The Green Lantern #2 hits your local comic book store this week with Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp taking the Green Lantern Corp. in a bold new direction.
It is insane how Morrison has taken the mundane concept of a ‘police procedural show’ and applied it to Green Lantern, because it works so well. The little details in the story and Sharp’s artwork make the book an enjoyable read. As mentioned in the podcast review of the first issue, Steve Oliff’s colors mesh with Sharp’s art to give the series a Heavy Metal feel. The way Sharp reimagines the Planet Oa is awe inspiring. With the story and art, The Green Lantern is shifting from the superhero genre into the world of science fiction.
Whereas Geoff John’s Green Lantern dealt with emotions of the character, Morrison is focused on the case. The shift in story type completely changes Hal Jordan from Maverick from Top Gun to Rick Deckard from Blade Runner. Morrison’s The Green Lantern reminds me of when I would spend hours in a video store in the 80s perusing the Sci-Fi section looking for the next film that would blow my imagination wide open. From Alien to The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, you can see the influences from which Morrison and Sharp are pulling.
With the cliffhanger at the end of issue two, Morrison can take this book anywhere. The not knowing is what is so refreshing and exciting about The Green Lantern. DC Comics has some much crazy weird history, it will be interesting if Morrison reinvents a character or creates something new.
Tom Orzechowski has his hands full as Morrison throws a ton of dialogue at him to letter. How does he decide what to cover in Sharp’s detailed artwork? Did we mention that Orzechowski has to letter alien dialects and accents too! With as much dialogue and general artistic chaos going on, the book is easy to read and follow because of the lettering work.
Sharp and Oliff’s work on Volk, a Green Lantern with an erupting volcano for a head, is just brilliant. The colors pop, and you feel like there’s a movement to the volcano. The artwork is so good it forced me to slow down my first read through of the issue.
Overall, the hype for The Green Lantern is real as it’s become a must-read.
Are you reading The Green Lantern? Comment below with your thoughts.
