Digging through my pile of finished series that I’ve yet to actually read has revealed a few things thus far. One of those is that I’ve become so good at putting off reading some of these series that they’ve survived two separate house moves between getting them and actually sitting down to read them. The newest one that I’ve exhumed is a series that I originally wrote about on two occasions about five years ago now. So now it’s as good a time as any to finally dive into the second season of Grant Morrison, Liam Sharp, Steve Oliff, and Tom Orzechowki’s The Green Lantern.

Picking up right after the events of the Blackstars miniseries and the dismantling the titular rival and rogue intergalactic peacekeeping force from another universe, Hal Jordan is put back on duty to help ensure the birth of the New Guardians: the newest incarnation of the Guardians of the Universe. This is the spring-board that launches nearly every major event in this series as these New Guardians task Hal with watching for alien incursions on Earth, fighting in the Ultrawar after his own death, stopping the Multi-Crisis, confronting the Anti-World, and defeating the Nomad Empire before they’re able to colonize and cannibalize Earth. And during all of this Hal maintains that same aloofness that has characterized this team’s take on him, even when meeting with one of his best friends in Barry Allen. He saves the universe and has a new Power Ring that can do nearly anything, but he’s still a Sal Paradise-esque drifter across the galaxy when everything is over.

There’s much to be written about Morrison and their continual efforts to expand whatever universe they’re currently working in, but there’s also the way The Green Lantern in particular uses that expansion to best show scale throughout its twelve issues. From this arc’s opening, we start with a celebration before moving onto a rescue mission with these New Guardians and a new Lantern in the form of the crystalline Rykaktoro. But then we move onto a stake-out on Earth and the reintroduction of the Golden Giants a Silver Age Flash story from 1961 and the establishment of them as the Majistry, colonization scouts for the Nomad Empire and their coming Ultrawar. Even when rooted in the past, all of these pieces help to show the untapped potential of old ideas in a new format as well as how early issue seeds can become the grand threats to close a series.

Returning to this series a full three years after it ended does show the impact of a well-planned and executed miniseries. Morrison, Sharp, Oliff, and Orzechowki give us a science fiction masterclass that can stand on its own in nearly any era. It pulls from the past, but in the same way a good DJ digs through crates—finding gems that resonate with audiences at that moment. And it finally gives us a Hal Jordan that isn’t just a man without fear, but a vagabond with an unflinching sense of justice. 

Get excited. Get wandering.

Drew Barth (Episode 331, 485, & 510) resides in Winter Park, FL. He received his MFA from the University of Central Florida.