Danger zone! Hotshot pilot Hal Jordan steals a prototype Batplane to take on Amanda Waller. Don’t miss our review of Green Lantern #15.
Green Lantern #15
Writer: Jeremy Adams
Pencil: Fernando Pasarin
Inker: Oclair Albert
Colors: Romulo Fajardo Jr.
Main Cover by: Ariel Colón
Variant Covers: Chris Samnee, Simone Di Meo, Nicola Scott, García-López, Crystal Kung
Release Date: September 11, 2024
This review contains spoilers
Green Lantern #15 opens with Hal breaking into a defunct Batcave and commandeering a prototype Batplane, one that can take him to Washington D.C., and into the viper’s den of robot antagonists. Batman’s no-kill programming becomes an obstacle, however, when Hal discovers the plane has no offensive weapons to aid his infiltration into the android stronghold. A bit of clever thinking leads us to a terrific full-page splash where Hal jettisons a Batmobile from the hull, smashing through the front of the Hall of Order. With the Amazos distracted, the Flash races in to download important intel from Waller’s hard drives. Then, it’s off to charge GL’s ring!
Meanwhile, Carol Ferris AKA Star Sapphire (one of the few metahumans who escaped Waller’s initial attack), has taken it upon herself to unite a ragtag group of stragglers to overthrow Waller’s regime. In this issue, she seeks to recruit Dove as an ally, but before she can, Sorrow–a brand new manifestation of the Lantern emotional spectrum, embodied by Carol’s heartbroken ex-fiance Nathan Broome–attacks them. Carol bests him with the power of her love, which is only slightly less corny than it sounds.
Finally, Hal arrives at the Green Lantern Power Core, able to charge his ring and regain his powers, and find Carol. But wouldn’t you know it, Carol has found him first (through the power of love again, whodathunk?).
While the overarching premise has yielded some wonderful opportunities to showcase our heroes solving problems with virtues beyond their powers, the gas has hit E and I’m relieved the series will return to its original narrative without its protagonist neutered. In our last review, I spoke on the barrier to entry a tie-in comic faces.
Still, the bulk of so many additional tangents keeps me from recommending this series to casual readers, which is a shame considering Green Lantern is one of DC’s flagship characters. In the last 15 months, Jeremy Adams has had to integrate THREE universe-wide events into Green Lantern (Knight Terrors, House of Brainiac, and Absolute Power). I worry the burden of so much cross-promotion from on high has threatened the integrity of an otherwise linear story from talented creators, and limited its accessibility.
On that note, I’d like to point out an egregious error I’ve never seen before. The cover art of Green Lantern #14 and Green Lantern #15 are mismatched. The cover of #14 features Hal in the Batplane (which doesn’t happen til this issue), and the cover of #15 displays Hal robbing Waller of her confiscated weapons, which was the finale of the last issue and not even mentioned this time around. Clearly these books went to press without a proof, which speaks to a disappointing lack of attention behind the scenes.
Back-up Story: Family Business
Writer: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Art: Montos
Colors: Adriano Lucas
The backup story in Green Lantern #15 is an epilogue to Green Lantern: War Journal #12 (read our review here) that sees John Stewart and his family assist John Henry Irons (AKA Steel) in constructing a monorail in Metropolis. It’s a cute palette cleanser, and largely unnecessary as War Journal already had an epilogue in its own finale, but I enjoyed the series and allow any excuse for more. The last ten or so pages of this issue, including the final panel of the main story, effectively serve as an advert for October’s Green Lantern Civil Corps Special one-shot which will align both series’ leading Lanterns.
Final Thoughts
I won’t penalize the creative team’s interior work over the cover mix-up, as ultimately, this Green Lantern run still has more pros than cons. Post Absolute Power, I welcome a return to form for the series.
Marvel Comics provided The Comic Book Spot with an advance copy of Green Lantern #15 for review purposes. Find more reviews here. If you would like to buy a copy of this title, and help support the Comic Book Spot at the same time, consider purchasing this book at Amazon or at Things From Another World.
