Review: Green Lanterns Vol. 3- Polarity

Quick Summary

Pros: The majority of the story arcs are entertaining and offer excitement and emotion. The comic’s main characters continue to be enjoyable protagonists who are easy to connect to. The volume continues to expand the Green Lantern lore and build excitement for the future. The artwork trends positive.

Cons: One of the story arcs has some pacing problems.

Overall: This is another easy win for the Green Lanterns series. This comic has thrilling battles, emotional exchanges, plenty of character development, and is backed up by two characters who seem to keep getting better and better. The volume also gives a great tease at the future which helps amplify excitement for the series as a whole. Anyone who enjoyed previous volumes, likes these characters, or is simply interested in a good book from this era should check this collection out.

Story

Green Lanterns Vol. 3: Polarity, by Sam Humphries, continues to tell good stories about good characters. The volume details several exciting encounters that either focus on thrilling battles with villains or intense personal struggles. Both of these encounters allow for some great insight into this comic’s main characters and are a real treat for anyone who enjoys Simon and Jessica. Plus, the volume expands on the Green Lantern lore and gives hints toward future story arcs in a way that builds up even more excitement for future collections. In the end, this is a great collection of stories that is worthwhile at nearly every point.

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Polarity opens up with a fantastic chapter that examines Jessica Cruz and her ongoing struggle with anxiety. The story is a humanizing look at how a real world issue has an impact on a superhero. Plus, the chapter elaborates on the wholesome partnership developing between Jessica and Simon.

From here, Polarity shifts the focus to Simon and begins to examine his own doubts and insecurities. This is first accomplished through a fun team-up with Batman. The team-up opens up plenty of opportunities for excitement and offers up a few fun exchanges between characters but never strays too far from its examination into Simon. It looks at why he carries around a gun and, by the end of the arc, shows that he no longer needs it.

Despite having these positives, this story arc is probably the volume’s weakest. Batman and Commissioner Gordon’s staunch objection to Simon’s gun seems ridiculous considering that his Ring is literally the most powerful weapon in the universe. In addition, the battle against Scarecrow ends immediately after finding him, which makes the arc’s conclusion a little disappointing.

Luckily, the next major arc picks things back up once again. The fight against Polarity is emotional, especially since Polarity is actually trying to do what he believes to be the right thing. It is also exciting, as Polarity poses a serious threat to the Lanterns and is even able to pull the Justice League’s satellite out of space. This arc also continues the examination into Simon Baz by showing that he is still struggling to balance his life as a Green Lantern with his life as a regular person.

While all of this is taking place, Polarity is constantly looking toward the future and developing the next major storyline. The First Lantern gets some serous character development, which helps explain his motivations and further expands the Green Lantern mythos. In addition, the intervention of the Green Lantern Corps into Jessica and Simon’s lives gives a great tease at the immediately upcoming arc.

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Art

The artwork in Polarity trends positive but does have a few places where it disappoints. The majority of the volume is well structured and contains pages that assist with the storytelling. The opening page of “Polarity Chapter Two” provides a perfect start to that particular narrative and a few of the panel layouts in “Darkest Knights” really add to the impact of certain story pieces. Nearly all of the pages are also able to properly depict intense action scenes and deep emotional ones. In addition, I really enjoyed a few special artistic flourishes throughout this book, like the way Simon and Jessica’s constructs are drawn with a different style. In the end, some of the best visuals in this volume end up coming from Robson Rocha and Eduardo Pansica.

However, there are also places where the quality of the art dips. At a few points, characters’ faces end up looking strange and distorted, particularly during the “Darkest Knights” story arc. There are also places, particularly during the “Polarity” story arc, where the jumps between artists and their visual styles produce some dissonance between chapters, which is unpleasant. There aren’t too many of these visual disappointments but when they occur it is unfortunate.

Continuity

Green Lanterns Vol. 3: Polarity continues the story from Green Lanterns Vol. 2: The Phantom Lantern (Review).

The story here continues in Green Lanterns Vol. 4: The First Ring (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Batman mentions Bane’s attack on Gotham City. This attack takes place across Batman #16-20, collected in Batman Vol. 3: I am Bane (Review). 
• The reference to Blackest Night is a reference to the Blackest Night event.
• A flashback in Green Lanterns #16 shows Simon using his gun on Sinestro back in Green Lantern #18, collected in Green Lantern Vol. 3: The End (Review) or in Green Lantern: Wrath of the First Lantern (Review) (Reading Order).
• Batman mentions Jessica’s encounter with the Emerald Empress from the Justice League vs. Suicide Squad (Review) (Reading Order) event. The aftermath from this event is also mentioned.
• Scarecrow obtained a Yellow Lantern Ring once during the Blackest Night event and then again during the “Rising” story arc from Sinestro #17-21, collected in Sinestro Vol. 3: Rising. 
• The rise and fall of the First Lantern was detailed across the Green Lantern: Wrath of the First Lantern (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• The First Lantern’s actions on Earth-3 reference the creation of a Power Ring. This Ring is introduced to this version of the DC Universe through the Forever Evil (Review) (Reading Order) event.
• Simon healed his brother-in-law back in Green Lantern #16, collected in Green Lantern Vol. 3: The End (Review).
• Harcourt took over as head of Task Force X around Suicide Squad #12, collected in Suicide Squad Vol. 3: Burning Down The House (Review).