Green Lantern, Vol 1: Invictus

Green Lantern (2021)

by Geoffrey Thorne, Tom Raney (Illustrator), Dexter Soy (Illustrator)

Geoffrey Thorne (Ultimate Spider-Man) brings together a Green Lantern team like never before! Featuring fan favorites like John Stewart and Jessica Cruz team up with the new Teen Lantern Keli Quintela on an epic galactic adventure!

As this new Green Lantern series begins, the newly formed United Planets and the Guardians of the Universe hold an intergalactic summit to decide who can best serve and protect the cosmos from danger. With the majority of Green Lanterns called back to Oa, John Stewart arrives alongside Teen Lantern Keli Quintela, whose powerful gauntlet could be one of the most powerful and unstable weapons in the universe. With the entire landscape of the universe in flux, is this the end of the Green Lantern Corps...or a new beginning?

Green Lantern Vol. 1 Invictus collects Future State: Green Lantern #1-2 and Green Lantern #1-4.

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

192 pages, Paperback

First published December 21, 2021

About the author

Geoffrey Thorne is an American novelist and screenwriter.

Thorne was born in the United States and currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

After winning Second Prize in Simon & Schuster's sixth annual Strange New Worlds anthology with his story "The Soft Room," he went on to publish more stories in several media tie-in anthologies as well as the Star Trek: Titan novel Sword of Damocles.

As a screenwriter, Thorne has worked with Disney, Cartoon Network, STARZ, developing various properties. His TV work includes BEN 10: ULTIMATE ALIEN & OMNIVERSE, LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT and the hit TNT series', LEVERAGE and THE LIBRARIANS.

Thorne is the co-founder and writing partner in GENRE 19, a studio he formed with artist Todd Harris in 2008.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This starts off with the Future State issues with a bunch of Green Lanterns trapped on a planet that is being overrun by what I thought was the Khund and the GLs power rings no longer work. After reading the rest of this, it's actually a new race, the Quinari who look and behave almost exactly like the Khund. Nothing like adding confusion with your new character designs.

The regular issues are half about getting to where John Stewart and his Lanterns are in Future State when they get sent on a quest to the Dark Sector where communication to back home is nonexistent. The other half of the book stars Jo Mullein from Far Sector along with the Teen Lantern and Baz. They are picking up the pieces of a catastrophe on Oa. Everything in here is fine but none of it is compelling. It all feels like it's been done before (because it has). Every time DC looks to shake up the Green Lantern Corps, they seem to do the same thing.

Tom Raney, Dexter Soy, and Marco Santucci handle the art. It's all OK. Raney's art has morphed into a more cartoony style that I'm not a fan of.

[A.J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Following up Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp’s 27-issue epic was always going to be tough, but man this volume
is really not great. Collecting Future State Green Lantern and the first four issues of the ongoing, Geoffrey Throne somehow makes one of the most boring GL reads ever. Jo Mullein has also been added to this series, which is the main reason I bought it, and Thorne just doesn’t do anything interesting with her. Basically the story is set in two parts: What Jon Stewart is doing on some weird backwater alien planet, and what Jo Mullein is doing to bring the GL Corps back together after the power battery on Oa is destroyed.

I really wanted to like this, but Thorne just keeps a meandering pace that has no urgency to get to the point. I love Jo so I’ll keep reading to see where she ends up, but I didn’t really like this. Thorne is also a mega Jon Stewart fan, but has this weird hatred for Hal Jordan, since he thinks he is “boring”. A Jon Stewart fan calling Hal Jordan boring is the defintion of the pot calling the kettle black. 2.5 stars easy.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this starts with a future state tie in where the GLs are trapped in some planet with them losing power and John and co. fighting Khunds and it was alright but a little confusing and may connect later on, also the villains being like "God in red" and we see who it is and it felt kind of anti-climactic lol but still fun.

Second we see the main story with United Planets convening a meeting to determine the role of OA in this new cosmic order and then we see the status quo and what all of them have to do now and then blowing of the battery (again?) and then where all of them are stuck and the coming of Jo and what she does when she arrives here and like continuation of Far sector and so it ties nicely. Meanwhile John is stuck on a planet called "Sergillon" and well we see his life there in glimpses but when some invading aliens called "Qinoori" come, what will he do and how will he save this new planet? Plus knowing some big things are going on.

It also sets up some interesting stuff with the guardians and whats happening to them and maybe the villain behind it and its intriguing and will make one hell of an arc if they can pull it off.

Also there were some revelations with Earth and why it has so many GLs and that was intriguing and manages to explain things which should have been quite a while back but I digress.

So yeah a book which manages to introduce a new status quo and also build towards the big cosmic changes happening in the DCU and focusing on John and Jo mostly and sets the stuff for the next volume and how it all wraps up before dark crisis!

Definitely read it once, it has good moments, maybe the art is not good in some places but still looks good. And you may have a good time reading this.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

After Grant Morrison's mind-bending run (that I've not read yet), this series is meant to be a return to the more straight forward Lantern stories that I enjoy.

And yet.

Collecting the Future State issues here doesn't help, because I found those overwrought and boring in their Future State collection, and I won't say much further on that.

The four issues of the actual series have one of the biggest problems I've seen in comics recently - if you're running two narratives (not just a plot and a subplot) then you need to make them both equally as compelling, which isn't the case here. I have no idea what the John Stewart story is building to, nor do I particularly care, whereas the mystery back on Oa surrounding Jo Mullein and the Power Battery is far more interesting, and only giving a shit about one half of an already oversized storyline doesn't help at all.

The art's fine? There are contributions from Dexter Soy, Tom Raney, and Marco Santucci, but none of them are on the top of their game particularly, kind of just blending into the crowd.

Not off to a tremendous start, unfortunately.

[Diz · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story is a bit disjointed and the art is sub-par. I recommend skipping this.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s post-Death Metal and Geoffrey Thorne is taking over the writing duties on Green Lantern with his short run. There’s a lot to commend with this volume, including a real desire to set a new status quo, not just for the Corps but for the entire cosmic side of the DC Universe as a whole. The entire universe is restructuring under the United Planets (reintroduced again in Superman comics), which means that the Guardians and the Lanterns are not the total authority they once were. This volume mostly sees the Corps dealing with the fallout to that decision and reorganizing of the Lanterns themselves.

There’s also some cool new ideas introduced, like the idea of seven important “crux” planets in the universe. Another notable thing here is the focus on the minority Earth lanterns, like John Stewart and Simon Baz, and the new kids on the block, Keli Quintela, aka Teen Lantern, and Sojourner Mullein, finally brought into the fold from Far Sector. It’s refreshing, after spending so much time focused on Hal Jordan or Kyle Rayner. But all the ideas here don’t come together as much as it should for a compelling story and there are some annoying deaths of key supporting Lanterns that fans have come to love that are just brushed off as no big deal.

[Parker J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read as single issues monthly! (I also will be ignoring the fact that this volume collects the two Future State issues because I already reviewed those!)

I'm sad to say that I'm not really enjoying this current Green Lantern series. I think it might be my least favorite of the current Infinite Frontier books that I have been reading :/

This extra sucks for me because I was actually super excited that this series was going to have a big focus on characters like Jo, Keli, Simon, and John. I really love all of them and I was really excited to see them go on a cool adventure or something...but that is not what this has turned out to be at all. Honestly, I feel like the story hasn't moved AT ALL in these first four issues. And the story itself? Not that good. I really don't like the directions this has gone in. Not a fan of the Green Lanterns being depowered, not a fan of them killing off fan favorite characters (off page!!!) for shock value, and not a fan of the way the story is being split between the two different storylines. It just isn't working for me at all. I'll keep reading and see if it gets better, and I guess I would be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued to see what will happen at least a little bit. And I'm waiting for the return of Hal and Jessica lol.

[Nabil Hussain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Passable Green Lantern fare.

This Green Lantern Volume is beautifully illustrated and is very colourful. I was lost whilst reading this graphic novel as I couldn't totally understand completely what was going on. It was not easy to read or follow. I think it will take multiple attempts to read this again to understand the story emphatically which is something I am willing to do. It was great that it featured John Stewart. So I gave it 4 stars.

[NarraTea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let’s be honest, following Grant Morrison’s gargantuan steps is no easy task. The story’s quite fine for a cool, action-packed saga. So I guess we’ll where it goes.

[Kai Charles(Fiction State Of Mind) · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the DC Universe has been rebooted once again this arc showcases what happens to the corps after a tremendous change. I loved the cameos from Teen Lantern.

[Jamie Meinsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first reading of DC’s Green Lantern. I’m very impressed with both the characters and the artwork. Some parts of the story were a bit difficult to follow chronologically.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.
Rough start to the Volume with the connection to the "Future State" storyline. (What parts of this are still going to be canon in the current DC Omniverse? I still haven't figured this out...) But, the playfulness of the cover to this Volume SEVERELY downplays the chaos of the story within.
Highlights:
- A peace summit on Oa, with the intent of welcoming the Green Lantern Corps as the policing agency for the United Planets, is shockingly interrupted by the death of a Guardian. With that, and the welcome into the UP, the Corps is restructured and a huge group of Lanterns (led by John Stewart) are sent on a quest to patrol outside the regions of space that the Guardians can not see.
- Shortly after their departure, there is an attack and the Central Green Power Battery explodes. All GL have lost their abilities, with the exception of Sojourner Mullein (whose ring was crafted by the Guardians to handle without reliance on the Central Battery) and Keli Quintela (who isn't actually a Green Lantern, but uses a replica of Krona's Gauntlet to use the same powers as a GL)
- John, who got stranded in space after losing his abilities, helped the natives of Sergilon defend against the Qinoori Raiders, but his story is definitely about to take a turn.
- The Volume ends with the knowledge that the Corps has lost a huge number of members... and Keli has decided to lash out against the most likely suspect, Sinestro.

Good start, but needs to get a stronger focus towards one or two points. (and I need to read Far Sector!) I think this could end up being a really great run of Green Lantern. (Keep Grant Morrison away! The last run was horrible...)
Recommend.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

We start off with a Future State reprint:

Green Lantern. The Green Lanterns have lost their rings yet again, but this is kind of an interesting twist, because they're out there shooting and killing. Well, it was an interesting twist for about half an issue, and increasingly dull after that [2/5].

And then the main event is a bit of a mess. We get two absolutely overstuffed issues focusing on the new UP and the threat of magic, which is all good for DC and Lantern continuity but not that good of story telling because of the overly large cast and the constant fights fights fights against magics.

There's only improvement and what might be a good story in the last two issues, which we're focusing on all the PoC Lanterns, delightfully including Jo from the recent Far Sector comic. John's story is a bit too on-the-nose in how it lines up with the Future State story, while Jo's is a bit too seen-it-before with the whole corps in disarray yet again. But Thorne is finally doing good things with the characters and it's a nice space soap opera ...

And then it just ends mid-story. [3+/5]

[Joseph Morin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The “Future State” issues were amazing! The rest were cool too-- just made less of an impact on me. Big events occur in this book. I'm enamoured with the story, though mixed on its execution. I often had to read between the lines to figure out the plot. And I'm aware that a certain lack of meta knowledge is part of the appeal, since we're given a limited PoV-- but there were other parts left unexplored without good reason (specifically the Oan plot). That's all the more of a shame, since most of these issues ran longer than average anyway. What's on the page is good stuff though.

The pencils weren't of stylistic appeal to me. But the colouring wowed me! I love the use of light and shadows-- which is fitting for Green Lantern, whose whole shtick is light.

Invictus is Pretty Darn Good.

[Will Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t envy Thorne’s position here, trying to tell his own story while simultaneously reckoning with concepts like “Teen Lantern” that make absolutely no sense in the Lantern mythos.

Thorne makes some fascinating additions to DC’s worldbuilding with the concept of “The Crux Worlds”, planets that always play a major role in the stability of every universe, and digging up long forgotten tidbits of John Stewart’s mythology (I had not heard he had once been a Guardian himself!) but that doesn’t make up for the fact that the plot is a slow burn and (so far) is something GL fans have likely already seen before.

Not sure I can recommend this to anyone outside of the GL fanbase, and even then your enjoyment may very depending on your investment with the mythos.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spoilers abound. I really enjoyed this, actually, despite some of the reviews making me think I wouldn’t. The art change in issue #3 was abrupt and I really took me out of the story for about half the issue. It’s still not my favorite but I was able to get into the story again. As for the story, but I wish the battery hadn’t exploded. I liked everything they had set up before, with Stewart and others going out into “the unknown” and whatnot, but the batter was just another complication that I felt the story could’ve done without. Then again, though, by the end of issue #4 I’m more on board again, especially since Jo is investigating.

[Jimmy Hanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch better than the Morrison run. Morrison has done some of my favorite comics of all time, but the Green Lantern wasn’t one of them. Not only is this story (and its vol 2 part) better understanding of each Lantern’s character (Morrison wrote Hal as if he were Guy Gardner half the time), but the events of the story *actually matter.* Jo Mullein’s character development is great over these volumes

[Red🏳️‍⚧️]

A welcome shake up of the tediously copaganda-y Green Lantern Corps that doesn’t (or wasn’t allowed to) go far enough. Keli and Sojourner steal every scene they’re in, which is how it should be. John is here a lot but doesn’t get to reveal any new depths. “John is a good leader” is basically all that it has to say. Still this is much more interesting than most of the Geoff Johns-tinged stuff I’ve been seeing for years now.

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found this really slow and difficult to follow. A lot of the beginning is action and politics, and I felt like it was really missing the more down to earth moments that help to understand and connect with the characters. I also think it's weird that the description mentions Jessica Cruz, because I love her but she was only mentioned a couple of times here.

[Will Cooper · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty boring outing for a GL book. Future State was nothing (most were) and then the story basically had OA's battery blow up and then no answers given. We watched a powerless John Stewart survive on a planet, so that wasn't bad, but the new Teen Lantern and the Far Sector's (great miniseries) Lantern join forces to...kind of get nowhere...

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aside from Future State, which I've read before and skipped, I really liked this. It was a nice break from Hal "easily fixes anything" Jordan. Keli is kind of a brat, but I loved her friendship with Simon, and I need much more Jo in my life. John was well-written. The only thing this book was missing is my bff Jessica Cruz.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A likeable start to a new Green Lantern run. Setup issues are always hard, as is jumping into continuity without having read the lead up issues. Still, I felt like I always had a handle on what was going on, and am looking forward to the next volume, Horatius.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like some ideas like new roles, despite for the 800th time the Corp being pushed to the edge.

Didn’t really need the future state issues in this collection when 2 more of this arc could have been included.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really cohesive in structure as it seemed to jump around Ron future to past a lot.
The battery is gone, again
How many times has the central battery gone out on OA now?
Reducing the Corps, again?
So what is new is just reheated old plots with newer characters thrown in.
Bummer

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many lanterns

Good color artwork. The omni verse is getting organized and enemies lash out destroying the green battery that powers the rings. Watch the strategies unfold. Heros will live or die.

[Eye-ra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a huge sucker for all things green lantern so take me into their space Odessey anyday!

[Tobias Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah there's some stuff in into, Teen Lantern seems fun, but powered down lanterns is dull. Plus I feel weird about having Jo Mullein in regular GL continuity

[Kris Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent-ish Green Lantern run but even kind of made me miss the fun I had with New 52 GL.

[Daniel Hoare · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh