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Green Lantern
The Green Lantern Omnibus, Vol. 2
As Green Lantern Hal Jordan becomes a true master of his power ring, his adventures grow in scale and action. Green Lantern faces off against some of his most classic and deadliest foes, including Sinestro, Star Sapphire, Sonar, The Shark and The Tattooed Man.
624 pages, Hardcover
First published November 29, 2011
54 people want to read
About the author
John Broome
432 books14 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bro...
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bro...
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 11, 2019
This is a good time to be alive.
Yes, thanks to our racist shithead president, the United States is a pathetic joke, but given that this country was built on slavery, misogyny and genocide, it would be disingenuous to not acknowledge that we have made progress. Yes, privileged cis white males still whine when they are not given everything they want, but voices have been raised and heard and there is no quieting them. A transgender person is able to raise their voice and tell their story. An African-American man is able to teach us how to be anti-racist (because being passively "not racist" isn't enough.) A woman is able to channel her righteous rage into a feminist manifesto. By no means do we live in the world that we should be living in, but we are better off than when the country started and better off from even fifty years ago. Donald Trump and his despicable, hypocritical supporters are merely the dying cry of the entitled cis white male as he goes the way of the dinosaur.
What does this have to do with Green Lantern? Before I read Geoff Johns' run on the book, I was vocal about not liking the alter-ego of the title character, Hal Jordan. To me, Jordan is Brett Kavanaugh with a power ring, an embodiment of toxic white masculinity who happened to also have one of the most powerful weapons in the universe. This is likely why I appreciated the Green Lantern Kyle Rayner most. He was flawed. He had doubts that he could actually do the job of being the Green Lantern and yet he persevered. He had an artist's soul and was complex, unlike Jordan's "everyman" or more to the point what society portrayed that every man should want to be. Even the character of Guy Gardner was an upgrade over Jordan because Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis were aware enough to poke fun at Gardner's overt toxic masculinity in the pages of Justice League. Jordan's toxic masculinity simmers below the surface here and is subtle, presenting Jordan as some sort of model for how heroic men should be. Take the cover story of this volume. In every appearance of the Star Sapphire from the previous volume and this one features the Star Sapphire with one single-minded purpose--to marry the Green Lantern (because that's what the ladies want, right? To abandon their own identities in deference to a man?) This premise becomes so ridiculous that in one of the Star Sapphire stories another woman assumes Carol Ferris' identity and cons the Green Lantern into marrying her. When the ruse is exposed, what is her reasoning for the deception? Because just seeing the Green Lantern set her loins ablaze and she simply had marry him. It's garbage.
Later writers, including Johns, were able to modernize the Hal/Green Lantern/Carol/Star Sapphire relationship but these origins are fairly disturbing to me. Like with most of these older comic stories a convenient excuse is that times were different and we shouldn't hold the creators of that time to the mores of contemporary society, but I don't buy that, and if I am unwilling to give Will Eisner a pass, Gardner Fox and John Broome won't get one either. I recently saw a short documentary on Turner Classic Movies about the use of blackface in films. While most people would find blackface repugnant, the interviewees of the documentary (most of whom were African-American) indicated that we shouldn't try to whitewash the history of film just because there are elements of that history that make us uncomfortable. In fact, even with those elements, some of those films are still worth watching. I feel much the same about these early Silver Age Green Lantern stories. Yes, there is toxic masculinity, but there are also elements that would be important later not just for Green Lantern, but DC Comics in total. This volume contains the story "Secret Origins of the Guardians!" which would be one of the foundational elements of Marv Wolfman's Crisis on Infinite Earths as well as other stories, as it introduces not only the rogue Guardian Krona, but has elements that Wolfman used to explain the creation of the DC Multiverse. In addition, this volume contains the first appearance of the Black Hand, who ends up being a major player in Blackest Night and also features art from the late Gil Kane, who has always been one of my favorites and who I feel has always been tragically ignored as one of the giants of the Silver Age of comics alongside Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko among others. However, this volume is also remarkable in the fact that Sinestro doesn't make one appearance, which I found shocking given that he is the Moriarty to Jordan's Holmes. But since the majority of the stories in this volume were penned by Gardner Fox rather than Sinestro's creator John Broome could explain it.
If anything comes of my reading The Green Lantern Omnibus, Vol. 2 it's that I now know where my dislike of the Jordan character came from. Guys like Jordan who exist in real life tend to piss me off and are not nearly as heroic as Broome and later Fox would try to portray him. Johns, early in his Green Lantern run insinuates that perhaps Jordan's motivation for being a Green Lantern is because he wants the glory. Of course, the truth is a bit more complicated than that, but nothing in these early stories indicates that Jordan is the Green Lantern for any other reason than that Abin Sur identified Jordan as someone who could overcome his fear. There's nothing altruistic about that at its core and Jordan is such a cookie cutter "real man" that it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Yes, thanks to our racist shithead president, the United States is a pathetic joke, but given that this country was built on slavery, misogyny and genocide, it would be disingenuous to not acknowledge that we have made progress. Yes, privileged cis white males still whine when they are not given everything they want, but voices have been raised and heard and there is no quieting them. A transgender person is able to raise their voice and tell their story. An African-American man is able to teach us how to be anti-racist (because being passively "not racist" isn't enough.) A woman is able to channel her righteous rage into a feminist manifesto. By no means do we live in the world that we should be living in, but we are better off than when the country started and better off from even fifty years ago. Donald Trump and his despicable, hypocritical supporters are merely the dying cry of the entitled cis white male as he goes the way of the dinosaur.
What does this have to do with Green Lantern? Before I read Geoff Johns' run on the book, I was vocal about not liking the alter-ego of the title character, Hal Jordan. To me, Jordan is Brett Kavanaugh with a power ring, an embodiment of toxic white masculinity who happened to also have one of the most powerful weapons in the universe. This is likely why I appreciated the Green Lantern Kyle Rayner most. He was flawed. He had doubts that he could actually do the job of being the Green Lantern and yet he persevered. He had an artist's soul and was complex, unlike Jordan's "everyman" or more to the point what society portrayed that every man should want to be. Even the character of Guy Gardner was an upgrade over Jordan because Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis were aware enough to poke fun at Gardner's overt toxic masculinity in the pages of Justice League. Jordan's toxic masculinity simmers below the surface here and is subtle, presenting Jordan as some sort of model for how heroic men should be. Take the cover story of this volume. In every appearance of the Star Sapphire from the previous volume and this one features the Star Sapphire with one single-minded purpose--to marry the Green Lantern (because that's what the ladies want, right? To abandon their own identities in deference to a man?) This premise becomes so ridiculous that in one of the Star Sapphire stories another woman assumes Carol Ferris' identity and cons the Green Lantern into marrying her. When the ruse is exposed, what is her reasoning for the deception? Because just seeing the Green Lantern set her loins ablaze and she simply had marry him. It's garbage.
Later writers, including Johns, were able to modernize the Hal/Green Lantern/Carol/Star Sapphire relationship but these origins are fairly disturbing to me. Like with most of these older comic stories a convenient excuse is that times were different and we shouldn't hold the creators of that time to the mores of contemporary society, but I don't buy that, and if I am unwilling to give Will Eisner a pass, Gardner Fox and John Broome won't get one either. I recently saw a short documentary on Turner Classic Movies about the use of blackface in films. While most people would find blackface repugnant, the interviewees of the documentary (most of whom were African-American) indicated that we shouldn't try to whitewash the history of film just because there are elements of that history that make us uncomfortable. In fact, even with those elements, some of those films are still worth watching. I feel much the same about these early Silver Age Green Lantern stories. Yes, there is toxic masculinity, but there are also elements that would be important later not just for Green Lantern, but DC Comics in total. This volume contains the story "Secret Origins of the Guardians!" which would be one of the foundational elements of Marv Wolfman's Crisis on Infinite Earths as well as other stories, as it introduces not only the rogue Guardian Krona, but has elements that Wolfman used to explain the creation of the DC Multiverse. In addition, this volume contains the first appearance of the Black Hand, who ends up being a major player in Blackest Night and also features art from the late Gil Kane, who has always been one of my favorites and who I feel has always been tragically ignored as one of the giants of the Silver Age of comics alongside Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko among others. However, this volume is also remarkable in the fact that Sinestro doesn't make one appearance, which I found shocking given that he is the Moriarty to Jordan's Holmes. But since the majority of the stories in this volume were penned by Gardner Fox rather than Sinestro's creator John Broome could explain it.
If anything comes of my reading The Green Lantern Omnibus, Vol. 2 it's that I now know where my dislike of the Jordan character came from. Guys like Jordan who exist in real life tend to piss me off and are not nearly as heroic as Broome and later Fox would try to portray him. Johns, early in his Green Lantern run insinuates that perhaps Jordan's motivation for being a Green Lantern is because he wants the glory. Of course, the truth is a bit more complicated than that, but nothing in these early stories indicates that Jordan is the Green Lantern for any other reason than that Abin Sur identified Jordan as someone who could overcome his fear. There's nothing altruistic about that at its core and Jordan is such a cookie cutter "real man" that it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
September 30, 2023
Comic books are a wonderful escape from reality. It doesn't get any more escapist than the absolute good versus evil, white hat versus black hat mentality of Silver Age DC. The stories are formulaic and often predictable, but this is said from my armchair fifty years later. Audiences are more sophisticated today, for better and often worse.
The artwork is the real draw here though. Gil Kane is a god. His artwork matures here, becoming more refined with each passing month, until he reaches his true voice that fans of his Marvel Comics work know and love. I will go as far as saying that no one except for Kirby was doing it as good as Gil Kane in 1966. *Guards face from rocks and tomatoes*
I enjoyed every single issue in this book, but I will list the ones that really grabbed me. I loved the battle with The Shark in #24. I loved the fight that he and Green Lantern had in the Wein/Gibbons run in the 1980s, and it was great to read his first appearance and his rematch with Green Lantern in #28. We see Gil Kane break the fourth wall in issue 29 for no real reason. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did this over at Marvel a handful of times, so we'll just chalk it up to goofy Silver Age fun and move along.
#35's battle with The Golden Mask was a blast to read. Kane's action sequences really moved by this point. Folks like to throw words like dynamic around to describe Jack Kirby's artwork during this time. Kane was one of Kirby's few peers in 1966, and dare I say that he even gave the King a run for his money. Kane of course lacked Kirby's wild imagination, but for bone-crushing action Kane is right on the money.
Not everything here is timeless fun. Modern readers will find the portrayal of Hal Jordan/ Green Lantern's friend and confidant, Thomas Kalmaku (or Pieface as he is called) to be, shall we say...not as culturally sensitive as he is portrayed today. It's not a horribly racist caricature, but calling “his Eskimo friend” Pieface isn't something that would fly today.
Aside from that, this is brilliant stuff that was just what the doctor ordered for me. I welcomed the escape from reality that this book provided. DC is going to be reissuing this book as well as the first Omnibus in a hernia-inducing single volume titled Green Lantern: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1, so if you missed out on this one or hate the tight binding on this book I strongly recommend that you grab it.
DC's earliest entries into the Omnibus market were filled with missteps. To be fair, so were Marvel's. DC has since rectified the complaints in binding that I have below, so please understand that the complaints are about THIS BOOK, not about their Omnibus program as it currently stands, which is fine aside from not remastering their material.
This book boasts rage inducing glued mousetrap binding. It is so tight that this book should be kept away from small children. I wouldn't let my son near this book alone because it is a two fisted read. If you let it go it shuts fast. SNAP! He could break his finger or hand that way. This is some serious glue though. This book will never fall apart.
The artwork is the real draw here though. Gil Kane is a god. His artwork matures here, becoming more refined with each passing month, until he reaches his true voice that fans of his Marvel Comics work know and love. I will go as far as saying that no one except for Kirby was doing it as good as Gil Kane in 1966. *Guards face from rocks and tomatoes*
I enjoyed every single issue in this book, but I will list the ones that really grabbed me. I loved the battle with The Shark in #24. I loved the fight that he and Green Lantern had in the Wein/Gibbons run in the 1980s, and it was great to read his first appearance and his rematch with Green Lantern in #28. We see Gil Kane break the fourth wall in issue 29 for no real reason. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby did this over at Marvel a handful of times, so we'll just chalk it up to goofy Silver Age fun and move along.
#35's battle with The Golden Mask was a blast to read. Kane's action sequences really moved by this point. Folks like to throw words like dynamic around to describe Jack Kirby's artwork during this time. Kane was one of Kirby's few peers in 1966, and dare I say that he even gave the King a run for his money. Kane of course lacked Kirby's wild imagination, but for bone-crushing action Kane is right on the money.
Not everything here is timeless fun. Modern readers will find the portrayal of Hal Jordan/ Green Lantern's friend and confidant, Thomas Kalmaku (or Pieface as he is called) to be, shall we say...not as culturally sensitive as he is portrayed today. It's not a horribly racist caricature, but calling “his Eskimo friend” Pieface isn't something that would fly today.
Aside from that, this is brilliant stuff that was just what the doctor ordered for me. I welcomed the escape from reality that this book provided. DC is going to be reissuing this book as well as the first Omnibus in a hernia-inducing single volume titled Green Lantern: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1, so if you missed out on this one or hate the tight binding on this book I strongly recommend that you grab it.
DC's earliest entries into the Omnibus market were filled with missteps. To be fair, so were Marvel's. DC has since rectified the complaints in binding that I have below, so please understand that the complaints are about THIS BOOK, not about their Omnibus program as it currently stands, which is fine aside from not remastering their material.
This book boasts rage inducing glued mousetrap binding. It is so tight that this book should be kept away from small children. I wouldn't let my son near this book alone because it is a two fisted read. If you let it go it shuts fast. SNAP! He could break his finger or hand that way. This is some serious glue though. This book will never fall apart.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews