Green Lantern: The Road Back

Green Lantern

by Gerard Jones, Pat Broderick

Looking to maintain peace throughout the universe, a race of aliens known as the Guardians formed the Green Lantern Corps, an army of galactic protectors armed with mighty power rings. After a cataclysmic event, the Guardians left the universe and disbanded the Cops. But on their home world of Oa, one last Guardian remained and in the grip of insanity began transporting whole cities from all over the universe to his planet to keep him company. Now as the only remaining Green Lanterns in all of existence, a disillusioned Hal Jordan, a guilt-ridden John Stewart, and an egotistical Guy Gardner must join forces to defeat their former benefactor.

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

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Gerard Jones is an award-winning American author and comic book writer. From 1987 to 2001, Jones wrote many comic books for Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Viz Media, Malibu Comics and other publishers; including Green Lantern, Justice League, Prime, Ultraforce, El Diablo, Wonder Man, Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man, The Shadow, Pokémon, and Batman.

Jones is author of the Eisner Award-winning Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book (2004); Killing Monsters: Why Children Need Fantasy, Superheroes and Make-Believe Violence (2002), and Honey I'm Home: Sitcoms Selling the American Dream (1993). Jones is co-author with Will Jacobs of The Beaver Papers (1983), The Comic Book Heroes (1985, 1996), and the comic book The Trouble with Girls (1987-1993). From 1983 to 1988, Jacobs and Jones were contributors to National Lampoon magazine. He and Jacobs began writing humorous fiction again in 2008 with the online series My Pal Splendid Man and Million Dollar Ideas

Reviews

[Josh Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

a really solid story that gets you in the mind of Hal Jordan, better than most that were told in the 80's. It might give you sympathy for his somewhat fragile psychology, considering what comes next in Emerald Twilight.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just getting into GL with this and it was a bunch of fun. Looks like I'll be doing a parallax reading order before I get to Kyle Rayner

[Nathaniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Road Back is an interesting, though flawed, beginning to Gerard Jones' run. In many ways, it feels like it's doing its best to honor previous Green Lantern continuity while offering a fresh start at the same time. While this varies in effectiveness, it almost feels like a prototype Rebirth 14 years before said book came out.
Starting with the good, I dig Broderick, Patterson, and Tollin's artwork. I thought it gave the book a fitting vibe, though some faces (especially Rose's) come across as odd sometimes. It's interesting exploring an older, mid-life Hal Jordan trying to find his way in the universe without the Green Lantern Corps. I enjoyed his arc across the book, and his earthbound scenes where he's not saving the world are some of the best parts of the book. Guy Gardner gets a decent, if shaky arc, and the patchwork world that gets created on Oa is fascinating to explore.
All this said, there are some not-so-great aspects. The villain feels like a bit of an insult in context of the O'Neil/Adams run, and John Stewart gets pretty nerfed for most of the story. I'm of the opinion that Guy Gardner's character wasn't perfected until the 2000s, and seeing him operate with so little regard for the innocent bystanders around him was pretty difficult to watch in this volume. I also took issue with average joes being able to use Green Lantern rings almost effortlessly, but I understand certain pieces of Green Lantern lore were different in the early 90s, so it gets a pass from me.
Not a fantastic Green Lantern book, but by no means a bad one. Check it out if you're a Green Lantern fan - if not, you can probably skip it.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, early 90s Green Lantern? At times, amazing. Other times, bat guano crazy. This collection can be somewhat separated in half. The first half was forgettable. I mean, Guy Gardner shops for porn!!?!?! Seriously. The second half focuses completely on a mad Guardian and its really good. While its far from classic there are some very good elements that do foreshadow some things that do end up being classic. Patrick Broderick's art is classic 90s and it good except his insanely hokey looking aliens he creates. Less menacing and more laughable. Overall, a decent GL book showcasing the different personalities of the three Earth-based Green Lanterns.

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting conceit where The Guardian from The Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection, Vol. 2 goes bonkerstown and kidnaps a bunch of communities he's visited because he's lonely. Meanwhile, Hal Jordan is trying to find himself (and if you've read any previous volumes with Hal Jordan, you'll probably wish he stayed lost) while Guy Gardner pesters him.

This book sees Hal Jordan as the best he's been so far (which is...okay), Guy Gardner at his petulant worst, and John Stewart as mostly useless, as he's mind controlled by the evil Guardian.

The plot points in the book are silly and silver-agey tropes, and while I don't love the writing, I enjoy it more than I enjoyed previous Green Lantern issues. The ending isn't great but the journey there was fun.

If you like multiple Lantern stories, this might be one to pick up. It's not going to knock anyone's socks off but it's not going to pull those socks up to your knees, either.

[Simeon Obretenov · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Jody Banman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent story with decent art featuring the three human Green Lanterns of the time. It had been a while since there'd been an ongoing Green Lantern series when this came out and I recall being excited about it. It didn't disappoint.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading several anthology tells about the GL Corps this brought things back to a good coherent storyline which veers nicely from character exposition, through hopeless plight, to salvation. It borders on the epic.

There are several nice ambiguities - in particular the relationship between the three human Green Lanterns.

Thoroughly recommended.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is all over the place