Comic Revew: The Green Lantern (2018-) #3

The Green Lantern (2018-) #3

DC Comics

Writer: Grant Morrison

Artist: Liam Sharp

Grant Morrison initially had pitched this book in interviews as being a take on Green Lantern that focuses less on big cosmic drama and more on the regular space police activities that the Green Lantern Corps takes part of.  So obviously, Hal Jordan arrests God Himself in this issue.

Grant Morrison has been one of my consistently favorite writers since I properly got into reading comic books, and The Green Lantern is another example of why. Despite the somewhat out-there plot I mentioned involving Hal Jordan arresting God, this still feels like a more grounded interpretation of Green Lantern, with regards to Hal Jordan himself primarily. His characterisation in this comes across like a hard-boiled policeman, almost reminding me of Judge Dredd in parts. Hal feels much less cocky than he does under other writers, but it never feels like this characterisation is wrong; it’s still Hal, just acting more serious, which feels appropriate for the tone of this book. The Green Lantern very much feels like a British sci-fi book rather than an American one, weaving high sci-fi concepts with character attitudes that really do suggest this is just a regular part of the job for them. So despite the brilliantly insane story of this issue, centering around a group of alien slavers having kidnapped the entire Earth to sell, it does carry a tone fitting of a cop drama, albeit a cop drama set in space where the parking violations are more likely to be for a five-eyed crustacean’s starship than a car. (As an interesting side note, this concept of taking a mundane concept like police work and applying it to a radically different context is similar to how Morrison approaches Superman as a character.)

Adding wonderfully to this is Liam Sharp’s exquisite art. Liam Sharp brings intensely imaginative backgrounds alongside stunningly well-rendered characters, with a fantastic variety of alien designs making up the Green Lantern Corps. His art brings to mind the Bronze Age Green Lantern art of Neal Adams, but crisper and more polished. Everything is stunningly detailed, with panels that contain a high emotional impact scene being given the perfect amount of dramatic flair they deserve and character’s facial expressions being beautifully clear and intense, especially Hal’s. Sharp’s art manages to perfectly capture gloriously magnificent scenes in one panel and then intense character-focused moments in another. Steve Oliff’s colours are a perfect addition to this art, every page manages to simultaneously feel beautiful in its fantastic range of colours on display, but also maintains the book’s more grounded, grittier feel. Reading this book is an absolute visual treat well befitting of Grant Morrison’s brilliant vision of space and the Green Lantern Corps.