Review – Green Lantern #23.3: Black Hand

Green Lantern 23.3 – Black Hand

It is the 3^rd week of Villain’s Month and we get a close up look at Black Hand!

Positive

The storyline is simple and straight to the point. Black Hand is once again coming back from the land of the dead to the land of the living. Most character resurrections feel contrived, this Black Hand story is a character study in the villain and the black ring that he wears. The issue addresses his ongoing cycle of death and rebirth.

The final confrontation between Black Hand and Martin Jordan, father of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, steals the show. The issue really builds to this remarkable climax. Black Hand brings his father out of his grave in the typical zombie fashion, and although he never gets the chance to have him speak, it does feel like a conversation.

Hal takes Black Hand’s arm, which the villain replaces with his father’s appendage. This is an interesting solution, which lays the groundwork for a great confrontation down the line. Yes, this issue is a little gruesome, but gore is to be expected in a zombie story.

Negative

The scenes leading up to the climax make for boring and pedantic reading. Black Hand has amnesia, except for when it’s convenient to the plot to have him recover some key memory. The fight sequence with the police department is predictable to even the most gullible readers.

It is not that this issue is poorly written, but the subject matter that we are faced with is just not that interesting until we get to the end. Like a lot of the other Villains Month books, we see that the world is devoid of any superheroes due to the events of Forever Evil.

Black Hand does his part in turning the war into hell by raising a zombie army, but I feel fairly confident that nothing will come of this. Next month we are supposed to set off on the epic “Lights Out” storyline, and I feel that what we see here is going to become one of those loose ends that never get tied up properly. I hope I am wrong.