Review: Green Lantern Vol. 7- Renegade

Quick Summary

Pros: The changes made within this volume are interesting to see play out and interesting to explore. The characters are all fun and their adventures are exciting. The volume’s conclusion helps build intrigue for the next volume. Most of the artwork looks good.

Cons: There are a few places where the quality of the artwork drops randomly.

Overall: This is a very different Green Lantern book but one that is still enjoyable on its own. It has great characters, a fun narrative, and isn’t afraid to change the status quo in an interesting way. Plus, it backs all of this up with some great artwork and a tease for the next volume that will make fans want to keep reading. Fans who have been looking for some solid Green Lantern stories, from this era, may want to give this one a shot, as long as they recognize it will be different from other Hal Jordan offerings.

Story

The Green Lantern series has struggled for a bit since the climactic Wrath of the First Lantern (Review) (Reading Order) event brought an entire era of Green Lantern history to a close. Since then, the volumes have mostly just been average, with a few positive and negative exceptions along the way. 

Green Lantern Vol. 7: Renegade, by Robert Venditti, is probably the most captivating volume since this switch took place. This volume dramatically changes the traditional Green Lantern status quo and creates a new one that is ripe for exploration and filled with intriguing mystery. The entire narrative is interesting, the characters and their interactions are fun, and the comic has a great approach to action and suspense. It also closes on a note that helps build tension for the future. I don’t expect this status quo to last long for Hal Jordan but, for now, I’m enjoying it and am excited to see it play out.

(spoilers start here)

In the previous volume, Hal Jordan gave up his Green Lantern Ring and became an outlaw in order to take pressure off the Corps. Now, Renegade has him dealing with the fallout from this situation. It forces him to gather a small team of supporters, equips him with a weapon that doesn’t always work perfectly, and presents him with entirely new life goals. The entire situation around this character has changed and this change has opened up a whole new world of possibility.

Besides being interesting from a purely exploratory standpoint, this new status quo is also immediately endearing. Hal’s two new sidekicks work as a great contrast to one another, with one ready to address the party’s emotions and the other ready to fight anyone at the drop of a hat. Hal’s ship’s AI is also delightful, as its main goal seems to comedically critique Hal’s actions and provide some charming banter. All of this gives multiple different avenues to explore Hal’s current condition, something that remains a bit of an unknown throughout the read.

It also helps that the central crisis running through Renegade is fun. Hal uncovers a mystery impacting the Green Lantern Corps, discovers Black Hand is the key to the mystery, and is then forced to fight both Black Hand and Relic. This entire time he also has to deal with the fact that he could be turned to stone at nearly any moment, from a variety of sources. It creates a tense and exciting situation for Hal to overcome. It also utilizes multiple pieces from previous story arcs in a way that works as a reward for longtime readers.

Finally, Renegade also introduces some intriguing plot points for the next volume to explore. It teases the Green Lantern Corps’ return, a fight against a new clan of villains, and Hal continuing to work through his personal issues. By the end of this collection, I was more than ready to see what the next one had in store.

(spoilers end here)

Art

The artwork in Renegade looks great in most places. Billy Tan’s visuals have been the highlight of the past few volumes and that remains true here. His work is bold, make fills the cosmos with creativity, and helps the book’s action flow well. This volume also gives Tan the chance to depict some new and unique things. Hal is given a makeover, new supporting characters are designed, and new locations are visited. All of this helps the visual appeal of the book and adds to the overall experience. Plus, a single chapter from Ethan Van Sciver brings out most of these same positives as well.

The problem in Renegade comes from the few places where Billy Tan and Ethan Van Sciver’s artwork is not present. Other artists contribute a few pages, here and there, that just look average. However, the random way in which these different visual styles are spliced in makes them come across far worse than they would otherwise. It breaks the flow of a story and is a definite negative for the reading experience. The book still looks nice as a whole but could have been a lot better.

Continuity

Green Lantern Vol. 7: Renegade continues the story from Green Lantern Vol. 6: The Life Equation (Review).

The story here continues in Green Lantern Vol. 8: Reflections (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• The events of Green Lantern: Lights Out (Reading Order) are brought up a number of times.
• The actions of the Omega Men are mentioned in passing. The Omega Men’s actions are detailed across Omega Men: The End is Here.