Ben Truong's Reviews > Green Lantern: Earth One, Volume 1

Green Lantern: Earth One, Volume 1 is a graphic novel co-penned by Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko and penciled by Gabriel Hardman. It is a modernized re-imagining of Hal Jordan's origin story and how he became a Green Lantern.

Ex-astronaut turned mining worker Hal Jordan discovers an alien spaceship buried within an asteroid – inside, he discover a deactivated robot, a dead alien body, a power battery the shape of a Lantern, and a ring. The support gives way, causing them to escape with the battery and ring.
Back in their ship, Hal reports their findings to the rest of the crew and is accidently jettison into space with the ring, which wakes up the robot – the Manhunter, which attacks him, which blasted him further into space.

Hal wakes up on an alien planet named Bolovax Vik, and meets with resistant Kilowog. Kilowog explains the use of both the ring and the power battery, and reveals they belong to the Green Lantern Corps. He tells the history of the Corps, that they were a peace keeping space force until they were all hunted and mostly destroyed by the same robots Hal fought, known as the Manhunters. It is later revealed that the Guardians of the Galaxy created the Manhunters to kill off the Corps.

Green Lantern: Earth One, Volume 1 is written and constructed rather well. Hardman/Bechko takes an interesting twist to Hal Jordan as an astronaut rather than a test pilot and not even a glamorous astronaut, but a blue collar space miner. Even though Hardman do include most of the familiar elements fans associate with Hal's origin story, they're often subverted in unexpected ways. The result is a Green Lantern comic that's more steeped in science fiction than the superhero genre.

Hardman's penciling is done rather well. Hardman depicts an older Hal Jordan, who isn't the sleek, muscular hero wearing a skin-tight costume. Many of the franchises more colorful trappings have been toned down. Hardman's art brings a harsher edge and a more moody sensibility to the page. The alien characters actually look alien in many cases, not simply humans with funny-looking heads, the only exception is the Manhunters, which is rather cartoonish.

All in all, Green Lantern: Earth One, Volume 1 is a good graphic novel of a modernization of the Green Lantern mythos.