Since I don’t have a Forgotten Book for today, I thought I’d return to something I haven’t done much of lately, namely reading superhero comics. GREEN LANTERN: SECRET ORIGIN reprints a story arc from last year that retells the origin of one of my favorite DC characters. Most comics fans know how test pilot Hal Jordan found the crash-landed spacecraft of Abin Sur, one of the power-ring-wearing Green Lanterns who patrol space as agents for the mysterious Guardians of the Galaxy. The scripts by Geoff Johns (one of the best writers working in comics today, in my opinion) expand on this origin story, giving us more background on Hal Jordan and the reason Abin Sur happened to crash-land on Earth, but unlike a lot of “re-imaginings”, this one doesn’t throw out all the history and continuity but instead respects what has gone before. (I wish more comics writers – and movie scripters, for that matter – would do this.)Green Lantern has been one of my favorite DC characters since 1970, when he teamed up with Green Arrow in a series of ground-breaking stories written by Denny O’Neil and drawn by Neal Adams. Those stories have been reprinted many, many times in many formats, and deservedly so. If you’re a comics fan and you haven’t read them, I highly recommend them. If you’re a Green Lantern fan, you ought to read GREEN LANTERN: SECRET ORIGIN, too. It has very nice art by Ivan Reis to go along with Johns’ scripts, and it’s just a lot of fun, in the way that old-fashioned superhero yarns are supposed to be fun. I’m very glad I read it.
4 comments:
I remember the Lantern-Arrow team-ups well. This one I'll have to check out.
If you haven't seen it yet, James, I would recommend the animated Green Lantern: First Flight movie. Nice art in this retelling of GL's origin and his history with Sinestro.
I'll be hunting this one at the library, James.
These days GL, who is somehow young again, is palling around in the JLA with Speedy, AKA Red Arrow, while GA looks on from the sidelines.
One of the best superhero things I've read lately is the huge hardcover collection "Planet Hulk." It's a sweeping sword and science epic unlike anything you'd expect of old Greenskin.
Thanks for the tips, guys. I'll definitely check out the GL movie and the Hulk collection.
I always liked Green Lantern too. He was a bit more mysterious than a lot of the super heroes.
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