Review: Green Lanterns Vol. 4- The First Ring

Quick Summary

Pros: The characters are still as enjoyable as ever and have even more time to shine here. The volume takes an interesting dive into the history of the Green Lanterns and the DC Universe. The shift in tone works out well.

Cons: The volume is less action-packed and deals with lower stakes than other collections.

Overall: It genuinely seems like the Green Lanterns series is getting better with every volume. This collection advances the comic’s character development and lore creation in a way that makes the series even more addictive and interesting. It also takes a breather from high-stakes action to detail a few fun encounters instead, while teasing more high-stakes adventures in the future. Anyone reading this series is in for another great volume and anyone not reading this series might want to reconsider.

Story

Green Lanterns Vol. 4: The First Ring, by Sam Humphries, is another absolutely stellar entry in this already great series. After a volume dealing with big fights against powerful villains, this collection changes things up by decompressing the narrative. It heavily focuses on further developing the main characters and putting them in some fun situations. It also continues the deep dive into Green Lantern lore that has made this series even more enjoyable. This shift in focus comes with a shift away from high-stakes action but, in my opinion, the tradeoff is worthwhile and works as a nice break in the larger narrative of this series. Plus, the book’s conclusion indicates that high-stakes action will be returning in spades with the next volume.

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The most noticeable change in The First Ring is the shift in focus mentioned above. The previous volume had the Green Lanterns going up against members of Batman’s rogues’ gallery and a man capable of destroying the Justice League’s headquarters. Meanwhile, this volume has them going through basic training with the Green Lantern Corps. I really enjoyed this shift and felt like it gave the series a nice level of variety. It makes this volume a bit of a reprieve between the suspense of the last volume and the suspense that will likely be in the next volume.

This change allows for a more direct focus on the characters, who have almost always been the best aspect of this series. Readers get to see Simon challenged to come up with imaginative ways to use his constructs and Jessica challenged to push her Ring further than she has before. The volume also takes several moments for both characters to just talk about what they are currently going through or to just talk about life in general. It reminds readers that characters are normal people making the best of their superhero status, which is great to see.

The First Ring also heavily focuses on further developing the Green Lantern history surrounding the First Lantern. The past few volumes have given hints about the First Lantern’s past and all of these hints have been interesting. However, this volume goes even further. Readers learn more about the history of the first Green Lantern Rings, learn about the relationship between Volthoom and Rami, and discover that Vothoom caused the destruction of his own homeworld, though likely in an unexpected way. This reveal of information is satisfying but still leaves the door open for even more information to be revealed in the next volume.

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Art

The artwork in The First Ring fares about as well as the artwork in the rest of the Green Lanterns series: good but not great. Many of the collection’s artists put in some solid work, with two particularly enjoyable chapters coming from Eduardo Pansica and Robson Rocha. Pansica’s chapter excels in depicting creative Green Lantern constructs and using them to show off the unique training taking place. Meanwhile, Rocha’s chapter is an atmospheric journey that matches the serious tone of the story.

The downside is that, like many volumes in the Green Lanterns series, the artwork is highly inconsistent from chapter to chapter. This creates rather large pieces of disconnect, as the art style dramatically shifts at various moments. It does not have a huge impact on the overall reading process but is an unfortunate flaw in an otherwise great volume.

Continuity

Green Lanterns Vol. 4: The First Ring continues the story from Green Lanterns Vol. 3: Polarity (Review).

The story here continues in Green Lanterns Vol. 5: Out of Time (Review).

This volume also references other comic books, detailed below:

• Kyle Rayner (Reading Order) became a Green Lantern again in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #17, collected in Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps Vol. 3: Quest for Hope (Review).
• The Green Lanterns and Yellow Lanterns started working together across Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps Vol. 2: Bottled Light (Review).
• The reference to one swing taking down Guy Gardner is a reference to a punch from Justice League Vol 1 #5, collected in Justice League International Book One: Born Again.   
• Pieces of the First Lantern’s history were originally shown during the Green Lantern: Wrath of the First Lantern (Review) (Reading Order) event. This event also showed his fight with Nekron.