Comic Review: The Green Lantern (2018-) #2

The Green Lantern #2

DC Comics

Writer: Grant Morrison

Artists: Liam Sharp & Steve Oliff

When I heard that my favorite writer and one of the greatest new artists were teaming up to tackle my favorite superhero, I was excited to say the least. Morrison’s pitch for The Green Lantern was absolutely genius.  Instead of trying and failing to live up to Geoff John’s run on the character, Morrison wasn’t even going to try.  Green Lantern as a police procedural is such a refreshing idea for Hal Jordan.  However, after the first issue, I was a little on the fence.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed The Green Lantern #1, but I had several problems with it.  My main concern was that Morrison was ignoring the previous continuity of the Green Lantern Universe.  As per everything, Morrison is a mega-fan who brings the deepest cuts and most obscure characters into his work.  However, I noticed several little things in the first issue.  The Guardians reverted back to their authoritarian personalities, Hal was kicked out of the Green Lanterns yet again, and Carol Ferris was nowhere to be found.

But after reading The Green Lantern #2, all of my worries are gone.  Morrison doesn’t address my concerns in this issue, but it’s so good that I don’t really care about those things.

In this issue, Hal Jordan interrogates a member of the Spider Guild.  This scene is excellent and really adds to the Space Cop vibe of this story.  Even though we’re only two issues in, I think Morrison has an excellent voice for Hal Jordan.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of this issue was the scenes with Evil Star.  Morrison brings this obscure villain into the spotlight.  I loved the Morrison tried to explain how “Evil Star” is actually an interesting villain name.  I think Morrison’s dialogue between the villains in this issue was excellent.

It’s crazy to me that Morrison is able to write so many different aliens distinctly.  We get a wide variety of different alien races in this issue and Morrison really gives each character their own unique way of speaking.  I think this adds so much to the charm of this book.  This version of Hal is very aware of the cultures of other aliens and he uses this knowledge to his advantage.  We rarely get to see the cultural differences between these aliens as the lantern rings usually just translate for the audience.  However, Morrison places with that exception in this issue by having characters say certain words that aren’t translatable between languages.  All of this really makes this world believable.

I shouldn’t even have to mention that Liam Sharp’s artwork is phenomenal here.  Sharp’s pencils are the perfect complement to Morrison’s crazy ideas.  The aliens in this book feel “alien”, each with their own unique looks and textures.  Perhaps my favorite panel in this issue is Sharp’s beautiful depiction of New Oa.  Sharp does the perfect job of setting the mood for this story.

Overall, The Green Lantern #2, is a phenomenal comic book.  Morrison is playing with so many interesting ideas and Sharp’s pencils are top notch.  If you’re a Hal Jordan fan or if you haven’t read a Green Lantern comic in your life, I recommend picking this one up.