Green Lantern 1 Thoughts (Mild Spoilers)


Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Doug Mahnke

Well well well. One of the few comics I wasn't that excited about when the relaunch was announced, GL was a very pleasant surprise.

First things first, let's get this out of the way: This comic book was not rebooted, in any way shape or form. None of the Green Lantern OR Batman books were, for that matter. The Batman titles mostly just kept the history they'd accumulated, but the Green Lantern titles are actually picking up largely from the same places they'd left off.

Despite this, I would still call this title new reader friendly, so long as you don't spend too much time getting bogged down in the hows and just enjoy the show. It boils down to absolutely NEEDING to know this, before you read the comic: The aftermath of a previous mission led the Guardians to believe Hal Jordan was too dangerous to own a Green Lantern ring. When the ring left his finger, it sought a replacement user (as they tend to): It chose Sinestro. Anything else you need to know is either explained in this issue or will be explained over time.

Overall, this is a great book. Despite basically being an aftermath of an aftermath of a gigantic crossover, it doesn't feel like it. I was pretty much able to delve into this new story without thinking about the slightly lackluster War of the Green Lanterns, and enjoy this new twist in Hal Jordan's overall story. So far there's not much in the way of possible long-running plot seeds being sewn, but it doesn't need it--right now it just needs to set up exactly what the new status quo for both Hal Jordan and "Green Lantern", and it does that perfectly.

It's also funny. Which is kind of amusing considering that absolutely NO ONE in the book is happy, but I laughed out loud at least twice in twenty two pages. Not bad for an action/sci-fi superhero title.

The only complaint I would make is that I'm not entirely sure Doug Mahnke works for what we're seeing here, but that may be me needing to get used to his style again.

Overall, this is one of the best titles to come out of this relaunch thus far.

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