Green Lantern #1
Hal Jordan and Jon Stewart are back on Earth, each with a different in mission in Green Lantern #1, by writers Jeremy Adams and Phillip Kennedy Johnson, artists Xermanico and Montos, colorists Romulo Fajardo Jr. and Adriano Lucas, and letterer Dave Sharpe. The latest chapter in the Green Lantern kicks off here with a wonderful double header.
The main story takes place in two time periods, beginning with Hal Jordan saving some trapped miners. Carol Ferris sees the news report on it just when Hal comes to visit her. She makes excuses to not see him, but he finds her before she can leave and asks for a job. She grudgingly agrees. Meanwhile, at a bar playing the Green Lantern news, a familiar purple man watches the return of Hal Jordan. It then cuts to a month earlier, with Jordan sitting on his brother’s old trailer outside Coast City, trying to figure out what to do with himself since leaving the Green Lantern Corps and coming to Earth. The report of an attack on the city rouses him to action, where an enemy named Steel Fury is slaughtering people. In the present, Jordan helps test a new plane against two younger pilots as Ferris monitors the test. Jordan’s competitive nature gets the best of him and he ends up crashing the plane. Back at Ferris, Carol goes to the drone bay and chews out Jordan, who keeps telling her that if they were in real planes, he could have saved it. However, Carol tells him that the future is in drones and that his thoughtlessness cost the company money. Jordan realizes his mistake and apologizes. In the past, Jordan recognizes the armor Steel Fury is wearing as Manhunter armor, getting involved in the fight to figure out what’s going on. In the back-up, John Stewart’s mother is surprised to see him there, building her a shed. He promises her he’s there for good and won’t be pulled away to space. Meanwhile, in another universe, two Green Lanterns - Guy Gardner and Shepherd - find themselves under an overwhelming attack. Shepherd thinks it’s the Radiant Dead, but Gardner tells him that John Stewart killed the Radiant Dead. They’re protecting the Eternal Eternal Watchfire and Gardner, heavily wounded, tells Shepherd to charge his ring in the Watchfire and get ready for a fight. As Gardner goes down, Shepherd keeps fighting the seemingly undead enemies, but he’s overwhelmed by the Revenant Queen, who wants the man who killed her children - John Stewart.
Since the end of Geoff Johns’s run on the Green Lantern books, things have changed a lot for Hal Jordan and company. Hal was at one time DC’s most popular character, but subsequent runs saw him fading into the background. Even a run by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp couldn’t save Hal. Infinite Frontier had a Green Lantern book, but most fans weren’t into it. So, there’s a lot riding on this issue of Green Lantern and it’s safe to say that it delivers. Jeremy Adams has worked his magic on Wally West and now he’s doing so with Hal Jordan. The new status quo - that the United Planets took over the Green Lantern Corps after the Guardians of the Universe have disappeared, causing Hal Jordan and John Stewart to both leave the Corps - puts Jordan and Stewart on Earth, where this issue finds both of them.
The main story goes a long way towards setting up the new status quo for Hal Jordan being reminding readers that Hal isn’t just an unstoppable street cop - he’s also a screw-up who brings as much chaos as he does anything else. Carol’s reaction to Hal is perfect; she knows what happens to her when Hal shows up. The flashback is just as cool, with Jordan wondering where the Manhunter armor came from. Adams might be using that to set up a quest for the Guardians, but regardless, it’s still a great hook. That’s the thing about this story - it does a great job of setting up the new status quo. Kennedy’s back-up, which was once supposed to be an ongoing, finds John in much the same place, but instead of being the adrenaline junkie like Hal, he just wants to help his mother. The multiversal threat of the Revenant Queen is a great one, and seeing where Johnson, who has done such amazing work with Superman, takes this whole thing is going to be great. It would have been nice for it to a full ongoing, but getting the story at all is also great.
Xermanico and Fajardo Jr. are always a great team and this issue is yet another standout performance. Xermanico’s style works very well for the book, his detailed linework capturing the grandeur of Jordan as Green Lantern and his deft character acting selling the emotions of this issue. Fajardo Jr.’s colors are understated in a lot of places, which fits the pensive nature of Jordan’s new life. In the back-up, Montos and Lucas lay it all out brilliantly. The main book’s art is hard to live up to, but this team does an amazing job. The first few pages with John and his mother are beautiful, a perfect day for a reunion. The art truly captures the feelings of the scene, both the emotions and the sunny goodness of the day. Then, the art switches tones completely without missing a beat. They go from light and hope to darkness and disaster on a dime, which is no easy feat. This section is just as good as what came before. Both art teams do a fantastic job.
Green Lantern #1 is a perfect reintroduction for two DC icons. If there’s any problem with this book, it’s that John Stewart isn’t getting his ongoing. The two teams serve up a steaming helping of awesome to readers.
