For a handful of issues I have been going back and forth over if I am enjoying this run or am I just reading it because this is a new Green Lantern comic? Absolute Green Lantern #10 has pushed me back over to the side of “this is fun and I am digging it” once again. This might be my second favorite issue out of the ten we have so far.
We start out with Todd Rice in a contraption asking to be let out after he has heard a voice telling him that he has been found and he must be without fear. When it opens up there is a man there who chats with him for a moment to see if he is ok and then as Todd is asking for pain killers the man above asks for those hose to be brought to him so he can feed it into this device. As we advance the panels it turns out that Hector Hammond is behind this setup and they are going to pump the black ooze from the Evergreen into the tank with Todd Rice to see what happens.
Al Ewing gives you zero time to relax and take it all in as we move from this right into the battle between Jo Mullein and Goldface! Goldface has shot Jo with obviously gold bullets which happens to be the kryptonite to the Green Lanterns in the Absolute Universe. She is bleeding out and the ground and is struggling to move. He stands over her body taunting her asking for a drink and even tells her that he doesn’t want her dead. He wants intel from her.
In a pretty hilarious panel Jo lets him get close enough that she is able to uppercut Goldface right into his no-no-zone. It isn’t just a funny panel it does serve a purpose. Jo uses this moment to crawl to the kitchen where she decides she is going to find some tools and see if she can take the gold bullets out of her body via a fun game of “operation”.
Goldface struggles to get in the kitchen because of how Jo used some of her power to fuse with the door. While he does this she finds some pliers to play doctor with and get the bullets out of her. She struggles with it and has a couple scenes play in her mind. She gets the first one out and there is just blood all over the place. As she is getting the second one out Goldface is able to finally kick in the door and enter the room.
Unfortunately, for Goldface, things do not go as he would have liked as the second bullet hits the ground, Jo is able to use the green in order to heal herself. And not just heal herself! She is able to power up like a Super Saiyan and take the pliers and get them jammed into Goldface’s face. It also looks like the green is able to start melting his face as the top of his head and his mouth and teeth look fried.
After she stabbed and melted Goldface, Simon Baz and company show up to see Hal Jordan on the couch in a coma and Jo shining green in this state. She doesn’t know if these folks are friendly or hostile and she is a bit on the offensive and attacks Simon. Partly because she is on edge and partly because Simon is wearing a mask and she couldn’t see his face. It was after the mention of his being there to pick up the pieces of his best friend while she went through the divorce with said friend before she realized who he was and calmed down.
After they get to talking they start breaking down how some of the different colors affect each other and then to get more information, Kari touches the body of Goldface so she can use her clairvoyance and psychometry skills to see who was it that gave up where Jo was to Goldface. When she does this she sees that it was a man named Keith Kennedy who worked for the same Hector Hammond we were discussing in relation to Todd Rice.
In our final pages we go back to where we started. We see the area where Todd Rice was being monitored as they were working on the experiment of pumping the black ooze into his tank where he was being held. The man who was watching over Todd Rice finds Hector Hammond to give him the bad news. They are getting readings from the black ooze but they are getting nothing from Todd Rice. No brain activity at all. Where you think this would make Hammond upset, he quips that this “Obsidian” husk they have created is exactly what he was looking for. Long time Green Lantern fans might get a kick of Obsidian and Todd Rice being mentioned together.
And this is where our story ends this month. Again, I believe that this is a really strong issue and has be back on board with enjoying this run. It just felt like we got a lot happening this issue but things continue to sort of come together. If we get a couple of more issues as strong as this one I am going to start recommending Absolute Green Lantern to my friends that haven’t picked it up yet.
Written by: Al Ewing
Artists: Sid Kotian
Cover Art: Jahnoy Lindsay