Comics: Green Lantern 0

Simon Baz begins!!

Simon Baz is a questionable pick for a Green Lantern. From his decision to steal a car to the bomb exploding in it that just happened to be there, he seems to have a mysterious background. Nonetheless, he has made mistakes in his life, and definitely pays for them when he is arrested and interrogated at the hands of the US and Amanda Waller’s men.

Upon seeing the terrors of 9/11 first hand on the television to the troubled life he had afterwards, Simon Baz is different than previous Green Lanterns. He has a lot of issues in his life but the ring which contains errors since it left Hal and Sinestro definitely gets one thing right: he has the ability to overcome great fear or willpower. After he receives the ring, he mysteriously disappears. He ends in a field unconscious as someone looks onwards. Meanwhile, Hal and Sinestro do not seem to be in any great strides where they are at now….. Hal Jordan of Earth….. Sinestro of Korugar…. RISE??

Geoff Johns does a great job of introducing the first Arabic-American Green Lantern to the DC Universe. He paints a man who the reader can relate to, and has suffered at the hands of society. Johns gives the ring to him as almost a second chance at a life he almost abandoned.

Doug Mahnke really goes to town. He does some of the best work of his career in this zero issue, and really shows how talented in the diversity of his art can be. From the different looks of Baz to the various different scenes, Mahnke really shows the reader why he works well with Johns.

While this issue was written quite well, it did not exactly portray the society of my hometown accurately. While there were sympathetic Muslims in Dearborn to the events of 9/11, a majority of them cheered in the streets, and the other races in Dearborn (White and Black) are not exactly racist towards them either which offended me a bit. My community outside of Detroit is quite peaceful, and Mr. Johns should have reached out to more aspects of the community rather than just the Arabic-American Museum.
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Tommy Zimmer is an upcoming writer of short stories, comic books, journalism/media reviews, screenplays, and anything related to writing. On zimmert101.wordpress.com, you can view his latest work, and see what exciting things he is currently doing!!