9/3 Comic Reviews: Letting in the Light
Absolute Green Lantern #6 written by Al Ewing with art by Jahnoy Lindsay
“How far out is the world that’s coming?”
As a long time fan of GL and the franchise’s lore, one of the ongoing questions I’ve had with this book is “how much of it is still in place?” The characters are clearly in different places in their lives and the GL Corp doesn’t seem to exist in any capacity as an intergalactic police force. But did the emotional electromagnetic spectrum still exist? Were the seven (plus two) lights still in place even if the way the characters engaged with them had radically changed? We finally start to get clear answers in this book as Jo and Hal reunite with an old friend inside the green lantern.
The revelation that the encounter with the Abin Sur was a test and (most) of the people they thought were dead had merely been taken into the lantern had been hinted at already, but we finally have someone clearly laying out the what’s and the why’s of it all. Longtime DC fans are going to notice a fair number of familiar terms being thrown about in different contexts than we’re used to. Al Ewing has been using the subversion of the familiar to great effect throughout this book, playing off of reader expectations only to reveal that the things we thought we understood were actually far more vast and frightening after we’d already been lured in by their surface level similarities. The root of cosmic horror is the realization of how insignificant we are and how small our understanding is of the universe, and hearing familiar terms like “Rao” and “Tomar” being thrown around but in a radically different contexts makes it even more uncomfortable because it feels like we should know. Everything is so familiar that we should be able to figure things out, but we’ve been deceiving ourselves by thinking we had the capacity to understand anything. It’s not just in terms of the language used either. We’re presented with the ostensibly heroic John Stewart and Guy Gardener who are glowing gold and red respectively, two colors which decades of Green Lantern comics have taught us to consider “bad-guy colors.” Rather than a seven-color spectrum of emotion, the Absolute Universe contains four levels of light: black (Qard), red (Rao), green (Sur), gold (Aur). They correspond to “chaotic action, restraint from action, correct action, and total understanding.” What that means in practice remains to be seen. We’ve seen black creating murder-tendrils and green providing the flight and energy constructs we’re familiar with, but what does “restraint from action” look like? Despite Jo having what appears to be the most theoretically heroic power of “correct action,” the way she received it was irregular and has marked her as “Tomar,” an anomaly. Someone deemed worthy of the light is meant to be taken into the lantern as an “Ain,” an initiate. Once they have gained enough understanding, they may at some point become an “Abin,” an adept. Because Jo gained the power of the Abin Sur upon his death, she’s gained “power without understanding.” That said, the Oans, the ones who run the light show, have not had their motives fully explained. They clearly see the world in different ways than we do and take a dispassionate view towards individual lives. We’ve seen that Jo can be hot-headed and capable of make grievous errors in judgment, but she has proven to be compassionate and willing to put everything on the line for the sake of a friend. Unfortunately, as we’ve seen plenty of times already, the Absolute Universe is not one that rewards idealism, and her unwillingness to cooperate with the Oans may be what tips the universe even further towards Darkseid.
Framing this exposition-heavy chapter is Cameron Chase, an agent of an unnamed government agency who would very much like to head over to Evergreen to investigate, but is being put on administrative leave. At one point she makes a call to a fellow agent who turns out to be none other than Simon Baz. Interestingly, he’s already wearing a mask despite not appearing to have any kind of secret identity. If he’s doing it purely for himself, he may immediately shoot to the top of the list of my favorite characters in this book. Given his ties with the Green Lantern legacy, he may be the next in line to be chosen as an initiate, but that remains to be seen. Of course, Cam has her own ties to our protagonist and by the end of the book, she’s faced with a choice that may determine just about everything. The other ongoing thread is one Hector Hammond who continues to make the case for being the worst villain we’ve seen yet. Petty, egotistical, and horrifically short-sighted, it’s almost comedic how focused he is on one-upping Ra’s al’Ghul while Absolute Superman is making it perfectly clear that the only reason Hector is still alive is because Ra’s doesn’t even know who he is. Unfortunately, he’s about to get his hands on a pool’s worth of black hand juice, and there’s no question that whatever he does with it is going to make life miserable for Jo. That’s not even getting into John Stewart’s warning of the Black Stars, the aforementioned “world that’s coming.” Beset on all sides, but now armed with new knowledge, it’s going to be up to Jo if the tides turn in her favor or not.
Jahnoy Lindsay’s work has been insane throughout the run, but this book has to be the best I’ve seen yet. The use of color when describing the lights and their accompanying philosophies are just too cool. The first one we get is a page divided into four vertical panels, each in one of the four colors with an accompanying image to serve as an abstraction of what each light represents. It’s striking, conceptual, and, like the rest of the book, presents us with familiar things that we should understand, but completely changes the context until they become frightening and alien. We also get our first look at the Red and Gold Lanterns. Guy is glowing with a warm light, far more comforting than the blood-spewing monsters the mainstream corp is made of. John appears the most integrated with the gold light, fitting for someone who has gained “understanding.” He evokes the image of a wise sage who has risen about human desire and is all the more terrifying because of how peaceful he is.
After five issues of questions, we start to get some real answers along with a clearer idea of what’s coming. There’s a lot on the table, but the chaos feels deliberate and Al Ewing has proven time and time again that there’s no one better at playing the long game. A world we thought we knew has been revealed to be something arcane and frightening, but with a team like this, readers can be without fear.
Batman #1 written by Matt Fraction with art by Jorge Jiménez
It’s always interesting when one of the big publishers decides to take one of their long-running titles and bump it back to issue one again. Usually it’s accompanying a line-wide initiative with the intent to draw in new readers with the promise of a book that is going to be different and independent from anything that has come before. The drawback is that the legacy of these characters is just as often a selling point and the implication that the book is going to move away from it can frighten as many readers away as it draws in. I wrote about this at length when discussing the initial wave of “DC All In” with the decision to push into two directions at once with the main universe celebrating the history and legacy while a new Absolute Universe would reinvent and reexamine the heroes with a new status quo. Given that, I was surprised that the publishers had decided to start a new Batman book rather than have the new team continue the previous one. Having now read the first issue, I think the decision is one that’s helpful for fully appreciating the book. Batman books are often driven by impossible mysteries, hidden conspiracies, and unsurmountable foes. Most writers kick off their first issue with a hook that an epic saga is about to unfold for our Caped Crusader. Matt Fraction has instead opted for episodic stories that celebrate the absurdity of comics and the massive world that’s been built around Batman. Combined with his new costume with its blue cowl and symbol, the book immediately reminded me of the TV show Batman: The Brave and the Bold. That said, don’t expect a campy throwback to a classic era, this is still very much a Batman of today, but one that leans into the absurdity of Bruce Wayne’s day-to-day life and how he responds when things get weird.
The first few pages of this book serve as a refresher for some of the major status quo changes the world has gone through. The two largest ones being that Jim Gordon has come back from retirement but is now at the bottom of the ladder as a simple patrol officer, trying to pass on his ethics and experience to a new generation. At the top of the ladder in the position of commissioner is none other than Vandal Savage. The idea of an immortal warlord as the head of an institution nominally created to protect the public might seem absurd, but let’s all be honest about it. If it were to happen in real life, most of us wouldn’t even bat an eye and an alarming number would even applaud. Anyway, Commissioner Savage has decided that the police are going to be supported by a private military task force devoted to shooting a lot of guns. You know that awful feeling when the absurd villains feel realistic? I suspect we’ll be getting a lot of that here. Unfortunately, this initiative coincides with the breakout of one Waylon Jones, aka Killer Croc, a man who is not doing well. Croc’s mutation has led to him regressing into a child-like persona while his body has become even more monstrous. Despite this, his doctor believes they were making genuine progress and Waylon has the capacity to turn his life around and change for the better. Batman isn’t convinced, but he’s not going to let Waylon be gunned down by Savage’s savages either.
In typical Batman fashion, he stops a mugging on the way and once the victims have been seen to, he makes his way to the butterfly vivarium in the Gotham zoo where Waylon has holed up. He comes in ready for a fight, but even when faced with an aggressor, this new iteration of Waylon Jones isn’t a killer and doesn’t have it in him to fight back. What follows is something we’ve only seen a few times, but gets me right in the gut each time I see it. Batman takes off his mask and sits down to chat with Waylon, not as a hero and villain, but as two people. Batman is often seen as an uncompromising force of justice, but there have been a number of wonderful stories highlighting both his compassion and his belief in the better nature of humanity. Batman, at his core, has to be an optimist to believe that he can make a difference despite everything he’s gone through, and it’s touching to see that side of him on full display here. The issue is full of humanizing moments for our hero, most significantly the fact the he’s accompanied just about everywhere by the image of Alfred Pennyworth. It’s been years since Alfred died, but the loss of his second father clearly weighs heavily on Bruce’s soul. He sees him as someone he could talk to about his cases, but also as someone who reminds Bruce of his better nature and the power of reaching out a hand to people in a dark place. Sadly, even Waylon can see that for as much as Bruce is trying to help others, he hasn’t found anyone else who can help him. That said, he isn’t entirely alone either though, as the issue makes clear at the end, his family may need some help first.
Jorge Jiménez did an amazing job on Justice League and I was excited to see what he was bringing to the table, and it turned out to be the perfect style to accompany Fraction’s storytelling. His work always screams “superhero” to me, and that’s exactly the energy permeating through this book. This isn’t the detective in a bat costume, this is the hero whose wits and skills put him on the same level as Superman and Wonder Woman. Much like the best stories of those characters, the conflict is not about whether or not they can win, but what is the most appropriate use of their incredible power. Waylon Jones looks wild and terrifying, like a miniature kaiju, but the moment Batman walks in with his gloves glowing with electricity, there’s no question who’s going to win. The new batsuit also looks great, cutting a more heroic visage that befits this take on Batman. Hats off to Tomeu Morey on colors too. It’s been a while since Batman has had such a bright costume, but that shade of blue strikes the perfect balance between being optimistic and still feeling dark enough to blend in with the shadows. It’s accepted wisdom at this point that Batman is a night person, but the first look we get of him is lit by the setting sun. Not only is it bold, it’s flat out gorgeous. The issue is titled Vast Colors in the Dark and it more than lives up to that title with some truly breathtaking images. For the first time, I’m hoping that we get more scenes of Batman out in the daylight because it really is a sight to behold.
I remarked in one of my reviews last week about Batman’s ability to be endlessly reinvented, and it’s amazing to see that in action once again in a completely different fashion. Though, rather than reinventing him, it may be more appropriate to say that this team is shining a light on Batman and giving the reader the chance to see him in a whole new way. Brave, bold, and breathtaking, this is a fantastic start to the first issue of the world’s greatest superhero’s new book. I know I’ll be sticking around, because things are looking bright.