The final moments of survival.
Creative Staff:
Story: Grant Morrison
Art: Liam Sharp
Colors: Steve Oliffe
Letterer: Tom Orzechowski
What They Say:
After sacrificing himself to save the entire universe from a cosmic WMD, Hal Jordan finds himself trapped inside his own power ring! And he discovers an entire universe lies inside it, populated with souls whose lives are threatened when his ring runs out of power! Can Hal save yet another universe one issue after saving the last? Only Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp know the answer within this classic run in the making!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Green Lantern has not been an easy book to read with its structure and some of its style but that challenge is also what makes it as exciting as it is. Grant Morrison digs into some interesting areas with this issue, one that leaves me figuring that it surely must have been done before in some way in some other continuity, but it’s provided in a strong and unique enough narrative that I came away loving it. Liam Sharp has shined since the start of this run and this issue is no exception as he gets to work in storybook mode as opposed to the usual comic book layout mode, resulting in some beautiful pages. Tom Orzechowski really had to step up here as the lettering became even more critical and he did it in a way that avoided blocking the beautiful artwork but also made it harder to read at times – making me thankful for the guided view and zoom of the digital edition.
With the tease of Myrwhydden last issue as Hal entered the Emerald Sands location, this book really does go in a different way. It’s initially focused on showing the landscape, going all literary, and introducing us to Pengowirr, a young woman trying to survive and deal with the sleeping Myrwhydden that exists here. When she finds Hal, she manages to wake him and keep him quiet as anything above a whisper will awaken Myrwhydden and then they’ll all be in real trouble. Hal has no real memory of himself for much of this but the two work to survive against the creatures that come at them all while he tries to understand the reality of what’s going on. It’s an engaging issue just from the presentation to get into it with how Morrison presents it as it reads more Vertigo than anything else, which in some ways is how this series has felt since it got underway under his direction.
It doesn’t take too long, however, for Hal to realize what’s going on and who he is. Discovering that he’s been shrunk and placed inside his power ring, and Pengowirr is the personification of his ring’s AI, it becomes a desperate attempt to survive as the ring is almost out of power and they must be incredibly far from anyone with a lantern to help. There’s a lot of tension as it works through all of this and we see Hal realizing that the sleeping Myrwhydden may be their only hope for survival – which touches on his story in the lightest of ways – but it’s Pengowirr that really delights. And it’s more in seeing the kind of bond that truly exists between these two once Hal realizes who she is and represents. There’s an intimacy to their relationship that may be hard to understand unless in it directly and Hal has always taken things further with his willpower that one can imagine that they truly know each other and will go the extra mile to survive.
In Summary:
The Green Lantern has been a strong book since it got underway and has given us a more “mature” version of Hal and the Corps itself that we’ve long needed to explore, especially with more of the weird and engaging elements of science fiction about it. This issue is a much smaller and more personal one but it resonates all the more for its storybook-like design and the way it was able to really make me care about all that’s involved with what is Emerald Sands and what it represents. Morrison is firing on all cylinders here while Sharp is turning in some of the best material of his career, leaving me excited to see what else is next.
Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: DC Universe
Release Date: May 1st, 2019
MSRP: $3.99