Green Lantern #30

Josh was right when he said it’s about time that Hal got some character, how #29 made him feel a lot more human. Sinestro Corps was awesome, but it was very plot-centric, and it was a good move to follow it with a character-centric arc. There’s a really great moment (amongst many) in this issue that I want to focus on: The 6 panel page where Hal climbs into the wreck of his dad’s plane and says “Dammit, Dad.”

    Ivan Reis gets better with every issue. The emotion on this page is tangible. The panel of Hal’s face staring at the wreck is really powerful in contrast to the tough-as-nails Hal we’ve see in the book so far. The way he grips onto the plane like he’s trying to touch his Dad is super heartbreaking. Rob Leigh’s lettering in the 1 word balloon deserves attention- the words are a little too small for the balloon, you really feel like it’s being said under the breath.

It peeled back some layers in Hal’s character. The situation set up in previous issues is this: Hal sided with no-fear Dad, his brother sided with super-afraid Mom. Every Jordan family discussion we’ve seen so far has Hal defending and idolizing Dad and criticizing Mom. The “Dammit, Dad” page really resonated with me because, I don’t know about you, but whenever I get super-partisan about something, whenever I dig my heels into the extreme side of a debate, there’s always a little part of me that wonders if I’m wrong, that concedes that the other side has some good points. I never admit it out loud, but the thought is there, and part of me fights so hard in order to convince myself I’m right.

            This gave me a Geoff Johns revelation. I was getting wary of what I saw as his 1-trait-per-character approach (more true of minor characters- John Stewart thinks of everything architecturally, Zoom wants to give heroes tragedy),  worried that it led to 1- dimensional characters. This page made me realize that that 1 trait is not the entirety of the character; it’s a seed for future development. There are a lot of layers to exploit in even 1 trait. It can be deepened, expanded, subverted (like Hal’s ‘no-fear’ was on this page), taken in unexpected directions. Amongst all media and genres, this is unique to superhero comics. The longevity of characters and the diversity of creators working on them means that any character has near infinite potential. The trick is to find the potential that works, that resonates. That’s Johns’ great skill. Labor said on the forum (I think it was about Abin Sur coming to Earth to investigate the Blackest Night) how Johns has these great ideas that feel like they’ve always been there. That hits the nail on the head. He synthesizes concepts seamlessly, finds things about a character that fit with the past (which is not nostalgia, it’s utilizing all the cool stuff that’s been built up) and at the same time pushes forward to the future.

            And- However you can, GL fans really need to track down the story where the wrecked plane first shows up: “Flight,” by Johns and Darwyn Cooke. It was originally printed in ‘GL Secret Files and Origins 2005’ and reprinted in ‘The Greatest GL Stories Ever Told’. It truly is one of the greatest GL stories ever told, and one of Johns’ best stories.

And- The Johns/Reis run works really well with the Who Live at Leeds. Keith Moon live is perfect for Hal’s no-fear, no-planning style.