Letterer: Lucas Gattoni
Green Lantern is one of those characters that I think is best when leaning into the big ideas. Being one of the few big DC titles that isn't constrained by the bounds of being in one place, it's able to do some wild stories. It's why I loved the Geoff Johns run on the series, introducing multiple Lantern corps, ancient entities, and universe spanning wars for life itself. Green Lantern should be a science fiction book before it's a super hero book, and Absolute Green Lantern feels like it's taken that ethos to the extreme as it's presenting one of the boldest, end even frightening, new books in the Absolute line.
The first issue played out with a sense of mystery as we followed a dazed and confused Hal Jordan as he made his way through the desert to a small diner, trying his best to keep his head down and out of trouble. Something happened to him in his town of Evergreen, something that makes him a danger to others. By the end of the issue we learned that a mysterious alien being named Abin Sur arrived in the skies above the town, and that Hal had somehow been transformed, his hand now coursing with black energy, capable of destroying anyone who threatens him, even if he doesn't want it to.
This issue picks up where that left off, with Hal in the ruins of the diner, where everybody there was seemingly killed by him, meeting with his friend Jo Mullein, who seems to have also been transformed by what happened in Evergreen. Unlike Hal, however, she's coursing with green energy. As the two of them talk we flash back to the events in Evergreen after Abin Sur arrived and placed the town within a dome no one could escape from.
There's a huge amount of tension throughout this issue, one that comes from knowledge of the GL mythos, and with having that knowledge completely flipped. On the one hand (no pun intended) it seems that Hal Jordan is the new Black Hand, that somehow he's been connected with the power of death, and if so may be an incredible threat to everyone around him. But there's also the fact that nothing in this issue feels like the Green Lantern books we know.
Abin Sur has always been presented as a figure that we should like. A Green Lantern who crashed on Earth and recruited a human to take on his mission. He wasn't hugely different from any of the other GL's we would meet, a decent man trying to make the universe a safer place. This Abin Sur, however, is absolutely terrifying. He's very alien, very mysterious, and very threatening. Two issues into this series and I have no idea if the Green Lanterns of the Absolute universe are even good people. They might be beyond such concepts of morality, and Jo could end up being a renegade GL because she actually cares.
This lack of knowledge, the sheer alien nature of Abin Sur, and the slow unfolding of the story makes the book tense to read. Each page turn filled me with dread as we went back to the events of Evergreen, as I waited for the hammer to fall and something terrible to happen. Even when we cut back to the diner it didn't do much to help as Hal becomes increasingly scary over the course of the issue, ending up with all black eyes, a creepy voice, and talking about an ancient force that wants to devour things. It was a book that I both wanted to put down but also couldn't stop reading.
The art on the issue stands out as some of the best in the Absolute line too, with Jahnoy Lindsay creating some very alien, very beautiful images. I've seen some people online making reference to the previous issue having an almost manga inspired visual style, and whilst for the most part I'd disagree with that Abin Sur does feel familiar as a fan of the Dragon Ball franchise. But I think that plays out brilliantly here, as Lindsay creates a truly alien feeling alien, one that feels otherworldly and monstrous, rather than just a human with different colour skin or pointed ears. I'm genuinely excited to see what's done with other alien characters we know, and am anticipating this to be the most visually unique Green Lantern title we've ever had.
Absolute Green Lantern is absolutely a science fiction book rather than a super hero book, but it might be as much, if not more, of a cosmic horror series too. We're still in some very early days with the title, but it feels like this might be the biggest swing the Absolute line has taken, and one that's going to create one of DC's best titles in years.
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