Green Lantern Noob

[Jiarn]

Yep, I'm finally going to get myself back into comics. I found this really amazing local shop that has alot of heart and great employees. They're the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I want to start buying comics on a weekly basis/have conversations as they are released. As well as help support my local shop.

I'm really interested in getting into DC as I've always been a Marvel fan in the past. Mostly because Marvel really kept everything in one universe/dimension, where DC kind of had like 4-5 Superman or Flashs running around at a time.

I've spent about 2 solid weeks wiki hopping. I started with Green Lantern history and worked my way around the Justice League and Lantern really holds the most interest for me. I was hoping to get some kind of Essential book kind of like the Marvel sides but could really find much.

It was recommended to me to read the three Crisis storylines, in collected editions. Infinite Earths, Identity and Final. I'm more interested in getting caught up with Lantern specifically though and was told to start with the Green Lantern: Rebirth series and work my way from there.

Are there any solid "collected" works I can get my hands on to get me caught up to Brightest Day? What advice do you have for me fellow comic nuts?

 

[Sara_2814]

Sinestro Corps War. It's collected as trades which include both Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps issues, so you'll have the entire story.

 

[Covar]

DC has a Showcase line, which is pretty much their version of Marvel's Essential books, except in typical DC fashion, a bit more random in their release, content, and schedule. In fact DC's trade schedule and plan is far inferior to Marvels.

As for getting into Green Lantern, I suggest reading GL:rebirth and any GL Trades from Johns' run on the title. Older collections have some really cool stuff, but not really necessary since John's seems to be actively ignoring a lot of it and rewriting continuity on the fly (but that's a rant for another time).

Your milage on the various Crisis books will vary. Crisis on Infinite Earths is pretty much the very definition of Event, well researched and a huge epic scale. Infinite Crisis was ok, it tried to be as large and epic as the first and succeeds in some areas and fails in others. Final Crisis was Grant Morrison inhaling a bunch of drugs and writing a largely incomprehensible "story" of various scenes with little to no transition and relying on the fact that his fans will defend him by claiming anyone who dares criticize the story is just to dumb and philistine to get it and the true genius that it is. Known as "The Grant Morrison defense" you might be more familiar with it's modern name "The Inception defense."
Added at: 10:27

Sinestro Corps War. It's collected as trades which include both Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps issues, so you'll have the entire story.

I second this. It was the best part of Johns run, certainly better than when he introduced the entire rainbow, and tried to insist and prove to us that half of the corps weren't just plot devices for blackest night.

 

[Jiarn]

Sinestro Corps War. It's collected as trades which include both Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps issues, so you'll have the entire story.

That's the series right after Rebirth if I'm not mistaken?

DC has a Showcase line

Do tell!

As for getting into Green Lantern, I suggest reading GL:rebirth and any GL Trades from Johns' run on the title.

From John's run = ?

I'm also sure I'm going to get into the 3 Crisis collections, mostly from some general history on the universe.

 

[sixpackshaker]

I don't know if they ever did "Green Lantern Green Arrow" trade, I'd love to find that if there is.

Basically those two give everything up and road-trip across America. Pretty much started the gritty era of comic books. Especially when Speedy got hooked on Heroin.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Jumping right into Sinestro Corps War would probably be a mistake, since it was resulting from a lot of build up from both Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps. There's about four trades/books of each that build up to Sinestro Corps.


Rebirth might be a good start, although it's pretty continuity heavy. It's sort of new reader-friendly...I think.

I might suggest something a little more self contained. It's from the 80's and a bit dated, but I always dug Emerald Dawn. It's basically Green Lantern: Year One, done right after Crisis when DC hit the reset button for the first time.

The original Crisis is a LOT of fun, if dated. Identity Crisis is great but really anti-climactic ending. Infinite Crisis has its moments and it's fun, but there's a stupid amount of lead-ins and tie-ins to get/understand the full story. There are four books that I'd recommend reading first, since they build up to it. They were all specifically written to build up to Infinite: OMAC Project, Villains United, Rann/Thanagar War (which ALSO spins out of the great Atom Strange mini-series) and Day of Vengeance. There's also a Johns-written JLA story called Crisis of Conscience. And then there are tie-ins to Infinite Crisis itself that were published during the series.

Ugh. I'm suddenly reminded why I don't give two shits about most mainstream current comics and most especially events. You can't just recommend ONE book without needing to recommend a dozen more just to understand the whole story.

 

[Jiarn]

Yeah... that's kind of the problem I'm seeking an answer to....

 

[Covar]

his last name is Johns. So it's either Johns' or Johns's.

The Sinestro Corps War was a few arcs after Rebirth, it was the next big thing to happen with the GLs though.

Showcase Presents is a large amount of Old issues republished in B&W on some pretty cheap paper. There's about 5 GL volumes out.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Heh, the answer is to skip GL altogether and read some good comics:

Starman, Chew, Elephantmen, The Unwritten, Criminal, Sleeper, Umbrella Academy, Goon, Atomic Robo, Hack/Slash, Northlanders, DMZ, Kabuki, Astro City, Invincible...

Yeah, I could go on and on.

 

[Jiarn]

Much thanks for the advice, and I'll probably get into more heavy reading such as your titles there (already doing some wiki research on the first couple) but I really would like to get some firm grasp on Lantern and the DC universe as best I can first.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

*nods* No worries. Your best bet, I'd say, would be Rebirth. Just read up on some of the backstory beforehand, like Kyle Rayner, Parallax, Hal Jordan as the Spectre, etc. I think it's mostly new-reader friendly but it's always hard to tell.

Come to think of it, here's a couple of really good recommendations that includes some great GL stuff:
-New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke. Hal Jordan's pretty close to the main character/narrator. There's also an animated movie of the same name that adapted it. It's quite good, but it's more of a reader's digest version in comparison.

-Justice - There's either the three volume softcovers (about $12-14 a piece) or if you want to go to the full monty, there's the Absolute edition (about $100). It's basically Alex Ross and crew taking the basic concept of the old Super Friends (buncha heroes versus a buncha villains) and putting it in a more modern tone. Great stuff and all the characters are perfectly iconic, each one getting a chance to shine at one time or another. That's probably your best introduction to a lot of DC characters' mythologies without getting bogged down with ridiculous amounts of continuity. It's set in its own universe and takes each of the characters down to their basic, iconic core.

-Superheroes by Paul Dini and Alex Ross. They did a series of giant one-shots, each one focusing on a different character: Superman, Batman, Shazam (Captain Marvel) and Wonder Woman. Then they did a Justice League one where Green Lantern is heavily featured again.

The thing that I like about these three recommendations is that you can't get a lot out of the DCU but you're not confused by whatever their continuity or events were at the time.

 

[MindDetective]

The Unwritten

I love this one right now! In fact, I have to pick up the latest trade.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

I've been loving the series, too, right from the very first issue. The third volume, though? They finally brought to light some stuff (and of course, more questions). Plus, there's an issue that's set up like a Choose Your Own Adventure. I wanna try tracking down that issue.

 

[Jiarn]

Watched New Frontier. Loved it. Trying to get my hands on First Flight to watch too.

I'm also probably going to finally watch the JLA show that's been on for a while now too.

With a good amount of wiki reading behind me (at least 40 or so articles) I think I'm caught up enough to start on Rebirth but just wanted to make sure I should start there.

 

[Espy]

Read New Frontier. The cartoon is good but it's a mere pale shadow of the comic.

 

[Frank]

I dug the Justice League cartoon, but Unlimited, the follow up series is probably the single best animated series ever made.

Mostly of the John Stewart GL variety, but there's some good cameos.

 

[Jiarn]

What the hell went wrong with Green Lantern: First Flight the movie?

I was dumbfounded.

 

[Espy]

I haven't seen it, is it bad?

 

[Jiarn]

It's a fantastic animated film. Completely derived of what the real story was though. Why bother calling it Green Lantern if it's just a basic tale of betrayal and revenge? Without any of the deeper backstory and character development.

They spend less than 5 minute explaining who Hal Jordan is, what he's about, or how he even becomes a Lantern. Then they spend even less time building up Sinestro's reasons for revenge/plotting. It was just lacking in every department of storyline.

 

[figmentPez]

It is kind of shallow, but as an action packed rookie-cop takes on corruption in the department, it works pretty well.

 

[SpecialKO]

It is kind of shallow, but as an action packed rookie-cop takes on corruption in the department, it works pretty well.

It just felt very clumsy and shoe-horned in. Just like Jiarn said, fantastic animation, but otherwise lacking. The Wonder Woman animated movie was much better.

 

[Fun Size]

So if someone burned through Rebirth and The Sinestro Corps War, where would they go from there?

I suspect that this is why so many people skip comics altogether, BTW. If I'm reading a series of books, it's clear what the next one is if I want to continue the arc I'm reading. Trying to catch up on one of these stories is like puzzle solving. That and the fact that you have to be someone who says, "You know, I have no idea who the broad dressed like a slutty circus barker is, but I guess she doesn't matter enough to get more than one line, so I'll just pretend she isn't there and carry on." makes breaking into these things nigh impossible.

 

[Espy]

They spend less than 5 minute explaining who Hal Jordan is, what he's about, or how he even becomes a Lantern. Then they spend even less time building up Sinestro's reasons for revenge/plotting.

And thats why I don't feel like the movie was a big success. It felt like they had the key ideas and things in place but it was lacking the real heart and soul of the comics and the characters. I agree with the assessment that it was shallow. Thats a great word for it. It was a shallow film and thats a shame.

 

[twitchmoss]

First flight was definitely lacking in character development. Emerald knights was freaking awesome though. I always felt that first flight didn't focus on the countless aliens in the corps. also, Nathan Filion as hal was awesome voicecasting. New frontier was awesome as well.