GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1

GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1 by G-Man

October 4, 2011, 5:47 pm
Filed under: Comic Reviews, DC Comics | Tags: DCNew52, FernandoPasarin, GreenLantern, guygardner, JohnStewart, PeterJTomasi

Green Lantern Corps is one of the four GL titles on offer as DC continue their surge with their new 52 titles and having reviewed Green Lantern and Red Lanterns, I had high hopes for the Corps title… if nothing more than wanting to chant “WE ARE THE CORPS” in my head…

WARNING: contains spoilers.

So I was taking this issue on with an open mind. Four GL titles within the 52 may seem a bit more of a risk in many peoples eyes, whereas your Batman or Superman characters can appear across multiple titles and appeal to a wide audience, can the same be said of Green Lantern…? only time will tell us that one.

Nevertheless, issue #1 of GL Corps works for me.  Like many of the DC titles, we open with something of a mystery as two members of the Corps tend to their prisoner and try to abate his defiance.  The prisoner DOES shut up but only because he’s been evicerated… I’d be the same if I’m honest.  All being performed by an unseen attacker who then targets and kills off the Green Lanterns themselves – decapitation and a clean split in half seem to be the order of the day before we see a gloved hand severe the ring finger of the last of the victims.

Queue Guy Gardner in a well-constructed change of pace – as we see him attend a job interview – complete with other interviewees asking for photos and inane questions like ‘How big is a sector?’. Green Lanterns obviously hit earth with the same bump of reality as the rest of us and this is part of the intrigue in this issue.  We then switch to architect John Stewart and his work with the local authorities on a new building for the city, showing off his GL powers to make a point on building safety.  His line ‘Even a GL can’t fight city hall’ brings with it a sense of reality too and that’s thanks to Peter J. Tomasi’s great writing.

We get a quick switch to an ocean planet under attack and then back to a scene where John and Guy are just floating around discussing why they didn’t vouch for wearing masks and protecting their identity from the off. Makes good sense now but hindsight hits the superheroes with a familiar thud.

Fernando Parsin’s art and Gabe Eltreb’s colours have a Bryan Hitch feel to them, particularly around the faces, and the structure of wider splashes of action have a real glow about them that only the GL’s could really generate.  A solid writer/artist combo seems to continue in the GL titles and I’m pleased to see that develop in them individually.

The Corps title closes out with a call-up for Gardner/Stewart to investigate the ocean planet and the attack there.  They arrive to find the planet turned to desert and the entire race slaughtered and the obvious warning of two GL’s staked to the ground above piles of blue corpses.  Next issue being billed as “This Means War” can only be a good sign, at least if you liked the recent War of the Green Lanterns arc that closed out the series ahead of the DC reboot.

I’m not a lifelong reader of the GL, having only jumped on-board at Blackest Night, through to Brightest Day and then recently on the aforementioned War of the GL’s. The difference here is that you don’t really need to know that background to enjoy this book. In a similar way to Red Lanterns, the art and writing are a success and I’ll be keeping tabs on this one (and probably the other GL titles) for the next few issues anyway.

G-Man @gjwatson85

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