Review: Green Lantern Corps- Lost Army
Quick Summary
Pros: The volume continues some interesting story elements. The story is mostly exciting.
Cons: The main narrative is filled with pacing problems that make it a lot harder to enjoy. One of the cliffhangers is never resolved. The artwork is lackluster.
Overall: This comic, though interesting in some places, has too many problems to be truly worthwhile. The positive points come from a few fun action scenes and general information about the progression of the Green Lantern Corps. However, these positives are held back by serious pacing problems and lackluster artwork. This volume may appeal to readers interested in a continuation of the Green Lantern Corps’ adventures in this era but will likely not appeal to readers unfamiliar with these adventures.
Story
Green Lantern Corps: Lost Army, by Cullen Bunn, is a pretty mediocre read. The story here has some very serious pacing problems that undercut significant moments and create some chaos in the flow of the read. The story also has some fun action and suspense but not enough to balance out the book’s problems. The only other positive it offers is that the volume answers questions about the Green Lantern Corps’ adventures from this era, which may really appeal to some readers. Altogether though, this collection has too much working against it and not enough working for it.
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The biggest positives in Lost Army come from the way it continues story elements from the Green Lantern Corps series and answers questions from the Green Lantern series. Readers get a more in-depth look at Relic’s universe and the weapons of a different type of Lantern Corps. They also see the adventures of the Corps continue and learn the specifics of their disappearance, a major plot point from Green Lantern.
It also helps that the story in Lost Army is moderately exciting. It involves the Green Lanterns teaming up with old enemies in order to survive in an unfamiliar universe. It also involves large battles between powerful groups of soldiers.
However, the pacing in Lost Army is seriously flawed and makes it really hard to enjoy the majority of this collection’s positives. At numerous points throughout the volume, major plot points are glossed over quickly and fail to have nearly the level of impact that they should have. Krona almost immediately teams up with the Lanterns, Jruk’s death passes by with almost no reverence, and the final battle started before I really even realized what was happening. In general, it feels like this collection is trying to do a lot with a limited number of pages but simply is not able to effectively do this.
It is also disappointing that the Krona and Relic storyline does not continue in any other comic. This review is written nearly five years after the publication of this story so, at this point, it seems like this plotline will not be continued at any point. With this in mind, it is upsetting that a decent portion of this comic is spent on something that ends up being pointless.
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Art
The artwork in Lost Army is a lot like the story, it has positives but not enough to make up for its negatives. The visuals here, mostly from Jesús Saíz, are structured well. They flow nicely from panel to panel and effectively utilize splash pages at meaningful moments. However, there are also a number of places where characters are positioned in strange ways or in ways that don’t look quite right. In addition, the way shadows fall often looks strange and makes the characters’ faces look gaunt and sunken-in. In the end, the visuals in this volume are not horrible but they do end up falling a bit below average.
Continuity
Green Lantern Corps: Lost Army is a miniseries that essentially serves as a successor to the Green Lantern Corps series, which ended with Green Lantern Corps Vol. 6: Reckoning (Review). It also continues the story of the Green Lantern Corps’ disappearance, which happened sometime before Green Lantern #41, collected in Green Lantern Vol. 7: Renegade (Review).
The story from this miniseries is directly continued in the Green Lantern Corps: Edge of Oblivion (Review) miniseries.
This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:
- Krona played a large role across the War of the Green Lanterns event.
- The history of Relic and his universe are explained in Green Lantern #23.1: Relic, collected in Green Lantern Vol. 4: Dark Days (Review).
- Relic’s fight against the various Lantern Corps is shown across the Green Lantern: Lights Out (Reading Order) event.
- Green Lantern Corps: Lost Army #6 shows someone fixing something in the universe. This same event is also shown in Green Lantern #46, collected in Green Lantern Vol. 7: Renegade (Review).