Title: Green Lantern: Rebirth
Author: Geoff Johns, Van Sciver (artist), Prentis Rollins (artist)
Series: Green Lantern
Format: Graphic Novel
Pages: 192
Genre: Comics, Science Fiction
Publication Date: March 28th, 2007
Publisher: DC Comics
Rating: 6
Summary:
From Goodreads: The sold out 6-issue miniseries event of 2004-2005 — written by Geoff Johns (THE FLASH, TEEN TITANS) with art by Ethan Van Sciver and Prentis Rollins — is collected for the first time, complete with the preview story from Wizard Magazine! Hal Jordan was considered the greatest Green Lantern of them all. But Jordan lost control, allowed himself to be corrupted and transformed into the villainous Parallax. Later, Jordan reappeared and made the ultimate sacrifice — a sacrifice that allowed him to become the Spectre, the Wrath of God.
After several years of activity on Earth, The Spectre became restless and sought a way to prove himself worthy of that noble reputation. See how a man born without fear and seeking to rebuild his life, puts cosmic forces into motion that will have repercussions not only on Earth but across the universe.
This volume also features an introduction by best-selling author Brad Meltzer and a new cover by Van Sciver!
Why did I read this book? I've always wanted to read something from DC (never really read anything before) and after seeing the Green Lantern movie (which was pretty rough) I thought I might like to try out the comic since there was some underlying awesomeness there.
Source: Gift
My Review
Green Lantern: Rebirth is the story of how Hal Jordan, apparently the best-ever Lantern, is redeemed from destroying the Corps and doing some other really Nasty things. Really, I still don’t really get what happened to Hal in the past – all I know is that he’s got some Spirit of Vengence inside him doing weird and vengeance-y things while also being tormented by Parallax. Some of these scenes bring internal torment to a whole new level.
One reason why I wanted to read Rebirth as my first Green Lantern comic was that it is a rebirth and therefore would be a good time to jump into the mythos. From that perspective, it was a good choice. We get a lot of the back story of the Lanterns: Hal, Kyle, John and Guy. We also get a lot of Lantern mythology about how their green power works and how the Corps came to be. Like I said, I came into this with only what I gleaned from the movie, but it seems like the writer probably retconned a lot of the history. It doesn’t make a difference to me, but maybe longtime fans may feel differently.
What I struggled with most was what was actually happening in the present. It was rough trying to orient myself to what was going on with Hal. The artwork is pretty great and fit the mood and story perfectly, but sometimes it didn’t make it easier to understand what was going on from a mystical level with the Spirit and Parallax.
Rating: 6
In the end, I enjoyed the Lantern story and am even more convinced that Green Lantern is the DC hero for me. One thing that solidified this is how Batman acted like a big jerk the whole book and in the end, I preferred the Lanterns’ 'lighter' style. The other JLA members make appearances which is fun. I do wish there were more women in this miniseries and I’m thinking that it might be common for there to be practically none in the Green Lantern books (other than the love interests). I’m willing to find out, though. To people who have no experience with Green Lantern, this is a rough start, but could be worth it in the end for the mythology and the reinstatement of Hal.
Author: Geoff Johns, Van Sciver (artist), Prentis Rollins (artist)
Series: Green Lantern
Format: Graphic Novel
Pages: 192
Genre: Comics, Science Fiction
Publication Date: March 28th, 2007
Publisher: DC Comics
Rating: 6
Summary:
From Goodreads: The sold out 6-issue miniseries event of 2004-2005 — written by Geoff Johns (THE FLASH, TEEN TITANS) with art by Ethan Van Sciver and Prentis Rollins — is collected for the first time, complete with the preview story from Wizard Magazine! Hal Jordan was considered the greatest Green Lantern of them all. But Jordan lost control, allowed himself to be corrupted and transformed into the villainous Parallax. Later, Jordan reappeared and made the ultimate sacrifice — a sacrifice that allowed him to become the Spectre, the Wrath of God.
After several years of activity on Earth, The Spectre became restless and sought a way to prove himself worthy of that noble reputation. See how a man born without fear and seeking to rebuild his life, puts cosmic forces into motion that will have repercussions not only on Earth but across the universe.
This volume also features an introduction by best-selling author Brad Meltzer and a new cover by Van Sciver!
Why did I read this book? I've always wanted to read something from DC (never really read anything before) and after seeing the Green Lantern movie (which was pretty rough) I thought I might like to try out the comic since there was some underlying awesomeness there.
Source: Gift
My Review
Green Lantern: Rebirth is the story of how Hal Jordan, apparently the best-ever Lantern, is redeemed from destroying the Corps and doing some other really Nasty things. Really, I still don’t really get what happened to Hal in the past – all I know is that he’s got some Spirit of Vengence inside him doing weird and vengeance-y things while also being tormented by Parallax. Some of these scenes bring internal torment to a whole new level.
One reason why I wanted to read Rebirth as my first Green Lantern comic was that it is a rebirth and therefore would be a good time to jump into the mythos. From that perspective, it was a good choice. We get a lot of the back story of the Lanterns: Hal, Kyle, John and Guy. We also get a lot of Lantern mythology about how their green power works and how the Corps came to be. Like I said, I came into this with only what I gleaned from the movie, but it seems like the writer probably retconned a lot of the history. It doesn’t make a difference to me, but maybe longtime fans may feel differently.
What I struggled with most was what was actually happening in the present. It was rough trying to orient myself to what was going on with Hal. The artwork is pretty great and fit the mood and story perfectly, but sometimes it didn’t make it easier to understand what was going on from a mystical level with the Spirit and Parallax.
Rating: 6
In the end, I enjoyed the Lantern story and am even more convinced that Green Lantern is the DC hero for me. One thing that solidified this is how Batman acted like a big jerk the whole book and in the end, I preferred the Lanterns’ 'lighter' style. The other JLA members make appearances which is fun. I do wish there were more women in this miniseries and I’m thinking that it might be common for there to be practically none in the Green Lantern books (other than the love interests). I’m willing to find out, though. To people who have no experience with Green Lantern, this is a rough start, but could be worth it in the end for the mythology and the reinstatement of Hal.
If you want to read the comment that shows how Hal goes bad and why, you should look into finding a copy of Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight and New Dawn (which shows why Hal becomes possessed by Paralax, how he dies, and how Kyle Rayner first becomes a Green Lantern). It might fill in some of the blanks. Also, reading Wikipedia and getting some background info helps fill in some of the blanks. I had to read A LOT of wikipedia articles before I started reading comics (which is why I avoided it for so long -- it felt like too much work, haha).
ReplyDeleteThanks! I check those out :)
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