DON’T YOU DARE BE SOUR!!! CLAP YOUR HANDS AND FEEL THE GREEN LANTERN POWAH!!! It’s a New Year yes it is. Indulge my wrestling reference but it’s a brand new year for resident renegade Green Lantern. However as most of us know, despite that turn of the calender the past tends to follow us in some form. We as human beings can’t help but walk a similar path until we ultimately remove our blinders and see the troubled waters, and sail into calms shores. I realize I switched from walking to sailing but it all works out in the end, but what does this have to do with Emerald Twilight?
You walk into your LCS and one of first covers you see is renegade Hal Jordan taking on Jim Gordon in his robotic Batman suit, evoking an era of comics filled with chrome and hollow foil covers. The inclusion of the “new” Batman is hands down the weakest part of the issue. It is interesting to see both Green Lantern and Batman be visually and mentally different, the appeal of this “meet up” ends at just that. I understand perfectly why it’s not Bruce in the costume but there is no emotional connection for the reader to latch on here. Batman’s only purpose here is exposition on the reintroduction of Sonar.
If Batman was removed from this issue and Hal had a conversation with somebody he knew in Coast City or even another member of the Justice League and the story would have functioned the same. I can’t completely blame Venditti given the cards he was given, but in short there was no real reason for Jim Gordon to be in an issue of Green Lantern.
Thankfully it appears that Venditti seems to be tapping into the infamous Emerald Twilight story arc. If you examine Hal ever since he took Krona’s gauntlet he’s been given a significant power boost yet despite that he’s still failed to protect other world’s and now even his own family from a senseless act of violence. The panel of Hal sitting slumped in the ER waiting room as he awaited his nephew’s fate speaks volumes of his state of mind. Albeit it’s on a smaller scale but from my point of view Venditti is breaking Hal down mentally and emotionally in the vain of Emerald Twilight. Given that Parallax himself is still brooding in the back round gives even more credence to what Venditti’s intentions are for Hal, despite that it’s already better written build up than Emerald Twilight was/
Now the reintroduction of Sonar, a character I’m not familiar with. Given that Green Lantern’s rogues gallery tends to be cosmic in nature, I can’t deny that it’s a bit refreshing to see Hal take on a villain with a more grounded feel. The book does weave into some political analogy but it doesn’t weigh down the plot but more so it adds another complex dimension to the character of both Hal and Sonar.
Martin Coccoloo was the artist for this issue and the only issue I had with his art was during certain panels that displayed Hal’s emotions the mask tended to be a bit more angular. It doesn’t hurt the impact of the scene but it’s pretty glaring when in comparison to Hal’s other facial expressions.Other than that another solid job from Coccoloo, and while Tan does his job well, Coccoloo should be the lead artist.
With the exception of Batman, this issue of Green Lantern was good read, as Venditti lays down more tracks between Hal and Parallax with Emerald Twilight overtones, the next two issues should be entertaining to say the least.
Green Lantern #48 earns a 4/5