Green Lantern #1 review
Writer - Geoff Johns
Artist - Carlos Pacheco & Jesus Merino
Publisher - DC
Release date - May 25th 2005
Price - $3.50
So there I was in my Local Comic Shop about to leave when out of the corner of my eye I spotted something green slightly hidden by the uncanny adventures of X something or other. Lo and behold if it wasn’t my local’s last copy of Green Lantern number one by Geoff Johns, Carlos Pacheco and Ethan Van Sciver! Well just looking at the cover I had to have it. Of course later on I would learn that this issue also shipped with an alternate Alex Ross cover which looked rather fantastic, but that’s neither here nor there now so on with the review.
What’s going on then in the Green Lantern verse? New number one issue must mean a new Green Lantern for space sector 2814 since the old Green Lantern title starring Kyle Rayner didn’t really set the charts on fire. It would seem DC and Geoff Johns decided to do something about that. Enter Green Lantern: Rebirth where the star of this current series was returned to active duty in the DCU. Yes ladies and gentlemen, if you haven’t been following Rebirth, Hal Jordan has returned to the DCU. Back by popular demand or something like that.
Then what happened this issue? Well the issue picks up after Green Lantern: Rebirth with a rather nice four page recap scene on how Hal became a member of the Green Lantern Corps by Ethan Van Sciver. We then delve straight into Hal’s career as an Air Force test pilot trying to get his life back on track after years of being presumed dead when he was bonded to the Spectre trying to atone for his past sins when he turned evil and murdered the rest of the Green Lantern Corp. Deep Breath now. Don’t be afraid. It’s only Comic Book continuity. It can’t hurt you unless you let it. It does appear to be quite a bit to handle but Geoff Johns pulls it off like he has on countless other titles. He uses it and doesn’t beat us about the head with it so you won’t have to have read Hal’s previous adventures or Green Lantern: Rebirth to understand what’s going on in this book as everything we need to know is conveyed clearly and concisely.
That said basically this issue is all set up and the focus is obviously on Hal Jordan as we see him deal with the various aspects of his life as he tries to rebuild his test pilot career with the Air Force, his responsibility as a Green Lantern and his personal life in the newly rebuilt Coast City where we meet his brother. It’s all handled and balanced rather well as Johns is an old hand at character development, advancing the plot without any hitch, whilst re-establishing where Hal’s life is now. Obviously this is a super hero book so there’s a foreboding menace in the background as Hal and John Stewart (supporting Green Lantern) investigate a mysterious space craft floating in Earth’s atmosphere. Meanwhile back on Earth mysterious yet somehow familiar characters make a return which makes me wonder if they‘re tied in to the forthcoming crisis.
Anyway up until now I’ve been strangely quiet about one aspect of this book which if truth be told was perhaps the deal breaker that made me pick it up. The artwork between Ethan Van Sciver’s brief sequence at the beginning and Carlos Pacheco’s work on the main body of the book they really bring Johns’ script to life. I’m thrilled to see both artists working on a regular book again, especially one that interests me. Pacheco in particular has a fantastic eye for design, movement and character expression which is obvious in the Air Force and outer space segments of the book. His redesign of Coast City looks fantastic and I hope we see more of it in future issues of the book. Not to leave Ethan Van Sciver out, once again fantastic work and highly detailed as well and I look forward to his future fill in issues. Also a quick nod to the inker and colourist Jesus Merino and Moose Baumann, who both do a great job here keeping the book looking bright, vivid and exciting.
In conclusion all I have to say is I really enjoyed this book, as I have been enjoying most of DC’s output recently. It’s fun super hero science fiction, nothing more, nothing less. It’s not going to revolutionise the comic book industry but if you’re looking for some entertainment value for money then you can’t go wrong with this title. If you’re a fan of DC’s current output then you’ll enjoy this book, if not then you may be wary but I think if you buy it you’ll enjoy it. I highly recommend it. It’s a great kick-off issue and this seems to be another quality book from Geoff Johns, the man that it seems can do no wrong with the DC universe and characters. There’s bags of potential in this book and DC have a fantastic team taking care of the property so it looks like there’s a bright future once again ahead of the Green Lantern.
Aidan Donnellan is a native of the west of Ireland, Aidan, born in 1984 has been reading comicbooks some would say for far too long and has been around Millarworld since it’s early X-Fan days. He can currently be found wandering the streets of Galway and is currently bluffling his way through a degree in Computing and Software Development.