I got an ARC of this from NetGalley for a honest review.

I say this all with the above caveat and the caveat that I'm a huge Hal Jordan fan. He is by far my favorite Green Lantern. This book takes the basis of Jordan's story and flips it on its head. This is a great addition to the Earth One canon. The idea that Jordan has become an ex-astronaut and is now a excavator in space is just phenomal. The art in this is a little dark but it definitely fits the theme of the book.
I can't recommend this enough, especially if you like the Earth One canon already.

The Earth One books have been fun, but this one's only okay. I like the substantial reimagining, but it takes a little work to shake off other versions and get to this one (and some confusing art in the beginning doesn't help). The challenge is to do a whole bunch of new stuff while simultaneously having to give us the run-down of what we already know. There's a change in how the rings work, where the Lanterns are, and more, which makes it intriguing, but it's a little slow in working through everything we need to know. I wonder if a deeper GL fan would find little connections and variations to keep it more interesting.

The new sci-fi tone works well. It feels more like, say, a Fantastic Four book, but that's pretty fun, and a nice angle to take for a whole new world. Changing the way the rings work is a little more problematic, and there's some serious world-building yet to be done, although I'm not sure I'd have the patience to sit through another continuing Lanterns origin story. I like the fresh ideas, and seeing these sorts of powers in a new setting could be fun as long as it keeps moving.

Amid the plethora of continuity and non-continuity comics, television shows, and movies that tell and re-tell the origins of Superman and Batman, a new take on Green Lantern Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps is shockingly refreshing. Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman's Green Lantern: Earth One overlays quite a bit of established Lantern lore on a revitalized Jordan, who's one of the best things about this book. The tweaks here are at times small, but the creative team offers a new paradigm for the Corps that will be fun to explore; this first volume screams for a sequel. The episodic structure of the volume suggests collected comics, a graphic novel, and a TV pilot all in one. Almost a decade after the Earth One line first launched, it's wonderful to see these books can still delight.

From comics to cartoon to movie, something that's been consistent is reckless flyboy Hal Jordan. To that end, the fact that Green Lantern: Earth One kicks off with tame, down-on-his-luck miner (make that astronaut miner) Hal Jordan -- late of blowing the whistle on an orbiting weapons platform -- is immediately noteworthy. The comics Jordan is notoriously hard to pin down, having learned few lessons and often inscrutable in his romantic decisions even after all these years. To the extent that the Earth One books are meant to be a modernization of some of these heroes' stories, indeed Bechko and Hardman's Jordan seems more the Jordan one might create today than the Jordan who seems even now to fit better in the Mad Men era of his origins than the present day.

Again, however, the creative team pairs their new Jordan with a relatively untouched Green Lantern Corps lore. There are still the rings, still the power batteries, still the Central Battery, Oa, the Guardians, the robotic Manhunters -- even a fairly similar Kilowog. That was a surprise, frankly, more in line with J. Michael Straczynski's familiar Metropolis and its denizens in Superman: Earth One than the radically different setup of Jeff Lemire's Teen Titans: Earth One. But the really interesting catch is that the creative team sets this book eons after the Corps have faded from active duty, with isolated Lanterns working independently on the run from the Manhunters. When the Corps does come together at the end of the book, they are all inexperienced, a far cry from the the traditional Jordan joining the established Corps as a new recruit. This is one of the things that makes me want to read more, that the mindset of this new Corps will be so different than in the mainstream comics.

At the same time, the end of volume one suggests that the events of volume two might be more earthbound. Green Lantern: Earth One is set in the not-too-distant future, but we don't get a detailed sense of the status quo and politics of this Earth since Jordan is swiftly whisked across the cosmos. With this book's conclusion, though, there's the suggestion that new Green Lantern Jordan might now go after some of the people who disgraced him; surely that's plot enough for the second book, and additionally I'm eager to see what Bechko and Hardman might do with Hal Jordan as Earth One superhero. Of course, that might mean we don't get back to space until the third volume, which would also be fine, letting this story meander through the various avenues it's set up (I'd prefer that to, for instance, this Colonel Jask being too-coincidentally aligned with the rogue Guardian). There's also the matter of Sinestro hanging around in the background.

Hardman's art in the book is matter-of-fact, which I appreciated, never cartoony or absurd, and treating well the alien figures as just as "normal" as the humans (obviously Hardman and Bechko have some experience with this given their Star Wars work). Attention to detail extends to Hal Jordan's consistently-growing beard over the course of the book. Colorist Jordan Boyd contributes shadowy, moody colors that in the beginning of the book remind of an Aliens movie.

Green Lantern: Earth One consists of three acts, which -- a rare rough spot in the book -- are each separated by Hal Jordan falling unconscious. That does however give the book a kind of dreamlike aesthetic, and also we get more of Jordan's character through his different status quos, whether exploring the cosmos with Kilowog or leading a slave rebellion against the Manhunters. What's most important here is that Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman deliver an Earth One story that perhaps most feels like a modern retelling of its source material of all the Earth One books so far. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long until they come back.

Not the Green Lantern I grew up with, but I enjoyed the story and the artwork was great. Anyone who grew up in the 70's will miss the "old: Green Lantern, but should have no problem liking the new version.

Hal Jorden was an astronaut when it was a highly adventurous life. He looked forward to finding new planets and alien life.. it didn't happen. Now he works for Ferris Galactic prospecting asteroids. He discovers the ring that will make him a Green Lantern if he can figure it out. Will he? How did he find the ring?

The graphic novel is full of adventure and mystery. Reading it didn't disappoint me. I was at first surprise to how Hal finds the ring and what happens next. This story is not the story I knew. It has been reimagined making a hero from a different viewpoint. It is definitely worth reading. It's a definite twist on the old, original story.

Ye gads.

After the sterling work done with Lantern's Rebirth series, I genuinely thought that nothing could go wrong with this.

I'm now slapping myself silly for forgetting I'm reviewing DC here, and anything is possible...even screwing up something as reliable as Green Lantern.

This version of Hal is as far removed as possible from what we've seen previously. Where we once had headstrong cockiness, with traits that were sometimes loathsome, Hal's intentions and overall arc were redeeming. This Hal is a wet fart of a man - peeling wallpaper would be more endearing.

It's not helped by a plodding story, that just rambles and makes no sense, and surrounding characters that don't seem to have the foggiest idea why they're there. In fact, one nameless (at least to me - it may have been mentioned, but honestly...not memorable) female seems to appear and disappear in panels willy-nilly. She's certainly not driven by plot.
And then she dies.
At least I think that's what happened as the black and white sections (I say section...it's two-thirds of the book after inexplicably switching from colour) are so poorly drawn and shaded it's almost impossible to make out what's happening, especially in the 'action' scenes.

This is one 're-imagining' of Green Lantern's origin that can join that other addition to the character's lexicon....

And at least that one had Ryan Reynolds to redeem it.

I’m in the middle of the line with both the art and the story with this one.

Starting with the art; there are some amazing scenes. The alien worlds, the characters, and especially the battle scenes are awesome. BUT, why use such dark shading? When doing so many scenes in space, where most of the background is BLACK anyway, it’s already dark, dark. Then Hardman added super heavy shading to the character’s faces. I get it, I really do; no light, nothing to illuminate the faces, but I. Can’t. See.

Thaal Sinestro and Arisia make appearances in the comic, but Hal Jordan (of course) and Kilowog and the main protagonists in this volume.

Hal is a little more down to earth in this version. More reserved and less arrogant, maybe? I’m not quite sure if I like him yet or not. Each hero has to have a bit of a quirk to them and so far this Hal is a bit bland- too much goody, goody and not enough faults to make he seem like a believable character.

The re-boot story isn’t THAT bad, but it isn’t something I would have picked. Think of Ultron in space, and there you have the Manhunter robots seeking to purge the universe of Lanterns. The rest of the story is basic first volume set up- explaining the Green Lanterns and bringing them together once again.

It’s not bad for the first volume, but there’s nothing amazing here either. I’ll probably pick up the next one to see where it goes.

This is an interesting Green Lantern series; it doesn’t fit anywhere in the current continuity, and instead stands on its own. If you’re ever wanted to see a Green Lantern series with a slightly more sci-fi twist, then you may find this to be worth the read. If however you’re not a fan of reboots and origin stories…then you’re probably not going to enjoy most of this story.
This is the story of how Hal Jordan became a Green Lantern. It’s unique among the Hal Jordan origin stories, and in truth is different from most any Green Lantern origin story out there. Many of the events and characters shown will be familiar, but they’re all going to be different, changed from what we knew and loved.

Spoiler Warnings

It seems like no matter what universe or story we’re reading about, if Hal Jordan is in it, you can bet that he’s found a way to get his feet off the ground. In Earth One Hal’s done even better than that – he’s gotten off planet. Granted, he’s a mere prospector for a mining corporation, but it got him out into the great unknown, and that’s worth something, right?
Unfortunately it isn’t enough for Hal. While the circumstances may be different, Hal is at his core the same Hal we’ve always known, and that means he wants something greater for himself. Not that I can blame him for feeling that way, but it is his driving force and weakness.
The real twist in this origin story is not how the ring found Hal, but how Hal found the ring. In almost every Green Lantern origin I can think of, the ring found and therefore chose the bearer. Apparently that is not the case in this universe; it seems like anybody who finds a real can wield it (assuming they don’t do something stupid that immediately kills them), which is an odd idea. I’m so used to the original idea of the rings that it never even occurred to me to try a twist like this. I’m not sure how I feel about this to be honest – I’ve always been a fan of the whole idea behind the ring picking those who are worthy. Though it’s probably too high and mighty for what this series is trying to accomplish, and I accept that.
You’d think finding a ring out in space would result with Hal being the least knowledgeable Lantern out there…and you’d be wrong. None of the active Lanterns appear to have had any training. Their predecessors never had to chance to train them, and that fact hasn’t changed. It was extremely strange to see established Lanterns (Lanterns whom had in other worlds helped to train Hal) being relegated to the same status as Hal. Though it wasn’t off-putting, in fact it was almost refreshing.
What I found to be the most interesting what the chosen setting for the story. It’s after the Man Hunters have been created, and while they’re still in their prime. This is a dangerous enough situation as it stands, but throw in a bunch of Green Lanterns with literally no training or prior knowledge…and things just got drastically more difficult for our heroes.
I can’t wait to see how they explain the power source for the Green Lanterns in this series. So far things have tilted slightly more sci-fi than fantasy, but the anticipated explanation would heavily tip the scale in one favor or another. I’m curious to see which way it ends up.

This was a kind of meh read. I've never read any other Green Lantern comics so I don't have anything to compare this reboot to, but I never felt particularly invested in Hal Jordan, and it felt like the book was fast-forwarding through all his character development. The art in this volume is competently drawn but aside from the design for Kilowog, a sort of hippopotamus-looking alien, it isn't really eye-catching.

I am a relative new comer to the realm of comics. I really only started reading them in the last 10 years. So I am not the hard-core font of knowledge about characters, worlds and past story arcs like my husband is. He's been collecting comics for almost 40 years. I do know what I like though...but in story line and artwork. I am usually not a big fan of sweeping re-boots and new origin stories. But I'm always willing to keep an open mind. And I think that is a point where I am maybe more forgiving of new reboot story arcs than my husband is most of the time. I am willing to read first, judge after.

Green Lanter: Earth One Volume 1 is a re-boot of the Hal Jordan origin story. When I first read the blurb for this new release, my immediate response was an eye-roll and a "Another fricking origin re-boot'' huffy under-my-breath snark moment. But....then I took a deep breath, and let my gray matter catch up with my knee-jerk decision.....wait a minute....maybe Hal Jordan needs a re-boot. He's a bit of a douche, and let's be frank.....the Green Lantern storyline could use a refreshing. Then the kicker: IF IT'S DONE RIGHT.

And you can't decide if it's done right if you don't soak in the art and the plot from start to finish.

So I sat down with my handy-dandy advanced readers copy of this book.....and really kept my mind clear of pre-conceived notions and here-we-go-again-prepare-to-be-underwhelmed auto-response.

And....you know what?

I like this reboot! With a couple minor concerns, I really enjoyed this book. I recant my eyerolls and snarky remarks.

Things I like:

Hal Jordan is decidedly less douche-y. In this re-boot, he isn't superior, and the ring didn't choose him. He found it...pure and simple. No reason to grow an oversized, cocky ego. He found it, and didn't even know what to do with the ring. Puts him on a totally different playing field....and I like how the story, and Jordan, develops in this reboot.

I love the artwork! Lots of action. Lots of Kabooms and Kapows with classic comic book flare. Alien worlds. Alien species. But, also some classic manhunter action, and classic GL style artwork. Much of the action is in space and on alien planets, so the art does have a tendency to be dark, but let's be real here -- space is dark, the story line is dark -- dark is kinda a necessity here. All in all, nicely done! The front cover art is awesome!

I like this story as an introduction to a new Green Lantern story arc. It flows well and introduces the new info, rebooted Jordan and new characters quite well. I did not roll my eyes and exclaim negatively about much of anything while reading this. And that doesn't usually happen when I'm reading an origin reboot. The authors did it right. Kudos!

What I didn't like:

The ring does not choose the wearer. Jordan finds the ring and puts it on. End of effort. This means ANYONE can find and wield a GL ring -- even evil people. While that is an interesting way to bring about some action-packed story lines in the future.....it's a change I'm not sure I'm comfortable with. There are several really evil entities in the GL universe that I would not like to see wielding a ring. *Shivers*

Manhunters. Or just large, pissed off robots in general. While they are formidable opponents and I enjoyed the action scenes in this book......this concept has been done to death. Trope, trope, trope through the alien tulips. Oh no! Large robots coming to attack the GLs. How did I not see that coming? Irk. Harumph. Meh. In a new origin story I was hoping just a little bit.....well, more than a little bit....that it wouldn't be just another big battle with Manhunters. They are intrinsic to the story....but I wanted something new. New origin.....new action, right? Nope. Same action. But....while I did find it a familiar plot....it was enjoyable and had some great fights. I guess this point shouldn't be labeled that I "didn't like'' it....more like I felt mild disappointment.

All in all, I was impressed and surprised by this origin reboot. As usual, this reboot is aimed at bringing in new readers. I hope many read this and enjoy the story and art like I did, and take a fresh look at Green Lantern. I'm going to let my husband read this ARC next and see what he thinks. Oftentimes as a more classic fan of comics, his opinions are sometimes harsher than mine. But this reboot keeps the feel of the original quite well.....I think he might also like this one.

A thumbs up from me!

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from DC Comics via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

Green Lantern: Earth One is the latest in DC Comics’ Earth One series — a series designed to offer fresh takes on well-established characters. This is the fifth title in this series, following graphic novels of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Teen Titans — and it might be the best one of them all.

Green Lantern: Earth One is written and drawn by married couple Bechko & Hardman, who also created Invisible Republic, a gritty science fiction title at Image Comics. They bring that same realism and grit to Green Lantern, making it more science fiction and less super hero. This is a good thing. I have read a smattering of Green Lantern titles, mostly Johns’ run, some of the New 52, and the current ongoing title. Now, I’m no expert, but I find this to be the best iteration of this character, ever.

This creative couple has created something very unique and fresh, even though they are working on a character who has decades of continuity. The changes to Green Lantern’s mythology feel organic to the story being told without diverting too far from the original source. One that I liked, in particular, is that the ring doesn’t choose its next owner; rather, the person that finds it can use it according to their free will, but they must prove their worthiness to wield itm

The art in Green Lantern: Earth One does an amazing job of creating a gritty atmosphere, but it’s not all bleak — the use of color is fantastic. This really provides a wonderful contrast to the dark shadows and rigid lines. The flow from panel to panel and page to page is impeccable. It reads so smoothly, and looks so gorgeous, that I read it twice and flipped through a couple more times.

This book needs to be the basis for the upcoming Green Lantern film. If it isn’t, I’ll be disappointed, but at least I’ll have this book to wipe my tears, metaphorically speaking. I mean, I wouldn’t actually dry my tears with it…this book is too perfect, but you get the point. And the ending, oh, the ending! It wraps up the story soundly, but then it hints at a greater story to be told. I hope there are several more volumes by this creative tour de force.

Verdict: Buy it as soon as you can.

Green Lantern: Earth One reads like an indie masterpiece in spite of being a retelling of a well-established character. Just enough of the main continuity is changed to give this book a unique feel. Seriously, DC, please make this the next Green Lantern movie.

This was solid if unspectacular. Hardman's art was solid, but there were a few pages in the first half that looked a bit rough. The story was fine, but didn't blow my mind or anything for being a super original new take on the GL mythos, and of course there was the inevitable hook for a sequel. My biggest complaint is that I'm simply tired of Hal. The Earth One line would have been the perfect place to highlight Simon or Jessica or Kyle or John, there was nothing intrinsic about it where it had to feature Hal. I was really looking forward to this and ended up slightly disappointed.

It's "Alien" meets DC in this new origin story of Hal Jordan in "Green Lantern: Earth One Vol.1".

As part of a space mission to find valuable materials, Harold Jordan instead finds himself face to face with alien spaceships and a machine from a group called "Manhunters". Hal finds the Green Lantern's ring, powered by a powerful substance in the universe that allows the wearer to manipulate almost anything, and finds himself fighting for all of human and alien kind alike against the Manhunters, robotic power forces who are out to destroy Green Lanterns and enslave everyone else.

As Harold runs to figure out what having Green Lantern power means, he along with alien Kilowag find that the answers are not so easy and that there's an even bigger power at play.

Edgy, contemporary art add a gritty reality to this new series that strengthens Jordan's character to one with passion and purpose and is the perfect beginning to a new series.

Husband and wife creative team Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Bechko give Green Lantern the Earth One treatment - an alternate-world origin - in this fairly decent first volume.

It’s basically the classic Hal Jordan origin with a few minor tweaks here and there. Hal’s reimagined as an asteroid miner who stumbles across the corpse of Abin Sur, picks up his mysterious green ring and is thrown into the strange world of the Green Lanterns.

I liked that Hal is written as less of the arrogant douche that he was in Geoff Johns’ run so he’s more likeable a character. I also like that the Lanterns are portrayed as an endangered species, kinda like the Jedi in the new Star Wars movies, so they’re not all-powerful, they’re scattered, and have to struggle to survive - the underdog approach is a refreshing angle.

And by far my favourite aspect of this book is Gabriel Hardman’s spectacular art. His time working as Christopher Nolan’s storyboard artist on Interstellar as well as on his sci-fi Image series Invisible Republic has given him a good pedigree to effectively pull off the requisite alien landscapes and characters that populate Green Lantern - I can easily see why he got the job.

That said, I didn’t like some of the other new changes like how the ring doesn’t select its bearer - all you have to do is put it on and voila, you’re a Lantern! No test for honour, suitability, etc. It takes away some of the magic. And once Hal meets Kilowog, essentially the only other character in this book, they go through a predictable and cliched training montage before plodding through the necessary, but still dreary, background of the Lanterns.

Then there are the dull villains of this story, the Manhunters. They’re very bland bad guys - evil killer robots who enslave aliens for no reason besides that’s what bad guys do! And, like too many Green Lantern stories, it ends with one generic and silly action scene after another. The more restrained first half of the book is definitely better than the second.

Green Lantern: Earth One, Volume 1 isn’t badly written, it’s just not very interesting. That could be a problem as the Earth One series is at least partly aimed at bringing in new readers who likely won’t be coming back if they’re not excited about the character/concept. And I’m not sure there’s enough fresh material here to make this appealing for more seasoned Green Lantern readers either, so who knows who the audience is for this one? Still, it’s a serviceable and readable origin for the character with excellent art so I’d say it’s not a bad comic overall. Like Hardman/Bechko’s Invisible Republic, it’s good-looking, albeit very middle-of-the-road, unoriginal sci-fi.

This is a very different perspective of the Hal Jordan Character, I really enjoy it but sometimes I felt lost because I know the original origin story. The art is great and its a cool story if you want to read Green Lantern.

The Green Lantern gets the Earth One treatment and we find Hal Jordan in space, where he stumbles upon a wrecked spaceship whilst mining an asteroid. An so begins his adventures in the re-imagining of the Green Lantern origin story. A beautifully illustrated Graphic Novel that explores the character of Hal Jordan and his relationship with Kilowog makes for excellent reading. I cannot wait to see where this journey goes.

Well, the Earth One series succeeded again in delivering a great story, this time about Green Lantern. And, considering I usually am not a fan of Green Lantern stories, particularly Hal Jordan ones (I'm more of a Jon Stewart kind of guy), the fact that this wasn't just good put quite excellent made for a pleasant surprise.
I think what made this work where a lot of other Hal Jordan stories fail is the fact that it actually gave him a compelling character arc as his Green Lantern origin story. I liked that he was an astronaut, not just a jet pilot, as it made him have a much more believable focus on exploring the galaxy. I really enjoyed his relationship with Werzog. I like that he struggled and suffered in the story and, even though he played a major role in fixing some major issues, recognized the importance of others' experience and listened to them. It made for a much more humble character who was a lot more compelling and believable. And it left me excited to see where they go next in the story.

Beautiful artwork.
Interesting story that isn't altogether original. When I saw that it was an origin story I was hopeful for a relatively new twist on the franchise. This didn't provide that. No for me anyhow. I lost interest at around a little over halfway through it. If, as someone new to comics can't be held until the end, it's my opinion that hardcore comic folks won't either. Will lovers of Green Lantern be thrilled? Maybe.

Being someone that's read every issue of Green Lantern written since the 1990s, the idea of a fresh take on Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps really grasped my interest. I've been looking forward to reading this since mid-2017 and was more than pleased to receive the promotional copy a couple months before release.

To start, this is not your normal DC Universe. This obviously takes place somewhere in the future when the political environment has changed greatly and space travel is more accessible. "Harold" Jordan is a miner rather than a test pilot and the green lantern corps is a defeated entity rather than a successful space police force. As for the style, similarly to the current DC movie universe, this story takes a comic that is generally bright and hopeful and turns it into something gritty, dark, and hopeless. From the first page you know you're about to read something entirely new and different from any Green Lantern story you've read in the past, and that's somewhat pleasing to see.

That being said, it would be strange to introduce a new reader to this story without any prior Green Lantern experience for two reasons. 1) The style and story isn't representative of any other Green Lantern comic and would therefore make it difficult to recommend them other Green Lantern stories they may enjoy. 2) If they really like it, they will have to wait at least a couple of years before they'll receive any form of sequel.

I think this is a great, fun read for any Green Lantern fan looking for a new take on their favorite characters, but it doesn't fully meet the expectations created by other great Earth One books like Superman and Batman. Definitely recommend for fans, but it's far from a must read. 3/5 stars.

Toss aside the entire history of the Green Lantern and the Green Lantern Corp and start over again. That’s the take from this collection of issues involved in the DC Rebirth cycle. The end result is less than perfect and doesn’t equal what’s come before unfortunately.

This time around Hal Jordan isn’t a test pilot but an astronaut who comes across the ring that provides each Green Lantern with their power. But rather than finding it at full charge it’s weak and doesn’t provide him with the answers to how it works or why. That he has to discover on his own.

It seems the Guardians of the Universe have been destroyed and the giant battery that charges the rings has been decimated as well. Jordan finds Killowog as he searches for answers in space, using what power the ring has left. Those responsible for the loss of the Guardians as well as the battery will be revealed before the book ends and the possibility of the Corp resurrected.

The artwork here like so many of the current books doesn’t live up to my personal expectations but others might enjoy it. With the shoes of Gil Kane, Neal Adams, Ethan van Sciver and Doug Mahnke to follow in the images need to pop off the page and grab you by the throat, the space sequences fueled by scenes to rival the ton of movie images we’ve grown up with. I never felt that reading this book.

I hate to keep harping on the whole DC Rebirth as something that hasn’t delivered what was intended but with each new book I read I find myself longing for the past rather than the future. The stories felt less contrived and the artwork more visually stunning. Again though those who are enjoying it, a new generation of fans, will want to add this one to their collection.