Green Lantern: War Journal #2 – Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Writer; Montos, Artist; Alex Guimaraes, Colorist
Ray – 9/10
Ray: It’s amazing how the Green Lantern line has turned around after years of struggling, with two top-tier books. While Jeremy Adams’ Hal Jordan run is a straightforward, pulse-pounding old-school adventure, Phillip Kennedy Johnson is doing something very different with John Stewart. Last issue saw John living a quiet life far away from the action in the quarantine zone with his mother, only for an arrogant upstart Lantern to come and try to arrest him on behalf of the United Planets. John turned him away in humiliating fashion, and the bully did what they do and came back with more backup. But before they can find John, they have an encounter with an avatar of the Revenant Queen, resulting in them being transformed into something more and less than human—with the same blood vendetta against John, but magnified by supernatural hatred and an inability to die.
John, meanwhile, has a very different concern on his mind—a job interview. He and his mother are heading into Metropolis to meet with John Henry Irons, as the man better known as Steel could use an architect on staff to bring some of his high-in-the-sky ideas down to the nitty-gritty. Watching these two play off each other is a lot of fun—Johnson clearly gets the mindset of these older, practical men who are trying to build something amazing. I also have to give special praise to Johnson’s treatment of John’s mother. She’s clearly struggling with the effects of age, but he still writes her with a lot of dignity, as she’s able to be profound when it matters most. Her relationship with her son is one of the most emotional parts of this series. And then it all explodes in a shocking and high-intensity action scene towards the end of the issue that delivers in every way. Johnson has pretty close to a 100% hit rate for DC right now.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
