Nowadays, I read Grant Morrison's books because I have to, not because I want to. He does interesting things, dredging up old characters and invoking the off-kilter world-building of the Silver Age, hashing things around on the surface so it looks like he is doing something deep and different. But even with a swerve into police brutality for spice (umm . . . ), there's not much even Morrison can do to make Hal Jordan anything but the decades-long train-wreck of a character that he is.

Well, okay, the vampire planet sequence was close to cool, especially with its brief and tiny tribute to vampires of notoriety.

And I have the next volume on hand, so let's get on with our chores . . . ( )

So, another Green Lantern restart, and it's still focused on Hal (this particular Lantern title at least).

This had some good parts and some bad parts. On the whole I liked that it wasn't all the Source Wall and end of the universe stuff. On the other hand, there were so many different aliens and they all seemed to be 'bad guys', and so that made a lot of the story a bit confusing.

It does look from the ending that Hal might be getting a more individual journey, and I have liked some of the other stuff Morrison has done, so maybe I'll like where this goes.

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

Green Lantern: Volume 1: Intergalactic Lawman
Author: Grant Morrison (Author), Liam Sharp (Illustrator)
Publisher: DC Comics
Publishing Date: 2019
Pgs: 176
Disposition: Hoopla e-book
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REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Summary:
A conspiracy is afoot. The Corps is under attack. A traitor is in the ranks. The Controllers are making moves. A new faction is emerging among the Darkstars. And Earth may be on the auction block and that guy bidding may look like the artistic representations of the God of Moses, but...I’m pretty sure xe didn’t have tentacles. Hal is off the reservation. He’s on his own. This is either the return of Parallax or something else is lurking. Oan Internal Affairs is watching.
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Genre:
Mystery
Science Fiction
DC Comics
Graphic Novels
Superhero
Space Opera
Law Enforcement

Why this book:
Love GL and Morrison. Had to give this a look.
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The Feel:
The visuals are incredible. The art is very well done.

Favorite Character:
Erupting volcano head GL, Volk, is freaking awesome.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:
Hal is OOC all over this. The aimless out of uniform guy, the capital punishment guy. In our current environment having him gun the Dhorian like that is horrifying.

Favorite Scene / Quote/Concept:
The visceral reaction conversation with Hal and the Spider Guild heir is great. Especially when the “bad cop” steps in.

Wow! The is a helluva rogues gallery that that showed up for the Dhorian auction. That’s a big slice of DC history. Awesome. (https://sites.google.com/a/deepspacetransmissions.com/site/annotations/the-green-lantern/the-green-lantern-3-annotations) Has annotations of the issue with a complete-ish list of all those bidders in attendance. It’s an impressive list.

Hal taking down a Terravore masquerading as a God. I’ve missed Morrison being Morisson.

Hmm Moments:
So the Darkstars are all bad again. Though if the Controllers are back and evolving, then that makes sense.

Love the call back to Starbreaker. So, he wasn’t just a cosmic vampire.

WTF Moments:
Damn...the Anti-Matter Lantern...woof...that is horrible. Was beginning to consider this standard superhero fare, until Morrison and Sharp kicked my tender bits across the room right there.

So...is Hal the renegade? We’ve barely got the space cop premise rolling and this is where the story is going.

Meh / PFFT Moments:
Evil Star is loose. Hopefully Morrison will rehab him into a mainline villain who… … ...nevermind. ...though that probably didn’t kill him. Grist for the mill, goodbye Evil Star. Classic villain, lame-o, no new beginning for you until the next reboot. Or another rehabilitation. Maybe it’ll grow back.

And the people of Earth acting like the head in the sand ostriches that they are.

The Sigh:
I don’t like out of the Air Force Hal. Hal as a drifter is one thing. Hal as a dick without a job is another. I miss the guy who became Ollie and Barry’s best friend.

Wisdom:
Man...I know members of the Corps are going to die in this one, but man...not that one...or that one...or that one. I know. I know. Shut up and read.

Juxtaposition:
Duality. As great as the art is, the parts on Ventura the Casino Planet are too busy. Though, I guess, that is a good representation of the sensory overload that most casinos try and throw at you.

The Unexpected:
A Xax of Xaos appearance. Nice.

The sentient snot GL, a living cold virus. Woof. Gross, but cool.

Missed Opportunity:
Seems to set aside the lawman aspect pretty quickly.
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Last Page Sound:
Myrwhyden...beware Myrwhyden.

Good story.

Questions I’m Left With:
Mass population transformations, trans dimensional, trans galactic incursions, planetary theft...can you imagine the PTSD on DC Earth?

We still don’t know who is slipping their own writing into the Book of Oa.

Conclusions I’ve Drawn:
Jordan OOC in his everyday life on Earth. But good soldier, good cop in his life as a GL. Is Hal the only GL who tries to lead a double life at home on his planet. Or is he the only one who is so focused on his homeworld. Seems like a space sector would be an awful lot of territory to be responsible for. But with the idea that sectors have multiple GLs, I guess it would free them up to have more patrols and more of a presence throughout their sectors. Though, it does seem wrong that all the GLs in Sector 2814 are humans from Earth.
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