The Light of the Green Lantern
When reading earth 2 #3 I could not help but think of the phrase “women in refrigerators”, though I’ll get back to that later. So we once again return to Earth 2, a world with no superman, no Batman and no Wonder Woman as the distant threat of an approaching unknown evil has urged various forces into brining new heroes to this world. So let us shed our light over dark evil, for the dark things cannot stand the light in earth 2#3.
Picking up from last issues explosive conclusion Alan Scott finds himself alive in the wreckage of the train, disfigured and trying to find his lover Sam who (as we saw last issue) he was about to propose too. But as soon as he’s able to stand Allan is suddenly confronted by a giant mystical green flame. Claiming to be the power of the whole earth the flame tells Allan how he’s been chosen to become Earths new champion in the upcoming battle against an evil much greater than that of the Apokolips war which took away this earth Trinity.
While we saw a complete alteration to Jays origin last issue (the power of Mercury rather than chemical explosion) it’s great to see that Allan’s origin as Green Lantern does harken back to his Golden age origin with the train explosion. Much of the focus of this issue is on Allan and him becoming the Green Lantern, though we do get some time with Flash and Hawkgirl (plus a name drop of an old favourite). Robinson spends much of the time with the hinting at what’s to come and explaining the power that Allan now possesses, and also introducing an old foe (with possible links to what’s happening in Swamp thing and Animal man?). It’s also strange, yet interesting, to see Jay get schooled for being, well, new to the hero business. The artwork by Nicola Scott speaks for itself with beautiful and epic depictions of characters and only complimented by Trevor Scott’s inking. Now there are issues that I have with this issue. The first is that it appears as though a speech bubble from Hawkgirl is missing, possibly as she asks him to trust her. Jay does repeat “Trust you! Trust you!” with heavier emphasis yet no word of trust is mentioned by Hawkgirl on that page. The second issue is the one that everyone has mentioned. Sam. Last issue we were introduced to Alan Scotts lover Sam and in that exact same he was killed off. It’s from that death that Allan is pushed into becoming the Green Lantern, or so we’re to believe, yet we knew nothing about him. This harkens back to what Gail Simone called “Women in refrigerators” (that also harkening to Green Lantern #54 from the 1990’s run) where female characters who are either maimed, raped, depowered or murdered unceremoniously just to push a male character into action and not for the development of their own story. That’s what I can’t help but think of here with Sam (though “Women in refrigerators” only referred to female characters, so I’m going to dub this “lovers in train explosions”). It’s implied that Alan had strong feelings for him (hence the ring) yet it hasn’t been shown to us and in a medium that’s all about showing it seems like a missed opportunity.
In conclusion I give Earth 2 #3 a 4/5. Despite the “lovers on exploding trains” problem it’s a strong issue with much hinting at that which is to come. If you’re not reading this then I must ask you why? Earth 2 has proven to be a great title so far (plus you don’t have to worry about past continuity or whether something is still in continuity or not) and still has its way of grabbing your attention and pulling you in. So once more, Earth 2#3 gets:-
4/5
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------------------------------------------------------------------JUNE 2012 - JUNE 2012--------------------------------------
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