what would you do?
In Brief: Trouble is brewing. First at Arden Air when Carol Ferris comes to buy it out, second when Abin Sur has some spaceship problems and the ring finds Hal. From there its pretty much Hal Jordan being human, having fun with a new toy.
Remember Hal's nice, comparatively ordinary life that was so understated in the first issue of this line? Well, hold on to your freakin' hat Mr. Jordan...
The Writing: This is one of my favorite comics of all time, mainly becuase of the writing. Let me explain. Glance over the first issue of this comic again and Johns paints Hal as a rather ordinary guy. He has family issues, regrets, his job is going nowhere; basically Hal Jordan is this ultimately human guy, an everyman. The first part of this comic continues that line of thought- we saw Hal pretty much as low as he is going to get. He is not flying anymore, Arden air is about to be bought out by his least favorite people- the Ferris family. Begin the coolest bit of comic editing I have ever seen. Hal Jordan, obviously distraught by the news that he is going to be working for the people that killed his Dad, sits in an old plane his father used to fly for some alone time. Again, rock bottom. This scene is BEAUTIFULLY juxtaposed with Abin Sur, flying to earth to find out what the deal is with these prophecies the Ysmault folk have been telling him about. Abin looses control of the aircraft when Atrocitus breaks his construct. So there is this scene of action and suspense featuring aliens and spaceships and explosions put right next to Hal sitting in this broken down aircraft, totally unaware of the impending life-changing event that is hurtling towards him. What an awesome idea- we never really know when things will change.
That is why the writing in this issue is wonderful- it grounds this fantastic story of aliens, intergalactic police, cosmic prophecy etc... in this ordinary guy's experience, and the scene described above is a perfect example. As soon as Hal gets the ring the writing continues to be incredible- he does not magically change into this perfect superhero when he puts it on, he is still that 'normal' guy underneath (seen in the HILARIOUS moment when the ring first takes him flying). Frankly, Hal's reaction to the ring reminds me of Toby Maguire's reaction to getting superpowers in the first Spiderman flick. Toby's reaction was perfect- if I found out I had superpowers, hell, I would be stoked! And that is the kind of emotion that Hal shows us here though John's writing- an ordinary guy, trying out this amazing new thing with first- fear and then- excitement. Perfect! It makes him so relatable, and when you are done reading this story you just think "dude, I totally want a power ring to come sailing through my window. I would do EXACTLY what Hal did..." you start to get a clear picture of what it must be like to be in that situation, and that thought is the product of good, fun, relatable, imaginative writing.
The Art: More of the same goodness from the last issue. It is a great trick- Reis created 'our' world with such painstaking care in the last issue (see my notes on the 'realistic' school of comic book art), yet his spaceships and aliens do not feel out of place (artistically) in this world that he has already created. They are a part of it, sharing the same artistic foundation, but they are a heightened part of that world. Cool metaphor for the heightened role that Hal is about to take on. What do I mean by heightened? Well, the lights in Abin's spaceship are a little brighter, the greens a little greener, the metals are a little more shiny, a little more sleek than anything we have seen before. So while they are still drawn in Reis' realistic style, they have a 'heightened' or 'more than real' aspect to them. Makes them seem that much more fantastic when juxtaposed with, say, the broken down plane Hal is sitting in.
The Star of the Show?: Hal Jordan and Geoff Johns. For writing a character so relatable, so real, so likable. His reactions are so authentic and admirable that you can see WHY the ring chose him and yet you also see how much like the rest of us he really is. This is the reason we read comics- we meet a bit of ourselves in Hal Jordan, both how we are now and how we might like to be. Cool.
Overall: If you like comic books (uh, you are on this site, right?), good stories, characters, fun and happiness then you will like this. I highly recommend it.
