Comic Info
Comic Name: Green Lantern: Rebirth
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ethan Van Sciver
# of Issues: 6
Release Date: 2005
Green Lantern: Rebirth #1
Reprints Green Lantern: Rebirth #1-6 (December 2004-May 2005). Hal Jordan is dead and trying to redeem his sins as the Green Lantern in the form of the Spectre. When Kyle Rayner crashes to Earth with Hal’s body and a warning of galactic danger, Hal finds himself fighting for life against the Spectre and the entity called Parallax that corrupted him.
Written by Geoff Johns, Green Lantern: Rebirth is a six-issue DC Comics mini-series. The collection features art by Ethan Van Sciver. The issues were also collected in Green Lantern by Geoff Johns—Book 1.
Green Lantern: Rebirth is Geoff Johns’ attempt to bring the Silver Age Green Lantern back to the forefront and gets him out of the terrible down spin he had been trapped in for years. The series was met with much critical acclaim and leads in to a relaunch of the Green Lantern title…something that I am thankful for.
Hal Jordan was always my Green Lantern. He was in Super Friends! and always seemed more connected than Superman or Batman (while getting no love on the big screen). Kyle Rayner just never worked for me, and it always seemed wrong that Hal Jordan went nuts and killed half the Green Lantern Corps in Green Lantern (3) #48-50 (January 1994-March 1994), his attack on the DC Universe in Zero Hour (September 1994), and his subsequent death in The Final Night #4 (November 1996). When Hal Jordan took over as the Spectre, this already seemed like a bad idea. It became obvious the Hal Jordan Spectre wouldn’t work so another reworking by Johns in this storyline was welcomed. Johns later tried a similar attempt with the Barry Allen Flash in The Flash: Rebirth but this didn’t really seem to work since Wally West was considered a good replacement (unlike Kyle Rayner).
Green Lantern: Rebirth #3
With Hal’s return the Green Lanterns needed to be reconfigured and the Green Lantern Corps also returned with favorites Guy Gardner giving up his lame Warrior identity in this series. This also provided a way for fans of Kyle Rayner and John Stewart to keep them as active Green Lanterns without threatening Johns’ plans for Hal Jordan.
The story does get a bit bogged down at points and the introduction of an actual entity known as Parallax provides a scapegoat for Jordan’s previous behavior. Ethan Van Sciver’s art is ok, but I think he often bogs down his illustrations with too much ink and shadows that take away from the otherwise nice art.
The whole Green Lantern relaunch is done quite smoothly and is part of the reason that the Green Lantern series has been a success under Johns writing. He has a goal and tells a bigger story within the Green Lantern comic actually develops into something unlike a lot of mainstream comics attempts to tell a big story (yes, Brian Michael Bendis, that is aimed at you). Johns manages to make individual issues of Green Lantern still exciting and logical to the casual readers and provides enough big story picture to the avid readers. Pick up Green Lantern: Rebirth to see the start of his tale which culminates in The Blackest Night. Green Lantern: Rebirth was followed by the series relaunch collected in Green Lantern: No Fear.
Related Links:
Green Lantern by Geoff Johns—Book 1
Green Lantern: Revenge of the Green Lanterns
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War—Volume 1
