I know, I know. You were eagerly anticipating Part 2 of my X-Men love-fest. But there’s this Green Lantern movie out today and I needed some time to catch on my regular Wednesday comics reading. Rest assured, I’ll be back with plenty of X-Men-y goodness in two weeks.
Green Lantern and I have a long history together. Well, longer than most characters I have a history with anyway. Back in college, my boyfriend at the time was a big Green Lantern fan. And while I wasn’t reading comics back then, I was really into superheroes. He was more than willing to tell me stories about his favorite character. So long before I even picked up a comic, I knew all about Hal Jordan and Paralax, about Power Rings and Guardians, about Kyle Raynor and girlfriends stuffed in refrigerators. Around the same time (or maybe right after) I started watching Bruce Timm’s Justice League and became well acquainted with John Stewart. All this seeming useless information came in handy when I picked up Green Lantern: Rebirth. But more on that in a bit.
Normally with Desperately Seeking, I read a ton of comics to find the version of a character I like best. I’ve known I would need to do something on Green Lantern since I come up with this idea. And while I really do want to read Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ classic Green Lantern/Green Arrow (or the infamous Guy Gardner: Warrior), right now I just couldn’t get myself excited about reading anymore Green Lantern than I already have (and trust me, you do not want to read Grumpy Ali rants).
At risk of sounding like a bratty teenager, I’m so over Green Lantern. Over the past two years, Hal’s turned into this comics juggernaut. He’s a major force in the DCU, practically taking Wonder Woman’s place in the Big Three. Geoff Johns’ impressive revitalization of the character has turned into an epic cosmic saga, now complete with a 3D, CGI movie theater extravaganza.
But this isn’t about stomping my feet and crying I DON’T WANNA! This is about reading comics and finding the characters that resonate.
The Green Lantern Saga by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Ethan Van Sciver, Philip Tan, Carlos Pacheco, Shane Davis, Mike McKone, Simone Bianchi, Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, and a bunch of people I’m probably forgetting but mostly Geoff Johns
Specifically: Green Lantern: Rebirth, Sinestro Corps War, Green Lantern Secret Origin, Blackest Night, Green Lantern #36-54, Green Lantern Corps #33-50 (or whenever Blackest Night ended and they split the book)
Sidebar: I’m not the only one who’s noticed the DC has starting running ads for what’s basically Johns’ entire run on Green Lantern, right? I mean “Read the Green Lantern Saga” has got to be a bit intimidating. “Here! Read these seven trades and then jump right in!” Anyways.
That’s 66 issues on one character’s story. Johns has been working on Green Lantern for seven years and I’ve read almost all of it over the course of two years.
Let’s jump back in the way-back machine to early 2009. I had been given Green Lantern: Rebirth for Christmas. And after finally learning the difference between Jeph Loeb and Geoff Johns, I decided to give Hal Jordan a try. And I loved it. I grabbed back issues of Secret Origin (which was finishing up in issues at the time) and devoured that. Having a nice solid foundation, I decided to jump on Green Lantern and then Green Lantern Corps in issues, just in time for the preview for the prelude to the afternoon before Blackest Night.
Snark aside, I loved the hell out Green Lantern. I could not get enough of it. It was big sexy space cops with full-throttle action. I was on board and enjoying the hell out of the ride. I grabbed the Sinestro Corp War trades around my birthday of that year (after getting schooled by a 12-year old on NYCC for not having read it yet) and it was more cosmicy goodness. To me, this was Star Wars-level space opera. The Green Lantern books were 80% responsible for the crush I developed on Geoff Johns.
But somewhere in the midst of Blackest Night and it’s aftermath things just got to be a bit too much. The spark was gone. And instead of looking forward to GL and GLC each month, it was starting to feel like homework.
Johns’ writing on Green Lantern is different from the work he’s done on books like JSA/Justice Society of America and even Action Comics. I adored those books. They’re full of wonderful, quiet character moments and subtleties that just tug at your heart strings in the best ways possible. Johns is fantastic at grounded big cosmic action, and it’s really apparent in those titles. While he is amazing at creating new worlds and galaxies (like he does in Green Lantern), I think the character stuff is what he does best.
And I think that’s what this Green Lantern Saga has lost. Hal doesn’t feel like the same Hal from Rebirth and Secret Origin. I loved that guy; I loved rooting for him. But it feels like Hal’s kind of turned into this Space Cop Automaton. And knowing how fantastic Johns is with character, it’s all the more disappointing reading Hal jump from cosmic battle to cosmic battle.
I’m not going to lie. I’m really disappointed Green Lantern is not getting the full-on reboot the majority of the DCU is getting. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the movie being out, but Hal and the crew need it. I think it’s safe to safe Green Lantern has become too much of a good thing. The full-spectrum treatment it’s gotten has become a bit overwhelming and I feel like I’m on sensory overload when I see that book.
Hal needs sometime to come back down to earth, hang out with some “normal” capes and tights, and win back our hearts. It’s been done before, and it’s time to see if someone (maybe even someone else) can do it again.
Ali Colluccio is very proud she got through that whole thing without saying "Blackest Night-y".
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From what I’ve read it sounds like Johns is hoping to bring more character moments into GL with this “reboot”.
I definitely agree with this. I loved this starting out, but even before Blackest Night it started to lose its luster for me. I’d say everything following the Sinestro Corps War (except Secret Origin, which obviously takes place before that chronologically) has had to spend so much time introducing is to the various different colored corps that Hal’s personality kind of just got lost along the way. I think if Johns could’ve spent a good five years or so really delving into everything between SCW and BN, the quality would be just as good as the early stuff. But everything got crammed into something like 10 issues, and I feel like the book has kind of collapsed under its own weight ever since.
Sounds like it’s time for G’nort to take over the sector!
Agreed. The GL mythos is so convoluted right now. I hope there’s more of a reboot coming that it looks like.
I dropped off after Blackest Night. I tried one or two issues here and there to see if it had improved but nothing ever took. That’s a shame because, as you said, the pre-Blackest Night stuff is awesome, especially Sinestro Corps War.
I’ll wait and see if the relaunch books get any positive press. If it seems the big sexy has returned then I’ll give it a shot.
Totally agree with the state this series is in. There was so much excitement leading up to Blackest Night, and I was loving the additions of the new corps, but after Blackest Night lost focus on just the Green Lantern side of things and became a very heavily DCU-involved event, I started to lose that excitement. I haven’t read Green Lantern since the end of Blackest Night, and there seems to be too much going on for that to change. I think out of all the reboot titles, Green Lantern is the one I want to pick up and read again the most, but I just hope there’s a reason to.
I share some of your thoughts on GL. I just needed a break from the character. Might pick it up again post relaunch.
Next for Ali: Desperatly Seeking Plastic Man!!!
Sounds like it’s time for Hal & Ollie to walk across America!
@jonnyflash That would be kind of awesome. They could tackle race issues and drug use.
For my money, Hal has always been the most boring part of the Green Lantern books, though Kyle’s not far behind. Stewart is interesting, Gardner is interesting, but Hal? He’s just kind of a dick.