Much of Agent Orange is the lead in to DC’s 2009 event series Blackest Night, which follows, and there’s some stretching the plot beyond its natural lifespan to ensure the publication timescales. Mahnke’s contribution is excellent pin-ups of the assorted ring bearing corps introduced over the past two collections, along with the longer running Green Lantern membership. Reis’ is negligible, but Albuquerque’s tale of Glomulus darkly funny. Rafael Albuquerque and Ivan Reis draw short stories. They’re extremely stiff, perhaps required at short notice, but don’t show Barrows at his best. Eddy Barrows helps out on later Tan chapters, drawing John Stewart’s experiences with Star Sapphire. He also over-exaggerates poses and there’s considerable objectification of the humanoid women. His design work is first rate, and spotlighted in the back of the book, but while he has a superficially attractive style, the clear storytelling seen over the previous few books disappears, and it’s sometimes difficult to follow his panel to panel continuity. Better is the way Larfleeze controls his Orange Lanterns, a novelty in keeping with his personality.Īlthough several artists are credited, it’s Philip Tan responsible for the bulk of Agent Orange. There’s never an overwhelming feeling that there’s an importance to hope, for instance, which is used for a running joke, but little else. Johns is dabbling in hidden depths, but doesn’t really develop this beyond captions.
While already very powerful and prone to temper tantrums, nowhere here is he played for laughs, as his greed is another of the constructs like hope and rage shackled to the assorted rings introduced alongside the long-running green versions. This is a different Larfleeze from the one that would later develop. That’s amplified as they continue to devise new directives wiping away old policies.Īs the primary Green Lantern in this series, it’s down to Hal Jordan to confront Larfleeze, despite still being compromised by what happened to him during Rage of the Red Lanterns. He’s another in the continuing disclosures of secrets the Guardians of the Universe have kept for years, and for some while now they’ve not just seemed arrogant and aloof, but corrupt and manipulative. One, however, was kept back for Agent Orange, and of all the new introductions Larfleeze would prove the most popular, rapidly progressed to his own short run series. During Rage of the Red Lanterns Geoff Johns set a lot of plots in motion, introducing several new characters and concepts to DC.