Category Green Lantern

Sep 7 2012

Green Lantern 0

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern 0, originally released September 5, 2012. Green Lantern 0 is part of the line-wide Zero Month.

Patrick: John Stewart was a member of the United States Marine Corps, but he’s never been trained in counter-insurgency. Kyle Rayner was an artist, but he’s never done freelance work designing a website. Hal Jordan was a test pilot and just like the early astronauts, he wowed the world with his bravery in the face of the unknown. Whatever the relaunch did accomplish, it utterly failed to update the Green Lanterns of 2814. None of them are creatures of the 21st century. And it is in that spirit that we meet the newest Green Lantern: a middle-eastern born American citizen, who grew up in a post-September 11th America and who was laid off when his Dearborn, Michigan automotive manufacturer shut down in the economic collapse. Simon Baz is interesting less because he’s new and more because he’s current.

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Sep 3 2012

Green Lantern Annual 1

Today, Drew and Peter are discussing the Green Lantern Annual, originally released August 29th, 2012. This issue is part of the Rise of the Third Army crossover event. Click here for complete Third Army coverage. 

Drew: I have a confession: before the relaunch, I had never read a single comic written by Geoff Johns. Moreover, I had never read a Green Lantern story of any kind. However, all of other Retcon Punchers had read all of Johns’ work on Green Lantern, from Rebirth through Brightest Day, so his titles came with very high praise. It quickly became clear why: he’s unrivaled in developing complex mythologies. His work on Green Lantern has broadened its universe immeasurably, nesting decades of comics history into an elegant mythology that manages to make more sense than it has any business doing. At the same time, his tendency to draw out individual plot points to take up entire issues occasionally tried my patience. The Green Lantern Annual finds Johns at his best, delivering all of the insane mythology and plotting, and doing so at such a breakneck pace to please even the most impatient readers.

Oh, and GOOD GOD are there ever plot points to spoil here, so read the issue first, or proceed with caution.

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Aug 16 2012

Green Lantern 12

Today, Peter and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern 12, originally released August 15th, 2012.

Peter: Geoff Johns has singlehandedly changed the Green Lantern Universe. Everything we know and love about that particular universe, with it’s own expansive mythology, he created. He has taken Green Lantern books to new heights with stories like Rebirth, Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Night, Brightest Day, and the War of the Green Lanterns. Now he is poised to turn it all on it’s head again. Everything we know about the Green Lanterns, the Guardians, Hal Jordan, Sinestro and everyone else is coming crashing down out of the sky.

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Jul 25 2012

Green Lantern 11

Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern 11, originally released July 25th, 2012.

Patrick: Green Lantern has long been a game of science fiction escalation. You could make the argument that all serial narratives eventually encounter the problem of having to out-do what they’ve previously done, but I think this series – especially under the pen of Geoff Johns – makes a specific point to jack the stakes up to such a fever pitch as to make earlier adventures trivial by comparison. As the guardians stand on the cusp of releasing their Third Army and Black Hand returns to Earth with a hankerin’ for genocide, this series is wound about a tightly as possible.

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Jun 15 2012

Green Lantern 10

Today, Patrick and Peter are discussing Green Lantern 10, originally released June 13th, 2012.

Patrick: Before the relaunch, Blackest Night and Brightest Day cast a enormous shadows over the entire DC Universe. While much of that shadow receded in September, with most of the lingering vestigages hanging around the Green Lantern books. Understanding the existence of any non-green, non-yellow lantern corps requires knowledge of the Night and Day but writers have been cagey to reveal how much of that old mythology remained canon. With the events of Green Lantern 10, it would appear that we’re heading for a big exploration of those events as the universe makes the same mistakes over and over again.

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May 10 2012

Green Lantern 9

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Green Lantern 9, originally released May 9th, 2012.

Shelby: If you had a terrible personality flaw that you could change with a flip of a switch, and essentially become someone else, would you do it? What if you had done terrible things, but you could just snap your fingers and become a better person, would you make that change? How about if someone else had that control, and made that choice for you? You’re a better person for it, but does that make it ok? These are the questions running through my head, not as I’m on a trip of contemplation and personal discovery, but as I read this month’s Green Lantern.

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Apr 12 2012

Green Lantern 8

Today, Drew and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern 7, originally released March 14, 2012.

Drew: Saying that Geoff Johns has a command over modern Green Lantern mythology goes without saying; the events (and many of the characters) that have shaped the Green Lantern universe over the past several years are his babies. It was his skill with not just the architecture, but the execution of these stories that had us so excited about all things Geoff Johns in the New 52. One might consider that excitement was misplaced, given the hit-or-miss nature of Justice League and Aquaman’s perennial status as our Retcon Punch-ing bag (until Detective Comics rightfully unseated it), but Green Lantern reveals Johns to be as commanding as ever of both the large- and small-scale details of his stories. Continue reading →

Mar 19 2012

Green Lantern 7


Today, Patrick and Drew are discussing Green Lantern 7, originally released March 14, 2012.

Patrick: Remember the incredibly short-lived television series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles? I watched the Pilot and maybe the two episodes that followed, but gave up on it pretty quickly thereafter. It just wasn’t especially good television and I don’t really care about the Terminator franchise. Even still, there was this lingering feeling that maybe I gave up on it too early because I resented seeing Summer Glau as anyone but River Tam. But I knew I made the right decision a few weeks later when the promo for the new episode used the the following line to tease a reveal: “You won’t believe what they find in the box.” If I won’t believe it, then just show it to me and let me not believe it – there’s nothing that kills my hard-on for mysteries like saying “OH MY GOD, LOOK HOW MYSTERIOUS THIS IS.” With that little bit of background, let’s dig into “The Secret of the Indigo Tribe (Part 1).” Continue reading →

Feb 10 2012

Green Lantern 6

Today, Shelby and Patrick are discussing Green Lantern 6, originally released February 8th, 2012.

Shelby: I forget how much I like Green Lantern. You wouldn’t think I would be able to forget; I devoured Rebirth and Blackest Night. Green Lantern was my introduction to the wackiness of the DC universe. Without Green Lantern, I probably would not be sitting here writing this post.  Hal’s cocky attitude, his eternally doomed relationship with Carol, his never-ending-struggle with Sinestro, his former mentor and partner: I enjoy it all. While I’ve been enjoying Green Lantern so far with the relaunch, it was this issue that really made me remember just how much I like Green Lantern. Continue reading →

Jan 24 2012

Green Lantern 5

Originally Published January 13, 2011

may nobody question our nerddom againDC Comics recently relaunched their entire series, giving curious but uninitiated nerds a convenient entry point.  Fellow blogger Patrick Ehlers and I are two such nerds, and we’ve decided to jump in with a handful of monthly titles.  We really wanted to pull out all the nerd stops, so we’re also going to be writing about them here and on Patrick’s Blog (which you should all be reading anyway) every Friday.  This week, I’m hosting the discussion of Green Lantern, while Patrick is hosting the discussion of Batgirl.

Drew:  Sinestro is the worst. Which is to say, he’s the best, but he’s such a dick about it that you can’t help hoping he loses, or resenting the hell out of him when he wins. He’s always ahead of the curve, and is always a smug asshole about it. His manipulations run so long and deep that you can’t help but be surprised when you finally realize you’ve played exactly into his hand, which is always revealed with an attitude that takes the “ain’t I a stinker?” grin to a whole new level. He’s the worst. Continue reading →