In the final chapter before the finale, John Stewart thwarts the Revenant Queen with a taste of her own medicine.
Green Lantern: War Journal #11
Written by: Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Art and Main Cover by: Montos
Variant Cover: Chuma Hill
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: July 17, 2024
This review contains spoilers
For eleven installments, Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Montos have led us through heart-wrenching family stories and galaxy-wide space wars with such finesse you can’t help but applaud. But Green Lantern: War Journal suffers from the common pitfalls of any deep sci-fi literature: the slog of establishing the rules of a fictional world, a language of made-up proper nouns, and a foundation of contemporary scientific theory. Green Lantern: War Journal #11 represents the biggest hurdle of the series, which began from humble roots in the front yard garden of John Stewart’s home in Detroit, Michigan, but now finds itself ten issues later in sub-dimensions inside the mind of almighty beings. It takes a lot of effort to remember month-to-month, so let’s get up to speed:
Green Lantern: War Journal #11 — The Story
When last we left Green Lantern John Stewart, he was captured in a stasis bubble by the Revenant Queen, a partially re-animated cosmic princess, and leader of the Radiant Dead, an army of similarly-powered space corpses. The Revenant Queen, as revealed in the previous issue, is the “living” counterpart of her father, Olgrund, first of the Old Gods, creator of worlds – a once powerful deity who fell to madness after being tricked into killing his daughter. To prevent his wrath, Olgrund’s brother Byla shattered Olgrund’s spirit into seven fragments (think of Voldemort’s Horcruxes in Harry Potter). One fragment alone, in conjunction with a magic ring forged by the Revenant Queen, poses a powerful threat to the universe as we know it.
Did you catch all that?
But we see in Green Lantern: War Journal #11 that John Stewart only seems at a disadvantage. Instead, his supposed capture was really a ploy to gain insight into the mind of Olgrund. The opening pages show Olgrund’s memories of a happier time, a time of peace when he could rest in a garden with his young daughter. Lantern Stewart witnesses the creation of the Revenant Queen’s ring, initially just a way for the busy Olgrund to teleport his daughter to him at a great distance. Now, the fragment of the corrupted Olgrund intends to use John Stewart as a host so that he may return and wreak havoc on the universe; they place the ring of the Radiant Dead on his finger…
John reveals he has been feigning his incapacity. Now armed with his own Green Lantern ring and the powerful ring of the Radiant Dead, he strikes back at the Revenant Queen. His first priority is rebuilding the dilapidated city that serves as a tomb to Olgrund’s fractured spirit, the Necropolis. The beleaguered citizens witness John Stewart fulfill the prophecy of The Builder, one who would stop evil not by force but by creation. With the final page showing the return of Stewart’s allies, Green Lanterns Shepard and Gardner, Green Lantern: War Journal #11 sets up the final showdown between good and evil next month.
If you crawl through the barbed-wire fence of comic book mumbo jumbo, you’ll find Phillip Kennedy Johnson possesses a sincere understanding and respect for John Stewart as a character. The prophetic label of Builder is especially important as Stewart lives a civilian life as an architect, not just a combat vet or a spacefaring superhero. This highlight of his gentleness and ingenuity not only differentiates him from other Green Lantern characters who use their fists, but serves as the very solution to many problems posed in the climax of this comic.
Furthermore, the most significant scenes of the War Journal series have not been cosmic battles between undead gods, but the relatable pain of John’s mother Shirley’s debilitating dementia. John struggles to care for his ailing mother, even while wielding the most powerful tool in the galaxy – a signature of the most heart-piercing comic book storylines: that even with all their might, Superman can’t stop his father’s heart attack, Spider-Man couldn’t save his Uncle Ben, The Flash can’t truly outrun time. This B-story is so integral to the series because (a) it draws in the reader with real-world problems and (b) it shows what type of man John Stewart is in how he responds to those problems. To protect his mother from the pain of reliving the realization her daughter is no longer alive, John uses his ring to create a construct of his younger sister, Ellie, to keep his mother company as he goes off to battle alien foes. The simple beauty of moments like this are enough to warrant a wade through the marsh of comic book lore.
Montos’ steady hand is an excellent pair for the series, always providing compelling panels to guide us through tight spots of heavy sci-fi. Montos also displays a tremendous understanding of anatomy, depicting a number of different body types. Many of the most important characters are small children or older women, not often found among the bulging biceps and buxom bodices of most comic artists’ portfolios. Indeed, his most impressive work is the titular Green Lantern, John Stewart himself – portrayed through a range of expressive emotions but always recognizable by his stoic, cross-hatched cheeks and inky black costume.
Final Thoughts
Johnson and Montrose have crafted an epic, albeit heady, science-fiction tale worthy of fan-favorite Green Lantern John Stewart by rooting it in a deep understanding of the space hero’s soft side.
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