Green Lantern: Earth One Vol. 1

by Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko

[Quirky Cat]

I received a copy of Green Lantern: Earth One from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is an interesting Green Lantern series; it doesn’t fit anywhere in the current continuity, and instead stands on its own. If you’re ever wanted to see a Green Lantern series with a slightly more sci-fi twist, then you may find this to be worth the read. If however you’re not a fan of reboots and origin stories…then you’re probably not going to enjoy most of this story.
This is the story of how Hal Jordan became a Green Lantern. It’s unique among the Hal Jordan origin stories, and in truth is different from most any Green Lantern origin story out there. Many of the events and characters shown will be familiar, but they’re all going to be different, changed from what we knew and loved.



It seems like no matter what universe or story we’re reading about, if Hal Jordan is in it, you can bet that he’s found a way to get his feet off the ground. In Earth One Hal’s done even better than that – he’s gotten off planet. Granted, he’s a mere prospector for a mining corporation, but it got him out into the great unknown, and that’s worth something, right?
Unfortunately it isn’t enough for Hal. While the circumstances may be different, Hal is at his core the same Hal we’ve always known, and that means he wants something greater for himself. Not that I can blame him for feeling that way, but it is his driving force and weakness.
The real twist in this origin story is not how the ring found Hal, but how Hal found the ring. In almost every Green Lantern origin I can think of, the ring found and therefore chose the bearer. Apparently that is not the case in this universe; it seems like anybody who finds a real can wield it (assuming they don’t do something stupid that immediately kills them), which is an odd idea. I’m so used to the original idea of the rings that it never even occurred to me to try a twist like this. I’m not sure how I feel about this to be honest – I’ve always been a fan of the whole idea behind the ring picking those who are worthy. Though it’s probably too high and mighty for what this series is trying to accomplish, and I accept that.
You’d think finding a ring out in space would result with Hal being the least knowledgeable Lantern out there…and you’d be wrong. None of the active Lanterns appear to have had any training. Their predecessors never had to chance to train them, and that fact hasn’t changed. It was extremely strange to see established Lanterns (Lanterns whom had in other worlds helped to train Hal) being relegated to the same status as Hal. Though it wasn’t off-putting, in fact it was almost refreshing.
What I found to be the most interesting what the chosen setting for the story. It’s after the Man Hunters have been created, and while they’re still in their prime. This is a dangerous enough situation as it stands, but throw in a bunch of Green Lanterns with literally no training or prior knowledge…and things just got drastically more difficult for our heroes.
I can’t wait to see how they explain the power source for the Green Lanterns in this series. So far things have tilted slightly more sci-fi than fantasy, but the anticipated explanation would heavily tip the scale in one favor or another. I’m curious to see which way it ends up.


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