Green Lantern by Geoff Johns—Book 1

Comic Info

Green Lantern (4) #1 Variant

Reprints Green Lantern:  Rebirth #1-6, Green Lantern Corps:  Recharge #1-5, Green Lantern:  Secret Files and Origins #1, and Green Lantern (4) #1-3 (May 2005-September 2005).  When Hal Jordan went insane and destroyed the Green Lantern Corps, he began a path of atonement.  Sacrificing himself to save the Earth’s sun, Hal found himself as the Spectre and charged with doling out vengeance.  Hal blamed himself for what happened to Corps, but Hal is about to discover that something darker was working in Oa, and it could change the course of the Green Lanterns forever…and give Hal the opportunity to get back the life he lost.

Written by Geoff Johns (with additional writing by Dave Gibbons), Green Lantern by Geoff Johns—Book 1 (sometimes called Green Lantern by Geoff Johns—Book 1:  Hal Jordan Returns) is a DC Comics superhero collection.  Featuring art by Ethan Van Sciver, Patrick Gleason, Carlos Pacheco, and Darwyn Cooke, the comic relaunched the Hal Jordan character and was reprinted in multiple formats including Green Lantern:  Rebirth, Green Lantern:  No Fear, Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus—Volume 1, and Green Lantern Corps:  Recharge.

Green Lantern was always one of my favorite DC superheroes once I realized that superheroes were more than just Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman.  I watched Super Friends! and liked the character and his powers (though the yellow flaw was always irritatingly stupid).  I just found the character more fallible and relatable than the big three DC characters.  While I liked John Stewart and Kyle Rayner (not a huge Guy fan), Hal Jordan was always my Green Lantern…and it is good to have him back.

Green Lantern Corps: Recharge #1

Geoff Johns really took the character down an interesting path, but this collection of Green Lantern doesn’t feel indicative to the bigger Green Lantern stories that Johns later told.  The reason being is that the story feels like a bit of clean up.  The Green Lantern Corps was destroyed and Hal was dead and the Spectre (still a horrible idea)…Johns had to reset it all.  While the stories in the collection are solid Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps stories, they don’t have the weight of later stories.

While Green Lantern:  Rebirth is the larger series, Green Lantern Corps:  Recharge also has an importance.  Part of Green Lantern has always been that it was a cosmic book combined with a standard superhero comic book.  While Hal was battling villains on Earth with the JLA and other heroes, he also is in space, and with few Green Lanterns left, Hal would have to be in space a lot.  There have been a plethora of Earth Green Lanterns and everyone has their favorites…by reestablishing to Corps, Johns kills two birds with one stone by allowing characters like Guy Gardner and others to handle the space stories.  It also is a good set-up for future crossover storyline in the Green Lantern Corps book.

Geoff Johns has a real hold on the characters that I always associate with DC and which DC neglects.  If it isn’t one of the Big Three characters, DC seems to waylay them and doesn’t boost the character to the level that they deserve.  Following his Flash run, it felt like Johns was the right person for Green Lantern…and it turns out that was right.  Green Lantern by Geoff Johns—Book 1 is followed by Green Lantern by Geoff Johns—Book 2.

Related Links:

Green Lantern by Geoff Johns—Book 2

Green Lantern:  Rebirth

Green Lantern:  No Fear