After being noticeably absent in the first wave of new comic books that make up DC Comics Infinite Frontier direction a new Green Lantern series is finally here. This new Green Lantern series is written by Geoffrey Thorne, who looks to be focusing on the entire Green Lantern Corps rather than just Hal Jordan. This is a smart move right out of the gate as the Green Lantern franchise has way to many strong and interesting characters to continue to focus on one character as the sole lead. It’s also fitting that we get a renewed focus on the entire Green Lantern Corps as the DC Universe current direction is moving towards all planets working under the United Planets banner we will eventually see established in the Legion Of Super-Heroes future. How will Oa and the Green Lantern Corps factor into the United Planets future? Let’s find out with Green Lantern #1.
Writer: Geoffrey Thorne
Artists: Dexter Soy and Marco Santucci
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: On Oa, John Stewart leads the Green Lantern Corps to defending the planet against an green energy based attack. Ameyra Khalan (Thanagarian Captain in the United Planets Brigade) assists in defending Oa while mentioning the attack has a similar energy reading to the Green Lanterns’ powers.
Two hours earlier, John talks with a projection of Hal Jordan about his uncertainty of Oa hosting the United Planets Conclave given ongoing political unrest between certain planets and inclusion of the Sinestro Corps and Red Lantern Corps. Ameyra appears and mentions that it sounds like John is worried that the United Planets Conclave will decide the Green Lantern Corps are not needed in the new paradigm and Oa will no longer be seen as the center of the universe.
After Ameyra leaves, the Guardians of the Universe appear to talk with John and Hal. Hal says that he is with the Justice League ready defending to defend the Earth while Kyle Rayner and Jessica Cruz are all set in securing the crux worlds. Afterwards Hal tells John he has to go but to call him if they need his help. John is then requested to go see to Teen Lantern (Keli Quintela).
John then finds Keli battling drones that were looking to take and examine her gauntlet. Seeing nothing else they can do the Guardians of the Universe request Simon Baz to take Keli to see the festival.
Once alone John asks if they’ve confirmed that Keli’s gauntlet is not Krona’s. The Guardians of the Universe confirm this and that it is not of Oan origin. They then bring up how this adds to their troubles along with all the Crisis’ in the Omniverse and United Planets formation. The Guardians ask John of his opinion as they trust it as he is seen as the Bridge between them and the rest of the universe. John says that joining the United Planets could be a good thing or cause greater danger to explode.
In the Conclave John and the Guardians find a lot of arguing going on about if Oa will be accepted into the United Planets.
Over in the festival grounds Teen Lantern meets someone named Pfuzex. Before they can get to familiar with each other four energy based people from Zerox show up and immediately declare their intent to get revenge on the Guardians for stealing half of the magic heart from the universe.
Back in the Conclave Peya Fel (sixth Abacrix of New Colu) tells the United Planets members that for a long time the Guardians and Green Lantern Corps have upheld justice and order in the universe. Peya Fel believes with this that they should allow Oa to join the United Planets and announces her vote in favor of this.
Impressed by Peya Fel, John joins Kilowag, Guy Gardner, and the other Oan representatives. Before he can settle in Simon calls John to join him at the festival to help deal with a problem.
Over at the festival John and Ameyra find the people from Zerox conducting some sort of ritual in protest of the Guardians past actions. The leader the protestors (Yridian) reveals that they are going to be releasing the Starheart that the Guardians stole from their world. Yridian then calls on A’tmatentrym to feed.
A massive amount of energy shoots out from underground and starts destroying buildings all around Oa. John immediately calls on all available defenders, including the Red Lanterns, to help save and defend people in the way of the current attack by A’tmatentrym.
Back in the Conclave Sinestro as the New Korugar representative brings up how many different crisis the Guardians have caused out of their own fears. Sinestro says this makes them unworthy of joining the United Planets and votes to deny their entry.
Back outside John and Ameyra lead the defense of Oa against A’tmatentrym. Ameyra tells John that she is going to get her team to get ready to use extreme measures to stop A’tmatentrym.
Someone then appears before John and reveals that the Guardians originally created A’tmatentrym as a source of peace. Hearing this John understands what he must do.
John then calls all nearby Green Lanterns to assemble at his position. Once they are all together John tells them all to power down. Once they power down John says the Green Lantern Corps oath without transforming. This causes the A’tmatentrym to shrink back to the Starheart as the only way to beat it was to not fight. This pisses of Yridian but John just orders for Yridian and her crew to be arrested.
Back at the Conclave the Guardians admit that in their attempts to be omnipresent they misled themselves and have now done away with believing in the myth of omnipotence. The Guardians go on to say they will accept any decision the United Planets make on their status.
A vote is conduct with the results showing that the majority of members of the United Planets vote in favor of Oa’s membership. This results one of the leaders who voted against Oa. The guy fires an energy arrow that immediately kills one of the Guardians. End of issue.
The Good: Green Lantern #1 is not a new starting point. This is more of a continuation of a major overarching storyline in the DC Universe that started before Infinite Frontier with the United Planets continuing to be established. That may lead to some content in this issue to feel overwhelming but Geoffrey Thorne accomplished
What worked very well in Green Lantern #1 was the continued reluctance with the whole United Planets direction. Even though we’ve seen the established in Brian Bendis’ Superman run it is still a relatively new concept within the current DC Universe timeline. Having other characters like the Green Lantern Corps voice their own hesitation over this direction of uniting the universe speaks to how this is all something that everyone needs to get used to.
At the same time, Thorne does a good job in showing how the Guardians of the Universe and Green Lanterns aren’t seen in a positive light in the universe. This speaks to how we have seen decisions and actions taken by the Green Lantern Corps leading to several Crisis-level events. Having there past catch up to them when it comes to having Oa accepted into the United Planets was a great use of how Infinite Frontier has brought back all continuity back into play. It made the new Guardians of the Universe have to actually establish their voices.
This worked particularly well with how we had Sinestro being positioned as the counter argument to Peya Fel wanting to vote in favor of Oa joining the United Planets. Sinestro voting against this plays in well into the character’s own history with the Guardians and Green Lantern Corps. It also effectively re-established where Sinestro currently sits in the DC Universe without having to show him starting a new plot against the Guardians.
The arguments for and against Oa joining the United Planets gave some depth to the Zerox plans to use the A’tmatentrym hidden within the planet. This was another example of how the Guardians of the Universe have so many dangerous secrets that can still be discovered. While Sinestro was unsuccessful in swaying the majority to voting against Oa it’ll be interesting to see how the assassination of a Guardian works into where the United Planets direction. You combine this with the Zerox plans and you can’t help but keep an eye on what the Guardians of the Universe will do moving forward as part of the United Planets.
While a large focus was on Oa being established in the United Planets, Green Lantern #1 does a good job in emphasizing how this series will be about the Green Lantern Corp as a whole. John Stewart taking the lead on this direction is the right choice. Especially since DC Rebirth we’ve seen John step up even more as the leader of the Green Lantern Corps. The Guardians of the Universe acknowledging John’s work by calling him the Bridge, similar to Kyle Rayner being the Torchbearer, was a nice touch to emphasize his current position in Oa. Which we see many examples of with how the Guardians of the Universe, Simon Baz, and Ameyra Khalan interact with him.
Speaking of Ameyra Khalan, it was good to see Thorne take the opportunity presented by the United Planets to use more non-Lantern Corp members in his Green Lantern run. Bringing in a representative of both the Thanagarians and United Planets like Ameyra shows that Thorne will be using the entire cosmic side of the DC Universe in more than a guest spot. Ameyra herself established as a good counter to John that hopefully is explored more as mixing in races from other planets will help strengthen this series as a whole.
Thorne also did a good job establishing Keli Quintela as the rookie of the Green Lantern Corps. Showing that she hasn’t been fully brought into the Green Lantern Corps fold was an interesting choice. This furthers how the Guardians of the Universe don’t always see those they are interested in people. As we see with Keli they are more interested in finding out about her energy gauntlet than actually making her a Green Lantern. Which made Keli’s reaction to how she was being treated as being more understandable.
Dexter Soy and Marco Santucci did a solid job bringing this story to life with their artwork. They got across the variety of races that are in the DC Universe with the Conclave of the United Planets being assembled on Oa. You got a good sense of how massive the DCU is by the designs of every character. They also did a good job in making the plot by the people of Zerox look like a major world ending plot that the Green Lantern Corps and others had to stop.
The Bad: As well done as Green Lantern #1 was this was not the most new reader friendly first issue. There is a lot of history that you need to know about the United Planets from how Brian Bendis established them in his Superman run to get behind what is going on. Without that there is a lot of information that could come across as overwhelming. Especially when you add in the current state of the Green Lantern Corps and Guardians of the Universe being heavily reliant on a lot of recent history. It is definitely recommended that you read Infinite Frontier #0 before checking this comic book out if your not up to speed on other pre-Future State DC Comics’ events.
Overall: Green Lantern #1 is a very good start to a creative run by Geoffrey Thorne. This issue established a lot with how Oa and the Green Lantern Corps are viewed in the greater DC Universe. Bringing in the United Planets to be part of his run opens a lot of doors to explore not only the current state of the DCU but the Omniverse as a whole. Green Lantern fans should definitely check this issue out as soon as possible.
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