Green Lantern: 1001 Emerald Nights

Elseworlds

by Terry LaBan, Rebecca Guay (Illustrations)

"It is told that, long ago, the Sultan died, and his son, Prince Ibn Rayner, inherited the throne..."

So begins the incredible tale that blends the modern myths of Green Lantern with the ancient legends of The Arabian Nights, as the beautiful Scheherazade tells fantastical stories of a magic lamp, a jade-colored genie, and their owner, Al Jhor Dan.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Dc Comics, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

64 pages

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Terry LaBan decided to be a cartoonist at the age of 6. He grew up to draw political cartoons and illustrations, create alternative comics series for Fantagraphics Books and Dark Horse comics, and write for DC Vertigo and Disney Egmont, where he spent 14 years writing Donald Duck comics.

From 2001 to 2015, Terry and his wife Patty created the daily comic strip “Edge City”, which was syndicated by King Features. Terry has two kids and two cats, and lives just outside Philadelphia. Mendel the Mess-Up, his first middle grade graphic novel, will be published in December of 2024.

Reviews

[Leyre · Rating 5 out of 5]

¿Green Lantern + Las 1001 Noches? MARAVILLOSO.

Lo único malo es que no sale mi Guy, pero por lo demás es adorable, una historia cortita llena de clichés reconfortantes y de personajes del mundo de DC Comics como protagonistas.

Kyle siempre maravilloso y siempre en mi equipo, faltaría más.

[Wesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This prestige format one-shot from DC is part of their Elseworlds series where a twist is applied to a familiar hero usually by changing their normal setting. This mash up of Green Lantern with 1001 Nights was written by Terry LaBan who is more of an underground comic writer/artist but has done some work for major companies including The Dreaming for Vertigo and a Grendel mini-series for Dark Horse. The art was by Rebecca Guay whose work I know from the Black Orchid ongoing series from the 90s and some Sandman spin-offs.

In this story, Scheherazade is a Green Lantern has come to the town of Isafakhar to end the reign of the wicked sultan Ibn Rayner. But once she insinuates her way into the Sultan's chambers, she finds that he is not the cruel ruler that she was expecting but more of a naive, misled puppet ruler. Through three tales of the reluctant hero Al Jhor Dan and his powerful genie, she tries to educate him in how a ruler show behave personally and towards his people.

A not bad story transposing the Green Lantern mythos onto the tales of the Arabian Nights. As usual with these Elseworlds tales, a lot of the elements of the superhero remain the same just subtly tweaked to fit with the new setting. So in this case the Lanterns do not have rings to start with but summon genies from lamps to carry out their will instead. Perhaps the story was a little over-moralistic but that is the nature of the originals I can live with it. Rebecca Guay's art is perfect for this tale as she specialises in fantasy illustration and it looks great on the page - especially the leading ladies.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Terry LaBan does a splendid job of merging the Green Lantern mythos with One Thousand and One Nights, using genies in the place of Green Lantern rings. Rebecca Guay's art is gorgeous and ethereal giving the book the look of an ancient manuscript.

[Abhishek Jamalabad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gave this Elseworlds episode a read after seeing a few promising reviews. Found it to be quite lame as a story. It is the tired old generic *bad vizier - naive sultan - good young guy - genie in a lamp* kind of story with no originality whatsoever, save for the insertion of green lantern theme elements into it, which felt like an awkward fit anyway. No part of this story had me even barely interested in knowing what happened next.

The art is nice enough that it made me look up the artist - Rebecca Guay right from pencils to ink and colours. Good art can often carry a decent-ish story through, but it's a two-way deal... the story here is way too boring and lets the art down miserably.

2 stars instead of 1 because this isn't *awful.* It's a notch above that. But still absolutely avoidable.

[Thomas LaPorte · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an elseworlds tale, a DC story set outside the main continuity which allows for revitalization and reimagination.

This story merges 1001 Arabian Nights with the Green Lantern mythos of Kyle Rayner and Hal Jordan in an exhilarating and well-thought way. The world building is fantastic, paired with unique art and inspiring writing, this is a must-read for any fans of Green Lantern, or anyone familiar with their 90s-2000s comics. Highly recommend.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clever Elseworlds tale that puts Green Lantern lore into new context, which is always good. Features an Arabian Nights version of Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner. Sometimes superhero stories can be so divorced from the real world it’s hard to tell their relevance other than generic allegorical entertainment, so it’s nice to have material like this to help bridge the gap.

[Indika de Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Green Lantern story meets Arabian nights tale.

The end result? A fabulous comic book with very awesome artwork.

A must read for the fans of the Green Lantern....

[Kasey Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Green Lantern Elseworlds tale illustrated in Guay's beautiful style. What if Scheherazade was a Green Lantern?

[Robby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lovely artwork, but the premise is pretty cringe, and the story is underdeveloped.

[PurplyCookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laban's one-shot comic blends the modern myths of the Green Lantern with the ancient legends of "The Arabian Nights", as the beautiful Scheherazade tells fantastical stories of a magic lamp, a jade-colored genie, and their owner, Al Jhor Dan.

The wonderful illustrations enhances the very short retelling of this famous set of fables which borrows from the different (less well-known) stories as translated by Sir Richard Burton, but with the aim of providing the ruling sultan with lessons on how to properly rule his kingdom.


Book Details:

Title Green Lantern: 1001 Emerald Nights
Author Terry LaBan, Rebecca Guay-Mitchell
Reviewed By Purplycookie

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is just fun. Giving the Green Lantern feel with an 1001 arabian nights feel and setting, make for interesting and cool to look at stories. Power rings and lanterns are replaced by Genies in Lamps. At first it is kind of like ok....whatever they are doing something strange but the concept kept growing on me and I had a lot of fun reading this. It is not even close to being a best Elseworld story but it is extremely solid.

[Felicity · Rating 4 out of 5]

A simple little mashup of folklore and DC Universe lore, this story is accessible and fun even to those who don't follow Green Lantern (I, a Gotham girl to the core, do not.) Its real appeal lies in the glorious pictures by my favorite fantasy artist, Rebecca Guay. 64 glorious full-color pages of her work are a delight and a treat, and create the magic that makes this book work.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not even a Green Lantern fan (no shade, just not familiar with the franchise) but I loved the hell out of this book. To be fair, I would probably love anything that Rebecca Guay illustrated, but still.

Beautiful book, compelling classic story, neat surprise tie-ins (okay I guess I do know about the green versus yellow thing)...it's just great. Read it.

[Lady Entropy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the art, but I loved the story too -- the cleverness of the main character, his growth as a person, it all was beautifully made, and damn fun to book.

The art isn't the best Guay has to offer, but still pretty lovely.

And I don't even like the Green Lantern superhero!

[The Dark Krystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this for the art (Rebecca Guay), stayed for the story. The author twists the origin of Green Lantern into 1001 Arabian Nights like taffy.

[Joey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Literary geekgasm. Dig the tie-in between Arabian Nights and the GL universe. Also beautifully illustrated

[Campo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is as the name of the book, that simple. Green Lantern mixed up with 1001 Arabian nights. It a pleasant read if you like green lantern and mildly remember 1001 Arabian Nights.