Customer Reviews

Green Lantern: Rebirth

5 star:		(54)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
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He turned evil and tried to destroy the world. He was killed by his closest friend, but came back even more powerful -- and more evil -- than before. He had a last-second change of heart and sacrificed himself to reignite the sun. His spirit was used to drive the earthly manifestation of the Wrath of God in a war against injustice. And he was replaced in his old job by a younger, hipper hero.

And yet, Hal Jordan's return as Green Lantern was always inevitable. The question was how -- and how well -- it would be done. Geoff Johns succeeded admirably in "Rebirth," a book that neatly reconciles the various personae of Hal Jordan in one man -- the one he was always meant to be.

"Rebirth" isn't just another chapter in the ongoing story of the Green Lantern Corps. It's an in-depth study of the mythology of the Guardians, the rings of power and the entities that bear them. It is a dazzling portrayal of personality and conflict, not just of Jordan and his immediate circle of friends, but of many familiar DC characters. And, it's a much-needed reinvention of Jordan himself -- the hero he was and, for many readers, always would be.

The art by Ethan Van Sciver is ultra-realistic, his lines are crisp, clean and startlingly expressive. Johns' story flows from the pages in bright colors and shadows, and the glowing green light of Lantern's power will dazzle your eyes with blinding intensity. It's a brilliant story, artfully written and packaged, of incredible scope. "Rebirth" is truly one of DC's finest.

Can Geoff Johns do any comic wrong? He writes the most amazing stories. This one is so big, involving so many characters and so much continuity, but it is SOOOO fun! This collects the 6-issue mini.

#1-#2. Everyone knows that Hal Jordan is being brought back as GL, but it's not easy - Batman remembers all too well that Jordan is responsible for horrible chaos in the past, and is very reluctant to trust him. Really, can you blame him?

#3. We get the works here: drama that keeps you on the edge of your seat, big action, the JLA, the secrets behind Spectre/Parallax/Jordan, and one mischievous lover of yellow. I couldn't be more pumped for the new start of the ongoing Green Lantern series.

#4. The last page of this book will send shivers down your spine. It is that good. The whole series has been building up to this point, and it pays off.

#5. Hal Jordan vs. Sinestro in an AMAZING battle! The art was spectacular, and the layout very good. So many great splash pages that maximized the action scenes. In the final scene, Batman holds Jordan back from fighting against Parallax. Bats still doesn't trust him, given his murderous past while under the influence of other beings.

#6. The 5 lanterns take on Parallax together, and we get resolution for the JLA-Jordan conflict. Big action, nice character moments.

Green Lantern: Rebirth ties up loose plot lines and reveals answers to questions that have plagued Green Lantern fans for decades, such as what really is the story behind the power ring's impurity and its vulnerability to yellow, as well as some startling new information about GL's arch-enemy Sinestro. No one re-tools their major characters like DC, due in part to their own lack of confidence in the character often times. And no one has had a bumpier ride in recent years than poor Hal Jordan. Seeing Coast City destroyed Hal tries to recreate it leading to a conflict with the Guardians, and Hal's usurping the power of the central battery to become Parallax, destroying most of the Guardians and other Green Lanterns, before finally sacrificing himself to save Earth's sun. Hal would then become bonded with the Spectre as the new Spirit of Vengeance.

All of the surviving Green Lanterns play a role in the book including Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, Killowog, and yes, even Guy Gardner. While off at the edges of space Kyle learns finds an alien race living in terror. His ring translates the name "Parallax". Kyle returns to Earth as he and the other Green Lanterns soon come under the influence of a menacing influence. Guy Gardner even has his body turned inside out as he's taken for treatment to the JLA and Mr. Terrific. Meanwhile Hal is having his own problems controlling the Spectre's thirst for vengeance which is growing more and more aggressive, literally turning the hand of the villain "Black Hand" to coal.

The Justice League is growing suspicious of Hal as well, particularly Batman who has never had a great affinity for Jordan to begin with. Soon the appearance of Ganthet, the last of the original Guardians, brings some startling revelations about the history of the Guardians, Parallax, the power rings, Sinestro, and the source of the impurity. I won't play spoiler and reveal and of this, but the words astonishing and shocking come to mind right off the bat. You know of course that Hal returns as Green Lantern and has his first formal introduction to the man who replaced him, Kyle Rayner. He also has a long overdue confrontation with Batman who still doesn't trust him.

In many ways, this is Kyle Rayner's finest hour as he provides the first warnings about Parallax, and takes on a supped-up Sinestro on his own...just in time for Hal to return, not to mention Guy Gardner. Long time Green Lantern fans are sure to be ecstatic about the return of one of the original Silver Age icons as they never really took to Rayner or Stewart and Gardner was generally only good for a few laughs. How DC handles Hal (not to mention the Spectre) from here on out becomes the new question. The story wraps up nicely and for a change we have a story that doesn't leave issues dangling. The Story was written by Geoff Johns, one of the most stalwart and reliable scribes in comics today. The art by Art by Ethan Van Sciver and Prentis Rollins was very solid without being too "showy".

The hardcover book also provides background information and creator commentary on various aspects of the story which also serve to help tie things all together. A gallery of alternate covers is also included. Green Lantern: Rebirth is without a doubt one of the most important storylines from DC in recent years.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Hal Jordan, the once-dead Green Lantern, is an interesting road-map of comic trends. Early in his career, Hal was portrayed as the perfect hero - most comic characters were. He was fearless, heroic, fit, and ceaselessly noble. But, as time wore on and America became less confident, Hal became a less confident character. No longer a 'golden child', his hair began to gray a little at the temples, and in one of his more touching stories, he travelled across America with his friend, Green Arrow, experiencing firsthand the problems with race, poverty, and drugs that he had never really paid attention to previously.

Time passed, and Hal Jordan eventually died in disgrace, after becoming the monstrous Parallax and tearing apart the Green Lantern Corps in his quest to rewrite time and save his home city from destruction. Comics moved on, but for once, managed to look back and try and salvage the wreckage of Hal's madness - they made him into the Spectre, and thus began a long period in which Hal tried to reign in both his own destructive impulses and those of the Spectre.

Enter Geoff Johns, more than a decade later. Geoff Johns is an unabashed Hal Jordan fanboy, and he starts his now-epic Green Lantern run by reviving his favorite character and relaunching the franchise as a whole. Green Lantern: Rebirth is Geoff Johns' love letter to Hal Jordan, and while many of the ideas that are birthed in this series are fascinating and go on to provide some of the most compelling cosmic adventures in comics today, this book is, as a whole, disappointingly juvenile.

Johns has never been shy about admitting his fandom of Hal Jordan, but even if you've never read a single interview with him, his allegiance shines clear in this book. Every mistake Hal Jordan made is corrected - not through the redemption he sought for the past decade, but by the sudden, shocking reveal that Hal was possessed that whole time. Not only that, but his hair is now golden brown again - it didn't gray because he was aging, but because he was possessed. The killings? Because he was possessed. Even Hal becoming a more thoughtful, caring hero in his trek across America is blamed on his being possessed.

Throughout the book, Johns carefully crafts every anti-Hal argument that people might throw, and concocts a number of ridiculous straw men throughout the book to represent them, each of which is debunked as Hal's true goodness (or physical prowess) shines through and wins them over. Characters recognize him as 'the greatest Green Lantern', the only one they've ever trusted, and more.

All that said, if you are interested in the Green Lantern mythos, the book is definitely worth it. As utterly idiotic as the 'But I was possessed!' excuse is, Johns makes excellent use of it as a part of the greater setting, and the book sets up a number of elements of Johns most recent masterpiece, the Sinestro Corps War. The concepts introduced would be cheesy beyond tolerance in the hands of a less skilled writer, but Johns introduces them all with a confidence that would make his best bud Hal proud.

The book is, essentially, one long, well-illustrated piece of fan fiction by someone who really likes Hal Jordan, and the Agenda - make him as AWESOME as possible - is almost blindingly bright at times. And while it's undeniably well-written, Johns is so focused on making Hal look cool that he forgets to make him look human.

Excellent! Geoff Johns has done an amazing job at delivering Hal Jordan from the mess of the past few decades. He's also enhanced the entire Green Lantern mythology along the way.

This a complex story that wraps up years worth of continuity problems, and yet it is made relatively simple here. In and off itself, that's a huge achievement. That this story also rocks is almost too good to be true. But it is true. This is a great book.

Many questions are answered in truly satisfying ways, the origin of the yellow weakness is revealed, and Hal Jordan is reborn in a manner that serves to make Green Lantern fans of every kind happy. And that includes Kyle Rayner fans too.

Some say this book is just for the devoted fanboys, but I think there is an exceptional story here for even the new-comers and casual readers.

I've hated Kyle Rayner for twelve years now. I don't appologize for that. Hal Jordan was my Green Lantern and he was my father's Green Lantern. He was disgraced and replaced in a terrible and disrespectful way. I can't express enough how happy I was when I learned that DC had found an editor (Dan Didio) who had the balls to correct one of their worst decisions. Geoff Johns wrote one hell of a story that cleverly explains that the events of Emerald Twilight were NOT Hal Jordan's fault. The artwork by Ethan Van Sciver (New X-men) is very top notch. I can't recommend this collection highly enough.

i had never read anything about nor known anything about green lantern until this. Now I'm looking foward to buying a few more GL stories.The main point that i enjoyed was the opening "Green Lanterns for dummies" section of this book. Being new to the character i was quickly filled in on all the details comics often leave you needing.it covers who the GL's are,why there are so many,and most importantly (to this story) Hal Jordans back story.I have to admit i didn't fully understand all the parallax stuff but i let stuff go if its too confusing and usually it makes enough sense by the finish.If you havent read Green Lantern before or just want a great story that doesn't need a six book story BUY THIS.It's a great read worthy of a DC start and my real hook on comics.

A few years back, when DC was busy killing off many of their icons (which as of now, they're having a blast doing it again), Ron Marz and the then editors at DC had the "brilliant" idea of killing off the Silver Age Green Lantern Hal Jordan. As that story unfolded, Hal went crazy, killed countless other Lanterns, got himself a new costume, and called himself Paralax. Eventually, Hal sacrificed himself in a final heroic act, and later became the vengeance seeking Spectre in an effort to redeem himself. Kyle Rayner, who became the new GL after Hal went nuts, was never embraced by comic readers, but the character comes into his own here in Green Lantern: Rebirth, a six issue mini-series written by Flash and JSA scribe Geoff Johns. Beginning with Kyle crash landing to earth with the body of Hal Jordan, he warns that Paralax is coming. Something strange is also happening to JLA Green Lantern John Stewart and former GL Guy Gardner, as Hal's spirit struggles with the Spectre, and the return of Paralax. It sounds convoluted, but Johns somehow manages to make the past Paralax story make sense, as Hal Jordan makes his triumphant return as Green Lantern, and the re-establishment of the Green Lantern Corps. Guest stars, including classic GL villain Sinestro, alien GL Kilowog, the JLA, the JSA, and the Teen Titans, are all here; culminating in a just plain awesome battle between the new GL Corps and a posessive evil. Ethan Van Sciver's art gives Hal a return to his classic look, while Kyle looks more intimidating than one would ever think before. Some won't like it, but Rebirth is just that: a rebirth not only for Hal, but for the entire Green Lantern mythos, and it's done masterfully.

The story would be very good even if it didn't produce the happy effect of reintroducing a classic DCU character. Many Green Lantern fans were disappointed (if not horrified) at the treatment that Hal Jordan has received in the last fifteen years. This novel manages to undo the damage without seeming trite or contrived. Along the way, we get a good high-stakes story and explanations of some long-running questions. Why were the original rings ineffective against yellow? Why didn't Kyle's ring have that weakness? Why was Sinestro so easy for Hal/Parallax to kill? How do the various GLs actually USE their rings? And, most importantly, what was up with Hal's 'touch-of-gray' hairstyle? (ok, maybe that's not all that important, but it was a curiosity). All answered in this volume. My only fault with the story was one interaction between Hal and Batman. I didn't object to the characterizations, but Batman having worse reflexes than Hal was a little unbelievable. A minor quibble for a great book.

To tell the truth, I didn't think they should do this. After the continually evolving changes of the past decade - the turning of Hal Jordan, the fall of Oa and the Corps, the introduction and progression of Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern, the return of Hal as Parrallax, the events of the 'Final Night' epic, the new incarnation of the Spectre in 'Day Of Judgment'.....to return Hal Jordan to the role of Green Lantern I thought would be, at best, clumsy; and at worst, a thinly-veiled scratching out of ten years of good stories to try and go back to square one. Happily, I couldn't have been more wrong. "Rebirth" is perhaps The defining event of the GL mythos, strengthening rather than weakening all that had come before it, while opening up exciting new paths to the future not just for Hal but a whole host of characters. Not least of all The Spectre, who obviously went on to different territory outside the GL books again once no longer bonded with Jordan.

The beginning of the story - the spirit Of Hal Jordan attempts to attend a ball game with old friend John Stewart and old not-so-friend Guy Gardener, but is unable to stay because the power of the Spectre draws people to him in droves to confess their sins; Kyle Rayner crash-lands a badly damaged spacecraft onto Earth, bringing a green coffin and a dire warning imparted to the backpackers who find him: 'IT has a name'; Carol Ferris is re-opening the Ferris airfield and comes across Jordan's old plane; Green Arrow and Mia encounter The Spectre on a day when he's in a particularly ominous - and rather confused - mood. This all starts up an epic that brings in many of the important GL figures from over the decades (and at least references many of those that it doesn't); that fully ignites one of the greatest threats the DC Universe has ever seen; that involves a heavy dose of the DCU's other champions - from Superman and Batman to the JSA and Zatanna - and does it all with outstanding art and storytelling. Its epic battles more than live up to the grandeur demanded of them by taking place in a storyline so pivotal. It handles the core GL characters so well that it actually turned me into a major Guy Gardener fan, of all things. And it winds up being not just The pivotal GL story of recent years (and quite possibly of all time) but one of the very cornerstone events of the DC Universe itself. Essential.