The Green Lantern Season Two #4: Now THIS Is Green Lantern

This is what Green Lantern is like when everyone is firing on all cylinders. GL S2 #4 gives readers exactly what this team excels at: gorgeous, detailed art married to a wonderfully weird Silver Age shenanigans.

Grant Morrison yet again presents an adventurous one-and-done tale, this one involving The Flash, alternate clockwork universes, and memory wipes. Olivia Reynolds remembers her U-Mind powers and sees their adversaries as a research opportunity, Hal Jordan saves the day in his own way by hitting mechanical moons out of the way via his ring knocking them around like pool balls (complete with giant pool cue!), and the Flash runs incredibly fast and punches things!

Hey, sometimes it’s just best to go with what works.

The issue ends on a cliffhanger, with Hal ambushed by a couple that bears a strange resemblance to a Kryptonian and his human partner. Which all happens in the space of a regular sized issue of a comic book.

It is difficult to figure out what makes this issue work so well: Morrison’s punchy and fast-paced script, pages and pages of alien machines—Silver Age weirdness which, rendered by Sharp, takes on a slightly grotesque look—Steve Oliff’s welcome return colors, or even Orzechowski’s clear, unobtrusive retro-style lettering?

Part of that difficulty is that the creative team works so well together. Each element of the process is in harmony with one another. Morrison’s wild story is wall-to-wall action/adventure, but it has the core of Barry and Hal, whose bond at the start of the issue over the sacrifices made through years of Crises and universal reboots. Morrison’s biggest strength as a writer is not only understanding what makes superheroes FUN, but what makes their relationships work. The single issue format also works wonders, as it forces the narrative to plug along, filling each page and nearly every panel with action.

Which is presented beautifully by Sharp and Oliff. Each page is full of detailed but clear work, complete with massive, weird figures and lushly drawn backgrounds. Each character using their powers is obvious and laid out well on the page. It is simply a delight to read, and the enthusiasm the creators have for the material is obvious.

As a whole, the series is in a good place. Serializing the story into discrete single-issue stories means that weak individual issues are rarer, and gives it that retro feel the book is clearly going for. There was no doubt that the book would bounce back after last month’s disappointing outing, but to do so with such gusto was unexpected. A great issue, and a great series so far.