Creative Staff:
Story: Grant Morrison
Art: Liam Sharp
Colors: Steve Oliffe
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
What They Say:
In this debut issue, when Earth’s space cop, Hal Jordan, encounters an alien hiding in plain sight, it sets off a chain of events that rocks the Green Lantern Corps—and quite possibly the Multiverse at large—to its very core. There’s an inter-galactic conspiracy afoot, as well as a traitor in the GL Corps’ ranks, so strap in for more mind-bending adventures in this masterpiece in the making.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While I got into more comics post-Crisis in the 80s, Green Lantern was one that came later for me, but that allowed for a whole lot of back issues to explore. Having just finished up the most recent run prior to this one, I was definitely curious as to what this incarnation would be like. Grant Morrison is a very known commodity for the surprises he brings to titles and I’ve enjoyed a lot of his works and struggled with a lot of his works. But a title like this felt ideal to cut loose in a very different way. He paired up with Liam Sharpe for the artwork and it’s definitely a strong working relationship here that looks to expand on the variety of aliens we know and locations as well, giving us something that feels a bit more lived-in.
While we’re promised a big picture thing going on here by the end of the book, what we get is something that spreads out what’s happening and the general setup. The first half is mostly filled with dealing with an array of Lanterns that are rounding up some criminals and preparing to take them back to Oa. It’s intriguing and creative with the types and approach since it’s not traditional human approach for dealing with them. We also get one that heads off to deal with another criminal issue that’s going to lead to other problems, but mostly it’s just engaging to watch all of this unfold and see this sizable cast of largely unknowns doing the job, grousing, and getting it done. Having spent time with so many of the name characters, human especially, for years, getting away from all of it for a bit is refreshing.
Naturally, all things lead us back to Hal, who is doing his usual Earth schtick of just getting along. After the storyline that closed out the last series, he’s here with minimal juice left in his ring, the Guardians have his battery, and he’s out of sorts in fitting into his homeworld, which feels natural. A gifted “Space Cop” that can’t connect with his backwater homeworld. What changes is one of those from the early part of the book, Chiselon, ends up crashing into Earth and fills him in on the escapees from his custody that are now off ravaging a nearby town. It’s all standard stuff, plus a chance to charge his ring, and off to deal with the baddies. But it’s really all just to provide an easy way to get Hal back into space and Oa where he has a real standoffish relationship with them.
But it’s here that the Guardians start to show their real concern knowing that someone like Hal and his instincts will be critically useful. Their distrust of their own Book of Oa has arisen in discovering rewrite and changes made to it, so they’re intent in firming things up. This takes us on a mild journey across the galaxy, but I love the little bits such as the x-ray lanterns and others that exist on different wavelengths. It’s tantalizing and I hope we get to explore it some. What we’re going to get is a traitor storyline instead, one where the Guardian apparently knows who it is, and that will be the initial focus. Which could be interesting. And as we get the tease of the Blackstars as well with a last page stinger, I’m definitely intrigued to see how all of this is going to tie together.
In Summary:
I’ve long enjoyed the Green Lantern property and all the creativity that comes from it but moreso when it spends its time away from Earth and most of those with it. Hence my enjoyment of the lesser known books or the Corps books themselves. While Grant Morrison is bringing us back to working with Hal directly here, it works as I think he has a good enough handle on a way to push the character and do something interesting with him. And even if that falls a bit flat there’s still everything else that he has going into motion here that will fascinate and expands. Liam Sharpe has long been a favorite of mine in the art department and he delivers a fantastic looking book here with Oliffe’s color work, which thankfully doesn’t feel like it overdoes it on the green in the way some colorists do. It’s a solid opening that has me coming back for more.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Universe
Release Date: November 13th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99