Today, Peter and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern Corps 9, originally released May 30th, 2012.

Peter: The Alpha War is underway. John Stewart is on trial for murdering a fellow Lantern. Green Lantern Corps is the book that is currently sticking close to Oa and the Guardians. Their secret and mischievous plans to eventually get rid of the Green Lantern Corps may start here, and this could very well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

This issue picks up right where the last left off. The Alpha Lanterns have barged into Warriors and accused John Stewart of murdering Lantern Kirrt. Guy stands up for John in the bar, with all of the other Lanterns declaring that the Alphas will have to go through them to get to John. The Alpha Lanterns project into the room a recording of John breaking Kirrt’s neck. John admits his fault and goes with the Alphas into their custody. Guy pleads with the Guardians to intervene. But they stand by the autonomy of the Alpha Lanterns. And besides, the Guardians are pleased with these events, since it is accelerating their plans to break up the Corps. Nearby, several Lanterns break into the the Lantern Crypt in order to smash Kirrt’s crystal because he was going to give up the Oan codes. Guy stops them.

When John’s trial begins, it’s clear the Alphas are presenting a very one-sided case. The Alpha Lanterns ask if anyone has something to say on John’s behalf and good ol’ Guy Gardner starts a lengthy filibuster. Later, Guy visits John in his sciencell and they share a moment. But then the verdict comes down from the Alphas: John Stewart is guilty of murder and will be sentenced to death.

This was a pretty good issue. However, it did almost nothing to advance the story. The majority of this issue was spent focusing on further character development. Yes, it does move closer to the Third Army, and we see the trial, but I have this feeling that in the grand scheme of things, this is really just a blip. With the focus on the trial, we didn’t really learn a whole lot more about the Guardian’s plan. With New Guardians focusing on the Orange Lantern, Invictus, and now the Reach, and the main Green Lantern book delving into the history of the Inidgo Tribe, Corps is really the only book that we get to see the Guardians and their devious plot. Eventually, the stories will all come back together for the next big thing, which we may not see until August in the Green Lantern Annual.

One of things that I really liked about this issue is the large amount of time that was spent of character development. John continues his pattern of brooding and not being able to get over the things that he has done, as we saw with Xanshi and Mogo. The time that John and Guy spend talking in the sciencells really gets to the core of these characters.

Guy’s admission of his own failures and guilt is pretty interesting. It goes against all of his machismo. Guy has always been a real hothead, and a his ego is pretty much unmatched. But this really gets to the core of his character, that behind the ego and machismo he really is scared and rather humble. This is further exemplified by the scene in the crypt. He gives the Lanterns the option to break Kirrt’s crystal, but only if they can say that they had never experienced real fear.

This is the second issue where there is a lot about Fear being brought up, especially by Guy. Remember last issue when they were burying the Yellow Lantern Battery? Guy had the symbol in his eyes when they were burying it. Guy’s preoccupation with bring up fear seems interesting. Does this allude to events to come, which will probably involve the Sinestro Corps that is imprisoned on Oa? I am curious to find out.

John’s humility and depression is getting a little annoying. The fact that he is pretty much stuck in a rut, and hasn’t been able to get out is bothersome. John is a pretty strong character, and the fact that this is taking so long, and he doesn’t show any other emotion is just boring. I want more from this character and I expect that eventually he will make his return to awesomeness.

The Alpha Lanterns, having returned to the forefront of the Green Lantern stories, are pretty interesting. Calling this story arc the Alpha War is an interesting choice, since we haven’t really seen much of a war, outside of a bar brawl. Hopefully this story will pick up, because I’m assuming Guy won’t let them kill John and so I am anxious to see what happens.

Shelby: It’s true, John is definitely stuck in a rut, but he really does end up in the same situations over and over again. Guy called him a “hard-choice magnet,” and he wasn’t exaggerating. I would be way more depressed than John if I had to face the same decisions he’s had to.

While the bulk of the issue is character development, I think this was a much bigger plot step than you do. I’m guessing the announcement of John’s sentence is what kicks off the Alpha War. I was blown away by that announcement, I assumed they would just take his ring.

I’m still not totally sure how much control the Guardians exact over the Alphas. It seems like this trial and sentence play right into their grubby blue hands. Not to mention, we don’t know who was the anonymous source who gave them an edited tape of what happened that fateful night. Or day, I don’t remember what time it was.

Fernando Pasarin did some really interesting things with the art and panel layout in this issue. There are a lot of panels like the one above with a tight focus on the face, which makes sense in a character development story like this one. While I’m not 100% sold on Pasarin’s style, he does convey some beautiful emotion. There’s a full page which I really like, when the Alphas are showing the construct of John killing Kirrt, that has a super narrow panel of each of the 6 lanterns left after the fight with the Keepers.

Each little slice of the screen very eloquently shows what those Lanterns are feeling, and the layout adds a lot of tension to the scene. Plus, come on, that just looks really good.

I don’t mind that this title is moving a little slow, mostly sticking with character development right now. Just a few issues back, we were all complaining about how Lanterns we didn’t know or care about were getting killed in the same issue they were introduced in. I really do think the death sentence for John is going to kick of the Alpha War in a big way in the next issue, and I’m looking forward to seeing how that plays into the Guardians plans to apparently dismantle the Corps in the messiest and least efficient way possible.

For a complete list of what we’re reading, head on over to our Pull List page.  Whenever possible, buy your comics from your local mom and pop comic bookstore.  If you want to rock digital copies, head on over to DC’s website and download issues there.  There’s no need to pirate, right?