Green Lantern: Dark #1
Chad Burdette
Recap
On a post-apocalyptic Earth overrun by monsters, the battle between good and evil ended long ago — and evil won. Now darkness prevails as humanity struggles to survive in the corrupted wasteland that remains.
Only one hero is said to haunt what’s left of our shadowed cities, the one who wields the mystical green flame that could return light to a dark world–The Green Lantern. But she’s been missing for years, and on the isolated island of New England, Solomon Grundy’s undead army only grows larger and more powerful every night…
Review
Green Lantern: Dark #1 is a return to the Tangent Universe (Earth-9 in the Multiverse) that was created in 1997,whose characters have made the occasional appearance over the years since then.
From the beginning of the issue the new status quo is laid out, the heroes of this universe are dead and the Earth has been plunged into darkness, monsters have taken over, and humans live in fear. The worst of these monsters is this Earth’s version of Solomon Grundy, a classic Golden Age Green Lantern foe.
The legend is that the Tangent Green Lantern is still alive, which turns out to be true, but she is not the hero she once was or felt like she was. Throughout the issue, it seems evident that this version of the character is different from the original Tangent Green Lantern, (this is pure speculation). It also seems that the characters power set, while still mainly involve the ability to raise the dead for a time, has grown and evolved.
The use of Grundy is a nice touch, paying homage to the character, much like Grant Morrison did in the Seven Soldiers maxiseries. It is interesting and nice to see a retur.n to this DC Earth, even it is much different. The issue does a good job of setting the tone for the rest of the series as it looks as though Green Lantern will be combating the monsters and perhaps bringing light back to Earth-9.
Dell’Edera’s art and Niro’s colorwork do an excellent job of showing just how bad things are on this Earth and make the story come to life.
Final Thoughts
Green Lantern: Dark #1's return to Earth-9 and the Tangent Universe is a bold move on the part of DC Comics, and while the issue lays groundwork for this new status quo, it remains to be seen if this Earth's future is as bleak as it appears to be or if the Green Lantern can restore it or die trying.
Green Lantern: Dark #1
- Writing - 8/108/10
- Storyline - 7/107/10
- Art - 10/1010/10
- Color - 9/109/10
- Cover Art - 9/109/10
