Green Lantern: Secret Origin

Green Lantern: Secret Origin

 

            Green Lantern is one of the many comics that managed to stand the test of time, and with Geoff Jones now writing the books, its popularity is beginning to increase again.  For those of you who watched the movie please try your best to forget those 123 minutes of pure unadulterated awful, and give the comics a chance.  One of the problems you might find when picking up a random Green Lantern comic (or any comic for that matter) is that it’s sometimes hard to understand what is going on, especially since Green Lantern has over 70 years of comic folklore.  So as an avid Green Lantern fan I always recommend one book- Green Lantern: Secret Origin.

Came out- 2008

Created by: Geoff Jones

Penciled by: Ivan Reiss

Spoilers below- Don’t want spoilers? Scroll to ‘The Good, The Bad’:

Brief Summary:

            Green Lantern: Secret Origin is an origin story for Hal Jordan, the most popular Green Lantern.  This story has been retold countless times, but Geoff Jones remade it as an easy starting point for new readers and answers many interesting questions for old readers.  The story begins with Hal Jordan as a young kid watching his father fly his jet, unfortunately for the last time.  During that flight his father died, but his love for planes didn’t end there; soon he was eighteen and joined the air force.  Hal shows his recklessness in the military by crashing a jet on a test run, getting into a bar fight (ROADHOUSE), and ultimately getting kicked out of the air force.  When he goes back to his mother, he finds out that his mother is already dead, and his brother blames Hal for her untimely demise.  What a bad day dude.

            While Hal’s dramatic life is unfolding we are introduced to Abin Sur, a Green Lantern who is carrying the Inversion Atrocitus (a bad#$% alien) to earth.  Abin Sur is questioning Atrocitus on “The Blackest Night”, a dark prophecy that turns into a comic crossover later… I guess I wasn’t supposed to say that, oh well.  The writer gives an introduction to the fact that the Green Lantern rings are powered on willpower, and will fail if the user feels fear.  During the flight to earth Atrocitus gets loose and kills Abin Sur.  Abin Sur’s ring soon went off to seek Hal, its next bearer; and soon Hal is forced by the ring to go to the dying alien, and hear his last pointless words.  Hal then tries out the ring and saves a fighter pilot, because that’s what anyone who gets a ring from a dying alien would do, right?  Anyways he’s congratulated by a huge crowd, the good ol’ love interest, and the ominous Hector Hammond.

  

            Hal Jordan decides to go back and bury Abin Sur; he also finds a green lantern in his ship, an actual lantern if you were wondering.  One wrong thing is said to the lantern and he finds himself beaming up to the planet Oa, were he goes to boot camp.  Hal learns everything about the ring in super-duper-galactic boot camp.  Basically the ring makes anything you imagine real, it runs on batteries, and it doesn’t like the color yellow ( maybe explained a little better then that).  Hal Jordan is soon sent back to earth as an official Green Lantern, followed by the “greatest” Green Lantern, Sinestro.  Sinestro is curious about Abin Sur’s death, and feels compelled to teach Hal how to ring-sling better.

            So that ominous character, Hector Hammond, gets in contact with Abin Surs ship and touches the fuel source making him telepathic… Pretty much explained as half-@#$ed as I just explained it.  Anyways Hal Jordan with the help of Sinestro, must take on Hector and Atrocitus in the fight to help keep balance in the universe.

The Good:

This story has been told so many times over the years in comics, but this in my opinion is the best retelling of it.  It portrays Hal as a 3 dimensional character, because before Geoff’s run with the character he seems so boring, and out of touch.  Geoff also keeps it easy for readers to use this to get into Green Lantern comics… honestly Geoff’s other work tends to reference  an encyclopedic knowledge of the DC Universe, so this was a breath of relief.  It also answers many questions the other origins left, and ties it in well with the big events happening currently in the Green Lantern universe.

The Bad:

Some of the pacing seems rushed like Hector Hammond, and the whole Oa training scene.  Geoff makes the story interesting, but it is still a ret-con of a (in my opinion) boring origin story.  The art is okay; Ivan Reiss makes okay artwork but nothing that really catches your attention.

RATING:

ART:  Nothing beyond okay artwork.  Some of the 2 page splashes are great, but everything else wasn’t anything special. - 7

STORY:  A great rehash of a classic tale.  Geoff Jones just gets Hal Jordan, and finds ways to keep his old flare while adding more dimensions to the character.  The story itself is pretty predictable, but it is portrayed in an excitable way. -8

DIALOGUE:  The dialogue was great, not too little, not too much.  This was hard to pull off considering how many things the book went over.  There is a lack of comic relief, but not the biggest deal in the world.  - 8

ENTERTAINING:  It’s fairly entertaining not the, keep.you.on.the.edge.of.your.seat.entertaining, but still a great read.  The book will also want you to get more into the Green Lantern books and make you want to pick up the next one. -8

PICK UP AGAIN WORTHY:  It was a good ret-con, would I read it again… probably not.  I think it’s

 A great introduction into Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern lore, but once introduced I wouldn’t go back. -6

OVERALL RATING:

7.4

It’s an average book with some great parts, but it’s a great way into the Green Lantern Universe.

By: Scott