Back on Earth, Hal Jordan is recruited into solving a problem that only a Green Lantern is suitable to solve. Spoilers for The Green Lantern – Season Two #2 follow.
Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp have been doing some great work ever since they started their run on The Green Lantern. It’s often been a weird, crazy rollercoaster of a series that, for the most part, works on all cylinders. However, there have been missteps with the series and, this issue here is sadly one of those missteps. This issue very much feels like an issue from the 1960s, but in most of the bad ways than the good ways.
Like pretty much every issue of this series prior though, the star of this issue is Liam Sharp. His art continues to be gorgeous, issue after issue. No matter the story, the setting, or the characters involved, Sharp manages to make everything work together incredibly well. He always has managed to nail the cosmic oddity that is Hal Jordan, continuing to do so here. Beyond that though, Sharp also manages to combine the sci-fi nature of this issue and the fantasy elements in an organic fashion. His art has always had a techno-organic tinge to it, so this feels almost like a natural progression of that style.
On a basic storytelling side though, Sharp’s art does a great job and is actually hindered by the words on the page at times. Sharp’s art is easy to understand and follow, and very effective to boot. There’s a simple four-panel part in this issue where Eve is being controlled by a parasite that is incredibly effective simply because of Sharp’s art. This pretty indicative of the entire issue as well. Steve Oliff’s colors end making everything pop off the page as well.
The probably with this issue lies in the way Morrison has scripted the issue. As mentioned, Sharp does a great job of attempting to tell the story in this issue, but that can only go so far. There are poor transitions throughout the issue, confusing continuity, and baffling dialogue. There’s a couple of attempts at explaining why this is the case, but it really doesn’t come out to anything meaningful.
As such, Morrison’s scripting of this issue is a complete mess. That can be said for a lot of Morrison’s writing, but this is one of the most noticeable cases. It’s like he’s trying to emulate certain styles from the 60s, but that just doesn’t work here. It’s worked in the past, but it falls pretty much completely flat here.
CHECK OUT: The Green Lantern – Season 2 #1 Review: The Space Cop and The Sentient Salt