The Green Lantern: Season 2 #1 – Grant Morrison, Writer; Liam Sharp, Artist; Steve Oliff, Colorist
Ratings:
Ray – 10/10
Ray: Grant Morrison never quite left, even between the “Seasons” of his Green Lantern epic (thanks to an excellent bridge miniseries), but he blows the doors off the first issue of his return, The Green Lantern: Season 2 #1, like he’s been resting and coming up with new ideas for a while.
Hal Jordan has restored reality and defeated Commander Mu, and is returning to the Green Lantern Corps an honored hero. Morrison spends much of the first issue reintroducing us to Oa and showing us the wild diversity of species that this corner of the DCU is filled with. He also spends some time with fellow Lanterns John Stewart and Jessica Cruz, both of whom try to convince Hal to return to Earth. Hal has become accustomed to life in space, though, and is waiting for the next mission. That comes to him when some of the Guardians decide to leave on a new mission, requiring Hal and a new recruit to head to Maltus to generate some new Guardians in an obscure and ancient process. That new recruit happens to be an indecisive being made entirely out of crystal, and he and Hal are like oil and water.
Morrison described this run as a space cop adventure, and this issue takes on the form of one of the most iconic cop genres – the buddy adventure. Hal and his methodical and slightly cowardly new partner arrive for what’s supposed to be a routine meeting with Mama Juna, the elderly “Gardener” of lifeforms.
But this is a Morrison book and nothing is ever routine, so they quickly find themselves in the middle of a shootout involving rampaging apes, powerful psychic lizards, and a planetary conspiracy. There are a few great twists along the way, with the New Guardians eventually coming to fruition and revealing that they have a lot of ideas on how to run the Corps. A new threat is teased, and it leads to a new assignment for Hal – in the last place he wants to be permanently stationed.
Morrison is changing things up for season two. Can he make Earth as compelling as the wild space of the first season? We’ll see, but he’s off to an amazing start so far.
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Disclaimer: GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
