Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Green and Important

Green Lantern: My Brother's Keeper

I heard about this story in the regular press long before I started reading comics again. I've since learned (i.e. kind of remembered some vague recollections) about the history of the Green Lantern and Green Arrow team-up to fight the problems of the day. This was a decent continuation in that vein of story.

I'm glad DC put out a story dealing with homophobia and didn't make the cause Brainwave the way the story started. I like how it pushes the new GL to a point where he's just unsure about whether or not people are worth saving if this is what he's working so hard to protect. Sure, looking back it's a bit of an emo reaction but the core of the story is solid and the message was handled well.

It's always a bit worrisome when something known for being glib entertainment tries to tackle something important but this was actually done well. It's weird for me to say this, but I'm more relieved than anything that they avoided the afterschool special approach to the subject.

All that considered the rest of the story has some fairly decent superhero action as well. All in all it was a decent read that didn't advertise the "Very Important Issue" too loudly outside of the introduction and in the various text essays. It doesn't cheapen the story or the message that way, which is how these stories need to be handled.

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