Reviewer: “Starman” Matt Morrison
Story Title: Force Of Will
Written by: Geoff Johns
Penciled by: Ethan Van Sciver
Inked by: Prentis Rollins
Colored by: Moose Baumann
Lettered by: Rob Leigh
Editor: Peter Tomasi
Publisher: DC Comics
I was worried this week. So many titles I read came out. All of them were great.
Birds of Prey had a great issue, with Gail Simone introducing her “Thorn” character from last year’s amazing Rose And Thorn into regular continuity. Ex Machina was a little slower than usual, but no less enjoyable for it. Space Ghost continues to surprise me. And the first chapter of I Can’t Believe Its’ Not The Justice League proved to be as hilarious as I hoped. But one title outshone them all and I was so worried that I wouldn’t get the chance to talk about how great it was.
Lucky me. I get to review it.
Green Lantern was my favorite superhero growing up. I’m not sure what inspired this. Green being my favorite color then? Yellow being my least favorite color? Hal Jordan being the Superfriend with brown, curly hair like mine? The fact that when Superman–best superhero there is to a young kid–got hurt and couldn’t fight something, it was nearly always Green Lantern who saved him? Or maybe it was because I was the imaginative sort who saw the value in having the power to make anything you thought of real? Either way, Green Lantern was my hero.
Now imagine that. You have the power to make thoughts reality, but you only have one limit. You can’t affect anything yellow. Doesn’t sound like much of a weakness. Until you realize you have an enemy. An enemy with a serious grudge against you. One who has the same powers that you do, but none of the weaknesses. And everything he thinks of? It comes out yellow.
Time once was that Sinestro making an appearance in a Green Lantern story was a big deal. It conveyed the true horror of what it was like to have that total power and then to suddenly be powerless against someone who wanted you dead. That is how this book opens, with Sinestro standing over an injured Green Lantern and Green Arrow (Kyle Rayner and Ollie Queen) and it builds from there.
Honestly, if you’re not reading this title by now, anything I say here won’t do much. You’re either loving this book as much as I am or you aren’t reading it. Geoff Johns has written a skillful script. Ethan Van Sciver and Prentis Rollins have created some beautiful pictures. And the whole thing just plains rocks in socks. There’s not much else to be said.
