Month: September 2021

Written by Tom Taylor

Art by Bruno Redondo; Daniel Sampere; Xermanico; Juan Albarran; Rex Lokus; Gabe Eltaeb; J. Nanjan; John Kalisz; & Wes Abbott

Compilation Cover Art & Original Issue Cover Art by Bruno Redondo & Alejandro Sanchez

SUMMARY:

Released by DC Comics in 2019, this 184-page compilation consists of Injustice 2 # 31-36 and Annual # 2 from 2018-19.  In Injustice’s alternate reality, this volume serves up a final prequel leading into the Injustice 2 video game.  With planet Oa besieged by Starro-controlled Red Lanterns, the Green Lantern Corps is met by a Titans strike team (Superboy, Wonder Girl, Starfire, Lobo, Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle, & Booster Gold). 

Against such overwhelming odds in intergalactic combat, the Corps allows Oan prisoners ex-Yellow Lanterns Hal Jordan and Sinestro to reclaim emerald rings.  Even a sliced-in-half Lobo is recruited into this makeshift Green Lantern Corps  Wonder Girl and Superboy fatefully encounter Brainiac in deep space.  Jaime & Booster make a desperate last chase after an elusive Starro, as its next conquest will be Earth.

The Suicide Squad visits Ra’s Al Ghul’s Gorilla City to attend the wedding of Killer Croc and Orca.  Brainiac makes his move to recruit Grodd’s insurgents into a sinister pact.  Including Ra’s Al Ghul, U.S. President Jefferson Pierce, and Aquaman, the world’s feuding world powers are cajoled by Harley Quinn (of all people, no less) to make some sense of peace on Earth. 

In Gotham City, Alfred informs Bruce Wayne & Selina Kyle of a heartbreaking choice.  While Brainiac’s sinister Gorilla City alliance continues assembling, a flashback harkens back to eight years before.  Deadshot’s near-assassination of Bruce at Wayne Manor necessitates Selina, Alfred, and a recuperating Bruce hiding out with the Kents in Smallville.  

With help from Oracle’s team, Lois Lane (resembling Man of Steel’s Amy Adams) & Superman pursue Deadshot’s clients.  Proving that she doesn’t need super-powers, Lois demonstrates that she is a force of nature in her own right. Back in the present-day, Bruce shares a private chat with Jonathan Kent while Martha Kent visits their imprisoned son.  The final scene depicts Bruce & Clark’s shared pain over a world without Lois Lane. 

REVIEW:

Fans won’t likely be disappointed.  Volume 6 delivers a last dose of Injustice’s combustible formula of hardcore violence and wistful poignancy.  Despite plenty of implied gore, writer Tom Taylor’s scripting somehow remains credible in heartfelt scenes – i.e. juxtaposing its well-played flashback to a grim, present-day world missing Lois. 

A glaringly out-of-place element early on, however, is the unnecessary inclusion of Lobo’s perverted antics.  Suffice to say, implied obscenities he conjures with a power ring aren’t hard to fathom.  All readers actually see is one blurred emerald image – the shape is plainly obvious what it’s supposed to be.  Beyond over-indulging crude humor at this juncture, Taylor generally stays on his game through this volume.

Though the inconclusive finish isn’t satisfying (i.e. all the various loose ends awaiting in the video game), the art squad’s visuals are still consistently first-class.  Case in point: the flashback sequence’s artwork is excellent.

For Injustice fans, no matter if it isn’t the franchise’s best installment, Volume 6 is a means worth reading to the end.

ADDITIONAL CONTENT:

Bruno Redondo’s designs for Green Lantern Lobo are included.  Cover sketches-in-progress for Injustice 2 # 31-32 and # 34-36, as well as Annual # 2, are seen in black-and-white.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                               7 Stars

 Written by Keith Giffen & Gerard Jones

Art by M. D. Bright; Romeo Tanghal; Albert De Guzman; & Anthony Tollin 

Compilation Cover Art by Alan Davis; Mark Farmer; & Dave Stewart

Original Cover Art (Issues # 1-6) by Mark Bright

SUMMARY:

Released by DC Comics in 2003, this 144-page paperback compilation reprints 1991’s six-issue sequel mini-series.  Individual issue titles are: 1. “The Powers That Be.”  2. “Balance of Power.”  3.  “Power Play.”  4. “The Will to Power.”   5. “The Price of Power.” and, finally, 6. “The Power and the Glory.”  

Set prior to the epilogue of Emerald Dawn I, Hal Jordan’s guilty plea for a first-time DUI conviction sends him to a maximum-security prison for ninety days.  Short-handed on veteran Green Lanterns, the Guardians of the Universe assign a resentful Sinestro to continue Hal’s training.  Sinestro’s new protégé, therefore, will have to sneak in and out of prison overnight for the foreseeable future. 

Accused for killing his first cellmate, Hal’s in-house legal caseworker is none other than Guy Gardner.  Further complicating matters is that: 1. Hal must trust his subsequent cellmate, Willie, with his emerald secret; and 2. An incarcerated bank robber that Green Lantern recently captured has also deduced fellow inmate Jordan’s masked identity. 

Accompanying Sinestro to his home world of Korugar, Hal is mortified at how Sinestro has condescendingly subjugated his own race into worshipping him under the precept of maintaining ‘order.’ Korugar’s rebellious Katma-Tui, with backing from the alien Khunds, ignites a planetary revolution against Sinestro, and by extension,  a sympathetic Hal.  The young Katma mistakenly deems all Green Lanterns must be blowhard tyrants like Sinestro.  Before being forced to flee together, the two Green Lanterns briefly turn on each other.            

Accompanied by Sinestro, an overdue Hal returns to prison, only to find a vile mass uprising. Guy Gardner is among the hostages, as the bank robber demands Hal’s power ring.  With Sinestro’s help, Hal must contain the murderous riot.  The Guardians send their robotic ‘Fists’ to Earth to apprehend the now-rogue Sinestro.  On planet Oa, Sinestro is on trial by the Guardians for his vast abuses of his Green Lantern oath.  Hal and another pivotal witness may ultimately sway Sinestro’s fate.  The finale presents a different glimpse of Emerald Dawn I’s epilogue.

Note: The Emerald Dawn II mini-series was released after Jordan’s second solo monthly had already begun in 1990. 

REVIEW:

Unlike Emerald Dawn I, this second prequel’s prison-heavy storyline actually lives up to its superb visuals.  Though imagining Hal as an ex-convict before joining the JLA is a dubious stretch, Keith Giffens & Gerard Jones’ inspired storytelling makes up most of the difference.  As Robert Greenberger’s introduction points out, juxtaposing Hal’s conscientious yet uneasy reaction to prison life against his new mentor’s own political evils is an intriguing notion worth exploring. 

In particular, Hal’s initial relationships with Sinestro, Guy Gardner, and, to a lesser degree, Katma-Tui are honed with extra polish.  Along with small yet helpful contributions from Carol Ferris, Kilowog, and Tomar-Re, Hal’s revised backstory (despite the contrived prison angle) scores an impressive ‘flashback’ for the Green Lantern franchise.      

Still, the real MVP of Emerald Dawn II belongs to its art squad.  Their work (i.e. the cover images) are top-caliber for that time, which makes for a complete Green Lantern package.  Regardless of whether or not DC has since retconned this storyline, Emerald Dawn II delivers a remarkably good read.  It serves up a welcome ‘prequel’ for Hal Jordan fans prior to delving into something like 2004’s Green Lantern: Rebirth.       

ADDITIONAL CONTENT:

DC Senior Editor Robert Greenberger presents a single-page introduction.  Inexplicably, artist Mark Bright isn’t credited, full-page reproductions of his covers are included. 

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                        8 Stars

Written by Jim Owsley (Issue # 1 only); Keith Giffen; & Gerard Jones

Art by M. D. Bright; Romeo Tanghal; Keith Giffen; Albert De Guzman; & Anthony Tollin 

Cover Art by Alan Davis & Mark Farmer

SUMMARY:

Released by DC Comics in 2003, this 144-page paperback compilation reprints the six-issue mini-series from 1989-1990.  The individual issue titles are: 1. “The Sign.”  2. “The Trail.”  3.  “The Ring.”  4. “The Corps.”   5. “The Test.” and, finally, 6. “The Dawn.”   With Green Lantern’s post-Crisis-on-Infinite-Earths popularity waning, DC Comics sought to tweak Hal Jordan’s legendary origin tale. 

Pumped up on hero worship for his daredevil dad, young Hal witnesses test pilot Martin Jordan’s fiery demise at Ferris Air.  Several years later, perpetual screw-up Hal is a newly demoted Ferris Air pilot and recently broken up with supervisor/ex-girlfriend Carol Ferris.  Responsible for a D.U.I. crash injuring three others (including one of his brothers), Hal initially evades taking responsibility for the incident. 

Summoned by a dying Abin Sur, Hal is his chosen replacement as Sector 2814’s new Green Lantern.  Even if a bewildered Hal doesn’t, Sur trusts his power ring’s judgment.

After already killing several Lanterns (Abin Sur, among them), the alien entity known as Legion now vengefully pursues Hal.  Enduring Kilowog’s rushed training regimen on planet Oa, Hal joins the Green Lantern Corps.  Protected by yellow armor, Legion invades Oa to attack the Guardians of the Universe.  The fate of the Corps may rest with this raw human rookie, who is far more unpredictable than any of his fellow Lanterns imagine. Ultimately, Hal must live up to his potential, both as a Green Lantern and as an error-prone mortal back on planet Earth.         

Notes: Emerald Dawn I subsequently propelled Jordan into his second ongoing series in mid-1990.  With Issue # 50, that title was inherited by Kyle Rayner.  The 1991 sequel, Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn II (revisiting the origin of Jordan’s feud with Sinestro), is available in paperback form. 

REVIEW:

Legion’s expendable presence as the villain isn’t Emerald Dawn’s biggest disappointment.  That distinction dubiously belongs to the whiny, self-pitying Hal that readers are stuck with throughout most of this storyline.  Scenes where Hal (likely suffering from a concussion) actually blames a roadside billboard for his D.U.I. crash and then later attacks it as fitful payback are pathetic lows in his newly revised origin. 

Instead of already being honest and fearless, this self-involved, jittery Hal faces some uphill work to attain such obligatory Green Lantern ideals.  Late in the game (Hal vs. Legion – Round 3, no less) is when fans finally see the Green Lantern they expect.  Even then, such euphoria is short-lived, as the lukewarm plotting resumes pitching Hal as a career loser in need of heroic redemption.  Such misguided storytelling diminishes Emerald Dawn as a satisfying read for those preferring Hal as a brash Top Gun-like jet pilot. 

Even so, this project’s interior visuals are excellent for the era; they’re much better than the uninspired cover images.  It’s a shame that the appealing artwork doesn’t support a more entertaining plot.  Emerald Dawn, unfortunately, is a blah experience that misses the point of why Hal’s mythical destiny is so awe-inspiring. Geoff Johns’ energized 2004 Green Lantern: Rebirth (as well as, for instance, his 2008 Secret Origin arc) far, far surpasses Emerald Dawn re: why Hal, in the right creative hands, is DC’s definitive Green Lantern. 

Lifting new backstory material that book-ends Emerald Dawn, Johns also better develops the concept of Hal recklessly following in his father’s doomed footsteps as a hotshot pilot.  In that sense, Emerald Dawn should best be construed as a source from which some superb 21^st Century Green Lantern tales would be derived from.      

ADDITIONAL CONTENT:

The original mini-series’ Assistant Editor, Kevin Dooley, presents a single-page introduction.  Full-page reproductions of the covers are included.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                     5½ Stars

Note: Beyond Johns’ “Secret Origin” story arc, there are two other recommended takes on Hal’s origin tale.  One is Darwyn Cooke’s DC: The New Frontier imagining Green Lantern’s origin amidst the ‘Space Age.’  Both the comics version and its faithful animated adaptation are outstanding.  The other thumbs-up is 2009’s animated Green Lantern: First Flight.  Aside from actor Christopher Meloni’s miscasting as Hal’s voice, this film is terrific.