Simply said, out of the three ‘Green Lantern’ books released so far for DC Comics New 52, ‘Green Lantern Corps’ had the best first issue. Peter Tomasi had an amazing run on ‘Green Lantern Corps’ for about two years, so it is really nice to see him coming back to a GL Corps book featuring Guy Gardner and John Stewart.

For the past couple of years the ‘Green Lantern Corps’ book featured Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayer, while John Stewart was left to play second fiddle to Hal Jordan in the main ‘Green Lantern’ book. Then Guy Gardner got his own book ‘Emerald Warriors’ , opening up the GL Corps title to focus on Kyle, John and wider grouping of other Lanterns. It is refreshing to see Guy and John teamed up again. They make a great team.

‘Green Lantern Corps’ #1 opens with a good old fashioned space mystery as there are a couple of Lanterns killed in the blink of an eye, by a villain powerful enough to get close enough to a Green Lantern to kill them before a power ring can detect the attacker. It was nice for the majority of a ‘Green Lantern’ book to actually take place off of Earth.

However, the parts that took place on Earth, were well written, entertaining and a little heartbreaking. Here are two of the universe’s greatest warriors hanging out at home trying to land a day job to get their bills paid. You never really think about how the non-billionaire heroes get the bills paid since the DCU offers plenty of distraction from working to pay their bills. It was pretty sad to see Guy and John deal with “difficult” potential employers as they (Gardner and Stewart) attempt to find Football Coaching and Architects positions to get the most out of their downtime. Of course there is no rest for the righteous, and the guys quickly realize they don’t fit in on Earth anymore.

I really liked the direction set in this first issue. It seems to be getting back to the Space Cop roots of Green Lantern. Hopefully Tomasi will be able to tell some great and epic space stories before everything gets derailed by whatever the next big Green Lantern Event may be. I’m looking forward to seeing what adventures John and Guy are thrown into as the stories progress. I’m sure as readers we will be in for one wild ride.

‘Green Lantern Corps’, while not really a reboot, continues to be one of the best books in the DC Universe. Make sure to come back next month to see the exciting continuation of the amazing cliffhanger at the end of the issue.

Green Lantern Corps #1
Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Artist: Fernando Pasarin
Inker: Scott Hanna
Colorist: Gabe Eltaeb
Cover: Doug Manke and Christian Alamy with Randy Mayor