Review: The Green Lantern #10

Review: The Green Lantern #10

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer: Grant Morrison

Art: Liam Sharp

Colors: Steve Oliff

Letters: Tom Orzechowski

Reviewed by: Matthew B. Lloyd

Summary

There’s a Multiversal Mystery afoot, and only Hal Jordan and slew of alternate Earth Green Lanterns can solve it.  The team heads off to Earth-15 where things seems to go from bad to worse as the Tangent Earth Green Lantern (Earth-9) appears to go down quickly at the hands of…!?!?

Positives

The Green Lantern #10 is a rollicking good time in the Multiverse.  Last issue re-introduced Ah-Bah-Nazzur from The Multiversity series and gave a glimpse of Luma Lynai from Action Comics #289, but The Green Lantern #10 brings these characters and more together to form a Multiversal team of Lanterns to stop a threat to the Multiverse itself.  Morrison builds upon his own previous work in the 2014 series, The Multiversity, but also adds other characters from DC’s past to heighten the excitement.

Back in 1997, DC Comics re-imagined their own characters under the Tangent Comics banner.  These were all new characters who had the same familiar character names, even in they were someone entirely different and new under the masks.  The powers and concepts were new as well, only the costumed identities remained the same.  The Green Lantern on the “Tangent” Earth (later identified as Earth-9), carried an actual green Lantern and was able to use the lantern to raise the dead and give the deceased an opportunity to find peace.  The “Tangent” Universe had some very interesting ideas and concepts and always seemed like an Earth that deserved more exploration.  The Green Lantern is certainly one of the more provocative and enigmatic characters, and its wonderful to have her back!

If the Honor Team of Thronn doesn’t ring any bells, don’t be surprised, you probably haven’t committed Green Lantern (Vol. 2, #32, October, 1964) to memory.  We saw Marta, Strong Girl, (now Strong Woman) last issue with Luma Lynai, but we get a full appearance of her this issue and we get the mention of her super-hero team, the Honor Team of Thronn.  A little research reveals their one and only appearance in “Power Battery Peril” from the aforementioned issue of Hal Jordan’s first series in which he met the team and in due course helped rescue them.  Morrison’s knowledge of and desire to incorporate old and sometimes little-know characters and concepts into his work never ceases to be fun and interesting.  It’s not new though, he’s been doing it since his historic run on Animal Man from the late ’80’s, through Batman right into his current work on The Green Lantern.

The excitement of the assembling of the team of Green Lanterns almost puts the threat in the background, but once they stumble upon the Tangent Green Lantern on Earth-15, things start to click.  The cliffhanger ending once again ends up asking more questions than it answers, and it does a great job of getting the reader to come back next issue.

Finally, each of the different Lanterns has a different nomenclature in their unique iteration of the Green Lantern concept, the “ring” is not always a ring, and the Guardians of the Universe are not always “Guardians.”  Morrison has tailored each Lantern’s world specifically to that Lantern.  This enhances the uniqueness of each Lantern.

Negatives

Stoner Lantern is a bit tedious.  He’s there for a little comic relief, but it’s certainly not a reason to stay away from this issue.

Verdict

The Green Lantern #10 embraces the fun in comics with some nostalgia and high concepts.  While there may be minor character moments in the set up, next issue’s conclusion of this two-parter promises to bring more as Morrison has teased the DC history that will surely play out.  It won’t just be Hal Jordan, but a team of Lanterns that saves the day!