Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Green Lantern #2
DC Comics
Johns, Mahnke, Alamy & Champagne
The second issue of the re-launched Green Lantern is kind of a slow issue. While the issues provides some good moments between Hal Jordan and Sinestro it opens up to some questions that I'm not sure are going to have clear answers. Overall, the highlight of the book is the artwork but story-wise there just isn't much here. It feels like a stall issue, which isn't a good sign.
The issue opens with Sinestro confronting Hal Jordan. Sinestro is looking for Hal's help but Hal is still trying to understand how Sinestro ended up with Hal's ring in the first place. To me, this is one of the big failings of DC comics in general. DC simply refuses to put any sort of recap in their books. They simply launch into the story as they make the assumption that everyone reading their books knows all the characters and have read all the previous issues. It seems to me to be a missed opportunity, especially with a popular character such as Green Lantern to not put any kind of recap to inform new readers as to what is going on. Sinestro is never introduced in this issue and isn't even referred to by name until the sixth and seventh splash pages.
The story takes an odd turn when Sinestro makes Hal his own ring and then watches as Hal attempts to save some folks from a bridge that is falling into the water. Sinestro then shows Hal how he could have saved everyone in one swoop instead of trying to save one person at a time as they fall off the bridge. Here is the second problem with issue. Is Hal a novice with the ring because of the reboot or are we to believe he needs training? If this is a reboot thing then, again, a recap would help to some extent or even a statement in some form of marketing letting a reader know that. If it is not because of a reboot then it is simply absurd to believe that Hal needs any pointers from Sinestro on how to save people falling from a bridge.
The issue ends with a cliffhanger that loosely ties in to the misleading cover. This saves the issue from being a full write-off. The action and banter help to make the issue as entertaining as it was during and around the time of the Sinestro Corps War. Hopefully the next issue will push this plot ahead more.
The artwork is terrific. Despite a pair of inkers I found the issue to be incredibly detailed especially around the few panels where there are ring constructs. As always, the highlight of the art is the coloring. The greens and yellows jump off the page as the artwork continues to draw from the various corps elements through use of colors on the page. This house style for the Green Lantern line is very impressive because of the length of time we've now seen this for. An excellent visual book all around.
Green Lantern has been a slow book since the conclusion of Blackest Night (which was a while ago). However, I hold out hope that when this book picks up again it will be at the top of the read list whenever it ships. This story is okay in parts but doesn't really push across anything terribly interesting except that Sinestro gives Hal a ring of his own. As always this issue is going to cater towards fans of the character and the creator(s) but the newer reader will probably be lost.
3 out of 5 Geek Goggles
