Review: Future State - Green Lantern #1

Following the first week of the two monthly event, which featured the most popular characters in the DC Universe with Batman, Superman, Harley and possibly the most enjoyable and anticipated book Wonder Woman, DC looks to its raft of “B” characters and this week see yet another Lantern’s without a power battery story. Were DC worried about this weeks scheduled, requiring the Dark Detective book to continue it’s “every week there’s a Bat-book’ philosophy?

The main universe Green lantern book has gone through a number of changes. We used to have Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps and of course the Green Lanterns book featuring Simon, who is even more missing than Power Girl, and arguably the breakout star of the New 52 reboot, Jessica Cruz. Since then things have gone from great, to Justice League Odyssey for Jessica as a slew of writers have taken her away from the things that made her interesting. But I am getting ahead of myself. This book features a host of Lanterns, including, at least in name, one of my favourites, G’Nort! There are three stories, each focusing on different Lantern, primarily John Stewart then solely on Jessica Cruz and Guy Gardner in their respective tales.

Geoffrey Thorne writes a John Stewart in midst of what John was used to prior to becoming a Lantern , following a retcon, a soldier. John leads a ragtag group of ex Lanterns in the defence of Croex D’Shaar from the God in Red. It may not take a rocket scientist to work out who they are going to turn out to be! The chaos of war screams during this book, which could be a common thread for a lot of these first issues of the Future State books. It’s a brave choice for sure as there is only two issues to get the story done. The second story features Jessica playing Die Hard. Written by Ryan Cady, we get a Jessica that seems to have lost her abilities gained from Justice League Odyssey and like her fellow Lanterns, is ring less. But that not going to stop her. Cady utilises elements of Jessica’s mental health in manner that is greater than lip service and well thought out. Finally, Ernie Altbacker writes an interesting take on Guy Gardner who has to acclimatize to a new world.

Three stories means three artists. First up Tom Raney delivers a more detailed look than the cartoon style of work that I would expect. There are some really good facial elements and the crowd scenes are well crafted. Sami Basri is an artist who first came to my attention in Power Girl (two mentions in a review, that’s two more mention she gets from DC….), after Amanda Conner left. Basri’s work is again different from what I expected, with a style that is quite mainstream and looks to take on Raney influences. Clayton Henry provides the pencils generating a style that epitomizes the idea of off-worldly. All three colorists Mike Atiyen, Hi-Fi and Marcelo Maiolo do a great job. Atiyen’s style feels darker, maybe more old school in its depth. Hi-Fi’s is probably the most standard of the three meeting the needs and expectations of the current marketplace. Maiolo’s is a more subtle, almost painted scheme which helps the off-world elements that permeates the whole story. Letters are supplied by AndWorld Design, Dave Sharpe and Steve Wands all work their socks off; AndWorld has a lot of verbiage to contend with, Sharpe gets to play with different coloured word balloons and Wands adda an alien language and a slight nuance to boot.

For a bunch of characters that tend to get the rough end of the stick, unless they are in the main Justice League book, this book does a great job in establishing them in the future of the larger universe and goes someway to prove that these characters, yes even Guy, are heroes even without their rings.

Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars

Overall – 4 Stars

Written by; Geoffrey Thorne, Ryan Cady and Ernie Altbacker
Art by; Tom Raney, Sami Basri and Clayton Henry
Colors by; Mike Atiyen, Hi-Fi Colors and Marcelo Maiolo
Letters by; AndWorld Design, Dave Sharpe and Steve Wands
Published by; DC Comics

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network