3 out of 5

Along with a dedication to Spidey, I treasured my scattered Green Lantern (I think it’s vol. 3) run, maybe just because I had a #1 issue, but I also recall feeling like there was something grown up about the storyline.  And there was: this was on the heels of the lauded “Emerald Dawn” mini, which was like a Year One for Green Lantern, and definitely humanized good ol’ Hal Jordan.  So the beginnings of vol.3 (Dawn also being co-written by Gerard) followed the theme of a “Down to Earth” Green Lantern – this being the name of the first issue’s story – but as this was no longer an intro to a character, we hop to the opposite end of the spectrum.  Something big went down at the end of vol. 2, I guess, and the Guardians have taken off to mate and get in touch with their Guardian roots, yup, why not, and now Hal is one of only three remaining GL’s, and he’s determined to not let the ring run his life.  Thus our first few issues are of a man ramblin’ from town to town, just trying to find work that he can do without any mystical powers.  But damn that Guy Gardner, who can’t stand honest Hal, and keeps stirring up trouble…!

Anyhow, now that I’m not 1.5 years old, I think the concept is good, and I see why it felt different for the 90s, because it’s not Batman or Superman beating up crooks while wearing tights, but rather Hal’s internal “how do I deal with my life” monologue for 20 something pages, pretty unflashy for comics of that time.  BUT, well, the writing is pretty weak.  Gerard likes incorporating literature and music and sociological ponderings into his writing, but it works best when – in the case of Emerald Dawn – he has someone plotting, so he can just focus on his dialogue, which finds a nice balance between comic-informing exposition (“Hey, remember when I said (something I said last issue)”) and realism – or, for the Mosaic series that spun out of this, when the premise is based on his concepts and he’s not trying to dabble in the hero world, because the clash of thinkin’ Hal and hero Hal – who must inevitably appear each issue – is pretty clunky, and in turn highlights how cheesy some of this ‘what a man’s gotta’ do’ blabbin’ can be.  It doesn’t help that the series soon got away from this concept and back to space wars by about issue 20, because once the Star Sapphire and galactic stuff gets roped in, who cares who the writer is, it’s all crossovers and opera action – works if you’re into that stuff, but if you were looking for more substance, it ain’t there.

Sounds pretty bad then, yeah?  Well, I dunno.  I’m fondly rating the first third of Gerard’s run because it still sticks out as an attempt to break a mold for a character, and while I’m sure it was done before, this was my first time reading a “superhero ditches the costume for a roadtrip” story, and anyone I read after this feels like a rehash.  I can also feel a sort of fanboy glee in Jones’ writing, bringing in random characters from GL’s past for one issue, not really plot-centric appearances.  I guess comics are riddled with this stuff, but not really – the book still has a sort of silly, who-the-hell-is-around-the-corner feel to it.  And many of the plotting failures feel due to the common problem of the time – crossovers.  Gerard gets some steam going in mini-arcs before having to pull a tie-in issue or mention some larger battle going on in JLA.  PLUS, although it ends as a dud, the Guy and His Gnort storyline (again, from the first 20 issues) is 3 out of 4 issues of great stuff.

Lastly, I should note that I’ve now read issues 1-25, but my collection is spotty after that.  And the spots I have are the bleak sappy stuff.  So maybe it’s awesome in-between, but I can’t tell.  La dee da.