I don’t like how Williamson handled Merlyn. He’s making him the reverse flash of green arrow.

Disappointing.
1. Hal is portrayed like a fool and out of character. I know Jeremy wants to introduce the situation to readers through the dialogues between Hal and Jo, but don’t you have a better way to do this? Where’s Hal’s questioning spirit? His problems with the authority? His sharp instincts? His leading qualities?
2. This book is bloated with earth humans. We finally made it into the space yet all we can see are still earth humans. This is soooooo boring. Hey, Jeremy, we haven’t seen Salaak for a while, would you mind giving him a line? I’m sure he is the veteran here instead of Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz or Jo Mullein.
3. Hal saves the day in this issue because he got a ring from his friend Tom. So why is he the greatest Green Lantern? What’s so special about him? He is the protagonist of the book after all. We are supposed to expect something exciting or extraordinary from him..
4. I genuinely think Keli should be never mentioned again. This character is an abomination.

As I can see, Jeremy Adams is now making the same mistake as Robert Venditti did in his repulsive run. more

A great book with fascinating art. I'd love to see more Geoff's touch though.

Adams tried to explain why there are so many redundant earth lanterns. But this issue still failed to convince me of their validity. IMO they don't need to be legitimized. They need to be pruned.
And the Jessica Cruz backup story is so stupid. Thaaros just swallowed her clumsy lies and tricks like an idiot? That’s the big bad the corps are dealing with? Is this story written for infants?

Plus, too many earth lanterns are so boring. It would be much better if the one who rescued Hal is Arisia, Trilla-Tru, or Iolande, instead of Jo who nobody cares about. more

I probably like this more than the average reader, but this felt like this issue had everything you would want to move the plot forward. You have some serious foreshadowing that stuff in space has got really f'ed up with all the emotional spectrum cores blowing up and the fact the United Planets Corps are able to use a variety of colours. We get some good fights, Hal sass (always up for it), and some relationship drama (short but nice subplot). Seeing some magic involved as a guest start was also nice. Art is ace as always.

Back up was much better than before (better art). Really enjoy seeing Kyle again, even if the scene was quite sad. This book felt like it was worth every penny. I dont get that feeling often. more

Did DC retcon Lor-Zod? Wasn't he Christopher Kent, a good guy? I ask because it's very possible I missed him turning into this.....awful characterization. Most likely it's a case of modern comics just ignoring continuity AGAIN but I'm really curious cause this just kinda sucked. Bad guy super sons could be cool but this is hackneyed tripe IMO. The art may be the biggest culprit in this debacle of a debut because it just accentuates how boring and similar it is to much of the other DC books attempting this style and it just doesn't seem to ever work. I think Tomasi is a hell of a writer but this just fell beyond flat for me. The term hot garbage comes to mind. more

I hate the idea of Sinestro’s son, no matter he is his true son or not. Tomasi, just stop this farce. Write your overflowing paternal love for Ghost Machine or something. Stop messing up DC’s characters.

Very promising. I wish you all the best, Geoff.

Seriously?
Our hero is scouring the docks looking for sex and another hero later tells him that's okay. This is now the calibre of person(s) we have as examples to look up to.
In the Concise Oxford Dictionary the word hero is defined as: 1. a person, typically a man, who is admired for their courage or outstanding achievements.
What's to admire in this sleazy and sordid episode? Pathetic. more

This is trash. Art is good. Story sucks. Dc has been pulling this B.s for forty years.

I really love the interaction between Hal and Sinestro in this issue.
Also the backup story is shit. Just stop it, Tomasi. Nobody likes your cheap copy of supersons.

I'm enjoying this run. It's fresh but grounded in tradition. All of the main characters are spot-on. The art is spectacular. I would grade it a 10 but for the backup story. Good to know this is spinning off as a new title because I could not have less interest in a book aimed at 10-year-olds. I would have preferred another 8 pages of the main story. I hope future issues don't include back-up stories a la Tales of the Green Lantern Corps. However, with the team splitting off in different directions, it would appear inevitable. As long as the tone and quality of the main story are maintained, it will be OK with me. more

I don't understand how can Alan still be called a superhero now. He wields so much power that can overturn every regime of this planet. He can and ought to protect his kind, fight for them. That's what a hero does. That's what the old Alan would do. Yet he used it to run away from the police when he was seeing a prostitute. Alan used to be a tough guy, an old class hero. I don't appreciate why they want to turn him into a pathetic hypocrite. more

If the last two issues had limited themselves to a couple retcons here and there, Alan Scott: The Green Lantern's worst quality is in full swing here. We get Alan visiting male prostitutes on the waterfront, and it's only downhill from there.

What is it about a character that's seemed agnostic, if not downright indifferent to religion, in eighty-something years of publication that inspires the creative team here to base his internal turmoil around Catholic guilt? Why not the real life consequences that could affect the life of a young man as concerned with his career in radio as Alan had once been characterized to be? The Spectre's reassurance that homosexuality is not a sin is sort of undercut by the fact that he could've only known that about our hero because of his ability to sense sins in people, and it's further rendered meaningless by the most modern-sounding dialogue this side of any attempt at a 1940s period piece. The hug is pretty much insulting, and certainly doesn't help the sanitized feeling of this book as it resorts to children's cartoons' idea of conflict resolution. The 'twist' at the end is not even worth touching on.

And that's not even remarking on how at odds the Jim Corrigan presented here is with any previous version of him, not just lacking in the period-appropriate homophobia he'd demonstrated in John Ostrander's 1992 run but showing very little in common with any major incarnation of an endlessly interesting character.

In a book where transwomen are stereotypes in wigs with a guaranteed 'bad' end and gay intimacy has to be paid for, it's a little hard to see what's meant to be so appealing to LGBT audiences. Mr. Scott had had more heartfelt tales back when it was all told in subtext. more

It would be nice if Alan could do something other than standing around moping. Spectre and the Flash’s appearances added way more excitement for the story to me than Alan Scott.. the titular character.

I'm sorry Geoff. You screwed Alan up.

Boring and mediocre.

I have to say this issue gives us the most boring fight between Sinestro and Hal since Silver Age.
Yeah the art is good and the action scene is exciting. But the dialogues are just rough.
I think Adams is a great writer as he is very good at telling stories, but the problem is, he hasn't understood Hal that well. Nor has he understood the relationship between Hal and Sinestro and what makes it unique.
If they fight, I want to see how their past haunts them, how their visions conflict with each other.
However, all I can see is Sinestro suddenly snapped and Hal kept saying "Sinestro stop being mad!"
What's the difference here if we just change Sinestro into another random villain.
I hope Adams prepared something else in next issues. Or this is just disappointing. more

The writing is not bad but this is not Alan Scott. How can you explain Molly and Alan's children?

This should be an Elseworlds series: "DC Elseworlds: Persecution of Green Lantern as Gay Man." Would rate this a 7 as an Elseworlds story, but 3 (to be generous) as DC Comics canon story. But this is not an Elseworlds story, althought there is no reason this could not have been an Elseworlds publication, as done to address other persecution of people (e.g., "Red Son.") I believe Tim Sheridan has a good comics-based narrative on USA abuses against gay and transexual individuals in 1930s-40s, and certainly no honest person could state that such persecution is over even today in 2023. Such persecution against gays is unquestionably cruel, sick, and really "obscene." But that is not why people went to buy the latest issue of "Green Lantern Alan Scott." Be upfront about topic and Elseworlds to be fair to customers, e.g., "DC Elseworlds: Persecution of Green Lantern as Gay Man."

Some specifics. In issue #1, in May 1941, Hoover is threating Green Lantern to join JSA. But in DC canon GL Alan Scott appeared with JSA in March 1941 (really December 1940), and GL Alan Scott had nationwide, anti-Nazi mission with JSA in April 1941, in All-Star Comics #3 and #4, respectively. (All BEFORE Tim Sheridan's version of GL's talk with Hoover.)

GL Alan Scott joined military in 1942 (Green Lantern #4), and was not blue discharged "blue ticketed" out in 1939/40, per this GL issue #2 by Tim Sheridan. Tim also has not done his history research (again). The real focus of the USA military blue discharge against gays in the USA military was the result of a policy in 1944 (not 1939/40). Those USA military gays persecuted with blue discharge definitely were not allowed to rejoin military, in fact they were even prevented from gaining veteran's benefits. So this major retcon of GL Alan Scott no longer has him joining the Army in 1942, fighting the Nazis, etc., which were all part of the FOUNDATION of the Green Lantern character and especially the JSA's history. (And rewrites USA history while its at it.)

Alan Scott was a railway engineer BEFORE (not AFTER) the military, which Tim tries to reverse to throw some semplance of consistency in the retcon. But it is absolutely a retcon of GL Alan Scott's GL character. As everyone knows, Alan Scott went on to be a radio engineer, after his railroad days. His radio engineering skills were a KEY part of Alan Scott's ability to fight the Nazis during WWII. (On radio engineer, think "computer engineer" as relevant comparison).

Tim Sheridan rightly wants to point out the horrific abuses to gay and transexual human beings in USA during this timeframe, and I agree with doing that 1000%. When he wants to create an Elseworlds GL story for that, I am good with that. But just randomly rewriting GL Alan Scott's origin for canon is absolutely not necesssary to do that. And it is counterproductive in other ways. Let us also be clear, as obscene as USA medical acts against gays were, they were not literally marching them to the gas chambers like Nazi Germany. So GL and JSA's fight against Nazis is also a really essential part of the DC Comics hero history.

I think the new story is moving, sad, important, necessary to be read. Also **NOT** a "Green Lantern" story. We need to hear about this and other (continuing) abuses by USA. Writers need a freedom like DC Elseworlds to tell those stories. We should not have to chose between Bill Finger/ Martin Nodell's Green Lantern origin or Tim Sheridan's Green Lantern origin. Tim should have a platform to tell his story as part of DC Elseworlds.


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Someone at DC must have been thinking, "gee...how do we make Jason Aaron's return to DC seem special?" To which someone else shouted, "A Batman miniseries! But make it in space!" And thus, Batman: Off-World was born. This debut issue lacked a punch or a reason for existence, other than to give Jason Aaron's return some extra pomp and circumstances. I never really felt like I was being informed why this was being written.

Aaron's exposition carried most of the issue, trying to will a reason into existence. But what new idea around Batman's character is this telling us? Nothing, as of yet. The new characters came off as hollow and nothing more than plot devices to move things along. Doug Mahnke's art was fine. It felt like a traditional Batman comic, with little to make this standout out from the countless other Batman stories DC has put out.

Overall, the book was fine. Nothing was terrible, but it didn't wow me. It was better than the debut of one of the other current Batman miniseries, Gargoyle of Gotham, but paled in comparison to yet one of the other current Batman miniseries, City of Madness. more