So, I know that some of you that saw the headline of this review are saying to themselves, "I read Green Lantern: Rebirth. Why should I care about an Absolute Edition?"
To a lot of people, Absolute Editions are a waste of money because all you're really paying for is to have the same storyline you've already read, just with bigger pages. Normally, I would agree with you. However, after getting Absolute Green Lantern: Rebirth as a gift, I have seen all the bonuses that this book offers.
First, allow me to talk about the storyline itself. In 2004, Geoff Johns presented us with a limited running title called Green Lantern: Rebirth. The plot was simple: Hal Jordan is coming back and better than ever. As if that wasn't enough, this storyline jumpstarted not only Johns' run on the character, but ushered in all the phenominal storylines in Green Lantern up to date. The book starts with Hal struggling with his new duties as The Spectre, the Spirit of Vengence. Fellow Green Lantern John Stewart and former GL Guy Gardner are attempted to reintroduce Hal to humanity and help him to better cope with his new responsibilities. Elsewhere, Kyle Rayner is the only Green Lantern left active, so he is patrolling all 3600 Sectors of the Universe. While on a mission in a far out sector, Kyle learns a harsh truth: The Yellow Impurity has a name! Parallax! For those of you who don't know, for years, the Green Lantern Corps ONLY weakness was the color yellow, but we were never given the reason why. YOU FIND OUT HERE! Geoff Johns not only created a great story in Green Lantern: Rebirth, but he paved the way for Sinestro Corps War, Green Lantern Secret Origin, Rage of the Red Lanterns, and Blackest Night. The close continuity and intricacy of this book is absolutely phenominal.
Coupled with Geoff Johns' epic story is Ethan Van Sciver's stellar artwork. Ethan also worked on Sinestro Corps War and The Flash: Rebirth. His concise detail and epic action jumps off the page. One of the most important things in creating a great Green Lantern story is the artwork. While anyone can draw the characters, it's drawing the constructs and the way the emerald light shines off of the Green Lanterns that takes extrodinary skill. Van Sciver did something that no other artist has ever done for Green Lantern books: He gave each Lantern a different "after glow" in their wakes and coming out of their rings. He specifically tailored each residual light effect to the personality of Hal, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, and Guy Gardner.
Now, I know you're all thinking: "I can see all of this without spending $50.00 bucks on the Absolute Edition. While the artwork does look much better in the Absolute Edition, the reason that I found this particular edition to be so worth while and captivating is because of the bonus content that you get with the book. In the back of the book, you are given the "sketch book" of Ethan Van Sciver. This basically contains a lot of the pencil work and some full colored artwork that was unused for the book. It also contains "test-artwork", which is basically other ideas that Ethan had for character designs and such before settling on what we saw in the book. If you are a fan of Ethan Van Sciver's work, then this section alone is worth the extra money.
Another added bonus material in this edition is the script for the book as it was written by Geoff Johns. This, for me anyway, was extremely fun and interesting. Having been a comic reader for years and even having written some myself, it was great to see how the professionals of the business actually construct the scripts for their storylines. It shows just how much detail and forethought goes into creating a comic. Not to mention, to see how Geoff Johns writes and just how SPECIFIC and detail driven he is shows why he is one of the all time greatest writers in the business.
All in all, I would say that if you really loved this storyline, or really love Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver's work, or if you're just a big Green Lantern fan, then I highly suggest adding this Absolute Edition to your collection. It's a beautiful book and relatively inexpensive compared to other Absolute Editions. It is a fun read an is a great way to really appreciate the beauty of Green Lantern: Rebirth.