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The Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection 2000 (HC) 368 pgs.

These issues were previously collected in two more economical TPBs in 1992 titled:
Green Lantern/Green Arrow: Hard-Traveling Heroes and
Green Lantern/Green Arrow: More Hard-Traveling Heroes
As well as a 7 issue deluxe format mini-series in the early 1980s which might be cheaper to track down in back issue bins or on eBay than the HC collection.

Written by Denny O’Neil (with Elliot S! Maggin). Drawn by Neal Adams. Inked by Dick Giordano, and Neal Adams, Frank Giacoia, Berni Wrightson, Dan Adkins.
Colours/Letters: ??? Editor: Julius Schwartz.

Reprinting: Green Lantern (2nd series) #76-87, 89, Flash #217-220 (The Green Lantern back-up stories) (1970-1971)

Rating: * * * * * (out of 5)

Number of readings: a few times over the years

Originally published in the early 1970s, this collaboration between Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams is considered a comic book milestone. O’Neil teamed Green (Hal Jordan) Lantern -- very much the squeaky clean, Silver Age good guy who sees right and wrong as clear cut -- with Green (Oliver Queen) Arrow -- who had evolved by this point into a hot tempered idealist, more familiar with life’s inequalities. It was the establishment ring-slinger paired with the urban Robin Hood. Then he did something kind of unusual -- he sent them off into the heart of real world America.

“Relevant” comics weren’t unusual at that time. Over at Marvel Comics, Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four had long ago tackled racism, campus unrest and drug abuse, and Marvel had given the world ethnic good guys like the Black Panther, Joe Robertson and Wyatt Wingfoot. But at staid DC Comics, the winds of change blew a little more softly. As well, even Marvel hadn’t gone the route of actually doing a run of stories where each adventure would revolve around social problems and moral dilemmas, either as allegories or by literally confronting the issue in a real world context.

Essentially Wojeck with super-powers (or Quincy for the later generation).

The initial story arc has the two Greenies, paired with one of the Guardians of the Universe, setting out to “find” America in a beat-up old pick up truck, confronting urban slums, Native rights and cults. Although the stars of the piece are the two super-heroes, the real impact is on the Guardian who, forced to come down from his lofty intellectual perch, undergoes a spiritual metamorphosis that leads to a bittersweet resolution. Along the way they team up with Green Arrow’s on-again/off-again love, the Black Canary. Later stories drop the Jack Kerouac frame work, but continue to jump feet first into social issues. Some issues are what you might expect, disguising the issues in not-so-subtle SF parables and superhero trappings, most, though, are more literal. Though the stories are still, fundamentally, action-adventures, familiar costumed villains like Black Hand and Sinestro only crop up in a couple of stories, and space adventures only feature in three or four. And though the Guardians appear prominently in some stories, the rest of the Green Lantern Corps do not.

So what’s the result, viewed all these years later?

Mixed, of course, but surprisingly strong. The stories are unashamedly heavy handed, and the result can be cloying and awkward, as characters break into political soliloquies, and issues are simplified so as to be crammed into twenty-odd pages. But the passion seems real, and the down and dirty willingness to grapple with big issues (most of which are, sadly, still relevant today) is, at times, well...damn intoxicating in its very audacity. At other times, the passion -- the anger -- is a bit disconcerting, suggesting maybe O’Neil was working through some personal issues, with the characters a bit too quick to relish fisticuffs (not that he’s the first comic book writer who seems to be working out some pent up anger through his characters).

Sometimes O’Neil and Adams come across as middle-class white guys trying to explore issues they barely understand, writing Native Indian characters in awkward ways (calling white guys “palefaces” -- sure, the character means it to be ironic, but still...) or introducing substitute GL John Stewart as the stereotypical angry black man (at the same time, Stewart is actually a more interesting, dynamic character than he would evolve into years later when he would get his own stories). The infamous “drug” story here came on the heels of Marvel’s Spider-Man drug story (reprinted in Spider-Man vs. The Green Goblin), but though O’Neil and Adams were supposed to represent the young, hip crowd, their tale seems a little more square, a little too preachy, when compared with middle-aged Stan Lee’s Spider-Man story line. Theirs is also the more simplistic and easily resolved.

Other times, it may not be O'Neil and Adams who come across as naive and simple, but my own lack of understanding that may be exposed. In the story “Journey to Desolation” (GL #77), the heroes tackle a one-company town run by the despotic company owner whose goons are Nazi war criminals. When I first read it, I thought throwing in ex-Nazis was a bit overdone -- but years later, I read a news report about North American companies that really had employed ex-Nazis to break-up unions and the like. So maybe O’Neil knew more about these things than I did.

Particularly memorable stories include “No Evil Shall Escape My Sight” (#76), which kicked things off, the eerie “Peril in Plastic” (#84), “And Through Him Save a World” (#89) and others. Also noteworthy in this collection is the 1st appearance of John Stewart in #87 (as mentioned above), the drug story in which a high profile character is revealed to have a habit (#85-86), and a Green Arrow solo story that marked Elliott S! Maggin’s first professional sale (possibly from #87 as well).

Surprisingly, what holds these issue-driven tales together is the characters. Green Lantern and Green Arrow seem remarkably real, and the complex dynamics of their relationship brings grounding to the piousness. Ideologically, the reader is expected to be more in sympathy with the Arrow, the passionate, two-fisted hippy (if you’ll excuse the paradox) but as a person, the Lantern is more likely to evoke sympathy. Arrow’s bull-headed, quick-to-anger temperament, his mercurial nature and his childishness, makes him fun and dynamic to follow, but Lantern is the guy you’d want to hang out with, if only because he’s more level-headed. It’s a character paradox that, perhaps more than the social issues themselves, gives the stories a richness and level of maturity.

Though O’Neil has gone on to more powerful positions, and is currently editor of the entire Batman line at DC (a character he has claimed more affinity for than GL), in many respects, this stands as the best writing of his career, for all of its heavy handedness.

Neal Adams’ art is, of course, Neal Adams’ art, and with his organic lines, realist faces, sinewy bodies, experimental panel arrangement, and mood, it superbly complements O’Neil's scripts. He had a particularly nice visual feel for both GL and GA.

The complete run of O’Neil/Adams stories is reprinted in the hardcover "Collection", and in the two volume Hard Traveling Heroes TPBs (minus #88, which was a reprint)...I think. One description I came across seemed to imply that #83 was also omitted, but I find that unlikely, particularly as it’s a story that explains why GL’s girl friend Carol Ferris is in a wheel chair for a couple of the other stories. Which brings up a side point. O’Neil has, on occasion, received some flack over his treatment of women characters. As a writer and/or editor he has been involved in the (temporary) depowerment of Wonder Woman, the death of Batwoman, and the crippling of Barbara (Batgirl II) Gordon -- he may even be responsible for the fact that Black Canary doesn’t seem to have her sonic scream in these stories. Here, Carol Ferris is crippled...and a character puts it on the level of suggesting it’s kind of cosmic retribution for being too proud (GL’s “punishment” for the same “crime” is that he has to realize the world is a more complicated place than he had hitherto acknowledged -- not exactly an equal penance, is it?) It’s a tad...awkward. Conversely, Black Canary is as physically tough as any of the guys. Anyway, if anyone has these books in their possession and can clear up whether the story, “And a Child Shall Destroy Them”, is included, let me know.

The fall out from this run was, well, very little. Poor sales led to Green Lantern going on hiatus (which is why the final story line ended up a back-up feature in The Flash) and this kind of hard-hitting relevancy never really caught on with any other titles -- even when Green Lantern was resumed a few years later. O’Neil has occasionally cranked out an “issue” story over the years, but even his passion seems to have left him. Green Arrow continued as the hot-headed, chilly-eating, anti-establishment character for the next decade and some, but increasingly in an unconvincing way (in the hands of, perhaps, more conservative writers who didn’t “get” the character’s Leftist P.O.V.) before eventually being remodeled as a less impulsive, more right-wing character in the late ‘80s. And both Hal and Ollie were killed off in the 1990s (though Ollie's been brought back in 2001, and Hal is the new alter ego of the ghostly super hero, the Spectre)

Perhaps this run of stories reflects, not just an exciting period in comics, but in western culture, when people believed, not necessarily that they could change the world, but at least that they could give it a try.

Earlier in this review I mention anger. An interesting thought is raised examining the evolution of cover art -- though whether it reflects a change in comics, the world, or Neal Adams psyche, that's the question. Presented for your consideration is three exhibits, roughly a decade apart. The first is a black & white reproduction of the original cover from Green Lantern #76, in which the ideological conflict is presented in largely symbolic images. The next is from the 1983 reprint series, in which the conflict becomes more aggressively physical. The third is from the 1992 trade paperback. All are drawn by Neal Adams. 1970 cover - 1983 cover - 1992 cover. Make of it what you will.

This is a review of the stories as they were reprinted in the 1983 deluxe edition mini-series.

HC cover price: $__ CDN./$75.00 USA (Yikes!)

TPB original cover price per book: $15.50 CDN/$12.95 USA

Green Lantern: No Fear 2006 (HC & SC TPB) 160 pgs.

Written by Geoff Johns. Pencils by Carlos Pacheco, Ethan Von Sciver, Simone Bianchi. Inks by Jesus Mernio, Prentis Rollins.
Colours: Moose Baumann. Letters: Rob Leigh. Editor: Peter Tomasi.

Reprinting: Green Lantern (2005 series) #1-6, plus Green Lantern Secret Files #?

Rating: * * 1/2 (out of 5)

Number of readings: 2

This collects the first six issues -- along with Green Lantern Secret Files -- of the new Green Lantern series, featuring the newly ressurected, rehabilitated, and reinstated, Hal Jordan.

Hal was the alter ego of the character from the 1950s through to the early 1990s (save a period or two where he was replaced by John Stewart). Since Green Lantern wears a ring that gives him tremendous powers, it had been easy enough to shift who wears the ring. In the early 1990s, when DC was keen for "shocking" sales-boostin' gimmick stories, Hal went bad and eventually was killed, being replaced by Kyle Rayner. And though that character did well enough for a while, fandom has a long memory, and old time fans never quite gave up on seeing Hal brought back.

And he was, in the mini-series Green Lantern: Rebirth (which I reviewed here ), which not only brought Hal back to life and returned him as Green Lantern, but also absolved him of most of the culpability for the things he did while bad (he wasn't himself).

The funny thing is, I gotta admit I'm a bit of a Hal Jordan fan. I never thought of myself as such, but when I look back through my comic collection, I realize I've amassed a fair number of GL comics -- from various Hal eras -- and many stand as some of my favourite runs of comics.

Though I like Hal, I had decidedly mixed feelings about Geoff Johns' Green Lantern: Rebirth, which attempted to reboot Hal for the modern generation. But once all that was over and done with, and Johns could now just focus on a monthly comic, things start out more sure footed. The initial three issue story arc concentrates on Hal trying to re-establish his civilian life in the newly reconstructed Coast City -- although "civilian" life is an odd description for it, as Hal decides to join the US airforce. While all this is going on, and Johns is introducing a new cast of supporting characters, a mysterious, homicidal android starts slaughtering its way across the countryside, heading towards Coast City faster n' you can say "hmmm, I wonder if this has any connection to Green Lantern's old foes, the android Manhunters?"

I had some qualms with the level of the violence in the story, as the android blows up busloads of innocent bystanders, and incinerates people in fairly gory detail, but that was a minor part of the saga. The art by Carlos Pacheco is bright and open, yet dynamic, and tells the scenes with clarity. The story isn't, perhaps, especially complex, but it's paced out well, with a few twists and turns, and appropriate cliff hangers between acts. Above all, Johns keeps the focus on character.

Granted, he tends to rely on exposition in place of demonstration, and his fixation on Hal being a heroic "man without fear" to the exclusion of much else means this isn't, perhaps, as well rounded, and as adult, a take on the character as we've seen in the past. Johns seems to belong to the school of thought that thinks to give a hero doubts or insecurities or failings somehow demeans him.

Johns likes to play around with themes of courage vs. cowardice, and it's not hard to read into discussions about Coast City -- which had been obliterated by an alien invader and is now being rebuilt -- a metaphor for the post-9/11 world. Ironically, though, the central concept, that Hal wanting to resume his life in Coast City is contrasted with his brother's fear of moving back to the city where so many died could easily be flipped on its head, with Hal's obsession with resuming, and retreating to, his old life a reflection of a man afraid of change. Still, it's nice that Johns wants to give as much attention to the "man" as the "super hero".

Bottom line: I liked the opening three-parter. Unfortunately, as much as I liked it...I was unimpressed with the next three-part story.

Here Johns seems to be channeling a few X-Files episodes in a story involving alien experiments -- in fact, I'd swear I've seen the opening scene before! The story involves old foes Hector Hammond, the Shark, and Black Hand. Green Lantern: Rebirth artist Ethan Van Sciver returns, and his style, though detailed in its realism, I find can be rather cluttered and overly dark, so that it's hard to quite tell what's going on.

And Johns' brutal excesses just get unleashed full tilt. I read somewhere that Johns' ressurrection of Hal was meant to herald a return to Old School heroism...well, Old School was never like this as Johns and Sciver just wallow in violence. When the key "action" scenes in issue #4 seem to involve Hal getting into a pointless mud wrestling (!) contest with fellow Green Lantern Kilowog, or indulging in what can politely be described as police brutality as he slugs guys trapped behind bars or beats the crap out of Hammond -- a quadriplegic -- you know Johns' notion of heroism and mine are lightyears apart. I've read a couple of GL vs. Hammond stories from many years ago...and in neither one did the writer feel it appropriate for GL to assault a man who, after all, can't fight back on a physical level.

And it just goes from there as the Shark munches his way through swimmers (and we're treated to bloody limbs and a severed eye ball!) and Black Hand announces Hal'll be his twenty-third kill that day. Johns seems to be a one trick pony when it comes to villains: make them nastier and more sadistic than they ever were before -- though having Hammond go all Hugo Strange (a Batman foe if you don't get the reference) and develop a fixation on Hal was a potentially interesting touch.

The pacing for the story just seemed -- off. Even after a second reading, when the brutality didn't really bother me (now that I was primed for it), I found this story arc just kind of...bland. I didn't really find myself interested in where it was headed, nor why, as it just gets cluttered with arch foes and fight scenes. I found it visually confusing, particularly in the final chapter drawn by Simone Bianchi who has a beautiful, semi-photorealist style...but a weaker eye for storytelling, as where characters were in relation to each other was often confusing.

Another problem is just the familiarity of it all. Johns completely revamps Hal's civilian life, giving him a new environment and new supporting characters...then proceeds to trot out all the old foes (even if he and Van Sciver have radically altered them in personality and look -- I mean, when did Hammond's head get as a big as a wardrobe?). Personally, I'd have preferred the opposite. Return the familiar cast of Tom Kalmaku (a sympathetic Inuit character in a medium not exactly brimming with Inuit protagonists), Carol Ferris, etc. (particularly as the notion of GL as a de facto agent of the airforce just seems repetative, as he's already an agent of the Guardians of the Universe) -- but with new, imaginative threats. For that matter, why bring back old foes...if you're going to so mess with them they aren't really the same characters?

As noted, Johns trucks out a lot of themes -- sometimes seeming to sacrifice the needs of the character and the scene for the sake of symbolism. Of course, the problem with wanting to be taken seriously in some regards, is it kind of opens you up to all sorts of scrutiny. As mentioned, Johns just seems a little too into his violence and brutality. There's also a sexist undercurrent -- the modern take on Hal is as a cocky womanizer who sees every woman as a potential conquest...and instead of an immature character flaw, this is apparently supposed to make him seem cool (and who says comics are no longer written by, and for, dateless nerds?) And a special focus has now been given to GL's relationship to his dead father, while his late mother is, if anything, portrayed as something that was keeping him from being himself. This is nothing new in many comics, of course -- Batman's motivation is that both his parents were murdered, yet particularly in recent years, his focus often seems to be on the death of his father, with his mother more an abstract side issue.

There's also a curious contradiction in that Johns wants Hal to be the stereotypical rebel, who doesn't respond well to authority...then has it be that he desperately wants to re-enter the military, a profession all about deference to authority! (Not to mention that sort of runs counter to previous takes on the character where, as an agent of the Guardians of the Universe, he was one of the few super heroes who wasn't a rebel/free agent). This military-centric focus is also a bit off-putting, such as a sequence where a navy man and his girlfriend are found mutilated by the Shark...and GL and his military contacts seem to regard the civilian's death as barely an afterthought compared to the sailor's death.

Anyway, those are just random thoughts that came to me. But the bottom line is: I enjoyed the first three-part story...and pretty much didn't like the second three-parter. And as much as I kind of like the idea of seeing Hal Jordan back in action...Johns has left me somewhat on the fence and disinclined to follow the series -- at least while Johns is at the creative helm.

This is a review of the stories as they were first serialized in the monthly comic.

Cover price: __

Green Lantern: Rebirth
see me review here -- I guess my review was a little too catty, 'cause the UGO editor dropped my reference to an undercurrent of S&M fetishism -- but, really, I don't think I've read a comic with so much body piercing and the like in my life!

Green Lantern: The Road Back 1992 (SC TPB) 192 pgs.

Written by Gerard Jones. Pencils by Pat Broderick. Inks by Bruce Patterson.
Colours: Anthony Tollin. Letters: Albert DeGuzman. Editors: Kevin Dooley, Andrew Helfer.

Reprinting: Green Lantern (3rd series) #1-8 (1990).

Rating: * * * * 1/2 (out of 5)

Number of readings: 2

In the convoluted history of Green Lantern, this was written at a time when the Guardians (the creators of the Green Lanterns) had left our universe, the Green Lantern Corps itself had been disbanded, and the only remaining GLs were three earth men: Hal Jordan, bumming around America in search of himself, John Stewart, wracked with guilt over his incompetence in Cosmic Odyssey, and Guy Gardner, the egotistical buffoon who, at the start of this saga, seems to be the only active GL.

First and foremost, this is a Hal Jordan story. Guy is the secondary lead and John a distant third. This has middle-aged Hal, largely resigned from being a GL, getting odd jobs on a farm or fishing boat, periodically butting heads with Guy who's acting like a big green Mr. Mxyztplk and trying to get Hal's goat. John, meanwhile, discovers that the last remaining Guardian on the planet Oa has gone insane and is transporting whole cities from all over the universe to keep him company. Drawn from his melancholic ramblings, Hal sets out to stop the Guardian (with Guy in tow).

Gerard Jones has a fine ear for dialogue and a nice sense for crafting a scene. The chapters are highly readable on that level alone, mixing introspection, sharp dialogue, and wit and humour. Even "mundane" scenes of Hal just looking for work never seem dull. Pat Broderick is an artist I used to like as a kid and seem to be finding my way back to with this saga. He's got a slightly cartoony flare, and a penchant for over muscled heroes, but there's a robustness to his art that complements Jones' writing, dragging the reader from panel to panel, page to page. And Broderick really comes into his own with the later, space-oriented half of the saga.

The story unfolds as a good story should. The early issues (chapters) are self-contained mini-adventures with Hal on earth, with the Guardian storyline slowly brewing in the background. But even when it becomes the main story around the fourth or fifth chapter, it is a story made up of scenes, of unexpected changes in direction -- it's a graphic novel. Perhaps it takes reading more standard comic faire, duller, more repetitive "epics" like Superman: The Death of Clark Kent or Batman: Contagion to put in perspective and fully appreciate what Jones is doing. He's telling a story, not just a loose excuse for a bunch of fight scenes. There is an attempt at maturity, too, at presenting an adult character (Hal) dealing with a difficult situation. In a sense, Jones is trying to write, not so much an "adult" comic (which often implies sex or violence), but a comic for grown ups. When an earth woman trapped on Oa starts panicking irrationally because she's missed her mortage payment, we're seeing an unusually subtle bit of writing (since a bank millions of light years away is the absolute least of her problems).

The Road Back is one of those reads that I enjoyed well enough the first time through...but enjoyed quite a bit more the second time. That's because it isn't without flaws, but the second time reading it, I was able to ignore the weaknesses and savor Jones' well crafted, clever dialogue and a story that, as mentioned, is a story.

So what are the weaknesses?

Well for a series trying to be thoughtful, with some nicely written internal monologues early on, and the whole thing a character arc as Hal and John come to terms with their place in the scheme of things, it's kind of empty.

Part of that is the problem with presumably needing to know past "continuity". Hal is world-weary...but I'm not sure why. If the story is about Hal reasserting himself as a Green Lantern, the reader needs a better understanding of why he turned his back on it to begin with.

As well, Jones conjures up the classic Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams Green Lantern stories from the early '70s, not only by having Hal on the road for the first few chapters, but the mad Guardian is the "old timer" who travelled with him all those years ago. But Hal's current wanderings are devoid of the social relevance of those earlier tales. Even devoid of much plot -- they're more extended vignettes. Conversely, Jones proves with the early chapters that superheroes don't have to be all hitting and punching as he concocts fully entertaining episodes with a minimum of threat (some bumpkins get a hold of Hal and Guy's power rings, for instance).

But there's also a lack of compassion. The old timer is the villain, true, but he's suffering from mental illness -- a decent man who's deeply ill. Jones doesn't seem to see it that way. Furthermore, the old timer once saved Hal's life -- and was stripped of his immortality as a consequence. Yet it doesn't occur to Jones that Hal might feel a certain inner turmoil going after a guy to whom he owes his life.

Of course, that's assuming that was supposed to have happened. There remains enormous confusion stemming from DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths which was supposed to negate anything that happened prior to it (and, ironically, was intended to clarify the DC Universe!). This post-Crisis story is tied into pre-Crisis events...but not quite. For instance Hal revisits a town he had been to in a previous story, renewing an acquaintance with a young woman named Rose -- except Rose wasn't in the previous story!

Other qualms include some sexual innuendos that can become sexist -- Guy visiting a porn shop is one thing, Hal musing that he was happiest going from "town to town, woman to woman" is just plain uncomfortable. Later Guy uses lethal force against some aliens, as if it's O.K. as long as they don't look human. Guy is an awkward character, period. He's the comic relief, but if considered seriously he should be regarded as a super-villain thanks to his abuse of his power, not as a member of the Justice League (who appear in a couple of cameos).

This story laid the groundwork for the return of both the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps to continuity, and the creation of the Mosaic world explored more fully in the spin-off series, Green Lantern: Mosaic. Of course, all that's moot for modern readers since a few years later the Green Lantern title would endure an even more traumatic shake up, eliminating all that stuff.

Ultimately, the Road Back is an enjoyable if vaguely unsatisfying adventure, but after a second reading, I find myself remembering largely its strengths -- its flashes of maturity, its unexpected plot turns, its sense that Jones has respect for his readers, his characters, and himself. Maybe a third reading will dull some of my current enthusiasm. However, for now I'd say it's definitely a keeper.

Original cover price: $__ CDN./$8.95 USA

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