Goodreads Review: Green Lantern Origins HC

Green Lantern, Book 6: Secret Origin by Geoff Johns

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have to admit, I didn't really think Hal Jordan's origin, and his relationships with Abin Sur, Carol Ferris and Sinestro needed revisiting again. Especially with all the momentum Geoff Johns has been building towards "In Blackest Night."

But I was wrong. While re-tracing a few steps of Hal's rise from test pilot to Green Lantern, Johns introduces backstory elements that reinforce his take on Hector Hammond, Sinestro, Black Hand and indeed the Green Lantern mythos as a whole. By going back to Hal's roots, he can plant seeds that will come to fruition in "In Blackest Night," thus looking like it's the culmination of a decades-long plan rather than an invention in the last few years.

Is this "ret-conning?" Well, yes. But it's done fairly artfully, and given that DC's continuity is so open to re-interpretation and even outright erasure, it doesn't particularly bother me. Johns puts some deeper levels of characterization in here, building on what we've known about the characters but tweaking it so that it all feels like one big mythos, rather than what it is, which is the result of dozens if not hundreds of writers introducing their ideas, sometimes clunkily, to form a big tapestry of Green Lantern's mythos.

Ivan Reis's artwork is spectacularly good, reminiscent of Carlos Pacheco and JG Jones, and he does particularly exceptional work on all the spaceships, airplanes, alien landscapes and human hangars that dot the story.

This book also introduces the backstory of Atrocitus, my vote for most on-the-nose-yet-awesomely-named bad guy ever, and it's a nice tie-in to the Guardians' folly with the Manhunters, as well as to Alan Moore's famous Green Lantern story about the planet of demons who wound up putting Abin Sur in a spaceship.

If all retcons were like this, the word wouldn't have such a bad rep.

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Graphic Novel A Day: Superman Up, Up and Away

Writers: Kurt Busiek & Geoff Johns
Artists: Pete Woods & Renato Guedes
Company: DC Comics
Price: $14.99 ($10.64 at Amazon)

I was disappointed in the "One Year Later" Superman when I first read it, and stopped reading after a couple issues. I wanted Superman, not depowered Clark Kent and friends. However, Superman Confidential, All-Star Superman and good word of mouth on the Busiek/Johns run had me in the mood to give the book another go, and I'm kinda glad I did. I'm still not in love with the run, and I'm not convinced that the best way to return Superman to greatness was several months of him without any powers, but... there's some damn good writing and really terrific art here. I've always liked Pete Woods, but he's at a whole new level on this trade, with some lush work reminiscent of the best of Leinil Francis Yu. I also really dug Busiek and Johns' take on Superman's rogues' gallery, particularly the work done with Luthor and the new Kryptonite Man, and to be honest, even liked seeing Clark and Lois dealing with life without Superman. After reading this trade, I want to go back and check out the rest of the One Year Later stories that have been going on in the Superman books.