Green Lantern: Rebirth by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver
Rating: ★★★★1/2
As a huge fan of Geoff John’s Green Lantern, I was sad to hear that his run was coming to an end this May. Having only read from Blackest Night to Rise of the Third Army, I decided to go all the way back to the beginning of John’s run by reading Rebirth, and I’m very glad I did so, because this book was a treat. I’m a sucker for any story that involves Hal vs. Sinestro, and Hal’s return and confrontation with Sinestro was definitely a highlight for me in this book. However, I did love the book overall. Characters were not spread thin; every Green Lantern had their moment (all five) fighting Parallax, The artwork was also a feast for the eyes with the greens and the yellows glowing on the page. The story can sometimes be hard to follow, especially if you’re new to Green Lantern, but the writing and the artwork are usually able to clear up any confusion one might have. And if there’s a name or even you don’t recall, a quick Wikipedia search can solve that. Overall, I loved Rebirth just as much as every other Green Lantern story by Geoff Johns. I’m looking forward to reading more treasures such as this that I never got around to reading, and of course John’s final issue which hits this May.
Green Lantern: No Fear by Geoff Johns, Carlos Pacheco, Ethan Van Sciver, Darwyn Cooke and Simon Bianchi
Rating: ★★★★
I continue my look back at Geoff Johns’ work on Green Lantern with No Fear. This is a fairly short story that feels more like a few filler issues. It’s like seeing a day in the life of Green Lantern. Sometimes, Johns’ stories can be so epic and huge in scale that you can’t help but wonder: doesn’t this guy have a whole planet to protect? In a lot of cases, we see Hal dealing with personal threats or even threats in different solar systems, and it can trick us into believing that this is because Earth rarely faces any alien threats. But No Fear reminds us that Hal Jordan is needed just as much on Earth as he is anywhere else, as Hal Jordan faces a threat very close to home. Surprisingly, we see Hal dealing with a lot of family issues in this story. There are more flashbacks here than I think I’ve seen in most other GL stories. In fact, the prologue is almost entirely a flashback. We see Hal as a child first learning to fly the (old-fashioned way) with his father. We also see him take Carol into the skies showing their first night together. And we even see Hal take Kyle Rayner for a spin. Darwyn Cooke’s artwork was truly beautiful and it fit so well when showing Hal’s childhood as it gave this section an appropriate old-fashioned feel (think of his recent work on Before Watchmen: Minutemen). I enjoyed seeing such great chemistry between Hal and these characters especially Hal and Kyle, as Hal has often felt out of touch with the other GLs before this due to them having their separate titles. If the rest of the book had been on par with the prologue, this would no doubt be a ★★★★★ book. But the rest of the book is pretty simple. Not to say it isn’t good, it’s great. There just isn’t enough to excite me here like Rebirth did. It’s still great to see villains like Hector Hammond and Black Hand and also some new villains here. Overall, this isn’t a must-read; but if you’re a GL fan and you’re already missing Johns’ writing, pick up No Fear and enjoy some new artwork and more great storytelling.
As we get nearer and nearer to Johns' final issue of Green Lantern, I will be revisiting Blackest Night, Brightest Day and War of the Green Lanterns, my reviews of which will be up next week.
"In brightest day..."
-George