An alien ship arrives above the small town of Evergreen, covering it in a green energy dome, stopping anyone from going in or out of the town. A god-like alien calling itself The Abin Sur descends to pass judgment upon the townspeople - which include friends Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Jo Mullein, and Guy Gardner. What does judgment entail? To be Without Fear.
… whatever that means!
Green Lantern is one of my least favourite DC characters so it’s surprising to me that out of all of the Absolute titles Green Lantern would turn out to be the best! Although this isn’t saying much and Absolute Green Lantern is only about half a good book.
The first half is really fun. We’re introduced to Hal Jordan who is recast here as this world’s Black Hand - it’s interesting that Al Ewing would take Hal back to his villainous days instead of repeatedly putting him in the hero role as other writers have done since Papa Johns (although back in the ‘90s Hal was Parallax). Jo is the Green Lantern of the title - and I’ll be honest here, I had to look up this character. Turns out she’s the protagonist from the godawful Fart Sector book a few years ago, which doesn’t surprise me - I read it but that book was so forgettable.
The most interesting character reframe here is The Abin Sur - adding “The” to make it a title rather than a name. Artist Jahnoy Lindsay reimagines Abin Sur as a mash-up of Goro from Mortal Kombat and Majin Boo from Dragon Ball Z - the effect is pretty fucking cool and Abin Sur stole every scene he was in.
The first half is a sci-fi horror mystery as the townsfolk are held captive by the seemingly-unstoppable alien who seems to be killing them off one by one for reasons unknown. And then Hal starts exhibiting his own disturbing powers, with the Black Star power portrayed like the ring from the Japanese Ring movies symbol, except here it speaks to Hal.
Oh, and I thought it was funny what Ewing did with the Green Lantern oath too - it exactly fits the context of the story here rather than as something space cops would say!
The second half is where the book turned for me. It becomes less about the story and more about table-setting for future stories. Ewing introduces this Green Lantern’s Lex Luthor, Hector Hammond, who’s doing typical Luthor-y stuff, and then the mystery is artlessly explained in clunky info dumps, with the characters quickly assigned their colours (Guy = Red Lantern, John = Yellow Lantern, and so on).
I think it’s a case of too much too soon. Green Lantern is a series that’s always suffered from wayyyyy too many characters and this first book’s story falls apart once Ewing begins overloading it with far too many characters far too quickly. We didn’t need Hector or Jo’s ex, or Simon Baz (another unmemorable new Green Lantern character), as well as the Black Stars and Oans and…
Keep it to a small group. The story was so much more effective when it was Hal, John and Jo vs Abin Sur. That’s something the other Absolute titles did better as well - even if I didn’t like them as much, those books kept the number of characters tight so that you had a chance to get to know them first. By introducing so many characters in the first book, this series already feels bloated.
Maybe that’s the point though - I did feel that Ewing was going for a Dragon Ball Z reimagining for Absolute Green Lantern (and manga is outselling traditional superhero comics by a significant margin, so makes sense to join em if you can’t beat em). Dragon Ball Z similarly had an enormous cast, went cosmic immediately, featured aspects of Eastern philosophy, and Lindsay’s art looks very manga-y, even without the Majin Boo homage. That might be why I responded so well to this title, being a lifelong DBZ fan. I just hate when superhero books introduce businessmen/government agent characters - they’re always the most predictable and least interesting archetypes in these kinds of stories.
Ewing/Lindsay have my attention though and I’ll be back for the second volume, even though it’ll be missing the most effective element of this first book. Hopefully with the table-setting aside, Ewing can return to telling his story that feels promising and fresh. As it is, Absolute Green Lantern, Volume 1: Without Fear is a decent, if uneven, start that has some strikingly compelling moments amidst some dull scenes and plodding exposition. The best of DC’s Absolute range so far - worth a look for superhero fans, even those who don’t normally go for Green Lantern, and especially DBZ fans too!
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