Review: ‘The Green Lantern Season 2’ #2 Is An Absorbing Silver Age Jazz Remix From Morrison And Sharp

The Green Lantern Season 2 #2 is yet another dive into the gonzo, nonsensical world of the Silver Age, where exposition ruled and the dafter the menace the better. And, The Green Lantern Season 2 is certainly a comic book that embraces this daft era with open arms, and then some. It’s also allowed Grant Morrison some very fertile ground to take from and remix, giving it his trademark psychedelic twist along the way. And, in Liam Sharp, he has found a more than apt partner-in-crime. Two guys who I am sure have been there, done that and bought the t-shirt on many an occasion. And, it’s what make this comic so absorbing too. Like lysergic acid diethylamide on blotting paper.

I think this whole madcap issue is best summed up by Hal Jordan when he stares down a masked man with the line, “Stay back, it’s half-serious.”
Mixing old school references such as reappearance of Eve Doremu and Cosmidor City (Green Lantern Vol.1 #58) with Morrison’s own sensibilities and then filtering it through the intense lens of Sharp’s artwork offers up a bizarre, oft-times hard to follow, but enjoyable reading experience.
But – and maybe this is just me – I did feel that there were further Silver Age powers worked into the mojo fuelling this issue. I mentioned in the preview of this issue that Hal’s isolation on Earth echoes Doctor Who’s own exile to Earth during Jon Pertwee’s Third Doctor run of the early 70s, but I also sensed the kind of out-there narratives of the UK’s The Avengers TV show especially those of the late 60s run, featuring Steed and Mrs Peel. Anything and everything could happen – often with no explanation whatsoever – with the expectation that the viewers would just run with it. Plus, Morrison did a grand take on Steed and Mrs Peel a good few year back now (1990, Eclipse mini-series to be exact) and it certainly has that same feel.

It’s certainly stands out as one of Hal’s weirder Earth-bound adventures, even by the standards already set by Morrison and Sharp. Add to this a distinct Frazeetta feel to proceedings, the loose and fast attitude to the dialogue (itself a throwback to the Silver Age giving it the sense of beat poetry about it all), and you have another musically infused issue, I believe. A jazz free-style remixed, groovy ride to the far side, daddio. Far out, man! I’m onboard and ready to keep on truckin’.

With The Green Lantern, it’s not necessarily the story that brings me back each and every issue. It helps, but every now and again you just get the feeling that the whole team working on this book takes the time-out to have fun. This seems to be one of those issues, although I am more than aware that this is Morrison we’re talking about here. Nothing is wasted and nothing is frivolous.
The Green Lantern Season 2 #2 is available now from DC Comics