(Green Lantern, 2nd series, #144-151, 1981)

Additional comment: Marv Wolfman began his run on Green Lantern with #133, so you might even argue the run from #133-151 might make a nice collection.

Written by Marv Wolfman. Art by Joe Staton. Inks: various. Ed: various.

Private life troubles plague Hal Jordan -- Ferris Air, the company where he works, is in desperate shape after months of sabotage and attempts to discredit it. And the toll is being felt on Hal's girl friend, Carol Ferris, who has been bumped from her position as head of the company by her chauvinistic, flint-hearted father who's determined to save his company, and on Tom Kalmaku, who's sinking into depression after being demoted.

A run in with old foe, the Tattooed Man, leads Hal to become aware of the attempt by another old foe, Goldface, to form a criminal cartel that would dominate the west coast. His struggles with Goldface go rather badly, and then he and fellow GL -- the then still-youthful -- Arisia head off to save an alien planet, but no sooner is that done than Hal is waylaid by the evil Weaponers of Qward (the groundwork for their appearance having been cleverly laid in the Goldface storyline). In the end, Hal is left with very little time to try and solve the problems of Ferris Air before he must begin a year long exile to the stars at the behest of the Guardians (who feel he has been neglecting his GL responsibilities). Thrown in for good measure are the Green Lantern Corps, minor villains like Black Hand, and more, making for a nice encapsulation of pre-Crisis Hal Jordan/Green Lantern.

It's the unusually strong use of the supporting cast that really fires this saga: the grown up romantic relationship between Hal and Carol Ferris; Carol's conflicts with her father; Tom Kalmaku's growing depression; newly added character Rich Davis' health problems, etc. The way the semi-realistic business problems of Ferris Air have semi-realistic impact on the characters (as they worry about whether they'll even have jobs in a few weeks) is quite effective. The high-flying super-heroics makes things fun, but the complex soap opera-y drama makes it very real.

As I've fallen back into comics, I'm ambivalent about Wolfman's placing in the list of great writers, but here he certainly delivers some superb scripting, characterization, and interweaving of sub-plots. A great story line is not simply when a series has various sub-plots -- it's when the writer can interweave those plotlines so that they form a whole tapestry, not just a collection of disconnected threads. And Hal Jordan has rarely been better realized as a mature, three-dimensional character, where being GL is part of his character -- not the whole of it; he's both heroic, but also flawed (what I've read of the current revival of the character by Geoff Johns is decidedly two-dimensional in comparison to this).

Staton's cartoony, but exceptionally well-composed and kinetic art, tells the tale well. In many ways, he is, for me, the definitive Green Lantern artist.

Admittedly, the resolution leaves a few threads hanging (odd, since this presaged a "new direction" in the series in which Hal left earth -- and, therefore, the supporting characters -- for many issues) and the Ferris plotline had its genesis in earlier stories. But overall, this makes a rich, rewarding -- even emotionally mature -- read.

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