The Green Lantern #4 Takes You Undercover And On The Trail Of The Blackstars

The Green Lantern #4 by Grant Morrison, Liam Sharp and Steve Oliff is a tale told from the perspective of a lone gunman and man-with-no-name who, I am sure, we all recognise immediately. The masked figure he is sharing his story of devastating Sun-Eaters with he hopes will lead him to a meeting with the Blackstars. It’s Morrison’s take on undercover police work, and it would seem that in each issue so far he has steadfastly stuck to his claim that this title is more about the police work of the Green Lanterns, collectively. Each issue giving us another aspect of that work.

But, as mentioned in my review of issue #3, it still makes for an interesting read because of the sci-fi element you simply cannot ignore when dealing with Green Lantern. And, once again, the science fiction is ramped up to eleven by Sharp.

Sharp is a consummate master of the arts. While some peak early, not many get a second chance at bat if, like Sharp, you move away from the regular comic book work. But, for comic book fans old and new, Sharp is in his ‘Babe Ruth’ phase of his career, if you excuse the extension for an already over-familiar metaphor. He’s knocking ’em out of the park with each issue, and not many can touch him at this moment.

Only a master artist can infuse so many influences – anything from Al Williamson to Roger Dean – and disperse them into his work to evoke a golden era of science fiction illustrators without loosing his own strong, familiar style as a result. He is not aping any one artist, but rather paying homage to their own mastery of the medium to create a labour-intensive comic, but one that stands head and shoulders above many of the other comics out there today. And that’s saying something in this era of comics. Not that it’s a competition, but I compare his work on The Green Lantern with his work on The Brave and The Bold, with it’s shades of Thin Lizzy LP cover artist, Jim FitzPatrick and Arthur Rackham. You can see how he allows the genre to flow through his pens and inks and channel the best of fantasy art.

Morrison’s script is also influenced by the greats that came before and those weird and wonderful tales of the Green Lantern Corps as penned by Alan Moore. The Corps will be richer again in characters after this stellar run, with Volk as one of my forerunners for ample use by other creators in years to come. He’s back this issue, along with some other increasingly familiar Lanterns. After all, a good cop drama needs a good bunch of supporting characters, which Morrison delivers in spades. Even the big-bad of this issue is given something of a fun, knowing name as Morrison and Sharp share their joy of producing this monthly with us. I’ve already converted one friend to the GL cause, can I convert any others out there too?

The Green Lantern #4 is out now from DC Comics, of course.