Green Lantern: War Journal #5 – Shining Light

Green Lantern: War Journal has been a difficult series to review, not unlike Phillip Kennedy Johnson’s recent run on Action Comics. There are so many great ideas and character beats that, when read all in succession, really satisfy, as Johnson’s recent output has been particularly geared towards a trade reading experience. However, at times the lack of a more tightly serialized writing style tends to leave the series somewhat middling during the monthly release grind that, somewhat unfairly, harms series like these that are written with an arc-by-arc, as opposed to issue-by-issue pacing style.

After reading Green Lantern: War Journal #5, the push and pull argument between the two pacing formats has never been more prevalent when reviewing one of Johnson’s stories. This penultimate issue is both excellent and exciting, whilst also disappointing in its substance as a stand-alone chapter of this ongoing science-fiction saga.

The character work, commitment to mythological themes, and visual storytelling remain excellent. Kennedy’s proclivity towards kicking the ball down the field while still keeping the game focused at the first-down line is a great pace setter for a series that promises to have long legs publication-wise. The scenes between John and his mother are unflinchingly macabre, John’s continued attempts at keeping his status quo simple and avoiding the pains of truth a beautifully layered theme that is seen both in his role as a caretaker to his mother and his aversion to accepting his responsibility as a Green Lantern. It’s tastefully sick, something Kennedy has mastered across the board with all of his series, most notably in the Metallo arc of Action Comics and every issue so far of The Incredible Hulk.

Lacing in the new status quo for Green Lantern Corp itself has been a real treat. It blends into the book with ease and elevates the tension between John and what he believes the job of a Green Lantern is in comparison to what the United Planets considers them to be. The scenes towards the end of the issue are endlessly tense because of their presence. However, I do wish that there was a little more depth to everything going on besides John. While I understand the lead is being buried with regards to the Revenant Queen as well as Shepherd’s character, but a little more compression on some of the scenes in this issue, and this arc in its entirety, could’ve allowed for some of the book’s hollower aspects. The series is suffering from not too much developing over the span of long, scene-chewing issues.

The conversation between John and Steel in this issue doesn’t feel as truly chummy as the art represents it, as their relationship wasn’t really defined outside of mutual respect, and even then that respect lacks characterization. The biggest drawback is in the arc’s villain having their mystery kicked so far down the line is that the threat they then pose is really boring. Without their history or motivations, and the book’s lack of focus on solving that mystery, the Revenant Queen needed to have a more personal stake in John’s character development than being a generic ‘take over and destroy the world’ villain that as of right now lacks anything of depth to chew on.

The arc’s opening posed a very interesting dynamic between Varron, a current Green Lantern with a taste for the abuse of his power with John, a retired lantern who is seen as fundamentally outdated by the new Corp. With Varron becoming a vessel for the Revenant Queen, the book really could’ve capitalized on that relationship and created a more interesting dynamic than what we have here. However, with how the series is plotted thus far the Queen will definitely receive that needed depth further down the line, but with how much Johnson’s pacing style likes to focus on one thing at a time, it tends to leave the surrounding pieces of an arc extremely lackluster in depth.

The book is still an incredibly enjoyable beat for beat, the art, coloring, dialogue, and surface-level narrative experience both engaging and emotionally effective. While it could be better, the finale is still set up in a way that is exciting for what’s going on at hand, but it does suffer in the monthly schedule format as I’m left wanting more from the issue I just read as opposed to wanting the next issue now.