Green Lantern #0

Green Lantern #0

GREEN LANTERN #0 Review by Jamie Dunst

Geoff Johns: Writer; Dough Mahnke: Penciller; Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne & Mark Irvin: Inkers; Tony Avina & Alex Sinclair: Colorists’ Mahnke, Alamy & Sinclair: Cover

So it’s September and you know what that means?  #0 issues.  We start off this issue in the past with Islamic family watching on their television the horror of 9/11 through the eyes of Simon Baz.  We jump to a day later where a Islamic center is vandalized.  Then five years later where Simon Baz and his sister being bullied and then ten years later where Simon is being profiled at the airport.  Cut to current timeline and we see Simon stealing a truck.  He hears something in the truck and turns around to realize that he stole a truck with a bomb inside.  He calls his sister who seems to have a nice political job.  Simon apologizes for the mess he just got himself in.  He also apologizes for what happened to Nazir but he hits a bump in the road and is cut off.  Simon gets the car clear of pedestrians before it blows up and Simon is placed under arrest.

In the interrogation room, two agents come in and ask Simon basically the same questions that he had been asked by other agents.  We learn that Simon used to do illegal street racing that got his brother-in-law Nazir Amar killed and that he has a tattoo of the arabic word for “courage” on his forearm which is a sin in Islam.  The agents continue to try and get answers about the bomb but Simon doesn’t know anything so the guards put a black hood over Simon’s head and take him to another room.  One of the agents, Agent Fed is not down for torturing Simon but his boss tells him that he’s obsolete and that he would have sacked him but Amanda Waller protects his status.  Simon fights back which bring in more guards and as the man in charge puts a gun towards Simon’s face, a Green Lantern ring flies into the room and selects Simon which that transports him out of the room.  The man in charge explains to Amanda Waller that a suspected terrorist is now in possession of Green Lantern ring.  Cyborg contacts Batman about the transmission he intercepted from the Pentagon and wonders if anyone has spoken to Green Lantern since he quit the League.  Then in some isolated area we see Simon Baz unconscious with a message waiting for him in the ring.  In the Epilogue we see Sinestro and Hal in some kind of dark matter space.

Well, I’m not sure how to feel about this issue.  I suppose Geoff needed his character to get from point A to point B.  I don’t like the fact that Simon is a car thief.  Just seems like a lazy way to get Simon arrested for something bigger and seriously.  Of all the cars he chooses to steal, he chooses a truck with a bomb inside.  Really?  I’m intrigued by Agent Fed.  I have a feeling will be seeing more of him which is probably a good thing.  The way Simon got the ring was interesting as there was an error in the middle of the Green Lantern “You have the ability” speech which makes me wonder if Simon was even supposed to get the ring in the first place and then I don’t think I ever saw the ring transport someone quite like it did Simon.  Seemed painful.  So now, the world will be after this Green Lantern including the Justice League which should be interesting.  Overall, not a terrible issue but not as good as others.