Red Dead Pirates Now — Reviewing ‘Green Lantern Corps’ #2

The universe is in chaos. So are the various spectra of emotional light harnessed by those usually called Lanterns. With the Green Lantern Corps back up and running, the timing couldn’t be any better.

A Thanagarian plea for assistance leads to something far more pressing and sinister. Familiar threats arise as Morgan Hampton, Jeremy Adams, Fernando, Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Arif Prianto and Dave Sharpe heed the galactic call.

‘Short issue’ or one-off adventures are always nice to see. It’s far too easy to just choose to tell a long-form story every issue. ‘Easy’ is a loosely used term here, because nothing about comic book creating (or creation in general) is easy. Basically, what I mean is that longer form, multi-issue arc style storytelling tends to be more the speed these days.

I mention this because I appreciate how Hampton and Adams are approaching things here. Having a Corps so vast, with so many Earth based familiar to choose from, means being able to really spread out focus. While the overall issues are still at hand (the aforementioned emotional light spectrum issues), letting the issues handle mostly different things in shorter bursts is solid.

We get very few Lanterns here, which is for the best.

It lets our writing duo focus more on the three they have chosen, plus Hawkwoman, to great effect. The former Red Lanterns showing up is done very well. In this issue I learned everything I needed to know about the fallen rage lanterns and the fate of Thanagar without an exposition dump. It’s just natural expositional recapping that doesn’t slow the flow or tone of the issue.

Smaller focus also means an easier time artistically for Pasarin. Again, the ‘easier’ in that sentence doing some heavy lifting. Basically, he doesn’t have to draw a billion characters in this one, which I’m sure was quite a breath of relief when the script was first opened.

Every space feels large, detailed, weighty, and alive in the panels. Characters have great emotional range (necessary for Lanterns after all) and presence on the page. Albert’s inks bring all of that out even more, really allowing it all to sink in and have the power it should.

Things felt a bit less rigid or stiff this time, which was a good sign. That could be the familiarity growing with working in this space and with these characters. Fewer characters and spaces might have helped with that too.

I love seeing the range that Prianto’s colors have. They shift to best fit whatever artist’s work he happens to be working with. There is a lightness here that befits the characters and their space, not to mention their whole light aesthetic. Plenty of darker tones are present, through shadows, to give things a firmer hand. There are plenty of flashy vibrant colors that really liven up the story and give it that sci-fi adventure energy.

Sharpe gives each of the letters upon the page their energy, making sure that the characters present have their own unique sounds and idiosyncrasies. This shifts things through subtle and less subtle modifications to the letters or their presentation spaces.

Green Lantern Corps #2 is now available from DC Comics.