Written by: Geoff Johns & Sam Humphries
Art by: Ethan Van Sciver & Ed Benes
Publisher: DC
Out of all of the Rebirth one shots this week, Green Lanterns is the one that feels most like a first issue. I don’t mean that in the sense that it has a set of problems characteristic of a first issue, but it actually doesn’t at all feel like a one shot story. This issue very much seems like it’s building towards a larger story, rather than just setting up a character dynamic, or illustrating to the audience that we’re getting an old version of a character back.
In a sense, I think that’s what made Green Lanterns my favorite of the four books to come out this week. It doesn’t bother with rushing through a story, instead, it introduces a story, and then leaves off on a pretty massive cliffhanger for the rest of the story. In between story bits, which bookend the issue, we check in with Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz. Oh, and Hal actually shows up in this issue as well, and it’s nice to see the original Earth Green Lantern again.
Seeing the three characters bounce off of one another is easily my favorite part of the issue. It very much sounds like Geoff Johns, but I’m unsure how the writing duties were divided in this issue. Regardless, the dialogue is excellent, and I’m really excited to see more of how Baz and Cruz interact with one another, especially without the four more experience Lanterns around to give them guidance. There is a page here that hints at the League helping the two characters, but I doubt their involvement will be that large.
For the most part, the art is really good in this issue. There are a few panels that involve motion that looks a little bit off, but other than that, it looks good. It’s Sciver and Benes, so it definitely has a very typical DC look to it. That’s not a bad thing, and as DC moves away from conformity among art styles, I can imagine it will be nice to still have a little bit of this style around. Fortunately, despite the two artists, it’s hard to tell who did which pages.
I do like the art, overall, but it’s probably the weaker element of this issue. More than anything, I think that’s a testament to how excellent Johns and Humphries’ writing is here. Sure, some of the narration is a bit corny, but other than that, I don’t really have any issues with the book, and I’m really looking forward to the true debut issue of this series.
