Sometimes, comic release days are just a little screwy. This week, for example, we received both "Green Lantern" and "Green Lantern Corps." These two issues combined are two-thirds of the first month of the "War of the Green Lanterns" story that kicks off in "Green Lantern" #64, which has already been reviewed by my comrade, Greg McElhatton. I'd like to reiterate Greg's thoughts there in that the Green Lanterns in general, and Hal Jordan in particular, don't ever seem able to catch a break between events. This event, however, is encapsulated within the trio of Green Lantern titles, and spans only a few months, unlike "Brightest Day," "Blackest Night," or even "Sinestro Corps War."

All the same, this story seems immediate and raw, like a surprise attack.

The second installment of "War of the Green Lanterns" hits this issue and throws things into chaos for the Corps. If you didn't read the first chapter over in "Green Lantern" and came here first, Tony Bedard does a very good job of filling in the blanks to aide readers in getting the whole story from one issue. Bedard uses Kyle Rayner as the portal character to guide us through what's happening in this issue. Through Kyle we learn the fate of the Corps and the impetus for this war. Bedard also returns "Aieeeeee!" to the comic book vernacular. Unfortunately, it occurs with a significant amount of blood and gore.

Tyler Kirkham and his inking tag team step up in this issue. The harsh reality that the Lanterns find upon their return from Qward is excellently depicted in the cross-hatched style that Kirkham uses. Kirkham brings a great amount of detail to his pages and the overall appearance of this story is chaos embodied. That works out to be a good thing in this issue.

Nei Ruffino's colors are magnificent, offering a wide range of hues and brilliance to the galaxy around the Lanterns. Faced with the challenge of having Green Lanterns fight amongst themselves yet remain distinguishable in their light constructs, Ruffino uses some light green highlights on dark green backgrounds and reverses that for other ringbearers.

I'll admit, I am one of the first to whine about the Green Lanterns needing a bit of downtime, but this story - the first two parts, at least - seems to be every bit as exciting and revelatory as anything that has happened around the Green Lanterns in the past few years. This story offers a real challenge to the Lanterns and an interesting read to the fans. I'll be dialed in for more. Maybe after that we'll catch a breather though.