Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps Rebirth #1

 
Written by: Robert Venditti
Art by: Ethan Van Sciver
Colors by: Jason Wright
Letters by: Dave Sharpe
           
            The Green Lantern Corps is gone, the Guardians of the Universe are dead, Oa is destroyed and the Sinestro Corps maintains order in the universe. There is only one hope to change this, and his name is Hal Jordan. That is premise of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, and although DC has promised the rest of the Corps and Kyle Rayner will play a prominent role in this series, if this Rebirth issue is anything to go on then Hal Jordan will be at the center of attention for the foreseeable future.
           
             Continuing his career with the Green Lantern books, Venditti seems to be committed in equal parts to returning characters to their roots while also writing them into new adventures. While the obvious example is Hal Jordan’s return to his familiar Green Lantern costume after his time as a duster wearing outer space bandit, the thing that really indicates that series will be one to pick up month after month is Venditti’s portrayal of Sinestro. The long time adversary, and occasional ally, of the Green Lantern Corp has certainly seen better days. Rather than the dashing leader who wishes to bring order to the universe, we are presented with a wizened David Niven lookalike who seems more interested in resting than ruling. Sinestro has achieved his goal of becoming the single point of order in the universe, but at what cost to himself and his partner deep in the heart of the Warworld?
           
           Besides Robert Venditti, another familiar name returning to the world of Green Lantern is Ethan Van Sciver. The highly celebrated artist brings his all-star talents to what is sure to be one of DC’s premier post-Rebirth titles. Although beautiful pages is what one expects when they see Sciver’s name on cover, this issue will impress even the most ardent Sciver-philes. He is one of the best in the industry at conveying emotion through his art and that is never more apparent then when he draws a close up profile of either Hal Jordan or Sinestro in this issue. Bringing to life Sciver’s art is the beautiful color work of Jason Wright. Being that this is a Green Lantern title, having a premier colorist is of the utmost importance Wright is more than up to the challenge and one needs only look at one of the pages that is filled solely with shades of green and yet still remains crisp and dynamic.
           
           Like most of the other Rebirth titles that DC has put out, Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps is not trying to break the mold of its predecessors but rather is designed to pay homage to the past while also building towards a better future. No matter what you may have thought of DC’s offering over the past few years, anyway who reads this issue will be hard pressed not to believe that the brightest days for Green Lantern are still yet to come.