TRANS-SCRIBE: Green Lantern: War Journal #2

Wednesday 25 October 2023

Green Lantern: War Journal #2 - Comic Review

When I was first starting to read comics regularly Geoff Johns was running Green Lantern, and the series was in mid swing, building up towards Blackest Night. I went back to the start of that run and read it all, along with Green Lantern Corps, in one weekend. From them on I became a big GL fan, and have gone back and read older books, and kept up with the new stuff. However, after Rebirth, when Grant Morrison took over the title and became the only Green Lantern book that kind of changed. Whilst I love Morrison's work it's sometimes hard to read month to month, so I waited until it was done to read it, breaking my month to month reading of GL after more than a decade. The run that came after Future State was even worse for me, and I've still not read the entire thing. It felt like my love for GL was dying. Green Lantern: War Journal, however, might just be one of the best Green Lantern books in years, and is easily one of the best titles that DC is making at the minute.

The second issue of the series begins with Varron, the dick of a Green Lantern who showed up last issue trying to start some shit at John's mother's house, arrives back on Earth with a couple of other Lanterns, once again breaking the United Planets' quarantine of our world. The three of them head to the rain forest, where they find a crashed spacecraft; the one we saw come under attack from the Revenant Queen last time. Detecting construct energy on the remains, they're hoping to use it as proof that John still has a ring. However, instead of finding proof, they find the Revenant Queen.

Meanwhile, John and his mother are visiting Metropolis to see about a job at Steelworks. John impresses John Henry Irons with his engineering advice, and is soon offered a job at the company if he wants it. Whilst on the train home he and his mother have a heart to heart chat about the future, with John pushing for her to come with him to Metropolis, and her trying to get him to go on without her. Then the train comes under attack from Varron and his fellow lanterns, who've been transformed into the undead by the Revenant Queen.

This issue manages to do a lot. It has decently made and realistic personal drama for John, and moves forward his story and his relationship with his mother. It also has a decent amount of action in it, and we get to see John do some cool stuff when fighting the undead Lanterns. There's also more lore building and expansion of the world thanks to the villain from another universe. And there's even a dash of horror thrown into the mix too. It ticks a lot of boxes, and keeps things really entertaining.

And this is a big part of why I'm loving this series. Green Lantern is also going on at the moment, but feels a lot flatter in comparison. Whilst John has an interesting story going on with caring for his mother, and trying to find his place in the world, Hal is trying to make Carol love him again and acts a bit like a creepy ex-boyfriend. John is dealing with a force from another universe that feels like a cosmic threat, and Hal has Sinestro bumming around the planet with no power ring. One feels kind of slow and is only just starting to pick up, the other has been firing on all cylinders straight out of the gate. Green Lantern is okay and enjoyable in places, Green Lantern: War Journal feels like it's going to be doing big things.

The art on the issue, by Montos, with colours by Alex Guimarães, isn't the kind of art that I normally love, it's very sketchy and messy in places and some of the panels have pixelation and digital mess added to change the feel of things; but, it works for the tone of the story the book seems to be telling. This feels like a story that's bordering on horror, and the artwork plays into that well and very much fits. The designs for the Revenant Queen and her infected minions looks really cool, and the construct and energy effects they have look different than other ring users and unique to themselves. They also very much don't just look like we're doing Black Lanterns again, which could have been easy to slip into with them being another form of undead Lanterns.

This series is ticking off all of the kind of stuff I like from a Green Lantern book. It's got cool drama that has the fate of the universe in the balance. It's giving us new enemies and lore that feel fantastical and otherworldly. It's got great character drama and personal stakes. And it's just super enjoyable to read. John Stewart is a super cool character, and he tends to get pushed aside for other Lanterns a lot of the time; hopefully this book will help show folks that there's a lot to him, and result in some more John Stewart fans.