Geoff Johns, the man who brought Hal Jordan back from both insanity and death, now takes a turn at his origin? I should be as giddy as a schoolgirl. So why am I not? Although the new storyline promises new insights into the origin of the greatest Green Lantern, this first issue is little more than rehashing of storylines already told.
Green Lantern #29
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Issue #29 starts “Secret Origin,” a look back on who Hal Jordan is and how he became Green Lantern. I’m a huge Jordan fan, but I was a bit disappointed here.
For new readers this is a nice primer about a pretty complex man who could do anything when he put on the ring, and royally screw-up his life when he wasn’t flying through the air.
This issue deals with Jordan’s childhood and adolescence, the loss of his father, his stormy relationship with the rest of his family, and his washout of the Air Force. If you think you’ve seen all this before, well, you have. Many times.
There’s nothing new here to entice long time readers to pick this issue up, and although the story arc promises to reveal more about Abin Sur, and the circumstances of his death, and how those tie-in to “Blackest Night.” the first issue barely touches on this issue. Only on the last page do we finally get Abin Sur, and then it’s more of tease to next issue than any larger revelation.
Although there’s something nostalgic about this issue, there’s simply not much to it for long time readers. If this had been the first issue of a relaunch I might better understand, but this is issue #29. I don’t mind going back to revisit the origin of our hero, but give me something new (and which wasn’t already covered in Emerald Dawn and it’s sequel), especially if it’s going to be drawn out over several issues. Hopefully Geoff Johns has something more up his sleeve, and maybe the Abin Sur story will get expanded in the next few issues…if not I guess I’ll just go back to reading my old issues until there’s something new worth talking about.