Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn II #5 (1991)

Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn II #5 (August, 1991)
“90 Days, Part V: The Price of Power”
Plot & Breakdowns – Keith Giffen
Dialogue – Gerard Jones
Pencils – M.D. Bright
Inks – Romeo Tanghal
Letters – Albert De Guzman
Colors – Anthony Tollin
Editors – Andy Helfer & Kevin Dooley
Cover Price: $1.00

Hal and Sinestro on the run?  Guy Gardner in a suit?  The Fists of the Guardians in Guy Gardner’s suit?  What in the world is going on here???

If you need to catch up, you can do so here, here, here, and here!


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We open up with Hal and Sinestro biding their time on an asteroid.  Sinestro is recounting the events of the previous chapter, and discussing the importance of their “laying low” during such a time.  Hal is shocked to find that by this point they have been “laying low” for the better part of two days!  Hal insists they head back to the prison, and Sinestro feels that may be their best option to avoid discovery.

Back in the prison, a guard has been suckered into coming a bit too close to the bars or trouble-maker (and food fight loser) Clendon.  The poor guard is choked out and robbed of his keys and side-arm.  Clendon, his blonde “homey”, and several more wannabe escapees set out to find Hal Jordan and his magic ring.  

Along the way, the crew encounters another guard.  Rather than rely on stealth, Clendon jams his pistol into the poor guy’s back and blows a hole through him.

As they approach Hal’s cell, the crew is surprised to find it empty.  After tearing the cell apart, they figure Hal may be visiting his pal Gentleman Will, and set out toward the infirmary.

In the infirmary, Will is being visited… but not by Hal.  Caseworker extraordinaire, Guy Gardner is in the house.  He’s worried that Hal’s gone missing over the past 48-hours and what this could mean for the length of his stay in the pen.  During the chat, Guy expresses the importance of anger management and not letting one’s rage get the best of him.

Clendon and Company enter the scene and after roughing up Gentleman Will decide to take Guy Gardner as their very own hostage.  As the goons carry Guy out, his cool appears to be slipping away by the step.

Hal and Sinestro pop back into his cell, and the green explosion in their wake causes a prison guard to stir and pull the alarm.  Hal notices the his cell’s state of disarray, and knows something is going down.  Sinestro bellyaches some more about “chaos” following them.  Chaos seems to be Sinestro’s term for anything that goes against his own idea(s) of order.

Hal and Sinestro head to the infirmary straight away, and meet up with Will.  Sinestro takes the form of Will so he can fit in a bit better in the clink, and despite Hal’s protests… blinks the real Will somewhere outside the prison grounds.

word.

We finally get a cameo from the Fists of the Guardians.  They are currently on the asteroid that Hal and Sinestro stood upon at the start of the chapter.  They appear to be tracking the duo with a great amount of precision… their next reading tells them their next destination is Earth.

Back at the prison, Clendon and Co. are continuing their path of rage.  Clendon is becoming mad with power.  He shoots one of his own due to a minor annoyance, and after viewing Hal and “Will” in one of the guard’s monitors, decides to open every cell in the facility.  The riot is in full-swing!

In the fracas, Clendon is finally able to confront Hal.  He demands he hand over the ring… otherwise, Guy Gardner will be killed.  Sinestro-as-Will gives Hal the okay to hand it over.

Clendon slides the ring on his finger and immediately starts blasting away.  Little does he know that “Will” is actually a ring-wielder himself.  Sinestro sheds his Gentleman facade and nyoinks Hal’s ring back.

All appears to be settled… however, there’s still the matter of the pistol.  Clendon no longer has it… instead Guy’s got it, and it’s aimed directly at the baddie.

Hal pleads with Guy to beg off… to no avail.  Guy pistol-whips Clendon and proceeds to beat him within an inch of his life with his own bare hands.  Hal eventually intervenes with a ring construct… and Sinestro questions the wisdom of saving Clendon’s life.

With the riot averted, Sinestro decides to hit Clendon with a handy-dandy mind-wipe.  Once that’s taken care of, he decides Guy Gardner’s the next to get the brain drain treatment.  Hal won’t stand for this, and gets in Sinestro’s face.  Before they can come to any sort of resolution… enter: The Fists.

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Well, it’s all about to hit the fan innit?  I’m definitely glad this was an Earth-based chapter.  In fact, this series has done a wonderful job of shifting from setting to setting without either overstaying its welcome.  I feared this would be a predominantly space-based series, and am pleasantly surprised to be mistaken.


One of the more striking (no pun intended) bits of this chapter concerns the shift toward violence in Guy Gardner, Social Worker.  Guy finally giving in to his more primal instincts was a lot of fun.  We could feel it percolating in every scene he was in… just bubbling away below the surface.  He just had his fill this issue, and nearly killed a man with his bare hands.  I love the way this was done.  Guy Gardner, with subtlety… with layers.  Not just the fists-first jerk we’ve come to know, but one who’d rather appeal to his own “pussycat” side.


Hal and Sinestro having their team-up was a treat as well.  I really dig that they both have reservations about working with the other, and yet they still manage to coexist.  It feels kinda Goku-Vegeta from Dragonball Z in a way, and in my opinion that’s a good thing.


If I had one complaint (and it’s a nit-picky one), I guess it would be that inmate Clendon looks a bit like Hal in several panels, which caused me a bit of a pause a time or two.  Otherwise, another wonderful issue of Emerald Dawn II.  We’ll wrap this one up tomorrow.


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Interesting Ads:

I feel like there’s something sinister about this ad, that I just can’t put my finger on… Who is that man?  Why is he looking at us like that?  What’s with the arrows? Is he going to crawl out of the book and murder me in seven days?