DC ROUND-UP: GREEN LANTERN #2 is down to Earth

THIS WEEK: We go back to basics with Green Lantern #2!

Note: the review below contain spoilers.  If you want a quick, spoiler-free buy/pass recommendation on the comics in question, check out the bottom of the article for our final verdicts.

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Green Lantern #2

Writer: Jeremy Adams
Artist: Xermánico
Colorist: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Cover: Xermánico

I’m a huge Green Lantern fan. In fact, Green Lantern was the second superhero I fell in love with, way back in 1994. Of course, the Green Lantern of 1994 is a bit different from the Green Lantern of today. For one thing, when I picked up Green Lantern #53 off the rack in the grocery store in 1994, it wasn’t Hal Jordan wielding the ring, it was the brash, young newcomer Kyle Rayner. Now Kyle’s nearly as old of a character as Hal was when Kyle came on the scene. 

In 2004, when Kyle’s time as the only Lantern came to an end with Green Lantern: Rebirth, I was a little bitter. Kyle got ten years, and now Hal was back. It took me some time to adjust, and to tell the truth, I’ve never really come around on Hal. But 19 years is a long time, and hindsight works funny. I got bitter that Kyle wasn’t the only Green Lantern after ten years, but of course, Hal’s time as the only Earth Lantern was shorter than that, Guy Gardner came around only nine years after Hal, and John Stewart only a few years later. And I’ll admit, that I think the Lantern side of the DC Universe is stronger for the things that have been added to it over the last twenty years. But that doesn’t mean I don’t still long for Kyle in a lead role again. 

So when the new Green Lantern series was announced as part of The Dawn of DC I was still a little put off by it, because once again it was Hal. Mariko Tamaki was announced to write, and at least that, I was excited for. I’ve been a huge fan of Tamaki’s work at DC, and thought she might do wonderful things with the character. But then just a couple of weeks after the announcement of her writing the book, suddenly she wasn’t, and Jeremy Adams was. 

I enjoyed Adams’ run on Flash, but he’s not really a big draw for me to try out a book. But… Xermánico is. So I picked it up and gave the first issue a spin. And you know what? I’m glad I did. The first two issues of this series are phenomenal. Xermánico’s art is just top-notch like I knew it would be. He gives Hal just the right amount of cocky swagger, but also somehow makes him feel a bit more down-to-earth and pleasant than any iteration of Hal I’ve seen before. 

A good part of that also goes to Adams’ writing too. His Hal is funny, cocky, and a bit charming. I could see a young Harrison Ford behind that mask with the dialogue and humor that Adams injects into the comic. The first two issues of this series have hit the mark in a way that no Hal Jordan comic ever has for me. 

Taking Hal away from his element is great too. Too old school and reckless to be a fighter pilot in the modern era with drones, too stubborn and bullheaded to give up flying (or Carol). Stuck on Earth with a ring he made from Manhunter armor and nothing else but his own willpower, working outside the confines of the Corps, it feels like something unique and special, and a little bit wild west. 

Another large part of what makes Green Lantern #2 special is the wonderful coloring done by Romulo Fajardo, Jr, because if there’s one thing a Green Lantern book needs it’s good coloring. Coloring will make or break your book if it’s about light and colors, and frankly that’s where Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp’s The Green Lantern kind of fell apart for me. Fajardo’s colors are brilliant and vibrant, and bring a lot of light to the book. 

Frankly? Green Lantern #2 is a ton of fun, and I think everyone should give this series a fair shake. 

Verdict: BUY 

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Round-Up

• It’s still Pride month, and this week DC put out another Pride special. This one, DC Pride Through The Years #1 is a celebration of the company’s history with LGBTQ+ characters. A wonderful essay from DC’s Archivist Benjamin Le Clear leads off the short collection, giving context to the stories within. Notably, one of my favorite single issues of all time makes the cut. Within this issue are the first on-page coming-out story from DC Comics in Flash#53, the first issue of Detective Comics with Batwoman as the lead, and of course an issue about nonbinary identity co-written by a nonbinary creator. Lastly, there’s a look to both the past and the future with a new story starring Alan Scott, that recaps his first romance. Also notably gives him a new, hyphenated, last name. 
  Miss any of our earlier reviews? Check out our full archive!