Comic Review: The Green Lantern (2018-) Annual #1

The Green Lantern Annual #1

DC Comics

Writer: Grant Morrison

Artists: Giuseppe Camuncoli and Trevor Scott

The Green Lantern has, in a short time, become the best Green Lantern book of all time. Part of that is due to its casual embrace of the weirdness of cosmic DC. This issue takes a more grounded approach than those that came before. I mean, a few issues ago Green Lantern tried to arrest God and beat up vampires with a shovel, so take “grounded” with a grain of salt. This annual continues the trend of blending Silver Age sensibilities with a more modern flair in that way that only Morrison seems to do. Though, the lack of Liam Sharp and a generally less interesting set-up makes this probably the worst issue so far.

The switch from Liam Sharp to Giuseppe Camuncoli and Trevor Scott is immediately noticeable. I understand that Liam Sharp is only human and can’t draw an annual on top of the monthly book. My problem is more with the fact that the replacement team is underwhelming. Camuncoli is an artist I do like, but his contributions in terms of layouts don’t stand out to me as especially noteworthy. Trevor Scott handles the finishes, and I find this to be unremarkable as well. Both of these guys are talented, and this is not a bad looking or poorly produced book, but it fails to excite me. There are some strong panels and interesting pages, but on the whole, it left me unimpressed. It just looks like a superhero book. Unfortunately, that’s not a total positive or negative.

While this issue is more grounded than the others, it’s still pretty out there. Basically, Green Lantern teams up with some teenagers to fight the radio. Apparently, there’s also a Hal Jr who has superpowers? As someone fairly unfamiliar with Hal’s family, a decent bit of the characters’ relationships and histories weren’t totally clear to me. That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it though, as there are some genuine character moments between Hal and his family. Though I wasn’t totally up to speed, there’s enough relatability imbued in the characters that it still resonates with me. I’d say the only negative I found with the character work was in the scene where the adults “wake up”. I assume this scene intends to be funny, but it comes off as more awkward than anything. I can’t tell if this is a misstep in the writing or art, but it doesn’t land.

Generally speaking, Morrison’s work excels when it smacks you with a big idea, half-explains it, and just runs wild. This issue does all those things, it just doesn’t go as far as previous issues have set us up to expect. It’s still quite good though, it just pales in comparison to its prior greatness.

The Green Lantern Annual #1 is a fun, though slightly underwhelming issue. My biggest problem is that the art isn’t up to par with what I’ve come to expect. Additionally, the story is a bit more grounded than it usually is, and as a result, feels a bit more standard. Regardless, it’s still a solid superhero story full of great moments.

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