Sharks and Teleportation Beams

 

cover art by Dick Giordano

Green Lantern #126 (March 1980) has writer Denny O'Neil & artist Joe Staton picking up the action right from where the previous issue left off. Hal has returned to Earth with the young boy Fabian, only to find that the Weaponers of Qward have already invaded. The Weaponers, though, have gone to ground somewhere.

Hal tries to drop Fabian off with his uncle, but instead runs into the villain the Shark, who has been hired by the Weaponers to take care of Hal. There's a fight underwater and the Shark, using a weapon provided to him by his new allies, encases Hal in a golden coffin.

In the meantime, the Weaponers have set up show in a cavern, where they are putting together a teleportation device that will be used to invade Oa. There's also another reference to their absent commander, General Fabrikant, indicating again to alert readers that the kid Fabian isn't what he seems to be.

Hal manages to again think his way out of the underwater trap by slamming into the side of the gold coffin until it tumbles off a ledge, allowing water pressure to crack it open. After dropping Fabian off with Carol Ferris, Hal tales the Shark back to the Weaponer base. 

The Weaponers "reward" the Shark by deevolving him into a shark. Hal sees this and dumps the shark back in the ocean. Since the Shark once was a normal shark, this isn't such a bad fate for him.

The Weaponers have by now invaded Oa, where they capture the Guardians. Their plan is to use the Guardians and the power battery to create "the greatest weapon in the history of creation!"

Back on Earth, Hal takes out the few guards still in the cavern, then travels through the teleporter. Unfortunately for him, he ends up INSIDE the power battery.

This is another strong issue. It continues to move the story along quickly, has plenty of action and shows Hal using his brains as well as his power ring. The art is great and the story ends with an effective (both in terms of story and art) cliffhanger. In fact, the entire story arc has so far been strong.

We'll return to Hal in two weeks. Next week, we'll pay a long overdue return visit to Turok, Son of Stone.