The first issue of Green Lantern Dark from DC Comics told a pretty much complete story. Taking place in a world shrouded with darkness, a reluctant Green Lantern was recruited by a small town to save them from Solomon Grundy. And she did. The end! So where could this series possibly go next? And how could it hold up against the excellent first issue? Pretty darn well, is the answer.
In Green Lantern Dark #2 from writer Tate Brombal and artist Werther Dell’Edera, we get the first of a new, multi-part story featuring yet another town under attack. This time, it’s New Camelot, and they have a different beastie attacking in the dark every night, stealing children.
While the first issue took the form of a story told by one of the characters, Lunette, this issue dives further into the fairy tale meets Western nature of the book. Our Green Lantern is doing a classic refusal of the call when she’s recruited by this new town. She’s drinking hard, shut in, and perhaps the most relatable part of the book, dealing with her big win against Grundy by getting heavily depressed. We’ve probably all felt this, but if not, this is alternately called Post-Event Depression, the arrival fallacy… There are a lot of names. But basically, once you achieve a goal, you crash, hard. That’s what this GL is going through and it grounds what is otherwise a fantastic story.
And I mean that in both senses of the word. This is fantastical, down to the residents of New Camelot talking like they’re straight out of a storybook. But also fantastic down to the superb art by Dell’Edera. Anyone who has read Something is Killing the Children knows how terrifying Dell’Edera can make shapeless, monstrous shadows — and that excels in this book, as well.
But more than either of those aspects, what Green Lantern Dark does is show how far a little light can go in the dark. Everyone needs hope, even those who are painted as heroes. It’s a lovely sentiment and a beautiful start to an arc that seems to show how our protagonists will travel from town to town during this series, shining that light as they go. And isn’t that what we all need right now? A little light in the dark?
Green Lantern Dark #2 Rating:
Green Lantern Dark #2 Official Synopsis:
BEWARE THE GREEN LANTERN’S FLAME! Rina Mori never asked for the Green Lantern’s flame, nor the responsibility that came with it. But no good deed goes unpunished, and Rina’s ousting of Solomon Grundy from the town of Lantern’s Light begets others who seek her aid. A desperate mother emerges from the thick New England woods seeking reinforcements against the ferocious beasts that stalk the streets of her home and steal children under the cover of night. Lunette, Rina’s young and extremely self-appointed mentee, is eager for another chance to play hero, because she’s just naive enough to believe the dark and dangerous world they live in could change for the better. But the Green Lantern herself will take far more convincing…
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