The best GL story. So much better than unintentionally silly Hal Jordan too. ( )

I am a relative new comer to the realm of comics. I really only started reading them in the last 10 years. So I am not the hard-core font of knowledge about characters, worlds and past story arcs like my husband is. He's been collecting comics for almost 40 years. I do know what I like though...but in story line and artwork. I am usually not a big fan of sweeping re-boots and new origin stories. But I'm always willing to keep an open mind. And I think that is a point where I am maybe more forgiving of new reboot story arcs than my husband is most of the time. I am willing to read first, judge after.

Green Lantern: Earth One Volume 1 is a re-boot of the Hal Jordan origin story. When I first read the blurb for this new release, my immediate response was an eye-roll and a "Another fricking origin re-boot'' huffy under-my-breath snark moment. But....then I took a deep breath, and let my gray matter catch up with my knee-jerk decision.....wait a minute....maybe Hal Jordan needs a re-boot. He's a bit of a douche, and let's be frank.....the Green Lantern storyline could use a refreshing. Then the kicker: IF IT'S DONE RIGHT.

And you can't decide if it's done right if you don't soak in the art and the plot from start to finish.

So I sat down with my handy-dandy advanced readers copy of this book.....and really kept my mind clear of pre-conceived notions and here-we-go-again-prepare-to-be-underwhelmed auto-response.

And....you know what?

I like this reboot! With a couple minor concerns, I really enjoyed this book. I recant my eyerolls and snarky remarks.

Things I like:

Hal Jordan is decidedly less douche-y. In this re-boot, he isn't superior, and the ring didn't choose him. He found it...pure and simple. No reason to grow an oversized, cocky ego. He found it, and didn't even know what to do with the ring. Puts him on a totally different playing field....and I like how the story, and Jordan, develops in this reboot.

I love the artwork! Lots of action. Lots of Kabooms and Kapows with classic comic book flare. Alien worlds. Alien species. But, also some classic manhunter action, and classic GL style artwork. Much of the action is in space and on alien planets, so the art does have a tendency to be dark, but let's be real here -- space is dark, the story line is dark -- dark is kinda a necessity here. All in all, nicely done! The front cover art is awesome!

I like this story as an introduction to a new Green Lantern story arc. It flows well and introduces the new info, rebooted Jordan and new characters quite well. I did not roll my eyes and exclaim negatively about much of anything while reading this. And that doesn't usually happen when I'm reading an origin reboot. The authors did it right. Kudos!

What I didn't like:

The ring does not choose the wearer. Jordan finds the ring and puts it on. End of effort. This means ANYONE can find and wield a GL ring -- even evil people. While that is an interesting way to bring about some action-packed story lines in the future.....it's a change I'm not sure I'm comfortable with. There are several really evil entities in the GL universe that I would not like to see wielding a ring. *Shivers*

Manhunters. Or just large, pissed off robots in general. While they are formidable opponents and I enjoyed the action scenes in this book......this concept has been done to death. Trope, trope, trope through the alien tulips. Oh no! Large robots coming to attack the GLs. How did I not see that coming? Irk. Harumph. Meh. In a new origin story I was hoping just a little bit.....well, more than a little bit....that it wouldn't be just another big battle with Manhunters. They are intrinsic to the story....but I wanted something new. New origin.....new action, right? Nope. Same action. But....while I did find it a familiar plot....it was enjoyable and had some great fights. I guess this point shouldn't be labeled that I "didn't like'' it....more like I felt mild disappointment.

All in all, I was impressed and surprised by this origin reboot. As usual, this reboot is aimed at bringing in new readers. I hope many read this and enjoy the story and art like I did, and take a fresh look at Green Lantern. I'm going to let my husband read this ARC next and see what he thinks. Oftentimes as a more classic fan of comics, his opinions are sometimes harsher than mine. But this reboot keeps the feel of the original quite well.....I think he might also like this one.

A thumbs up from me!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from DC Comics via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** ( )

I’m in the middle of the line with both the art and the story with this one.

Starting with the art; there are some amazing scenes. The alien worlds, the characters, and especially the battle scenes are awesome. BUT, why use such dark shading? When doing so many scenes in space, where most of the background is BLACK anyway, it’s already dark, dark. Then Hardman added super heavy shading to the character’s faces. I get it, I really do; no light, nothing to illuminate the faces, but I. Can’t. See.

Thaal Sinestro and Arisia make appearances in the comic, but Hal Jordan (of course) and Kilowog and the main protagonists in this volume.

Hal is a little more down to earth in this version. More reserved and less arrogant, maybe? I’m not quite sure if I like him yet or not. Each hero has to have a bit of a quirk to them and so far this Hal is a bit bland- too much goody, goody and not enough faults to make he seem like a believable character.

The re-boot story isn’t THAT bad, but it isn’t something I would have picked. Think of Ultron in space, and there you have the Manhunter robots seeking to purge the universe of Lanterns. The rest of the story is basic first volume set up- explaining the Green Lanterns and bringing them together once again.

It’s not bad for the first volume, but there’s nothing amazing here either. I’ll probably pick up the next one to see where it goes. ( )

So, it's time for Hal Jordan to get his turn getting the Earth One treatment.

It was a different sort of story about Hal, but not so different enough that it was off putting. Hal's an asteroid miner. But, then he finds an alien ship on one of the asteroids and the Green Lantern ring as well, and gets thrust into a war between the Manhunters (from the regular universe guys, although a bit robot-ier I think) and Green Lanterns who are scattered about the Universe and don't really know who they are. Also, he sorta restarts the Green Lantern Corps.

He also meets Kilowog who is a different sort, and that was cool seeing him in a different light. And I can never get enough Kilowog. I just wish that there had been a little John Stewart in this, or Jessica Cruz or Simon Baz. Hal Jordan these days is kinda the boring Green Lantern to me...

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to DC Entertainment. ( )