The Green Lantern (2018-) Vol. 1: Intergalactic Lawman

Grant Morrison, who is capable of superb comics writing but has also written some absolute stinkers, is pretty much coasting here. As is often the case, we get a fine starting premiss from him - 60 years on, no-one's ever REALLY picked up on the fact that Hal Jordan is a space cop - but although we do get some slight touches of police procedural, we also slip quickly into the usual Morrison schtick, which is to say, "weirdness" used to misdirect the reader from vague plotting. To be fair, Morrison's plotting here is a bit more coherent than is often the case, though as usual it all ends up being about some psychedelic evil that's going to to destroy the universe, yadda yadda. But even though he's basically just going through the motions, a coasting Morrison is inevitably more interesting than most comics writers on peak form, so his wit and verbal dexterity are as engaging as ever. I also liked his characterisation of Hal Jordan as one of those tough, maverick cops who don't play by the rules. It's an ancient cliche, of course, brilliantly parodied by The Fast Show in the "Monkfish" sketches 25 years ago, but it's fun to see it in a different context. It's also nice to see the Guardians actually remembering that Jordan has a rebellious streak, and using it to their advantage, rather than being surprised and appalled by it for the umpteenth time. So hardly great comics writing, but certainly more interesting than the Geoff Johns hackwork that was so inexplicably popular a while back, and the unremitting stupidity of the Red Lantern/Black Lantern nonsense that led into.This is all elevated by some mostly excellent art from Liam Sharp. Sharp's portrayal of alien worlds and races is breathtaking, a remarkable blend of Moebius, Jim Starlin, Roger Dean, Keith Giffen and early 2000 AD which is more genuinely psychedelic than Morrison's now-familiar storytelling tropes. This is further enhanced by fine work from veteran colorist Steve Oliff, and it's no hindrance to have the even more veteran letterer Tom "Cosmic Code" Orzechowski on board. Unfortunately, at times Sharp's anatomy is very poor, and the visual storytelling isn't always as clear as it should be, though the problems with the latter, especially the oblique cuts in panel-to-panel continuity, may be the direct result of Morrison's scripting.Overall, I'm edging towards this one being a keeper, based on most of the art, and the incidental details - though not the overall narrative - of Morrison's story. However, anyone unfamiliar with the GL mythos in general and Morrison's writing is likely to find it absolutely baffling, and should probably avoid it for that reason.

I like how Grant Morrison handles Green lantern, you really feel the vastness of the universe and how many horrors it may contain, that's why I love Green Lantern because the limit it's only your imagination, actually there are no limits on Green Lantern, you can make a really gruesome horror story out of it or something really beautiful and Grant Morrison knows that, after this vol for me Green lantern is far ahead from every other super hero comic that is on the business today, it has the potential to become iconic like Watchmen or Sandman

Enjoyed

“The Green Lantern – Intergalactic Lawman” collects the first six issues of the new and only Green Lantern title, with a 30-ish page opening issue, continuing on from the ending of the previous series with Hal dumped on Earth by the Guardians without his power battery to keep him out of trouble. (“It finds me”, as somebody once said in the intro to a song.)The artwork is suitably cosmic and epic, matching the scope of the scripting, but is let down by the new matte paper stock, which dulls down and muddies the quality of reproduction; you’d think that DC would keep the glossy aper for the hardcover editions, since they still use it for what appears to be randomly selected titles, many of which don’t even have the ‘high-definition’ artwork that would benefit from it.Many writers since Alan Moore’s day, who was the first that I remember referencing the “really big” Green Lanterns and also possibly some of the stranger ones, have referred to those stranger members of the Corps, but here you actually meet them – not only at both ends of the size-scale but also on various points of the electromagnetic spectrum.Mr Morrison is also the first GL writer I can remember who makes use of the ‘intergalactic’ aspects of the Corps’ remit – most writers and all the editors have been a bit vague about the scope of guarding the “Universe” and just what that entails – doubling the size of the corps doesn’t really make a dent in the scope of just how big the Universe is, and 3600 Green Lanterns would barely be able to manage the problems of a galaxy.However, this is a comic-book, and in its pages, you believe that men can fly (and even women and squirrels in these more enlightened times), and we can skate over the number of zeroes involved in intergalactic numbers with a shrug of indifference to people trying to spoil our fun.Yes, it is fun!Since his stint on the Justice League many years ago, where he thought big thoughts and got them captured on paper, he has learned that comic-book characters need a human element to make them feel real, as he demonstrated on his Batman stories, and so, while bringing genuine cosmic stuff to this book, he also remembers that Hal Jordan is human, as are many of the aliens we meet – in fact many of them are surprisingly American, and while many comic-book writers don’t even understand there is a difference between America and the rest of the universe – let alone the world – we can believe that Mr Morrison is doing it deliberately.This is not (quite) a Vertigo Green Lantern book, but a better quality paper stock could have made it an Eagle among penguins.

At long last Morrison finally gets his hands on GL. Thankfully it's a step away from the all too common stories involving the guardians and the spectrum of power rings. Whilst each issue tells a stand alone story, it's all part of a bigger picture. The cosmic aspect is bonkers as you would expect from Morrison with plenty of references to GL tales from the past that collide with universal destruction on a grand scale.The book also shows off the very best and at times the worst of Liam Sharp. Given time he can be one hell of an artist and for the most part he excels with some beautiful pages which are a perfect match of the stories. However there are plenty of panels that can look incredibly sloppy and a tad rushed in places.It's a refreshing take on Hal Jordan as he moves away from the GL Corps whilst dealing with inter-dimensional threats which could consume the multiverse. Just the standard fare from Morrison in the regard but highly enjoyable although it may not cater to all tastes.