Stephanie Kay
Oct 13, 2007, 10:48 pm
<a href="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0906/GreenLanternCv14.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/previews/dc/0906/GreenLanternCv14t.jpg" hspace=10 align=left alt="Green Lantern #14"></a>Reviewer: T. Martin, khpa3665@yahoo.co.uk
Story Title: Wanted: Hal Jordan (Chapter One)
“…I should’ve kept the ring on.”
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Ivan Reis
Inker: Oclair Albert
Colorist: Moose Baumann
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Associate Editor: Michael Siglain
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Publisher: <a href="http://www.dccomics.com" target="new">DC Comics</a>
Months ago, Hal Jordan and his colleagues Shane “Rocket-Man” Sellers and Jillian “Cowgirl” Pearlman had been shot down somewhere over Chechnya. They had survived their capture by terrorists, but Hal still blames himself for not having worn his ring while on the mission. Soon he finds himself again responsible for the safety of one of his friends, but his headstrong rescue attempt leads him into unexpected trouble.
Green Lantern is, at its core, a book about a green supercop in space: T.J. Hooker meets Buck Rogers. As such, a good instalment should be full of spectacular stunts, daring rescues and a touch of angst. This issue has all these, so it’s a surprise to discover that it’s such a lacklustre read.
The problem undoubtedly lies with the writing, since Ivan Reis’s art is uniformly strong. The layouts are simple but for that reason easy to follow: Green Lantern isn’t a terribly complicated hero and so it fits that his book shouldn’t be visually complex. Action scenes flow, bodies move with the requisite heft and weight, main actors are privileged over the less-detailed backgrounds. In sum, Reis delivers straightforward, high-quality storytelling. My only nitpick would be the occasional omission of the raised Lantern ‘light’ above Hal’s chest symbol.
There is one significant shortcoming, however: an overuse of the splash page, with the count coming in here at two doubles and three singles. Reis doesn’t waste the former, at least, pencilling an explosive Abin Sur and a Green Lantern, wrapped in a sleekly-designed construct, swooping on a terrorist base like some sort of avenging Fury. Yet splashes are unsubtle effects and lose impact with each use. This becomes a problem in the single pages, where the two mid-issue splashes, but especially that introducing Hal’s first nemeses, weaken the shock of the final reveal. That the last links so closely to the first double splash in visual terms just adds to the feeling of repetition. Nor is this the first time a repeated reveal of different enemies has detracted from both: an identical problem afflicted the Pacheco-drawn Green Lantern #2 (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=34479), and it thus seems to be a tick of Johns’s writing rather than Reis’s art as such.
The splash pages are symptomatic of a wider structural problem with the book. It starts with an extended dream/flashback sequence that is almost entirely expository (so much so that it recapitulates Hal’s origin story – anyone can jump on the series at this point and know what’s going on). A fast-moving midsection where Green Lantern barrels into action, guns blazing, energizes the plot momentarily before dissolving in a confusing welter of mysteries and new antagonists. Stuck in a tiresome lecture at the beginning, the story loses us completely by the end. Granted that Hal may well be bewildered, but that still doesn’t mean the reader should be. In addition, Johns’s usual strength – his characterisation – lets him down. There are a couple of telling moments regarding Green Arrow and Shane Sellers and Johns writes a spooky echo effect as Hal’s ring interprets the words of a terrorist leader, but Hal’s guilt at his failure to rescue his compatriots feels over-simplistic and therefore comes across as a plot-device. Indeed, the entire set-up involving ‘Chechnyan’ terrorists seems forced. Chechnya’s beef is with Russia not the U.S., and it’s an odd terrorist organisation that seeks to take on the U.S. Air Force. These are generic bad guys who exist as a trigger for the events of the issue instead of for their own sakes. In a story that purports to deal with international politics, this is a major flaw.
There’s an intriguing motif here, though. In his job as a Lantern, Hal must go wherever he can battle evil but never kill. As an American pilot, he’s a representative of a single government and its interests, with no right to impinge on another nation’s sovereignty, but he’s perfectly willing to end an enemy’s life. In either capacity he shouldn’t let his own personal needs or insecurities dictate his actions. There are potentially rich developments to be had here in exploring the requirements and sacrifices of duty and what it means to be worthy to wear a uniform. I look forward to Johns picking up these themes as the story unfolds just as he has done with those of fear and redemption in previous arcs. Unfortunately, this issue is not a strong start.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/glfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/glfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/glhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/glnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/glnone.jpg
'Buy Green Lantern online now from X-WORLD and save!’ (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=126&cat=GREEN+LANTERN)
Story Title: Wanted: Hal Jordan (Chapter One)
“…I should’ve kept the ring on.”
Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Ivan Reis
Inker: Oclair Albert
Colorist: Moose Baumann
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Associate Editor: Michael Siglain
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Publisher: <a href="http://www.dccomics.com" target="new">DC Comics</a>
Months ago, Hal Jordan and his colleagues Shane “Rocket-Man” Sellers and Jillian “Cowgirl” Pearlman had been shot down somewhere over Chechnya. They had survived their capture by terrorists, but Hal still blames himself for not having worn his ring while on the mission. Soon he finds himself again responsible for the safety of one of his friends, but his headstrong rescue attempt leads him into unexpected trouble.
Green Lantern is, at its core, a book about a green supercop in space: T.J. Hooker meets Buck Rogers. As such, a good instalment should be full of spectacular stunts, daring rescues and a touch of angst. This issue has all these, so it’s a surprise to discover that it’s such a lacklustre read.
The problem undoubtedly lies with the writing, since Ivan Reis’s art is uniformly strong. The layouts are simple but for that reason easy to follow: Green Lantern isn’t a terribly complicated hero and so it fits that his book shouldn’t be visually complex. Action scenes flow, bodies move with the requisite heft and weight, main actors are privileged over the less-detailed backgrounds. In sum, Reis delivers straightforward, high-quality storytelling. My only nitpick would be the occasional omission of the raised Lantern ‘light’ above Hal’s chest symbol.
There is one significant shortcoming, however: an overuse of the splash page, with the count coming in here at two doubles and three singles. Reis doesn’t waste the former, at least, pencilling an explosive Abin Sur and a Green Lantern, wrapped in a sleekly-designed construct, swooping on a terrorist base like some sort of avenging Fury. Yet splashes are unsubtle effects and lose impact with each use. This becomes a problem in the single pages, where the two mid-issue splashes, but especially that introducing Hal’s first nemeses, weaken the shock of the final reveal. That the last links so closely to the first double splash in visual terms just adds to the feeling of repetition. Nor is this the first time a repeated reveal of different enemies has detracted from both: an identical problem afflicted the Pacheco-drawn Green Lantern #2 (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=34479), and it thus seems to be a tick of Johns’s writing rather than Reis’s art as such.
The splash pages are symptomatic of a wider structural problem with the book. It starts with an extended dream/flashback sequence that is almost entirely expository (so much so that it recapitulates Hal’s origin story – anyone can jump on the series at this point and know what’s going on). A fast-moving midsection where Green Lantern barrels into action, guns blazing, energizes the plot momentarily before dissolving in a confusing welter of mysteries and new antagonists. Stuck in a tiresome lecture at the beginning, the story loses us completely by the end. Granted that Hal may well be bewildered, but that still doesn’t mean the reader should be. In addition, Johns’s usual strength – his characterisation – lets him down. There are a couple of telling moments regarding Green Arrow and Shane Sellers and Johns writes a spooky echo effect as Hal’s ring interprets the words of a terrorist leader, but Hal’s guilt at his failure to rescue his compatriots feels over-simplistic and therefore comes across as a plot-device. Indeed, the entire set-up involving ‘Chechnyan’ terrorists seems forced. Chechnya’s beef is with Russia not the U.S., and it’s an odd terrorist organisation that seeks to take on the U.S. Air Force. These are generic bad guys who exist as a trigger for the events of the issue instead of for their own sakes. In a story that purports to deal with international politics, this is a major flaw.
There’s an intriguing motif here, though. In his job as a Lantern, Hal must go wherever he can battle evil but never kill. As an American pilot, he’s a representative of a single government and its interests, with no right to impinge on another nation’s sovereignty, but he’s perfectly willing to end an enemy’s life. In either capacity he shouldn’t let his own personal needs or insecurities dictate his actions. There are potentially rich developments to be had here in exploring the requirements and sacrifices of duty and what it means to be worthy to wear a uniform. I look forward to Johns picking up these themes as the story unfolds just as he has done with those of fear and redemption in previous arcs. Unfortunately, this issue is not a strong start.
OVERALL:
http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/glfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/glfull.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/glhalf.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/glnone.jpg http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/reviews/glnone.jpg
'Buy Green Lantern online now from X-WORLD and save!’ (http://x-worldcomics.com/yourvirtualstore/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=126&cat=GREEN+LANTERN)