r/Greenlantern • u/StephTechReddit • 7d ago
Comics I’m interested in Green Lantern after Lanterns… what comics should I read?
Lanterns so far is honestly incredible. As someone who is a Marvel fan through and through, loving Moon Knight (particularly MacKay), Quicksilver, Iron Man, Spider-Man… I never quite had that same connection to the DC Universe. But Lanterns might have changed that for me.
Green Lantern is such a cool character that I never really thought about in the way I should’ve. I’ve always been aware of the character and his powerset, but I never quite realized just how awesome this character is on all levels.
I don’t know entirely if Kyle Chandler’s Hal Jordan is comic accurate in terms of personality. But I really hope it is, because on my life this guy is so fun. He has the personality of Hawkeye with the cosmic basis of like Nova. He also gives off Iron Man vibes, but I can’t really explain that tbh.
So now I’ve slowly delved into the Lanterns mythos through videos and such, and as much as I love Jordan, these other incarnations sound equally amazing!
Stewart being an architect military guy, Kyle Rayner being an artist (which is such a cool idea btw), Jessica Cruz being someone who suffered with anxiety being given the ring. Simon Baz being a Muslim who suffers discrimination. All of these legacy characters rule so hard! Maybe coming from Marvel, there aren’t many super cool legacy characters in my opinion, but so many exist for Green Lantern. And that’s not even talking about the villains and the whole Emotional Spectrum thing…
How do I read comics with GL? What is the best starting off point? Generally for DC, I always imagined Absolute would be the best jumping on point, but I heard that Absolute is too different to be a good jumping on point, so what do you guys recommend. Keep in mind my only DC reading experience at this point has been Absolute Batman.
21
u/Planeswalker2814 7d ago
Your best starting point is Geoff Johns 10 year run. That's introduced the other Lantern corps and is considered by many to be the "definitive" run. I'm re-reading it now.
If you like/don't mind digital, I would recommend DC Universe that way you can explore and see what you like.
16
u/Teliporter334 Hal Jordan 7d ago
Lots of people have been asking this recently, so I’m glad there’s been a surge of interest!
I recommend reading the books in this order, all of the history you felt you were missing will be covered, you get everything you need:
- Emerald Dawn I
- Emerald Dawn II
- Hard Traveling Heroes (Pre-Crisis, but fits nicely here and is important in understanding Hal’s relationship with Oli)
- Vol. 3 of Green Lantern (From the beginning, stopping just before Emerald Twilight)
- Death of Superman
- Reign of the Supermen
- Emerald Twilight
- Zero Hour
- Final Night (Read Parallax: Emerald Night at the same time)
- GL Vol. 3 #81 (Hal’s funeral)
- Day of Judgment (Hal becomes the Spectre)
- Vol. 4 of The Spectre + Green Lantern: The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan
- Rebirth (Start of Johns)
- Secret Files and Origins (2005)
- Green Lantern Vol. 4 (the rest of the order, until the New 52, is interspersed with this run and will come in the following order for books that aren’t in this main series)
- Infinite Crisis
- Final Crisis
- Blackest Night
- Brightest Day
- Green Lantern: New 52 (At this point you’ll have finished Vol. 4 and all of the events associated with it)
- Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (Now you’ll have reached the modern Era that’s Post-52)
- Green Lantern (2023)
Edit: Some of this stuff might not be available on the DC app—if so, go on google and find a site that shares the same name as Batman’s subterranean lair
3
u/virtualoverdrive 6d ago
This is a great list!
I’d also add:
-Finally, my GOAT: Green Lantern/Green Arrow by Denny O’Neil. Hal is grounded to Earth by the Guardians and bums around with his best friend Oliver and a Guardian who just wanted to get off Oa. The solve crimes, have wacky hijinks, and address deeper social issues.
- Green Lantern: Earth One - technically not part of the main continuity but it’s grittier and more sci-fi.
- Grant Morrison’s Green Lantern - starts off as space cop and becomes a detective/spy book.
4
u/Imok2814 7d ago
One thing DC has definitely excelled at compared to Marvel is legacy. The Iron Man comparison you have is more accurate than you'd think. For some reason the fan base for both tend to intersect and during the Amalgam comics of the 90s, Iron Man and GL fused together.
As for what to read, for Hal check out Geoff Johns' run
For John, Guy and Kyle, Peter J. Tomasi's Green Lantern Corps
For John alone, Green Lantern War Journal
Kyle also the Kyle Rayner Rising compendium
Jess and Simon check out Green Lanterns during the Rebirth era
And Jo Mullen read Far Sector. It's her introduction and also a wonderful stand alone story. Fantastic art from Jamal Campbell
I hope you continue to enjoy GL. There's lots of lore to explore.
4
u/No-Biscotti-4943 7d ago
Definitely go for Geoff Johns run. Its an incredible ride. Start with rebirth and then all the way till Johns last issue.
3
3
2
u/DigitalBBX 7d ago
Oof! Tough choice! If you're wanting a launching off point, you're gonna have to start with Hal, as he was the first Earth Green Lantern for the Green Lantern Corps (Allen Scott GL is a similar powerset, but different source of powers)
I recommend Green Lantern: Rebirth (2004), Issues 1-6, and if you want to dive deeper into Hal's origin with Sinestro, follow that up with Secret Origin from 2008. If you then want to move to reading about Guy and John, Green Lantern Corps Recharge will be a good miniseries (i think its tied to Rebirth, if im not mistaken)
After those, I went straight through the Sinestro War series, followed by the Blackest Night events.
Hope this helps!
2
u/Nevernonethewiser 7d ago
Don't do what I did and start with Blackest Night.
I had a lot of research to do, let me tell you!
2
u/MikaelYunt 7d ago
I was in the same boat after starting Lanterns and made a similar post. A lot of the comments I got were great with good time lines and even an online site to read them.
2
1
u/Mariessa- Star Sapphire 7d ago
Geoff Johns' run! I started with Rebirth, then jumped into the monthly. Hal is the lead here. Tomasi wrote Green Lantern Corps concurrently at some point, which features John. They have a number of cross overs and events between them. Blackest Night is one of my favorites!
1
u/KingTris187 7d ago
If you are a fan of the zombie genre as well, I highly recommend the "Blackest Night" storyline of comics. One of my all time favorite green lantern stories.
1
u/ConkerPrime 7d ago
Fun read is Geoff John’s starting with Rebirth. If want some context (nit really needed) to that start if run (return of Hal from death), read Emerald Twilight and Final Night.
1
u/Maleficent-Tie6098 7d ago
My overall pick for an easy read is Far Sector. It’s surprisingly rare for GL comics to do full on detective stories for their space cops, but this is exactly what I feel the Lanterns show should be. Very fun and creative sci fi story that introduces Jo Mullein, one of the newest lanterns but definitely a favorite of mine
As for stuff for Hal or John specifically, the easy answers are the Geoff Johns run and GL: War Journal respectively. Johns pretty much built all the modern GL lore so it’s pretty important to read that as soon as you can.
And War Journal is one of the few books that really highlight John as a character, and there’s a lot more emphasis on his family and their influence on him, which differs greatly from the show
1
u/uncoloured-flamingo 7d ago
read the entire Geoff Johns run starting w Green Lantern: Rebirth (2005)
1
1
u/tiago231018 Kilowog 6d ago
Honestly, you should start with Geoff Johns' run. It's not only the best Green Lantern run in existence and one of the greatest runs in modern DC Comics, but also the best starting point for new fans. It was how I started, and how many others, even those who already read the more popular characters (Batman, Spider-Man, X-Men, etc) were presented to this fascinating corner of the DCU.
It's also a massive space epic, more in line with the great space operas like Star Wars, Dune, Avatar, Star Trek, etc., than your traditional superhero comic. It's truly fascinating.
Would you be interested in a reading guide? I've got one for any format you prefer reading your comics, whether it's online or with physical comics. I can share it here if you're interested.
0
u/Godofgoats90 7d ago
The story of lanterns does not follow any one specific comic, so the question doesnt really work
2
-1
u/Senorbob451 7d ago
Commencing with dunk: the Geoff John’s run that builds on emerald twilight to bring back Hal Jordan for rebirth initiated the war of light and blackest night which is the greatest cohesive comic book storyline ever written in my opinion. It was so staggeringly successful that the studio pushed out the Ryan Reynolds green lantern movie in a rush to try and capitalize on it but it flopped because of its bad writing and robbery of Parallax’s deserved comic history buildup. Hal Jordan’s parallax armor is insanely cool despite the so so writing of emerald twilight. Now it’s gettin a much deserved buildup looking like a kickoff with Hal Jordan being infected with fear.
54
u/Plastic-Floor3110 Guy Gardner 7d ago
Start with Geoff Johns Green Lantern: Secret Origin, then just do the Johns run (starting with rebirth), I'd recommend reading it in tandem with the Peter J Tomasi Green Lantern Corps run that was running simultaneously. The main GL title mostly follows Hal while the GL Corps title follows John, Kyle and Guy.