Hal is back on Earth, jobless and a tad despondent with his place in the world. Meanwhile, a galaxy away, there is the beginning of a nefarious plot to seize an ultimate power.
Grant Morrison is renowned for his ability to look at the long history of a character, weld pieces of the tapestry of their history together to give the reader an all-encompassing whole, perhaps explaining some of the continuity glitches and misfires that 59 years of stories will generate. For many, Morrison is Marmite; you either love him or hate him. Regardless of the divisiveness, you have to give him credit for taking on the big jobs. His work on X-Men and Batman, to name a couple started out stellar, before seemingly falling at the last hurdle. Now with Hal, Morrison has used the tropes we have seen before as a starting point, Whilst that is all well and good, for a series that promises so much, I expected more than the usual down on his luck Hal. The difference between Hal the hero and Hal the human have been well catalogued. The villains of the piece are OK, even if their plan is a little old school.
Old school is definitely how I would describe Liam Sharps art. Sharp made a welcome comics return when Wonder Woman went through her Rebirth. From there he went with a Batman and Wonder Woman Brave and the Bold series that he also wrote. His art has a classic style that, especially here, reminds me of a Boys Own Adventure, seemingly very British as if he has taken some inspiration from the very old Eagle series and Dan Dare. I don’t mind that vibe at all, though it seems at times as if all the quality work is focused on the big panels. Indeed, looking at Hal’s fight scene, the lack of strong inks diminishes the flow of the action. In addition, there is a visual difference between the two Hal’s; human Hal is normal sized with hero Hal’s shoulders seemingly at least three times bigger than his waist. This style of heroic pose kind of reared its head in the Brave and the Bold book with Batman and it is not a look that I like. Steve Oliff provides the colors for the book, with great effects on certain panels and less on others. Inconsistency is a word that could never be used to describe letterer Tom Orzechowski work. With the dialogue heavy laden parts of this book, Orzechowski demonstrates why he is such a quality artist, who has been on the top of his game for so long.
This book is meant to be the next big Lantern book. At this stage, I am not sue if there was a need. With the final story of Green Lanterns and inclusion of the Corps, it feels that DC kind of got bored with Simon and Jessica, which is a shame as at least these two had differences far from the hero stereotype. This book is difficult to score as Morrison writes for the long game, meaning that down the line, this book may turn into something fantastic. However, as it stands, this issue gives me so much that I have seen before at the expense of a Lantern book that was trying to be so different.
Writing – 3 Stars
Art – 3-5 Stars
Colors – 3 Stars
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Written by: Grant Morrsion
Art by; Liam Sharp
Colors by; Steve Orliff
Letters by; Tom Orzechowski
Published by; DC Comics
Author Profile
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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
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