Representing the target audience
What do I mean by the target audience? Explanation- I have never read a Green Lantern title in my life. I have been vaguely aware of Lantern Lore for some time, being primarily a DC reader, but it was never my forte. Parallax, Abin Sur, Oa, Poozers, these were words and concepts in my periphery. Thus, when I was browsing the local comics cache some weeks ago and saw this little gem among the trade paperbacks I picked it up. The title made it seem like it might be a good place for a Lantern noob to start, an easily approachable jumping-off point into a character with lots of complicated history.
So I picked it up.
I have since gone back and picked up every single Green Lantern title I could get my hands on. I now have a tidy little collection going.
Its why I feel compelled to write a new review on this 2 year old comic arc- Green Lantern noobs of the world, there is hope!
These reviews (I will, over the course of the next few days, take up the task of reviewing the whole arc) are NOT plot summaries- get those on that nifty little 'plot summary' section of the issue on this site. No, these are reviews from a person who was fresh to the Lantern and, perhaps not surprisingly, found a new character in the DCU to love.
In Brief: (this is the only little bit of plot summary I do)- A stroll down memory lane, narrated by Hal Jordan. We meet young Hal, teenage Hal, and adult Hal and get a briefest glimpse of the current sector 2814 Lantern.
The Writing: Geoff Johns, bravo. The writing in this first issue is great for a number of reasons. Chief among them- its not intimidating! He refrains from using inside Lantern joke after inside Lantern joke, which would have made the thing inaccessible to the target audience (meaning me!). Instead, Johns writes a more deeply personal narrative. Frankly, its small. Let me explain- he tells the story through Hal's point of view. Now, apart from a great opening page, there is nothing too 'super' in Hal's life. And while the events that take place sure are big to him (his father, his enrollment in the military, his woes with his family) they seem small in comparison to the grandiose, universe-expanding things that are soon to happen to him. This is a master stroke! It is a dramatic illustration of what makes Green Lantern so damn appealing. He is a regular guy! He lives with regret, family drama, confusion, doubt, vulnerability, mistakes. When seen in this light, the 'smallness' of the narrative (focused on the fairly ordinary life of one guy) suddenly is not so small- it means something to Hal, and it gives us a frame of reference which makes the events to come that much more amazing. It is easier for us to appreciate the changes in the character when we know exactly where he comes from- and this issue does that so well by focusing on the personal. Thus this relatively no-action, slower, character-based comic is a perfect jumping off point. Well done writer, well done.
The Art: I love this style. Ivan Reis draws in that "realistic" style. I only put it in quotation marks becuase realism in comic illustration seems like an oxymoron, but we all know that compare Reis' style with, say, Ed McGuiness and you can see where this is a more 'real' looking artistic style, less bubbly and cartoony. But the art fits the tone of the overall piece- the 'big' moments (the plane crash) are drawn with just enough gravity (meaning the way he frames the action makes us really feel how important this single event is to the person) to make it high-impact without ruining the tone of the piece (a smaller, personal narrative which frames the story).
Overall: Just wonderful stuff. Great for a guy like me- a person who was curious about Green Lantern and wanted to know more. In the end, thanks primarily to the writing, you get a very clear picture of Hal Jordan- and you like him. But it is more than just liking- you identify with him, you empathize, you admire, and it is all those things that make this issue kind of classic.
