Superhero comics are supposed to be about, well, superheroes. Their adventures involve fighting, saving lives, and wearing absurd costumes that would better fit a circus than a crisis. Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #2 easily could have proceeded along with expectations and included all of those things. Instead, Tim Sheridan, Cian Tormey, and Matt Herms decided to skip expectations. Instead, they created something more powerful.
In the heart of the Dawn of DC, Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #1 walked through a small subsection of Alan’s origin; this was the issue that truly captured who he is. After the recent reveal that Alan is a gay man, there have been holes in his story that have been waiting to be filled. A lesser book might have stumbled through the reality of life as an LGBTQ+ person in the days before World War II.
There is a harsh emotional undercurrent in Alan Scott: The Green Lantern that ties directly into its realism. Transgender and gay characters suffer through horrific treatment, and it is not at the hands of Atlanteans, aliens, or monsters. Humans are the villains of this story, and they don’t need lasers or superpowers to do it.
DC Comics
The harsh reality of Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #2 is easily discernable from the title of this issue — “Conversion”. There are no superheroes, because surviving through conversion therapy means that there are no heroes around, except Alan’s friends and allies. Even then, none of them have powers, because none of them have any power at all. Everything is in the hands of workers who believe they have their best interests at heart, despite that being far from the truth.
Emotional is the only word to really use. Alan’s pain tying so deeply into his origin helps to make him a more compelling character than he has been in decades. If Alan Scott: The Green Lantern accomplishes anything, it’s cleaning up a messy origin to make it a genuinely heart-wrenching story that really ties into Alan’s mythos. He has been through darkness, and he sheds his light over it all the same. His presence both reveals horrors and expels them, and it is an interesting notion that is developed entirely outside of the costume.
Alan is not the only representational story here. It can be easy to fall into a pattern of demonizing people in Arkham in the DC multiverse. Everyone shown in Arkham Asylum is typically shown to be a horrific villain like the Joker, Two-Face, or the Riddler. This is a story that finally takes a look at the other side of Arkham. Without delving into stereotypes, it uses real-world tragedies to realize what life was like for people actually trapped in historical asylums. The fear, the horror, and the complete lack of power all permeate freely.
Somehow, in exploring Alan Scott, Alan Scott: The Green Lantern also questions the ethics of pre-existing DC structures. It’s an excellent note that will make this book memorable long after the Dawn of DC is over. In many ways, this entire book will. In just two issues, it has already become a definitive run for Alan Scott.
DC Comics
Writing isn’t the only excellent element of this comic — though Sheridan’s work should certainly be commended. The art also deserves immense praise. While the art largely maintains DC’s typical style, the flashbacks are still presented in a subtle but effective way that is evidently influenced by classic comics. A grainy and brightly-colored atmosphere keeps everything feeling like a Golden Age book.
In terms of coloring specifically, the book slowly seeds in more green with every panel. As with the rest of Alan’s life, the green slowly wars with the red, waning with every instance of rebirth and death. It’s a subtle but effective touch, only truly noticeable when looked for. It’s as effective as it is clever, and it is yet another sign that every detail in Alan Scott: The Green Lantern is treated with genuine care and respect. It’s not hard to love a book when its creators clearly love it just as much.
A standard at AIPT is that the only thing wrong with a 10/10 issue is that there isn’t more of it. Somehow, Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #2 doesn’t quite fit that notion. After all, it addresses its themes quickly and succinctly and ends at the perfect point. There is no point in running past that. Unfortunately, we don’t necessarily have an 11/10, but a perfect score is close enough, and this book has undeniably earned it.
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