Green Lantern Corps #26 review

Ring Quest conclusion

Mongul's trashed the Lanterns and is berating Mother Mercy for her sudden crisis of conscience. After trying to intimidate her back into submission, he turns to Duel, the conjoined twin psychopath, to watch and make sure Mother Mercy follows through on her job to absord the Lanterns and release their rings. Then he cuts them in two and takes one half with him. After being briefly forced to relive their fears, Mother Mercy draws them into the ground to absord them. In truth, this is a ruse to distract the half of duel that was left. A ring pops out of the ground, but Duel is quickly dispatched by Guy Gardner. Definitively. Sweet. Mother Mercy points the way Mongul went and our Lanterns go after him. Duel's ring flies off in search of the other half but he, too, is ended quickly. From here, it's Mongul versus the Green Lanterns as they tear into each other. Mongul, with six yellow Sinestro Corps rings, holds them off with ease. A total stalemate. That is until Lantern Bzzd, the little house fly Lantern, bursts out of Monguls face. The remaining Lanterns take the opportunity to blast him back towards Mother Mercy, who starts to absorb his body for nutrients. The Lanterns win, but at a cost. Bzzd, who had to get inside Mongul somehow (not shown, don't wanna know, thanks), dies from his injuries sustained during the fight. Oddly, Bzzd's ring and Duel's ring both end up on Mother Mercy for the fact that she can both overcome and instill great fear. Ultimately, she rejects the Sinestro Corps ring and becomes a Green Lantern leaving our group to head back to OA.

With the Ring Quest arc over, I can say Tomasi did a fairly decent job with a straight up action story. A pretty good job. This arc has been gore, gore, gore and that's cool with me. Mongul cutting Duel in half? Bzzd exploding out of Mongul's face? The ring of corpses around Mother Mercy's planet? (Looking back at the cover, very much not approved by the Comics Code Authority.)

The arc hasn't been an intense character study, so if you're looking for that kinda thing you can pass. There were eight or nine Lanterns in this group, and only a couple have really stood out. The rest seemed stuck in the periphery. Not that it really matters, this books is about the Green Lantern Corps, after all. Once this arc comes out in TPB, and if you haven't read it, pick it up. It's definitely one for the fan that loves him some big action and massive gore.