Along with the usual "who's who" profile pages, this issue features two stories. One is strong and stands out as something of a companion piece of Darwyn Cooke's wonderful DC: The New Frontier limited series from 2004. The other is a short prequel of sorts, set just before the events of Green Lantern: Rebirth. The former, while predictable, is a real treat, not only because of the art but because it humanizes a character who's really been defined by his role as a hero. The second story isn't really a story, per se, as there's no real conflict. In fact, it's just a redundant segment, reiterating what Rebirth was all about.
There was a time when Hal Jordan wasn't a dashing test pilot, when he wasn't an intergalactic space cop, when he wasn't the greatest the Green Lantern Corps had to offer. There was a time when he was just a kid who loved his dad and was fascinated by what he did for a living. Hal Jordan now finds himself back in the land of the living, back in the uniform of a Green Lantern. But he decides to time to revisit a different time of his life, and he opts to do so with a friend. And before his resurrection and before the defeat of the fear entity known as Parallax, Jordan, the host of the Spectre, struggles with his desire to save lives and the Spectre's mission to punish the wicked.
It's a pleasure to see Darwyn Cooke tackle Hal Jordan once again, but his art here is quite different from what he offered us on The New Frontier. There's a slightly more conventional tone here, and it reminds me a bit of Rick Burchett's work. Still, Cooke's simpler, iconic approach still shines through. Van Sciver delivers the same sort of detail he did on Rebirth -- almost too much of it, truth be told. The detail threatens to overwhelm the bigger pictures. The colors are just as strong as they were on Rebirth, though a lower grade of paper is employed here, so they don't pop as much. I'm surprised at how generic and uninteresting Carlos Pacheco's cover is as well; it's hardly the most eye-catching piece of art.
"The Day Before" is a glimpse of what Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner were up to just before the story got going. Unfortunately, all Johns offers is a repetition of what we learned in the limited series. There's nothing new to be found here, and those who didn't read Rebirth are bound to be lost.
Fortunately, the main story is much more accessible, and it focuses on characterization rather than Hal Jordan's transition back to the role of a Green Lantern. It's about the childhood experiences that molded him into a man, not the cosmic adventures and tragedies that transformed him into a villain. The story is a bit obvious, but it's ultimately effective. Johns uses repetition in the script to great effect. 6/10
