Comic Review: Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 (DC Comics)

In keeping with this truncated celebration year at DC, it’s Green Lantern’s turn to celebrate. 80 years! Big issue!

Also keeping in tune with previous hero celebration issues, there are ten short stories in this 100 pager, all new. Touchingly, we see the late Denny O’Neil’s last new story, ‘Time Alone’, illustrated by Mike Grell.

There are loads of other big names who contribute stories: James Tinion IV, Cullen Bunn, Peter J. Tomasi, and others. Artists of stories and pinups include: Ivan Reis, Mirka Andolfo, Rafa Sandoval, etc.

Without casting green light or green shade on any individual creative team let us consider how difficult it must be to write a short story about any of the many Green Lanterns. How to involve the reader in a situation lasting six or seven pages, with a beginning, middle, and end. It’s a tough assignment, and some of the teams perform admirably. Some writers visibly struggle with it, and the reader is thus presented with a ‘slice of life’, a reminiscence, a symbolic gesture, a chance meeting with an old friend, and so on.

This issue is a mixed bag, with plenty of green baggage, and a long bonus section that profiles the many many Green Lanterns, complete with drawings of them plus a brief bio.

The pinups are immediate and somewhat whimsical, allowing for a break in the green actions and musings.

DC Green Lantern 80th Anniversary, $9.99 for 100 pages of content