It only makes sense that DC's contribution to
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY last Saturday would be an issue featuring our favorite emerald ring-slinger
GREEN LANTERN.
He's got a highly-antipated (and somewhat highly scrutinized) live action film hitting theatres next month. He's the focal point of DC's next animated direct-to-DVD feature AND he's risen beyond second-string status to one of DC's most popular super hero characters in the last 5 years with storylines such as
BLACKEST NIGHT and
GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH.
This special edition FREE COMIC BOOK DAY of GREEN LANTERN reprints
GREEN LANTERN #30, the 2nd chapter in the "
SECRET ORIGIN" story arc, which reimagines the story of how Hal Jordan got his ring from Abin Sur. New readers and fans who were looking for an introduction to the Green Lantern mythology should be fairly pleased and will probably be wanting more. Good thing there's LOTS of Green Lantern product floating around out there at the moment. Green should be flying in every direction in the month of June.
In addition to the GREEN LANTERN tale, fans are also given a 7-page sneak peek at
FLASHPOINT #1, DC's Event of 2011, which makes the Scarlet Speedster the focal point of an adventure that will literally change the DC Universe...at least for the next few months. Honestly, there was nothing really spectacular here...out of 7 bonus pages to get fans exited, 4 of them were splash pages that revealed very little, other than the fact any artist with the last name "
KUBERT" is awesome.
All-in-all, I liked this issue. Not because it had anything I or any other long-time Green Lantern fan didn't already know or otherwise purchase, but because it was a GOOD READ. Kids who see the movie are gonna be hooked into going to see the GL film, but I like the fact that when I read the book, it reminded me that there was a VERY SPECIFIC PLACE that source material came from...in the comics that I've read and collected for years. And I think that gets sidelined sometimes. Everyone points fingers at who's to blame for the decline of readership in comics. Stores blame creators blame publishers blame technology. In the end, I say we're ALL at fault. There needs to be a serious concentrated effort to get new readers INTO comic stores and also keep existing readers from LEAVING.
Oh wait, there already is...and it takes place the first weekend in MAY and it's called
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY.So if you're new to comics, or have someone you think might enjoy reading them, run over to your local comic shop and see if he's got any leftover copies of this comic. Then head over to
Comic Collector Live and let your search for Green Lantern back issues commence!
Just type "
GREEN LANTERN" in the library search, choose "
COMICS" as your book type and let your own emerald adventures begin!