So last week, May 22nd, Geoff Johns' Green Lantern epic came to a close. 9 years of story finally came to a close and it was absolutely incredible. Now up until 2004 I was never really a big lantern fan. I liked Kyle Rayner, mainly because of Morrison's JLA, but never was able to get interested in his title. Then the Rebirth mini-series was announced. It had Ethan Van Sciver on art which drew my attention, because I loved the issues he drew in New X-Men, and it had Geoff Johns writing. I was already a fan Johns' work on Teen Titans and Flash so I was hoping this would be good. Now I didn't really grow up with Hal Jordan as Green Lantern. When I started reading comics he soon after went nuts and became the villain Parallax. So I wasn't all that excited that the series' main purpose was to bring Hal Jordan back from the dead and make him a Green Lantern again. How wrong I was. Instead of following the cliche route of having Kyle Rayner get killed off so Hal could return, Johns' opted to design the series as a rebirth to Lantern Mythos as much a of rebirth for Hal. Johns' Green Lantern epic is the only reason I'm a huge fan Green Lantern. Everything he built along with the writers and artists he collaborated with on the main Lantern book and the spin off titles that later were released are pretty much everything you would want in an epic. It has everything. Drama, violence, sci-fi, and moral philosophical clashes. The central theme of the entire run was overcoming fear, which is what Hal Jordan is all about. Which is why Hal Jordan became such a great and relatable hero in a post 9-11 world. What Johns' also ushered in was the emergence of Sinestro as a one note villain to one of the most compelling characters that you'll ever read and move him into the upper echelon of DC villains with the likes of Lex Luthor and The Joker. Johns' run is constructed similar to the Star Wars saga in sense of, if you're normal, you'd watch the OG trilogy first then the prequel last. Rebirth was Johns' New Hope, Sinestro Corps War was his Empire Strikes Back and Blackest Night was his Return of the Jedi. These three story arcs (actually events) are the highlights of the run. You have the creation of the other lantern corps, the emotional spectrum, Black Hand and Nekron becoming big name villains instead of jokes, and the fact Green Lantern now had is own family of books and carried a Summer Event crossover which was usually designated to Superman, Batman and the Justice League. After Blackest Night the book transitioned to Brightest Day which became it's own series while the Green Lantern books did their own thing and began the next trilogy of the events that which would eventually lead to the finale. In this time we saw Sinestro become a Green Lantern again and the book became an awesome dysfunctional buddy cop movie with Hal and Sinestro. Which really showed the great dynamic between these two characters and made the book even better than it already was. As the book began leading to the final two big story arcs within the family of titles Johns' took Hal and Sinestro off the board temporarily and introduce a new Muslim Lantern named Simon Baz who became just as interesting as the other earth lanterns. At the end of the day though everything Johns added change the mythos and made the character live up to the sci-fi standards a book like this should have. With the corruption of the Guardians, the different lantern corps, all the new characters that were introduced, the white lantern, and the reinvention of villains this run will be remembered as one of the greatest runs in comics. Even though the movie fell short this run is the reason why we had that movie, a video game, two animated movies and an animated series. That's all owed to Geoff Johns and the creators that helped with this epic for the last nine years. So do yourself a favor an read it!
Graphic Novel Reading Order
Green Lantern: Rebirth, No Fear, Revenge of the Green Lanterns, Wanted: Hal Jordan, Sinestro Corps War, Secret Origin, Rage of the Red Lanterns, Agent Orange, Blackest Night, Blackest Night: Green Lantern, Brightest Day, War of the Green Lanterns, Sinestro, Revenge of Black Hand, The End
Green Lantern Corps: Recharge, To be a Lantern, The Dark Side of Green, Ring Quest, Sins of the Star Sapphires, Emerald Eclipse, Blackest Night: GLC, Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns, The Weaponer, War of the Green Lanterns Aftermath, Fearsome, Alpha War, Willpower
Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors
Green Lantern New Guardians: The Ring Bearer, Beyond Hope, Love & Death
Red Lanterns: Blood and Rage, Death of the Red Lanterns, Rise of the Third Army
