Green Lantern #1: Take Me Down To Coast City Where The Rings Are Green & Hal’s Real Pretty…

It’s finally here! Hal Jordan’s back in his own ongoing since the end of the Green Lantern season two by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp, and this time Jeremy Adams and Xermanico are behind the…stick? (What’s it called that pilots use to steer?) Readers get this brand new story about Hal and a backup story by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Montos to take former Green Lantern, current Emerald Knight John Stewart, setting him up after the end of his last ongoing. Readers get all this, plus so much more…

Jeremy Adams and Xermanico have brought Hal and Carol returns to an all too familiar status quo for longtime Hal fans, but it’s been such a long time since we’ve seen Hal in this role that it feels like a pretty fresh start this new era. For those behind on what’s been happening, due to the events of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Guardians have disappeared, and the United Planets have co-opted the Green Lantern Corps. The UP has declared sector 2814 has been quarantined and has dispatched the Lanterns from this sector to be stationed in other sectors. Hal and John have decided not to abandon their sector, but they have effectively given up their rings; how long will this last? Who knows, but the two earth-born Lanterns won’t go into that darkness without a fight. 

Adams’ Hal is cocky and headstrong, traits that evoke a sense of nostalgia, especially regarding his rebuking authority, and it’s on clear display here. Adams seems to be rebuilding the relationship between Hal and Carol, one of those silver-age throwbacks, like Hal and Iris, Ralph and Sue, and so on. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been cultivated since Hal’s return to the title. Mentions are made, but overall their romance feels more like a footnote since Hal’s return in 2004. Adams has the two in basically the same situation that Johns did, but somehow this feels like some development might be intended to be explored. 

The lean, green superhero machine is back.

Adams and Xermanico’s Hal is just full of confidence. Despite having to crawl back to his ex to get a job and reestablish himself in Coast City, he still has every ounce of confidence he’s always had. Again, it’s a return to form that is enjoyable as a reader. Carol is stressed, and one can feel it with the characterization, even when reading the exchange as they’re testing the new drones that are supposed to keep Ferris Air solvent. Long-time GL readers will enjoy seeing situations like this because they haven’t had a Hal run that focuses on him and life here on earth, instead opting for world-building the Green Lantern Corps lore. 

Xermanico’s art here blows me away. He’s been one of my favorite underappreciated artists who doesn’t get the props he deserves. Like Juan Frigeri over at Marvel, one is just waiting for his star to explode and get the attention they deserve. Hal feels like Hal, and the way he works the drone scenes, it doesn’t feel static but lush and kinetic. Xermanico is no slouch for perfectly depicting significant scale events or tender, intimate moments like a master. I can’t wait to see what else he will bring visually to Hal and his world on earth and beyond. 

But wait! There’s more!

In the backup feature, one of the earthbound Green Lanterns, John Stewart, who is taking a sabbatical from his adventures and responsibilities in the universe, decides to come back home to discover who he is and what he is’s fighting for. PJK’s mission statement regarding John, as a lead-up to his ongoing series, is to make him a well-rounded character and create DC’s version of the Jedi Council, which is an exciting facet that places John going forward. As one not usually a fan of John, mainly because of trouble connecting with him, once Phillip Kennedy Johnson was attached to the project, I knew that the story needed to be checked out on release. 

Johnson’s one of those writers whose work that’s just been clicking on all cylinders. Usually, the backup stories can be avoided simply because they fall flat or for some readers. Johnson gets it and has a keen knack for telling a space opera, as seen in his Action Comics run, where Superman allied with the super team The Authority. The motley group joined forces as they continued their work to bring down Mongul and all of Warworld behind him in a storyline that one could classify as one of the best Superman stories told in years. Here with John, there’s something brewing, and it looks like it could spell something big, not only for John and the Corps, but something that could affect the rest of the DCU.