Green Lantern: Rebirth
by Geoff Johns
List Price:
Our Price: $8.02
You Save: $6.97 (46%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $7.49 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Geoff JohnsPhotographer: Ethan Van Sciver
Photographer: Prentis Rollins
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-04-01
ISBN: 1401204651
Number of pages: 176
Reading Level: Young Adult
Publisher: DC Comics
Book Reviews of Green Lantern: Rebirth
Book Review: Disappointing, but still a good entry point.
Summary: 3 Stars
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.
Teens Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Must-Read Green Lantern Collections
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War, Vol. 1by Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Ethan Van Sciver
DC Comics; Published: 2008-02-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.73
Price in other shops:
Green Lantern Vol. 3: Wanted - Hal Jordanby Geoff Johns
DC Comics; Published: 2007-08-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.25
Price in other shops:
Green Lantern Vol. 2: Revenge of the Green Lanternsby Geoff Johns
DC Comics; Published: 2006-11-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.24
Price in other shops:
Green Lantern Vol. 1: No Fearby Geoff Johns
DC Comics; Published: 2008-05-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.65
Price in other shops:
Green Lantern: Rebirthby Geoff Johns
DC Comics; Published: 2006-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.71
Price in other shops:
Green Lantern/ Green Arrow Collection - Volume 2by Dennis O'Neil, Elliot S. Maggin
DC Comics; Published: 2004-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.31
Price in other shops:
Green Lantern/ Green Arrow Collection - Volume 1by Dennis O'Neil, Neal Adams
DC Comics; Published: 2004-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.90
Price in other shops:
The Green Lantern Archives, Vol. 1 (DC Archive Editions)by John Broome, Gil Kane
DC Comics; Published: 1998-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $25.70
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
52, Vol. 3by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, Keith Giffen
DC Comics; Published: 2007-09-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.24
Price in other shops:
52, Vol. 4by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid, Keith Giffen
DC Comics; Published: 2007-11-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.24
Price in other shops:
52, Vol. 2by Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, Mark Waid
DC Comics; Published: 2007-07-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.25
Price in other shops:
Green Lantern Corps: Rechargeby Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons
DC Comics; Published: 2006-06-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.55
Price in other shops:
Infinite Crisisby Geoff Johns
DC Comics; Published: 2008-02-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.68
Price in other shops:
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War, Vol. 2by Geoff Johns
DC Comics; Published: 2008-07-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.40
Price in other shops:
Green Lantern Vol. 3: Wanted - Hal Jordanby Geoff Johns
DC Comics; Published: 2007-08-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.25
Price in other shops:
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War, Vol. 1by Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Ethan Van Sciver
DC Comics; Published: 2008-02-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.80
Price in other shops:
Green Lantern Vol. 2: Revenge of the Green Lanternsby Geoff Johns
DC Comics; Published: 2006-11-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.70
Price in other shops:
Green Lantern Vol. 1: No Fearby Geoff Johns
DC Comics; Published: 2006-04-19; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.62
Price in other shops: