GREEN LANTERN #154 (Best of the Week!)
"Hate Crime, Part One"
Highly Recommended (9/10)
|
DC Comics
Writer: Judd Winick
Pencils: Dale Eaglesham
Inks: Rodney Ramos
Colors: Moose Baumann
Letters: Kurt Hathaway
Editor: Bob Schreck
Price: $2.25 US/$3.75 CAN |
In Pedro and Me, Judd Winick explored his real-life friendship with the late Pedro Zamora, a gay AIDS activist whom he met during his stint on MTV's The Real World. It was a touching story that explored the notion that straight or gay -- it doesn't matter -- a beautiful person is a beautiful person, period. Here, though, Winick focuses on the flip side of gay issues. He explores the hatred and blind anger that arises... and not just from the viewpoint of one who irrationally hates gays. This could have degraded into a stereotypical angry-super-hero story, but Winick steers clear of that cliched territory with an intensity in the script.
Kyle Rayner's friend and assistant, teenager Terry Berg, lies comatose in a New York hospital, his bones shattered and life in danger thanks to a brutal attack by a trio of assailants. He was targeted at random for simply being in love... with another man. Kyle's rage boils over, and as Green Lantern, he sets out to track down Terry's attackers.
Eaglesham and Ramos do a fine job with the art, bathing this poignant issue in an appropriately inky, foreboding atmosphere that one doesn't usually find in this title's pages. The intensity of emotion leaps off of the page. I think the most striking visual in the book, though, is actually a subtle one. On the page six splash, we see Terry, lying in his hospital bed. He looks so small and fragile. It accentuates his innocence, making it easy to relate to the other characters' sorrow and rage.
We've all seen those super-heroes stories in which the hero goes after a criminal who has wronged or hurt or killed someone close to the costumed crusader. Hell, it seems to happen every other month in the Batman titles. But Winick's story doesn't come off as a typical story in that vein, and the reason is simple: there's a greater intensity to the title character's anger and outrage. The horror he must deal with is all too real, and it's remarkably easy to relate to his extreme reactions and emotions.
Winick is able to bring out that intensity with his script. GL's description of what he's doing to the first assailant shockingly effective; one almost winces when hearing the description. And the writer brings out the ferocity of the attack and the irrational rage of the perpetrators with two descriptions of Terry's injuries, one cold and distant, and the other brutally blunt.
It should come as no surprise to those who follow Winick's work that this stands out as his finest issue of Green Lantern. Those non-comics readers who are drawn to this issue by the widespread media coverage in the past month will no doubt be surprised, shocked and impressed with how powerfully the medium tells such a human story. I'm also pleased to see that this isn't just a one-time "special episode of Green Lantern" story, but the beginning of a bigger story arc. I look forward to hearing what else Winick has to say.
Email Don MacPherson comments about this review, or discuss it on the Fourth Rail message board.
|
