As a big fan of Geoff Johns' run on
Green Lantern, I can't fault this issue at all. Picking up pretty much where
Green Lantern #67 and
War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath left off, it sees both Sinestro's induction into the Corps and the now powerless Hal Jordan's return to Earth. We open up with the former villain reciting the Oath, and for anyone who has followed the title over the past few years, there can be no doubt about just how big of a big deal this is. The guy who formed the Sinestro Corps is now back fighting alongside the very Gaurdians he has sought to destroy countless times! Of course, he's not exactly a willing participant, and while he may be wearing a green ring, but this is very much the same villain we all know and love (hate?) as he demonstrates when he brutally murders a Sinestro Corps member who discovers his "betrayal" of the yellow light. It's a shame then that we never really get to see what is going on inside his head, although the fact that it's left up to the readers imagination makes this issue all the more intriguing, especially as the last page leaves us wondering exactly what the hell he has planned!
Meanwhile, the Hal Jordan parts of this issue are handled equally as well, despite being a drastic parallel of the action packed space set events with Sinestro. If like me you've been dying to see what's become of Hal's personal life on Earth since he's spent months away from Earth, you'll love this. Strangely, there was absolutely no mention of Jillian "Cowgirl" Pearlman, so whether or not she's a casualty of the relaunched universe remains to be seen. Being back home without his ring sees Hal having to deal with an angry landlord as well as being arrested for jumping through a window and attacking an actor who he assumed was a thug beating a woman up! In fact, it seems nothing can go right for the former superhero, as he learns that he also learns that he's been kicked out of the Air Force and can't fly for 'Ferris Air' because he uninsurable! Equal parts amusing and pitiful, this culminates in Hal taking Carol taking out for dinner and asking her to co-sign the lease on a car, in what she assumed was going to be a marriage proposal! For me, this felt a bit forced, and I couldn't help but feel like I've seen this sort of thing somewhere else. As a longtime reader of the title, I know that there are still feelings between the two, but would Carol really expect him to come out and propose? Maybe, but I didn't quite buy it despite the fact it was handled pretty well.
And that leads me to my next point. While the disappearance of "Cowgirl" and the relationship between Hal and Carol seem to have been influenced by the
Green Lantern movie, it just didn't come across as a particularly new-reader friendly #1 issue. Throughout this review, I've looked back at past events and how they relate to this book, and anyone coming to this title having never bought a comic featuring this character will miss out on a lot. The majority of what goes on should be easy enough to follow, and the dialogue often helps explain certain scenarios, but moments such as the Guardians attack on Ganthet are sure to leave many baffled. I've read the majority of "The New 52" titles, and while some of the characters are new to me, Green Lantern ultimately feels the least effected of them all. Of course, it would be totally unfair to write this book off for paying it's respects to what has come before, and I for one would have been left fuming had they simply started over and discarded Johns many years of work. Regardless, I don't see any huge reason why someone wanting to try out their first
Green Lantern comic WOULDN'T enjoy this.
The artwork from Doug Mahnke is as stunning as ever, and while I wouldn't call it his best work on the title so far, it's great to see his bold pencils brought to life so beautifully by colorist David Baron. This is a great looking comic book, and the above mentioned scene between Sinestro and one of his Corps members stands out as being especially impressive.
Green Lantern #1 is a solid comic book, and despite the script feeling a little light in terms of dialogue (it won't take you too long to get through this issue as Johns relies heavily on Mahnke to tell a lot of this story) I enjoyed it a great deal. Last weeks big releases like
Animal Man,
Batgirl and
Detective Comics are arguably a fair bit better, but this comic successfully continues the ongoing arc of characters like Hal Jordan and Sinestro in typical quality writing from Geoff Johns. It's a shame that this simultaneously results in it not feeling as "new" or "fresh" as the titles I've mentioned above, but it's still a solid chapter in the series and I can't wait to see where things go from here.
Continuing the epic Green Lantern saga that Geoff Johns started so many years ago, this is a good issue backed up with great art, although I can't help but that the writer has much more planned for upcoming issues. Hopefully the pace will now quicken up and Sinesto won't lose his new ring too soon...