Green Lanterns, Vol. 8: Ghosts of the Past

Green Lanterns

by Tim Seeley (Writer), Aaron Gillespie (Writer), Ronan Cliquet (Illustrator)

Everyone's favorite Earthbound Emerald Warriors, Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz, return to Earth after an epic intergalactic battle to save Earth's heroes from a superhuman trafficking ring in Green Lanterns Vol. 8!

Jessica Cruz's ring has a mind of its own, and it's lashing out at her! Jess needs to find a way to defend herself against a ring that is making constructs against her will, as she's been pulled into a nightmare world created from her own memories. As Simon Baz and the Justice League try to find her, they turn to an unlikely ally for help: John Constantine!

Writer Tim Seeley (Nightwing, Grayson) expands the saga of Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz in Green Lanterns Vol. 8!

Collects: Green Lanterns #44-49.

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

141 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 5, 2019

About the author

Tim Seeley is a comic book artist and writer known for his work on books such as G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, The Dark Elf Trilogy, Batman Eternal and Grayson. He is also the co-creator of the Image Comics titles Hack/Slash[1] and Revival, as well as the Dark Horse titles, ExSanguine and Sundowners. He lives in Chicago.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

(B) 75% | More than Satisfactory
Notes: Two similar tales on memory fails and villain/hero shifts, both callback lore, delight and bore, and sort of swirl adrift.

*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Issues #44-45 ◦ Issues #46-47 ◦ Issues #48-49

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seeley just keeps retreading where Humphries already went. He dealt with Jessica's fears and Seeley just pretends like none of that ever happened, sending her back into her head to show us a time where Jessica's friends were murdered. Then there's a bunch of nonsense where Simon tries to stop Jessica from seeing the murderers' faces because he's afraid she'll take vengeance on them or something like that. It was really unclear and just poor, lazy writing. The last 2 issues wer with a fill-in writer where Jessica was wanted by the Green Lanterns over a misunderstanding. The storytelling was really clunky. Like the other GL's wouldn't give her the benefit of the doubt to explain what happened? At this point, I'm glad DC is killing this series. It hasn't been good since Humphries left.

[Wing Kee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow this series is getting so bad.

World: The art is fine, it’s nothing special. I wish there was more expression and differentiation in the characters (especially in the hunting trip) but overall it’s only okay. The world building is a bit patchy here and the pieces of the DCU it uses is out of place and out of character. I don’t like it when that happens, where pieces are used to fit the story but they don’t actually really fit (more below cause it’s character based). The idea of the past with Jessica and then the stuff with the Power Battery is spotty and comes suddenly and without reason or preamble and that’s just lazy writing.

Story: There are two stories in this book, one aight, and one pretty terrible. The first one is the aight one, it’s a look at Jessica’s past and those aspects of it are somewhat interesting and the banter between the friends was kinda nice. However the stuff with the Justice League and the crazy magic black hole logic of it was a bit too much and it’s been done so many times my brain checked out pretty quickly. When are we going to have a Jess arc that does not deal with her fear, is that all she is? Then there’s the really terrible second story with her on the run and the Corps chasing her. The pacing, the framing the writing for this was just really poorly done. The story was janky, the idea that readers don’t know until the end why the Corps is chasing Jess is not executed well at all and when the reveal comes it’s a groan and a big ‘who cares.’ I hate arcs and misunderstandings that can simply be solve by talking and these misunderstandings are stupid and a sign of just bad writing. The use of the characters like Hal was also off and to serve the story to alter Hal the way he is is just, as I said above, bad writing. This second story is just bad.

Characters: Jessica is getting very one note and so is Simon. New writers needs to come in and create more for them and give them more personal voices cause right now this book is just getting bad, it’s near Flash and Aquaman (before Sejic came on) bad but it’s getting near Blue Beetle bad. Yes, Hal is a cowboy but he’s not stupid and he’s a mentor to these two young characters and he’s also one of the most loyal characters in the Corps the idea of him chasing Jess and Simon makes no sense and it’s bad writing that allows for this, Gilespie does’nt know these characters, don’t write them if you don’t know them. Bad. Then there is the Seeley story where there is magic mumbo jumbo and Diana is impulsive and agressive and Jain’s power is all over the place, bad.

This series has gotten really bad, I’ve not read this quality of Green Lantern since before Green Lantern Rebirth with Johns, something needs to happen for the GL universe cause it is not doing well since Venditti left.

Onward to the next book!

*read individual issues*

[Malum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hey, it's the off-brand cereal Green Lanterns! I like this series, but unfortunately this is the worst Green Lanterns volume yet. The stories are rushed and are packed with way more talking than action.

This volume also highlights one of the problems with this series: Simon and Jess just aren't growing as characters. No one understands Simon and he has a persecution complex, and Jess has PTSD, agoraphobia, and who knows what else. These are really their only personality traits. At the end of almost every volume, they make it seem like they are growing and evolving, but then the next set of stories are just the same thing (Simon: "No one understands me!". Jess: "I am afraid of everything!".)

With many of the other DC runs coming to an end and/or getting reboots, I just don't see this one lasting much longer in its current state.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a seemingly impossible wish is granted, Jessica finds herself trapped within her own Green Lantern ring on a quest for vengeance. Of course, Simon's not about to let her do that on her own, but he'll need the Justice League's help, as well as John Constantine's, to get inside and save his partner from herself. Then, Jess is accused of murder? Wait, what?

This trade is a story of two halves. Ghosts Of The Past, the first four issues, is the most Green Lanterns-y story that Tim Seeley has done since he took over the title. It digs into Jessica's history in a way that even Sam Humphries didn't manage, and even manages to make sure Simon works as a joint lead rather than just a secondary character in a lopsided story. The resolution's pretty great, and it actually feels like both characters have accomplished something and moved on from their pasts by the end.

Rebel Run, the two parter that follows, is less impressive. It's Aaron Gillespie's first DC work (and comics work overall, I think?) but he attempts too intricate a story for only two issues. The mystery doesn't get enough time to breathe, and he ropes in a few too many characters so that there's no time to really process anything before it comes to an end. Ambitious, but ultimately not as successful as it could have been.

The artwork in this volume is split between V Ken Marion and Ronan Cliquet, who has been the main artist on the book for a while. Their styles are a little more disjointed than the usual Green Lanterns fare since Marion is a little more Brett Booth while Cliquet is much softer than that, but neither of them are bad artists at all.

Four stars for the actual Ghosts Of The Past story, two stars for Rebel Run, averages out to a three star overall. One great story, one not-so-great one.

[Will Robinson Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad? This volume loses a bit of the steam from the last volume but overall I still enjoyed picking of this book. Seeley adds a little more to the Cruz back story here and we pick up a few threads from Cruz's past going all the way back to her appearance in Geoff John's run on Justice League. The art was a bit boring and sketchy for me though the colors were not bad. My biggest complaint is that this arc came across as filler for a much bigger story. I have really enjoyed this series since Green Lanterns, Vol. 1: Rage Planet. Baz and Cruz have really grown as characters in this series and even if this story ends soon I love all the seeds that have been planted for the future of the Green Lantern franchise.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best one of these volumes in a while, I feel. I like the verdant vibes.

[Molly™☺ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jessica Cruz’s relationship with anxiety and survivors guilt makes her one of the most compelling and interesting Green Lanterns, yet the exploration of the topics has not impressed in a long time. Both Jess and Simon suffer from the poor writing, and most of the potential they displayed when Humphries was in the writing seat have since been replaced with rather one-note portrayals and rehashing of already explored development. Neither story particularly stands out here, but Seeley at least seems to make more effort for the first. Again, it’s a shame to continue to watch this series drop in quality...

[Jesse A · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first part of this book was just excruciating. It did get better but not enough to bring this book's rating up much.

[Stavroula · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Not knowing what it is that you fear, causes you to fear everything"

[Jamie Revell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first of the two stories in this collection is quite good, with Seeley getting to grips with Jessica for a change. It's about an incident from her past, tied in with her becoming a Lantern, and is largely set inside a warped version of her memories of the event. The Justice League gets involved, although more as window-dressing than anything else and there's some use of the wider setting. It is, however, let down by Jessica being a bit dumb in getting herself into the situation in the first place... but, if you can get past that, it works well enough.

'Being dumb', unfortunately, is very much the key theme in the second, slightly shorter, story, which sees Jessica pursued by the other Green Lanterns for a crime she's allegedly committed. Obviously, she hasn't, but this possibility doesn't even seem to occur to Hal and the others, making them look like prize pillocks until the explanation almost literally punches them in the face.

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

What are we doing here?

[Cristian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Solid fan service.

[Robyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED it felt like I was a actual green lantern in the story

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't my favorite of the Green Lanterns stories... mostly because I felt confused through most of it. Though, admittedly, that's probably because I've missed out on certain plot points. In my eagerness to stay up-to-date with my favorite heroes (with Simon and Jessica being among them), I haven't always read the trade paperbacks in order. And sometimes I pay for that by not knowing how certain elements connect. *sigh* I remember Volthoom being mentioned in an earlier Rebirth Green Lanterns trade, but the details are a bit fuzzy... at least they seemed particularly fuzzy in the context of this story (which had Jessica trapped inside her ring... which was connected to Volthoom's power ring somehow... which trapped her in the first place because Singularity Jain opened up her pain...?) It was all more than a little baffling. I don't know if I was confused because: (1) I haven't actually read when Jessica got her ring, or because (2) I haven't read Dark Nights Metal yet (which apparently is a huge event that has impacted EVERYTHING). So yeah, I'm behind, and I will openly admit that the confusion was probably my fault. I'd like to reread this graphic again sometime and see if it all fits together better. That said, I was also confused by the Guardians suddenly not trusting Jessica's ring.... (Again, probably my fault for getting distracted from continuity whenever a shiny new graphic comes out.) I did really enjoy her and Simon's teamwork in both stories--how Simon had her back when she needed it most and how he reminded her of the hero she truly is. Plus, the Justice League cameos were awesome, particularly when they were all forced to relive their pains through Singularity Jain. (Though I'm surprised Superman's was Kryptonite.... I mean, come on, that might be what hurts him, but what causes him pain are his loved ones getting hurt. Not exactly the deepest look at the character.) Anyways... a solid read, though probably much better if you actually know what's going on.

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 feels a bit like a repeat but when people deal with issues like these lanterns have some times there are two steps back. However it also feels like the end is near.

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know. There was neat stuff here but it was confusingly told. We start with a story that explores Jessica's anxiety which I guess is what Seeley has been building up to with it. I think it was a mixed bag. You can tell Seeley is an artist who plans stuff out as they are narrative threads or characters like Singularity Jain who kinda build up to it and Jessica's anxiety making the ring do crazy stuff like creating the men in her apartment so she's never alone from the previous volume. But the actual story itself is confusing. All of my complaints follow in the spolier section as it's tied to how the story is told. But the TD;DR is that it explores Jess well but we're 8 volumes so it's weird Seeley is picking up the anxiety thing now. It feels a bit weird for Jessica to agree to Jain’s plan. She felt more in-control of her anxiety and the source of it than for Jain to get to her like that. But it could be seen as a moment of weakness and we need something to set up the story so it’s contrived. It's bad and contrived but not the worst. Then they go inside the ring which is neat but explained in the most confusing way possible. I'm still confused how it's related to Singularity Jain being a living black hole. She made a contract with Jain but Jess's black hole is actually a different black hole thing made by Volthoom's Ring which Jessica wore (but I forget if she still wears it) where Volthoom put all his suffering and stuff (what?) so now Jessica puts all her repressed fears and stuff in it. It doesn't help its tying into Earth 3 where all the heroes are evil and its trying to explain/characterize the evil Green Lantern named Power Ring. Jain eats people inside her… but Jessica is in her ring which made a black hole that is maybe Jain’s but it’s not the one inside her body and she’s also tasting Jessica’s fear and stuff? Idk… it's obviously set-up to be more for character exploration but the narrative trappings are confusing. It doesn't help that the ending feels awkward. I get it strengthens Jess's core beliefs and such but it felt weak. It has neat stuff like the Justice League getting sucked into their darkest depths and other stuff but all this cool stuff makes the actual story weird and just eh.
The “on the run” plot afterwards is more interesting and easier to follow. It's a simple story that doesn't seem to set up or build much other than do buddy-cop shenanigans to reiterate Simon and Jess' relationship again but it's fun to read. It’s also funny that Hal has it out for Jessica as in Geoffrey Thorne’s run he ends up also gunning for her when she works as a solo-lobo Yellow Lantern to help people. It’s an interesting dynamic when they don’t get along as we see Hal in a little less of a sympathetic light.
Art-wise we get Cliquet again for 1/2 the volume. He seems to be doing a bit bit better than the previous volume and has more consistent faces. Ken Marion does two issues and has good art with an interesting artistic flair in vertical stoic faces but also creates inconsistent faces. Finally the last issue is done by Roge Antonio who is alright.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Volume is divided into two main (mostly Jessica focused) stories: "Ghosts of the Past" and "Rebel Run".
In "Ghosts", we see the Lanterns responding to a priority call, sending them off in search of criminal Singularity Jain. Jain is an odd villain, being both a motophagus (race of alien that literally contains a black hole singularity inside her being) and a kind of empathy vampire. Preying on Jessica, Jain is able to get her to focus on an event that altered her drastically (the murder of 4 of her friends) and convinces her that her time as Power Ring has blocked her memories of the murderer's faces. Jain offers to help, and suddenly we find one of Earth's Lanterns at the center of a "trauma black hole".
The Justice League is called into help, but their efforts don't seem to be able to relate, so they bring in Constantine. Calling upon his connection with magic and the supernatural, John is able to get Simon Baz into her mind, which manifests a separate area that deals directly with the influence that Power Ring had on her. Simon fights for his life (without ring which he had to leave outside the black hole) against a Power Ring version of himself as he searches for Jessica.
Meanwhile, Jessica has embraced her previous Power Ring identity, so that she may "bring the killers of her friends to justice". Simon finds her, but not before she sees their faces, which closes the black hole and gives a tremendous boost to Jain's power. Jain is able to suck the Justice League inside her and gains even more power. Jessica, with the help of Simon, is able to realize that even though she knows who they are, she has to accept what has happened, and that its too late for her to see them brought to justice. This allows her to gain control over the will of her ring, alters its chemistry, and she is able to save the Justice League and get both her and Simon out of Jain.
In "Rebel Run", Jessica is on the run from Hal Jordan, who has been instructed to bring her in to discover what happened to her ring, as well as for destroying a block and attacking officers. She is trying to find an alien who knows what happened to her. Mind control rays and bouncing from planet to planet keep us readers on our toes, but this story isn't as good as the previous one.

Overall, a good Volume, but hopefully this comic will stop being the "Jessica has to overcome mental issues and Simon is not a terrorist" show. Bring back the other Lantern corps or a galaxy threatening villain.
Still recommend. Fast pacing and plenty of action.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Ghosts of the Past" is a decent book overall. In this book, Jessica faces the traumatic memory of the day that her friends were murdered. Seeley does a great job in writing her struggle and the various emotions that she feels. The artists, Roman Cliquet, V Ken Marion, Roge Antonio, and Sandu Florea, did a great job in showing this through the illustrations also.

I love Jessica's friendship with Simon too. He is there for Jessica. In spite of the dangers that he faces, especially since the villain, Singularity Jain uses her own powers and Jessica's powers against Simon and others, he does what he can to help Jessica. Their friendship is one of the strengths of the books.

Singularity Jain proves to be a very difficult antagonist to stop. The Justice League struggles against her. Her character is a bit one-dimensional, but she continually poses quite the challenge, especially when she plays on Jessica's anger and pain.

The resolution was great, but a bit rushed. It was moving. However, it could've been longer and felt like it wrapped up a bit too quickly. Still, it shows the strength of Jessica, especially within her heart.

The final issue of the book felt a bit disconnected from the others though. It was a totally different story. There are some great twists and the story itself is great. However, I think it should've been in the next book as it was completely different than the main story. I also found the justification for the Guardians' actions to be a bit flimsy. Nevertheless, I did like how Jessica and Simon worked together and how they resolved the challenge that they faced.

Overall, this was a decent read. It's not perfect. Some parts were a bit rushed and some of the justification is a bit flimsy. Nevertheless, the stories are good and so are the character relationships and Jessica's arc. The art is great. So is the coloring.

[Dr Rashmit Mishra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow . This sucked . Like Sucked real bad . Ever since Sam Humpries left this book series , it's gotten awful . Don't know if I want to continue to the next volume even .

"Well what's wrong with this one?" You ask (or I imagine you might ask) , well this volume had 2 stories . The first one was kinda cool , where Singularity Jane makes Jessica re-live the moment that changed her life course forever , and in doing so Jane gets to feed on a huge amount of power (don't ask how , I am still confused) and ergo to get out of this mess , Jess has to deal with her past and overcome her anxiety issues . My problem with this story was that we have already had Jess overcome that incident , we have seen her really progress as a character all by herself , this just felt needless.

Besides that, the book felt really confusing , as idk what Constantine did to make it all right in the end , or what was going on inside the Ring of Jessica and if they had left the ring outside why was it useful inside the black hold .

The 2nd story was even worse , Jessica is accused of a crime she didn't commit but she can't remember how she is at the crime scene . This story has been done to death , and not just for GL but for every character in the comic world . Worse yet , why and how did Every other Lantern decide she was a criminal and not allow her to explain herself .

The art was a bit better but the tales repetitive and confusing , filled with plot holes . It's a NO! For me

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another volume that is overloaded with ideas, most of which don't really get explored. Jessica gets sucked into her ring, and Simon goes after her (with the help of Constantine, who seems to have a lot of fun showing up all the supes and making sure they don't get to do anything important here). Then there's the Emerald Afterworld, which has the feel of the Speed Force holding all the spirits of dead speedsters, but with some serious philosophical and religious questions that don't even get brought up, much less addressed. Oh, and we also get Singularity Jain again, who gets to do a little more moustache-twirling villain stuff here. And we also get Jessica's secret history origin finally revealed - the events that have traumatized her get a second chance to do so, albeit with a very different outcome this time.
The crossover of Justice League characters doesn't really have any justification here - they don't do much aside from serve as victims (and fodder for Constantine's commentary).
Then there's an entire second story where Jessica's missing memories hide the secret of why she's working with criminals. It's another story that questions the purpose of Green Lanterns - as police or enforcers of the status quo.
So again, lots of stories and ideas, and none of them get quite as much depth as they could have used. Some fun sequences, good character moments, and back stories finally revealed.

[Alex E · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jessica Drew has always had a problem with her confidence, her nerves, and her anxiety. And in this volume, she has to battle those demons head on as she.... wait a sec, haven't we done this before?

Yeah, we have! but I guess Tim Seeley has decided to... do it again? for... some reason? I hate to say this, because this was one of my favorite DC titles to read, but the series took a serious downturn when the writer changed. And don't get me wrong, I like Seeley. He usually produces some solid comic goodness. So to see him kind of retread what we have already done and seen before is... disappointing to say the least.

Basically Jessica goes into the world of Power Ring (from Earth 2 or 3 or something) and has to fight her fears and anxiety due to not seeing who killed her friends when she was younger. Ultimately this is just a way for having Baz tell Jessica again, to believe in herself again, so that she can realize that she is stronger than she thinks again.

I hope Seeley can pick it up in the next volume because this one was a bit subpar.

[Mark Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This TPB contains 2 story arcs, #44-47 is the title arc which is outlined in the description; Jessica faces her deepest most painful repressed memory - and the consequences behind knowing the truth of it.

Issues #48 and #49 are a separate arc in where Jessica is on her own, trying to uncover the truth behind her recent fugue state that left a wake of destruction. Hal Jordan is hot on her trail and to throw him off the trail she ditches her power ring, leaving it in the care of an old friend's feline. Jessica is left with only her wits and the truth on her side against an inter-galactic corporate conspiracy and her own Corps.

Together they are two great stories about Jessica overcoming some deep seated mental issues, and proving she can overcome these troubles by thinking clearly, using her will power (sans power ring) and, of course, with a little help from Simon.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first story arc was great as we get to see GLs vs Singularity Jain and like Jess confronting her dark past and what happened to her and her friends that night, sort of return to Volthoom or like her Power ring roots but its just exploring her darkness and how her partner Simon and JLA teammates save her and I really like the themes here and a personal journey for Jess! The second story finds her on the run and Hal on her pursuit and it was kinda boring and bad and pulled the volume down for me, and a struggle to read but then again some good, some bad.

[Dean · Rating 2 out of 5]

the refugee story in seeley's first story was fine, but not entertaining. sets up characters for later.
second story of the dating app was crap.
this story was forgettable. at least it played with anxiety almost interestingly. it's so tiring Jessica saying 'im anxious. I stayed in my apartment for years' stop telling us explicitly, tell us implicitly and with subtext. that would eb more realistic.

jessica deals with her past of her friends being murdered. rotsting artists are all good but the theybdont always line up well with each other.

[Lucas Savio · Rating 4 out of 5]

É difícil para mim dar três estrelas para uma história do lanterna mas como a história que n curti muito são compostas de duas edições americanas n chegar a dar essa nota gostei bastante da história sobre o passado e sobre essa questão de irmandade mesmo entre a jessica e o simon estou indo para o ultimo encadernado dessa fase do rebirth e ja estou sentindo sdds...

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 The main story was okay, at least had some decent JL cameos and I thought maybe we were going somewhere with Jess's past... but the last arc just made the rest of the Corp, Hal especially, seem like giant d*cks. As much as I like Jess, too, I feel like she gets a lot more story time than Simon, like they just can't quite figure out what to do with him.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebirth cover dress gone...but really a continuation of those volumes.

2 very distinct stories, the first and longer tale is stronger and goes into the psyche of our heroes.

Overall 3.5 volume.

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately almost a 4 star. The first arc is strong, giving us a better sense of what Jessica lost and contextualizes her lack of confidence. I strongly recommend it if you like the character. The second arc had a lot of potential, but wastes it. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either.

[Sheldon Wiebe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid entry and, once again, interesting looks at superheroes with either mental health issues or facing their greatest fears,

Nice appearance by the Justice League and everyone's street-level wizard, John constantine.