Green Lantern: War Journal #1: Bringin’ Back Home

Green Lantern: War Journal #1 spins right out of the back ups from the first three issues of the Dawn of DC’s flagship Green Lantern series. For those who haven’t read those backups, let’s recap. John Stewart has returned to earth after all of earth’s Lanterns were grounded, to take care of his mother after her recent health scare. Doing odd jobs around the house, John constantly looks up to the stars, unable to truly let go of his life as a space soldier. Meanwhile, a mysterious being known as the Revenant Queen is unleashing her Radiant Dead upon the Green Lanterns of an alternate universe, with the ultimate goal of gaining revenge upon that universe’s John Stewart. After being defeated, the Revenant Queen escapes to Earth Zero in order to hunt down this universe’s John Stewart, with the alternate universe’s Green Lantern, Shepherd following her. Now that we are all caught up, how does Green Lantern: War Journal #1 build upon all of this?

Phillip Kennedy Johnson uses the ongoing status quo of the earth’s Green Lanterns to really break into a character study for John Stewart. Seeing John struggle to assimilate back into everyday life while constantly thinking of his life back in space is bound to strike a cord with any veterans reading this book. Johnson definitely is infusing a lot of his own personality into this book, using his twenty years of experience in the U.S Army to really give John a well rooted personality, while reminding readers that being a Green Lantern is more about being a soldier than being a superhero. One of the more poignant aspects of his characterization is the struggle between knowing he has to help his mom and the drastic change in life he’s just gone through. This is where Johnson’s writing shines, highlighting the way that John puts the needs of his mother over his own personal goals. This really adds a new level to the character, creating a firm status quo that easily is identifiable, making this a great jumping on point for new readers.

Montos delivers some fun, multifaceted art here, with the setting transitioning between John’s seemingly mundane life on earth and the Revenant Queen’s destructive actions on a satellite above earth. Both of these settings are unique in their own rights; yet, Montos is able to create a sense of familiarity with both, using the constant reminder of John’s Green Lantern roots as a connecting ground. These two settings also serve as a great visual juxtaposition to the internal struggle that John is experiencing, contrasting the horror and action of space with the mundaneness of everyday life. Montos also delivers an excellent sequence where John is confronted on earth by a Green Lantern and has to fight him off. This all really highlights the versatility of the artist, creating a fun landscape for this series to explore.

In any Green Lantern series, by far the most crucial member of the creative team has to be the colorist. The light based constructs are only going to look as good as the colorist behind them and thankfully, Adriano Lucas does an amazing job. Highlighting the insanely detailed pencils from Montos, Lucas really infuses life into John Stewart’s constructs, highlighting them in a really vibrant way. The constructs here really get a vibrant look, shining off the page in a way that makes them truly contrast the action going on around them. This is also exemplified by the way that Lucas allows Montos’s gritty pencils to do most of the heavy lifting. This allows the dark and heavy lines to maintain their gravitas while the colors serve to highlight the emphasis of each panel.

Concluding the creative team is Dave Sharpe on the letters. Sharpe’s use of onomatopoeia really adds a lot of gravitas to the pages, while his use of differing speech bubbles makes the flow in a logical and understandable manner. This all works well together, especially in the final segment of the issue, where Shepherd is exploring the wreckage of the satellite. Sharpe separates the dialogue of Shepherd and the ring with easily identifiable speech bubbles and boxes, while creating a fun dynamic action scene with the dynamic use of onomatopoeia. All of this adds to the overall feel of the issue, making for a fun read.