Green Lantern #1 // Review
The Guardians are out. It’s hard to tell why. They just kinda--disappeared. Now, the Corps is under new management. The management in question has decided that Sector 2814 is an unsafe liability to the universe and has reassigned its staff that had been located there. Sector 2814 happens to be home to an utterly insignificant, little blue-green planet that happens to be home to a guy named Hal Jordan, who doesn’t agree with his reassignment. A new chapter begins in his life with Green Lantern #1. Writer Jeremy Adams offers a balanced look at the life of the classic Silver Age Lantern in a satisfying new issue that is brought to the page by Spanish artist Xermánico. Color comes to the page courtesy of Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Hal has a perfectly good reason for wanting to return to Earth: that’s where he’s from. There’s more to it than that, though. The woman he loves is there. Earth is home to at least a couple of crises every single year, and he really SHOULD be there to help everyone else out with all of the danger. It’s what a Green Lantern does. It’s kind of been a while, though. He will have to work like hell to get back into anything resembling a normal life. It’s okay: he wouldn’t be worthy of the ring if he couldn’t do it.
Adams is starting from a really nice point for any hero: the big return. He’s re-entering a life that should be second nature to him, but so much distance has grown since he left, and there are threats that follow any good hero. Those threats mean danger. Adams manages a profoundly detailed characterization of Jordan with sparse dialogue and a clever sense of execution. After a quick introduction to his superheroism in saving the life of a few blue-collar guys, Adams advances the narrative to Jordan’s return to his girlfriend. The reunion is seen through the eyes of the woman reluctant to see him again. It’s a well-crafted moment that launches the series on a charmingly interpersonal note.
Xermánico casts Green Lantern in a way that fully embraces the larger-than-life heroic stature of one of the original Silver Age heroes. There’s a real…“big green boy scout”...thing going on as Hal seems very Clark Kent-y in the way that the artist is framing him. There IS depth beyond that as the artist is given the opportunity to show Jordan’s more flawed and achingly human emotional side in moments that lend depth to the characterization. When the traditional superhero action emerges later on in the issue, it feels every bit as strong as the drama.
Jordan has been through many different convolutions over the decades...arguably more than any major mainstream superhero this side of Wonder Woman. It’s nice to see a creative team willing to take him back to a traditionally balanced superhero format. Adams and company aren’t completely reinventing the character, but seeing him return to his roots feels very much like seeing Hal Jordan come back to Earth one more time.
