have assumed. Decent story and some great art.

[Carly · Rating 4 out of 5]

There really needs to be a printed collection of this whole story. It's so much better with all the context. I really hate what happened to the entities. I'm curious about what's going on with Kyle though.

[Sean Goh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Them feels when the various home planets go kaboom. The end is never easy.

[Earl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sans Kyle the White Lantern and the idea of a supply of light, nothing much worth looking into.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I found this book, and not just figured out things were missing from the black page "elsewhere in" in the corresponding Green Lantern book...

[Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pretty in to this. I thought it made good use of the various corps. The villain had an interesting motivation. I also liked seeing a different side of Hal.

[Jonas Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some weird parts with Jordan being overly reckless but still decent