Review – Green Lanterns #1 (DC Comics)

Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Sam Humphries
Art: Robson Rocha, Jay Leisten
Release Date: 15th June 2016

Whisper it, but DC are going through something of a Rebirth, and you know what? It’s going okay. All the big guns appear to be firing on all cylinders, and getting everyone all excited and in a tizzy.

In the Green Lanterns Rebirth issue, we were reintroduced to Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz, the two newest GL’s from earth. Jessica and Baz are “summoned” by Hal Jordan to a training exercise where he is sorely disappointed by their inability to work together. Baz blames Jessica and an argument erupts. Hal makes them to summon their power batteries, which he then forges into one single battery, and thus Hal has created the Green Lantern Buddy Cop team of Earth.

So, this issue takes up where Rebirth left off. Jessica and Baz get a call from their rings and go to deal with an alien incursion, and it’s all about the Rage. No spoiler there, the issue is called Rage Planet part 1, it’s right there about page 4. What is immediately apparent is that Jessica and Baz don’t get on terribly well. They’re chalk and cheese, Jessica is freshly out of her room for the first time in 4 years, introverted and thoughtful while Simon is brash, loud overconfident, and disdainful of Jessica’s ability. Both are insecure. What do you expect though? This is a Buddy Cop story after all.

Back to the story, which isn’t a bad set up for what’s to come, it gives some background to our protagonists, with their families and just a little bit of their motivations. It also offers up Atrocitus and Bleez as their ultimate antagonists. Again, no spoilers, they’re on the front cover.

Sam Humphries has been writing very good comics for quite some time now, with Avengers A.I. being a particularly fine example of his work. Although his storytelling here is strong, and he builds the narrative well, I just found the interplay between Jessica and Simon a little too “on the nose” at times, leaving me a smidge disappointed. But what do you expect though? This is a Buddy Cop story after all.

Robson Rocha’s pencils are spot on, as usual. It’s very difficult to fault his work. It’s very, very good. Jay Leisten’s ink work and Blond’s colouring are definitely worth a mention, without them the fine work that Rocha does would be diminished. After all, how do you do the “Green” Lantern’s without colour, and without all that black, how would those Greens pop off of the page?

Overall, this is a solid first issue. It’s generally well written and certainly well-presented artistically. Sure, it’s let down a little by the slightly one-dimensional relationship between Jessica and Simon, but this is only the first issue, (the second if you count Rebirth) so there should be plenty of time and scope for Sam Humphries to bring more depth to their relationship. However, if not done quickly enough, this could rapidly descend into the unremarkable pit of Buddy Cop despair.

Rating: 4/5.

PREVIEW ARTWORK
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