Green Lantern: War Journal, Vol. 2

Green Lantern: War Journal (2023)

by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Osvaldo Pestana Montpeller (illustrator)

On a quest to find the Dark Star of the Fenn, John Stewart begins to question the Green Lantern Corps and what it means to be human…even in the far reaches of space.

The battle between John Stewart, Varron, and the Revenant Queen has reached its climactic and shocking conclusion! John Stewart has been sent to the far reaches of space, entrusted with a quest to find the mythical and terrifying Dark Star of Fenn. When he discovers a lost crew in desperate need of a hero, John will discover what it means to speak the Green Lantern oath. Meanwhile, back on earth, John’s sister Ellie, learns she shares powers with her brother. Can she protect her family and earth from the looming cosmic abomination?

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 21, 2025

About the author

Phillip Kennedy Johnson earned a Master of Music degree from the University of North Texas, where he served as Teaching Fellow for the Department of Jazz Studies, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Eastern Kentucky University. SFC Johnson has performed with the Lexington Philharmonic, Dallas Opera, Washington Symphonic Brass, and the Moscow Ballet, and was a member of the Glenn Miller Orchestra from 2004 to 2005. SFC Johnson remains active as a composer, arranger, teacher, and clinician, and also enjoys a second career as a writer of comics and graphic novels. His work has been published by DC Comics, Marvel Comics, BOOM! Studios, and more.

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neither as intriguing or as affecting as the first volume, but I felt it was worth my time.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good conclusion to a run that combines the cosmic and the family. On the other hand, and I take the liberty of echoing other comments, John really needs therapy.

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book. I wanted to give this 3.5, but it was good enough to tip the scales to 4 for me. Great artwork and the family direction of the story is great.

John Stewart is pulled into unknown space fighting an unknown enemy, and back in Earth him mother and "sister" are in grave danger from the Revenant. There are too many battles to fight and more than one destiny to embrace. Who will John Stewart be?

Not only does this book make John Sewart revelant, but it also has a lot of directions for him to go from here. This could impact the whole DC multiverse.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review is for both volumes, though there are nuances for each.

It takes a lot for me to give a crap about John Stewart. I never watched the Justice League cartoon when I was little, I never had much of a fondness for him, and whenever he shows up in the Green Lantern comics he always feels really flat - he's an architect and/or a soldier, and that's kind of it.

However, PKJ has changed all that. Green Lantern: War Journal features 12 issues and some back-up stories from the main Green Lantern title that have made me care about John Stewart, something I never expected to do.

John finds himself besieged by a new villain, the Revenant Queen, whose Black Lantern-adjacent powers send him spinning out into space at exactly the wrong time, because his poor mom's got dementia and is likely going to die soon. What follows is a space odyssey with great character work at its core, and a kickass ending that made me smile wider than I have in a while.

I do think the first half of the book is stronger. Once things get a bit more universal with the introduction of the Dark Star of the Fenn (yes, those Darkstars), it gets a bit harder to follow, though props to PKJ again for managing to get Olgrun involved once again. The more personal stuff back on Earth keeps the story grounded, and is oftentimes better than the space stuff in the second half of the story, honestly.

All 12 issues and the back-ups are drawn by Montos, who never skimps on the backgrounds and shoves every panel full of light and detail. Superb visuals for a space series for certain, and I wanna see where he ends up next, because it's very impressive.

War Journal is a Green Lantern book I never expected to read, or enjoy. It meanders a little in the second half, but overall, this is a John Stewart book that I'll be recommending to anyone like me, who's never really cared about him much.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The previous volume saw John Stewart sucked into the Radiant Dead and this volume starts with him waking up in an endless cosmic war zone. There's an explanation for what's going on, though it's unspooled in broken fragments over the entire volume: old gods betrayed, endless battles between ageless opponents, no way to go home until the cycle is broken. Etcetera!! It's all very... well, cosmic! I had trouble following since I'm not well-versed in Green Lantern lore.

Back on Earth, Stewart's ring-construct of his sister is keeping his ailing mother safe from a rogue ringbearer-turned-zombie. And a multiversal corps-member teams up with Guy Gardner (long distance-style) to save Stewart through the Book of Oa. I guess the whole deal is related to the Darkstar ring (Which Stewart acquires and ultimately wields).

Basically, the book felt like a lot of "remember this?" callbacks to characters and lore I'm unfamiliar with. The action and art are there, but the character moments fell by the wayside a bit. I'm still intrigued enough to read more Lantern stories, at least.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
Yes, we readers understand that John Stewart is an amazing Green Lantern. To me, it still seems like they are trying to prove it.
Lots of battle in this Volume, both physically (when John is leading people against the Revenant Queen spirit or overcoming the Dark Star of the Fenn) and emotionally (as the spirit of John, in the form of his sister, helps protect his mother from Varron). By the end, John has the ring of Olgrun, which allows him to command the Radiant Dead.
Overall, looking forward to a more cohesive Lanterns title, all forces together. Maybe some more from the other colors again!
Recommend.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure if this run lost the plot, or just my interest. All I know is that it felt less and less essential as it went on. 3 stars at best.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yikes... I don't know what disturbs me more, everything with John's sister or the fact that the writer didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with John literally just refusing to let his loved ones go. Hoo boy. The rest of the plot was both boring and confusing, still like the new kid though.

[Will Robinson Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing! Phillip Kennedy Johnson continues to craft a wonderful story here. The Montos art is pretty good as well. Between this series and the Jeremy Adams Green Lantern book, the Green Lantern mythos is firing on all cylinders. The only thing I'm not sure about is whether this book should be called "War Journal". Perhaps "Secret Files" would have been a better subtitle as this book is really about John Stewart coming to grips of new powers, the pending death of his sick mom and a evil entity threatening to reshape the cosmos. Johnson manages to balance the personal emotional moments with the high stakes space action. I have always been a fan of John Stewart ever since I watch the character in the early 2000s Justice League cartoon. That show really capture the tone of what makes his version of Green Lantern tick. This story has been know exception. Johnson gives us a peak at the true emotion hidden beneath the quiet stoicism of this space soldier. Johnson does a great job capturing the guilt and fear John carries from not only not letting go of his mother but never leaving the wounded or weak behind. John Stewart has the relentless drive to never give up even when the odds are against him. There are just some great moments in this book. I especially love the moment Guy Gardner shows up to rescue the rookie Green Lantern. The artists really just create some beautiful looking constructs for John Stewart in this book as well. I have to admit this leaps better than the last Stewart book we got from writer Geoffrey Thorne. Thorne's run started of interestingly enough, but we never really got a showcase of John Stewart's inner struggle. Overall this is a great miniseries DC comics fans should not miss. Here are few other titles I enjoyed from Phillip Kennedy Johnson: The Last God 1, Superman: The Warworld Saga, The Incredible Hulk, Vol. 1: Age of Monsters&Superman: The One Who Fell.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okayish read, kind of a let down from the first volume and it does get complicted like it gets so lost in the lore and world building, it becomes comple to follow sometimes but anyways John gets struck in some end of the universe.. cosmic thingy and eternal war... basically radiant dead will escape that place and wreak havoc across the universe if they escape and John has to stop that and it reveals a lot of myth and lore about who the Revenant Queen is and her origins and tying it with the Olgrun thing and it becomes like I say complicated.. and I guess that was a big let down.

But anyways there are good moments when you get who this Revenant queen was and like how John stops her and there are moments he is becoming Olgrun and like we get the origins and lore dumping but apart from that he finds a way to stop her and good cameo by Shepherd and Guy in the end!

There is another storywith his mom and ellie fighting a star shroud - Varron.. basically dead zombie like thing who has in it for John and is going after his family and its still better than the above one but has a good emotional ending for John!

Overall it was fine like it had a lot of potential but like the volume name sake it shows John the builder aka the architect and how he closes the door to shut down the threat of the revenant queen basically! Felt like it was similar to the ending of B&R vol 2 also by PKJ but oh well! You can still read the whole volume once if you're a GL fan!

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 rounded down as I feel like my favorite parts of this story were pushed aside for the parts I didn't like. I'm not really a big cosmic cape fan so the story's direction here only made that worse. I really enjoyed John Stewart with his Mom but they're apart for the near entierety of the story. And the choice at the end to keep the Mom alive as part of his Darkstar ring he's using a GL ring as well as his contrcut version of his dead sister becoming sentient while nice really killed the hope I had that John Stewart was going to have to deal with loss (especially considering the parallels with the cosmic story and Anja). The art was amazing but I can't really use that to turn this into a 3 star. I really wish they're was a 2 and a half star option since this doesn't come off as either a 2 or 3 star to me.

[Carly · Rating 4 out of 5]

John needs therapy 😅

[Malum · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending felt a bit rushed and, as another reviewer pointed out, what seems like a happy ending is really just John needing extensive therapy.

[Kaylea 🦎 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The ending had me :-((( but overall good!!

[Will Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable but somewhat down the middle cosmic/family drama comic.

[Henni · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 / 10

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

When in doubt (and you've got a new ring to give someone), trust John Stewart to 'git r dun'...

We've got a Lantern ...who is is own Lantern
We've got a sentient construct...
We've got a ring loosely connected to the Darkstar name (and deeper lore)

What CAN'T John Stewart do? (How many Lanterns do we need protecting Earth, really?) I'm kind of hoping by this that John just drops the 'Green' part of his title and calls himself 'Lantern'. He's wielded most of the OG spectrum and now he's had time with the UV and Darkstar rings.

[John Rudd · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the first book being upsetting because of my own expectations, this book is a good set-up to where John will be in the upcoming canon. I still don't enjoy how the dark constructs are drawn. It hurts to look at, though that is not to say it isn't well done, just an effect. Some of the story jumps forward rapidly, making it feel like a page is missing. It does come around at the end, tying up everything poetically with how it opens - 3

[Cory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic art and great story with John dealing with his family. Still didn’t quite enjoy all the elder god stuff it dealt with, but it made for some great action pages. Excited to see where John goes now that he has the Darkstar ring at his command.