REVIEW: Knight Terrors: Green Lantern #2

Hal Jordan’s stay in the Nightmare Realm continues in Knight Terrors: Green Lantern #2. Will his iron will be enough to help him escape his darkest night?

The previous issue was a walk down a nightmarish version of memory lane. Lowlights from Hal’s life include the death of his father and several failures as a Green Lantern. But he remains unbroken and starts issue #2 as defiant as ever. A key component of being a green Lantern is will power, making him a tough character to break mentally. It also makes it tough for a writer to craft a compelling story centered around a nightmare. Writer Jeremy Adams is up for the challenge creating an issue that is a wild ride of an action-horror tale akin to Evil Dead. The writing stays true to the character’s personality and includes stories form his past without altering or shoehorning them into the Knight Terrors theme. Instead, they all work together to creating a unique story in the saga.

And again, the art in this issue some of the best in the Knight Terrors series. The character designs, inking, and coloring are all top notch. They revisit many of the set-pieces used in issue #1 but they all still look amazing. And the art matches the action-horror vibe of the writing including a scene where Hal channels his inner Ash from the Evil Dead series. A Green Lantern’s powers are some of the coolest in comics and the art of this issue does that lineage justice. Hal imagines some cool constructs here and the art team clearly had a lot of fun. Eduardo Pansica, Jordi Tarragona, Julio Ferreira, and Adriano Lucas do a great job of bringing zombies, aliens, and more to life on the pages of this issue.

Also included is the second and final part of the Sinestro’s Shards of the Looking Glass nightmare side story. Sinestro is literally caught in the middle of a power struggle between the two opposing sides of his personality. The heroic Green Lantern versus the villainous Yellow Lantern. Writer Alex Segura took things to another level by having this take place in the physical with both sides not only talking to SInestro and each other but also fighting. The art from Mario Foccillo and Prasad Rad compliments this well. The dreamscape they create is trippy and Sinestro’s two sides are complete opposites but both still horrifying in their designs. But the torture is also mental and both combine to drive SInestro to his breaking point. He has to decide who and what he is and the issue sets up a potentially epic return for him in the mainline Green Lantern series.

Overall, Hal Jordan’s trip to the Nightmare Ream has been one of the most unique. He says it himself in this issue that Insomnia chose the wrong person to try and scare. He’s a Green Lantern, he’s built different. Issue #1 provided a look at some of the character’s defining moments and issue #2 cements Hal’s place as the embodiment of a Green Lantern. Insomnia reveals the nightmare’s final form and it’s a cool surprise, but how Hal handles it is even cooler. Knight Terrors: Green Lantern #2 turns out to be many things. It’s action, it’s horror, it’s funny, it’s nostalgic. It’s a 20 plus page shoutout to a DC legacy character that sometimes doesn’t get the props he deserves.

Writing – 4,5 Stars
Art – 4.5 Stars
Coloring – 4.5 Stars

Overall
4.5 Stars

Written by; Jeremy Adams and Alex Segura
Art by; Eduardo Pansica, Jordi Tarragona, Julio Ferreira and Mario “Fox” Foccillo
Colors by; Adriano Lucas and Prasad Rad
Letters by; Tom Napolitano and Dave Sharpe
Published by; DC Comics

Author Profile

Christopher R. Ford

Writer, author, and blogger. Published author of three children's books and also writes for the boy Creators For The Culture. Part-time sneaker head, full time nerd.