Green Lantern: Wanted: Hal Jordan

Comic Info

Green Lanterrn (4) #15

Reprints Green Lantern (4) #14-20 (September 2006-July 2007). When Hal Jordan and his team are shot down, Hal learns the danger of not wearing his ring, but he also soon finds himself the target of intergalactic bounty hunters with a sinister employer tied to his past. Plus, Star Sapphire is back and has found a new host…and Hal is about to discover something is coming that he never expected!

Written by Geoff Johns, Green Lantern: Wanted: Hal Jordan is a follow-up to Green Lantern: Revenge of the Green Lanterns. The collection features art by Ivan Reis on Green Lantern #14-17 (“Wanted: Hal Jordan”) and Daniel Acuña on Green Lantern #18-20 (“Mystery of the Star Sapphire”). The issues in the collection were also included in Green Lantern by Geoff Johns—Book 2 and Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus—Volume 1.

Geoff Johns really gave Green Lantern back its spark and he started laying the groundwork for the whole series when he took over. This volume really begins to ratchet up the series by introducing the Sinestro Corps, the Star Sapphire Corps, and the whole idea of the spectrum.

Green Lantern (4) #18

While the collection’s basic story is important, this isn’t the best collection of Green Lantern. The first story feels pretty choppy. Hal Jordan is no rookie, and I don’t see him taking risks without his ring. I understand the idea of the story is that he feels he relies too heavily on it, but he is a protector of a sector of a galaxy…putting his feelings above the safety of billions seems unlikely at this point (though a younger, headstrong Hal would do it)…it is primarily the Sinestro Corps stuff in this part of the story that is an interest.

The second story could be argued to be more important. You have Hal and his reunion with Carol Ferris, but it also really introduces the idea of the whole color spectrum that is coming in future issues. Unfortunately, the Hal versus the Star Sapphires has too much catty Carol and Cowgirl and feels like it lowers the two characters. Carol always felt like a second-rate Lois Lane and Cowgirl isn’t developed enough…now they are just arguing over a guy. It feels beneath the characters and the comic (it might have worked better in the ’50s or ’60s).

Overall, Johns’ Green Lantern was great, but sometimes breaking down his individual stories isn’t as good. Green Lantern: Wanted:  Hal Jordan is one of those examples. The story has its moments, and I like the characters, but it doesn’t have the weight of later entries in Johns runs (like the follow-up volume to this collection). Green Lantern: Wanted:  Hal Jordan is followed by Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War—Volume 1.

Preceded By:

Green Lantern:  Revenge of the Green Lanterns

Followed By:

Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War—Volume 1