TITLE: Green Lantern: Earth One – Volume One TPB
YEAR: March 2018
COMPANY: DC Comics
Writer: Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman
Art by Gabriel Hardman
Colors by Jordan Boyd
Letterer: Simon Bowland
After twenty years of not reading comic books, one of the first modern stories I have read are the Earth One stories, specifically “Superman: Earth One”.
For those not familiar with the “Earth One” titles, it’s an ongoing series of graphic novels which retells the adventures of popular DC characters in a modern setting. No connection with the current DC Universe, so there are no constraints. And each volume appears to be released every 2-3 years.
And for “Green Lantern: Earth One”, writing this story is Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, both are known for co-writing Image Comics’ “Invisible Republic”.
The married couple have created wonderful works together and it continues with “Green Lantern: Earth One”.
In this story, Hal Jordan is just a pilot for Ferris Galactic whose jobs are prospecting asteroids for mineral resources.
One day, he and his colleague Volkov discover the crashed remains of Green Lantern Abin Sur’s ship. Inside, they find a decomposed boy of Abin Sur with a green ring on his finger and a a dead Manhunter. Also, inside is a green lantern.
They take the ring and the lantern and as they are leaving to join their fellow co-workers, Volkov wears the ring and puts it near the lantern which creates an energy surge. As a hole is blasted, Hal tries to help his colleague by grabbing onto his hand but Volkov is sucked out into space and Hal ends up pulling the ring off his hand.
Their space ship ends up blowing up but Hal Jordan is saved by the ring. But the captain of the Ferris Galactic ship does not want to risk her crew with radiation emanating from Hal and won’t let him go aboard their ship.
But as Hal is still alive with a green aura around him, he is attacked by the Manhunter who was thought to be dead.
Hal manages to destroy it with all the energy from the ring but the explosion knocks him unconscious.
When he wakes up, he is found to be revived and awakens in another planet with help by another Green Lantern named Kilowog EV.
Since Hal is new and not familiar with his power, Kilowog tries to help but unfortuantely, what help he can give him such as recharging his ring is limited as the lantern he has does not have enough power to give a full charge.
Meanwhile, Kilowog gives him a lesson about who the Manhunters are, how they wiped out the Green Lantern Corps and how the rings were scattered all around the galaxy.
As Kilowog takes Hal for training with his new ring, unfortunately for the two to use their powers, it sets up an army of Manhunters to head to Kilowog’s planet.
Can Hal and Kilowog find a way to stop this army and is there a way to power up their rings?
This first TPB of “Green Lantern: Earth One” is a fascinating story that I actually enjoyed a lot. This is not a Hal Jordan with an ego, he’s just a normal guy who worked as a pilot that discovers new power that he has no control over.
It’s the mission that he and Kilowog must go through to uncover what happen to other Green Lanterns, if there are any alive and hopefully they will join him in the fight against the Manhunters who have attacked Kilowog’s planet.
I like Gabriel Hardman’s artwork and how it gives the characters and settings an edgy, darker feel.
But it’s also an interesting portrayal of OA and Ganthet and it’s a much darker portrayal, which I will leave it at that. Because I don’t want to spoil the storyline at all.
If anything, I liked what Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Hardman were able to do with “Green Lantern: Earth One” and personally, if a new live-action movie was to be made, because one has already been done, this would make a great alternative if the character would need to be brought into the Justice League movie universe.
Overall, a solid storyline and can’t wait for vol. two!