Green Lantern #9 – Jeremy Adams, Sam Humphries, Writers; Xermanico, Yasmin Flores Montanez, Artists; Romulo Fajardo Jr, Alex Guimaraes, Colorists
Ray – 9.5/10
Ray: Jeremy Adams continues to do for Green Lantern exactly what he did for Flash—reviving a DC property with the perfect blend of excellent characterization and deep mythology-building. Hal Jordan has been stuck on Earth for most of the run, but that’s about to change—as he descends deep into the core of the Earth to find a fantastical garden and an unexpected old friend—Tom Kalamaku, who was elevated in the early 2000s from a racist joke character to a key player in Earth’s role in the GLC and Hal’s redemption. As he takes Hal through the mysterious garden, Adams delves into not just the history of their friendship, but the unique reason Earth seems so central to the Green Lantern Corps.
There are some fascinating reveals in this issue, as well as some great character-driven moments as Hal prepares to move on to the next step of his quest. But it’s not long before we see just how much the Corps have been corrupted in his absence—turned into an arm of a fascist regime that is hunting rogue Lanterns with extreme prejudice. The issue ends with a huge-scale battle in the atmosphere above Earth, but also with the return of a fan-favorite character who was just reintroduced last month, as the Earth lanterns begin their quest to take back the Corps from the new regime. Adams played it slow to start, but he’s being rewarded with an excellent ramp-up to the next arc.
And that lead-up plays out in the backup as well, as the return of fan-favorite creators to focus on the various other Lanterns continues. This issue focuses on Jessica Cruz, with the return of Sam Humphries to the character. Jessica is on trial for suspected treason to the officious United Planets administrator, who seems to be the greater-scope villain of the series. But when an assassination attempt against him takes place, that lets Jessica take the initiative and gain his trust—for a bigger purpose, now that she’s in the inner circle. Great to see Jess back in Green and at the center of a story again.
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GeekDad received this comic for review purposes.
