Comic Review: The Green Lantern #1

The Green Lantern (2018-) #1 by Grant Morrison

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Of all major superheroes, the Green Lantern is probably the one I have the least connection with.

I know some of the most respected arcs of the last 20 years are GL stories.

I have been a big Grant Morrison fan for years so him going to the title is incentive enough to pick it up. I loved his ‘left of center’ titles like Invisibles, Animal Man, Arkham Asylum and Kill Your Boyfriend. Morrison took his fame to some major titles and cemented his status with Superman, Batman and X Men stories. Morrison occasionally feels like he is writing solely for himself, but often enough, he succeeds with a unique voice to do something new.

Morrison is starting off by calling the title The Green Lantern and in interviews, he claims he is planning to take the title in the direction of a crime procedural. So CSI: Coast City then.

Morrison jumps into action. There’s a lot of banter that is reminiscent of his XMen work. It feels vintage Morrison. At first scan, I didn’t think I would like Liam Sharp’s art, but it works (though it feels a bit vintage).

There’s a little bit of ridiculousness in this which is what I expect from Morrison. That helps make it a fairly enjoyable read. It is very Morrisonesque but stays on this side of readable.

This all bodes well for the title. It also bodes well for Morrison fans. That said, I don’t know that I walked away with much that I will carry forward. GL fans may have strong opinions on how Hal Jordan is characterized, but I feel he is a pretty generic lawman at this point of the game, with more character shown on the cover drawing than in the pages within.

Also I don’t know that I will have much memory of the plot by the time issue #2 comes out. It didn’t really stay with me. I expect a bit more punch from a first issue. Still, I feel positive that this will be worthwhile.



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