So this is going to be a bit different than your standard review from yours truly. To clarify this isn’t a review of the Dark Knight Returns III #3, after all this isn’t a Batman site. Given how Frank Miller thinks about Green Lantern it’s odd to an entire micro-comic dedicated to Hal Jordan. That being said, the past two micro-comics were interesting examinations of characters within the world of DKR, so despite Miller’s feelings towards Green Lantern as a concept one would think that momentum would carry over onto this issue DKUP. Also legendary artist John Romita Junior on pencils, what could possibly go wrong?
I want to preface by saying that John Romita Junior is one of my favorite artist of all time. When he jumped to DC I was giddy with excitement at the prospect of his style on the DCU. Skimming over his run on Superman with Geoff Johns, I regained that feeling when I saw his name on this comic, but that feeling stopped once I saw the first page. I’m not sure if it’s JRJR getting old and he’s losing his skill or he wasn’t used to how small the book would be in comparison to a normal sized one, that doesn’t changed the fact that this was the worst JRJR art I’ve ever seen in my life.
Character’s body portions were all over the place, in certain panels the characters were borderline stick figures in their rendition. Anything positive that you would associate with Romita’s art is nowhere to be seen here. There’s a lack of detail in just about every panel giving a emotionless feeling when you look at the issue at hand. Not even JRJR’s classic storytelling skills were of help here as I couldn’t tell what was going in certain panels. This hurt personally to see one of my favorite artist deliver a painful look at Green Lantern in DKU.
To give context to the story, some Kryptonians trapped in Kandor are now out and are running amok. If the point of this story was to show how futile the most powerful weapon in the universe is, and that Hal Jordan is a naive fool then mission accomplished. This isn’t a shock considering what Miller did to Hal last time but it still feels like wasted space when you compare the last two micro-comics. Green Lantern fans won’t be happy with this one at all. and neither am I.
Dark Knight Universe Presents: Green Lantern #1 earns a 1/5
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