Customer Reviews

Green Lantern: Will World

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Now if you're looking for a comic that's worth ... dollars, then I highly recommend picking up the Green Lantern graphic novel Will World.

The story involves a spectacularly surreal rite of passage that Green Lanterns (Hal Jordan here) have to go through in order to more effectively wield the power of the ring. He also recites the Alfred Bester penned Green Lantern oath at least once or twice. But the star of this show isn't the story but the incredible pencils of Seth Fisher. The only thing I might compare it to is that New York gallery level Dr. Strange annual that P. Craig Russell drew those many years ago. There are out and out homages/thefts of Man Ray, Escher, Magritte and Dali that burst from the page, not to mention the continuous suggestive ooze of Bill Plympton's animated mutations. It features a squealing zoo of bizarre images, such as: Giant Floating Heads, tiny people, people with six arms, flying carpets, flying saucers, architecture gone mad (Indian palaces mixed in with future organic skyscrapers mixed with Chinese houses standing beside a rundown tenement building, etc.) pipe smoking gorillas, zeppelins and of course Alien Grays. It has just a small touch of Moebius dappled with the sensibility of the Beatles Yellow Submarine Cartoon. It's the kind of thing that would make Windsor McKay fume with jealous anger. And that's just the first splash spread on pages 8 and 9 of this 96 page epic.

Stunning stuff. Not unlike walking through a living, acid tinged dream. I mean, I don't do drugs, but there are times when you're reading or listening to something where you get the faint sense that you're missing out by not being under the influence of, well, something. Every panel screams jarring and disorienting: a floating pixie here, giant levitating heads, a Joker card that features the Joker, towering 20 story clowns with lamprey-like arms, not to mention Green Lantern's head occasionally exploding into figures of people or a great twisted swirling cacophony of alien faces and organic vinelike strands..

Highly recommended. In fact, when computer pundit Robert Cringley's predicted cheap foldable plastic displays are a reality, this is the kind of art that I'd like to upload on my walls.

Philip Shropshire..

Let me start by saying I don't read many superhero titles. I picked this book up because I liked the author and loved the artist. I don't have a previous relationship with Green Lantern. At times this confused me but it also seems as though it made me more open minded to DeMatteis's bizarre treatment of this character.

This book is a wonderfully surreal story. Green Lantern forgetting who he is, what world he lives in, and what powers he might have lends to a clever and lighthearted story of the discovery of a bizarre world and personal identity.

The artwork is absolutely gorgeous. Seth Fisher did an amazing job some of his absolute best work. Perfect artist for this story. Fisher made this story all the more bizarre and surreal.

I was extremely happy with this book and recommend it for anyone who likes comics, good storytelling, or good artwork.

The artwork alone makes this a good buy, the story is a wonderful bonus.

Hal Jordan is thrust into the recesses of his own mind in order to pass a test all Lanterns must undergo; after all, they wield a weapon that works on sheer willpower. The artwork left me cold at times, but it is surreal and vivid: giant floating heads, six-armed women, aliens of all shapes and sizes. The "Doc Giesel" joke was nice, too.

DC presents a totally fresh view of a popular character, Hal Jordan. It opens with Hal in middle of nowhere, and totally takes you places you never have been before. You will be with Hal when you meet creatures you have never, never seen before, worlds where anything and everything is possible, and ANYTHING goes!! The art is breathtaking, colors so beautiful ... the book is worth your time!!!!!

I so wanted Green Lantern to have a good original graphic novel. Batman has several, Captain Marvel has one, Enemy Ace has one, Wonder Woman has one or two, but not Green Lantern. The other graphic novel I read, Fear Itself, was probably of even poorer quality.
The three stars above are mainly for the artwork which is simply stunning. Its so detailed and you notice new things about it every time you look through it. Seth Fisher is also given a lot of wierd concepts to visualise and he does it brilliantly.
The story, on the other hand, is the problem, partly because of the way its structured. You have to read about 80 pages into the 96-page graphic novel before it tells you exactly what is going on. You can keep a reader's attention for, say 10 or 20 pages, but 80 is going too far. By the time you come to the end of the story, you think, hey, this is a pretty interesting idea, why didn't he explain it in the beginning? Then maybe I would have appreciated the plot more!
The story begins with Hal Jordan lost with amnesia in a strange world. He meets strange people and is looking for some mysterious character but doesn't know why. Its hard for the reader to care about this character when we don't know its significance or even why Hal is looking for it.
The dialogue is also lacking, which is a shame because JM DeMatties is a master of humerous dialogue as you can tell from reading his Justice League International stories. Here it just comes off sounding uninteresting, like he's trying too hard to be funny.
Really is a shame, because this is one of the few times we've seen Hal Jordan on a solo adventure since Emerald Twighlight. Oh well, it seems he is being brought back to the DC Universe as a GL so maybe there is some light on the horizon.