Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #6: Love Thyself

Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #6 is the conclusion to the most heartfelt, topical book that DC has put out within the last decade. After the last issue’s discovery and revelations, Alan is forced to team up with his long lost love, Vlad, AKA The Red Lantern, to save America, and by extension, the world. This issue also sees the rest of the Justice Society of America join the fray, with all of the pent up drama and action leading to this final battle. In the end, as the dust settles, the book’s themes start to wrap up, with the book concluding on a heartfelt, hopeful manner that stays character centric and true to the heart of the narrative.

The biggest themes of Alan Scott: The Green Lantern have been love, loss, and the need to hide amongst a world that does not accept Alan as a gay man. While the story is shaped around Alan’s love for Vlad and how Vlad’s “death” shaped him into the man he became, it slowly is revealed that the real narrative is about Alan learning to love himself. From the initial pages, where J Edgar Hoover blackmails Alan by threatening to expose his status as a gay man to the world, Alan has been shown to struggle with the life he has lived, and the men he has fallen in love with. This struggle has been depicted morally, religiously, as well as mutually, as Alan navigated through his troubled past, leading to him suppressing his sexuality. Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #6 ends on the hopeful note that reminds readers to learn to love themselves before trying to take on a world that fears and doesn’t understand them. Needless to say, Tim Sheridan poured his heart into this book, and it ends in a way that solidifies it as one of the most important stories of the last decade.

Speaking of Sheridan, Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #6 makes it clear that he knows how to write a heartfelt story that also captures the best of all of the characters involved. With Geoff Johns stepping away from DC as his new publishing line, Sheridan would be a perfect writer to take on a future Justice Society of America series.

Art wise, artist Cian Tormey and colorist Matt Herms absolutely knock it out of the park with this final issue. Any book featuring the powers of The Green Lantern will be dead in the water without an excellent art team. Thankfully Tormey and Herms are up to the task, depicting a beautiful blend of action and drama that truly capture the essence of the story. Herms does a great job in depicting the scope of the Lantern’s powers, making the explosions of red and green power pop off the page in a masterful way. Tormey does a great job balancing the crazy action with the softer moments, showing an excellent range. Tormey also does a fantastic job in pacing the issue, making each moment land in spectacular fashion.

One of the best parts of Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #6, something that is mirrored in the sister series Wesley Dodds: The Sandman and Jay Garrick: The Flash, is that the story comes full circle and stays self-contained. Sheridan and company waste no time in tending to the other facets of the DC universe, allowing Alan Scott: The Green Lantern to be told in full with a satisfying conclusion. Rarely is that seen in comics today, especially within the big two. Anyone looking to read a story that is fully self contained and doesn’t rely on several years of continuity to understand should look no further than Alan Scott: The Green Lantern.