Graphic Novel Review - Green Lantern: No Fear

2 out of 5 Stars

Finally, I get around to reviewing a graphic novel! I know all my loyal readers (all two of you) have been clamouring for it and so here it is! I plan to review a whole bunch of DC and Marvel books as I go along but as Green Lantern is the series I’m focused on the most at this point, it only feels right to start with this partiuclar superhero book. First thing you should know is that I only started reading this particular series about a year ago through trade collections. I’ve read a lot of Geoff Johns’ run, all the way up to ’Blackest Night’ along with a few silver age GL books. Second thing you should know is that unlike most comic book fanboys on the Internet I do not think that this current run on GL is flawless. Quite the contrary in fact. But I’ll talk about that as I go along.

First up in my GL reviews is ‘No Fear’, the first book since the return of Hal Jordan in the splendid ‘Rebirth’ mini-series. The book is split up into three parts essentially. The first issue is a one and done story about Jordan and his father, the next three issues involve two Manhunters at war with each other and the last three are about little gremlins obsessed with advancing their own evolution.

If I had to summarise this book in one word that word would be ‘bland’. It really feels like Johns was just coasting for these issues. I think the main problem is how much the book tries to involve story elements that are just plain uninteresting. For example, the first issue is all about how one night when Hal was a child, his Dad took him out flying in one of his planes. It then transitions to a now grown up Hal taking Kyle Rayner on a plane ride in similar fashion. The thing is, do we care? Honestly, do we really care about any of this? Then in the second arc (the one regarding the Manhunters) Johns weaves a subplot that has to do with Hal’s brother not wanting to return to Coast City. Again, do we really care? Will these subplots have any real relevance to future stories? From what I can tell the answer is no. It’s just tedious, drawn out plot padding and it really slows down what could have been a quite enjoyable read.

The actual main arcs regarding the Manhunters and the “intergalactic gremlins” is done well enough but they end just as they begin to pick up steam. Couple this with the constantly changing artwork by a multitude of artists and this book just comes off as a being a bit of a jumbled mess. It’s a mish mash of interesting ideas but they never seem to quite come together.

There is some merit to this book however and it comes in the form of Ethan Van Sciver’s amazing artwork in the last three issues. I love the way he portrays the ‘Lantern light’. The way it shifts forms from a flame to a beam and everything in between is just fantastic stuff. His work on ‘Rebirth’ was stunning as well and I can’t think of a better artist who ‘gets’ the look of the Green Lantern powers quite the way he does.
Overall, this is a completely skippable GL book. There are a couple of high spots here and there, mainly in the form of Sciver’s artwork, but the stories never really get off the ground and they’re badly hampered by too much unnecessary plot padding.