Green Lantern #29: Down to Earth

Adams steps away from the larger galaxy for a fun, easily digested, down to Earth adventure in Green Lantern #29. The issue doesn’t completely abandon Adams’ developing storylines–he explains Hal’s desire to get away from it all as a response to encountering the Book of Oa in the previous issue. But it does offer a welcome respite from the galaxy shattering events that have dominated the series for the last several issues.

Green Lantern #29’s story successfully walks a tightrope between a completely in-series stand-alone story arc and a story with connections to the wider universe. Adams includes general references to the DC All-In Special and the current DC K.O. event, but neither of those are required reading for this issue. That said, these tie-ins make Hal’s return to Earth feel consequential. As fun as this is for its nostalgic pairing, Adams makes the story feel like it has real stakes.

The real charm of Green Lantern #29 is the interaction between Hal and Ollie. Adams plays on the characters’ longstanding relationship, filling their dialogue exchanges with banter. In the same way that the Earthbound story is surprisingly welcome, so too is Hal’s interaction with someone outside of his main supporting cast. The relationship between he and Ollie has a different significance, and Adams does a good job keeping it distinct.

That character interaction is greatly enhanced by Di Giandomenico’s art. Hal and Ollie are both very visually expressive characters. Di Giandomenico gets a lot of mileage out of their eyes, with only subtle differences changing expressions between extremes of happiness or good humor and depression or introspection. The lines on the characters’ faces are crisp and deliberate. Thicker lines do a good job fixing features while thinner lines accent and shade around them. Di Giandomenico ties Hal and Ollie’s expressions very neatly into the moods expressed in their dialogue. One section in particular is very effective–that of Hal and Ollie out of costume sharing beers in a bar. Hal takes on considerable depth as he recounts the events that have brought him to Earth.

Di Giandomenico’s nuanced detail with characters doesn’t always extend to panel backgrounds. This background minimalism combines nicely with Fajardo Jr’s tendency toward restrained rather than vibrant coloring. Most of the issue takes place outside at night. Another brief but still significant section takes place in a dark underground bunker. In both cases, the somewhat vague surroundings and the muted color choices create a kind of moodiness throughout the issue.

Fajardo Jr’s coloring lends itself to layered shades of colors that weave organically rather than seeming to be one shade on top of another on top of another. This particular skill is on display twice in Green Lantern #29–with a robot enemy that shoots fire and a sequence where Hal uses hard light to search for a secret entrance. These moments not only highlight Fajardo’s talent, but also why he is a good choice for a series where the use of light is such a constant storytelling feature.

Shape has a lot of sound effects to realize in Green Lantern #29, and he strikes a good balance between blending the sound effects into the art surrounding them so they feel like an outgrowth of it and making the sound effect stand out as another visual element to pop off the page. The latter usually happens in more dynamic, action packed panels. The former is typically seen with larger panels and spreads where the art is more of a spectacle. Sharpe’s work is solid in both cases.