Quick & dirty pre-spoilers: What you got here is a Halloween-themed GLCQ centered around happenings related to the Starheart. It's a pretty good one & in all fairness, a great one, as even the weakest story has a twist inching towards Hitchcock. There are vampires, zombies & dark arts, so get ready.
The book opens w/ a short bit about when the Guardians were themselves able warriors, traversing the universe to rid it of potentially harmful & chaos causing "magicks", eventually leading them to the Empire of Tears, and Ysmault. The story is titled, "Horrors: 1".
Though many Guardians fell in Ysmault, they eventually were victorious. They bound up all the mystical & magical, "both good & evil" & compressed it into a star: the Starheart. Over millennia, the Starheart churned until a bit of it escaped & melded w/ Yalan Gur, the dying GL of Sector 2814. Their meteoric essence fell to Earth where it was eventually fashioned into a lantern.
That lantern eventually found its way to Alan Scott. We see a hooded figure has been researching this bit in a crystal ball.
Next chapter is titled, "Horrors: 2" & we have Jade & Obsidian coming home on Halloween night in a slightly ironic scene, to then find their father, Alan Scott, appears twenty years younger. Alan discusses this w/ his wife, Molly & the children & while showing them his new GL uniform, the door rings, & it's the hooded guy from prev story. He is Torquemada, also a GL. He explains that magic is once again running wild in universe. He needs Alan's help. The two fly into the aether as Torquemada starts spinning yarns, which are what follow.
First up is "Ashes to Ashes" which begins w/ a lone woman walking @ night in an old London looking city, alley, etc. & is attacked by a pack of vampires. A GL appears, however. Name of Ash. He recognizes the vampire leader & his backstory plays out: a simple farmer & how he came home to find his farm burning & the vampire leader killing his wife.
Ash frees the girl w/ his ring, she runs. He then fights the leader, who pulls a blade & slices some fingers off w/ the ring. Ash is able to get to the ring & put it on his other hand. Angry, he penetrates that hand into the vampire's heart, killing him. Now, having avenged his wife, Tasha, he says he's done hunting "longteeth" - but the girl he saved stepped from shadows begging him not to quit, for he is needed.
Next tale is titled, "Green Hell!" We meet an old snail-like GL named Barin who guards the gates of Hell from entering the mortal plane. Though once a young, fierce warrior relishing his duties, Barin now wishes to die & be relieved, though he continues on out of duty.
Scene shift to a few Guardians w/ a female GL warrior, named Boodikka. They speak of Barin's fever - a twist comes as the reader learns Barin is, & has been for quite some time, in a coma.
For the next tale, we get something a bit different, as the GL wielding the ring here, Ayria, GL of Aegri Somnia One, uses the power of the ring to foster genocide against the yellow-skinned people of Aegri Somnia Three. The bit is titled, "Triumph of the Will!"
The reader next sees a slightly altered GL symbol, & w/ the name Ayria, the Hitler/Nazi parallels become obv. One reads as Ayria puts yellows in "reformation chambers" within "paradise work-camps". As their wills are broken, their energy transfers to Ayria's power battery.
When AS3 is finally defeated, some choice yellows remain. One, a female named Selaya. Her husband, Illiya, gives her up to Ayria & one night, Selaya, after intercourse, steals Ayria's ring. She then eats it.
Unable to find it, Selaya is sent back to "paradise". There she reunites w/ Illiya for a split until broken. Left w/ power battery only, & w/ a bit of a "Lost Ark" vibe, Ayria & his soldiers case the land for the ring, Sauron-style.
When moving thru Paradise One. Down in the dead bodies, a ring senses the passing battery & lights up, raising Selaya as a Green Lantern zombie! Charging ring, her will raises many others & they defeat Ayria. Lastly, Selaya & Illiya are reunited, then crumble. Good one!
The final seg in this issue moves us back to, "The Starheart!" & where it all began. It is now clear that the Starheart harbors power that can be used for both good & bad. Now that it is "unstable... spewing magical jetsam into the universe," it's time to act.
Alan Scott & Torquemada enter the crust of the Starheart, to find M'la has been tortured & is dead. An unknown monster appears. A sort of Predator looking monster who announces his name is Starheart, comprised of "magical detritus" from inside the Starheart itself. He pronounces himself "wild magic itself -- unfettered & uncontrollable." Starheart then begins trying to enchant & taunt them w/ visions, telling Alan his youth is due to his weakness to power of his ring & the Starheart, etc. After more temptation, Alan Scott freaks & attacks. A battle ensues between all mystical & magical within DCU it seems, but centered on Alan Scott & Starheart. Central moment, Scott thinks he wins, but is wrong. Ultimately, the magic of the Starheart escapes into the Universe.
Torquemada is able to conceal some magic in a small sphere, but otherwise, Alan Scott is now determined to face the darkside of the Starheart, or the darkside of its power, wherever it appears.
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