Green Lantern Rebirth Absolute

Review of Green Lantern Rebirth Absolute EditionSo the Absolute Edition of DC’s Green Lantern Rebirth  storyline came out this week. I stopped by my LCS to pick up my copy. Here is a brief review of what you get once the cellophane gets torn off. So it’s a given that of course you get a massive reprint of DC’s 6  issue mini series telling the return and redemption of Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern. I won’t rehash the plot here as most us have read this series, for those of you who have not read Green Lantern Rebirth click here for a synopsis. But needless to say it’s still amazing to see this story all over again in a prestige format, with large pages and bright vivid colors. The absolute format finally does this story justice.

I’ve always liked Ethan Van Sciver’s art and the absolute edition really allows you to soak in the details and nuances of his art style.

So this is an absolute edition right? Beside the large prestige format with requisite slip case, what extras do we get?  Well here I was a little let down. After the classic rebirth tale we get a short story  a’ la Darwyn Cook/ New Frontier style and format. ( In fact I am pretty sure it is a Darwyn Cook tale but could find no credits in the book to verify.) The title of the story is called “The Beginning” and without giving too much away, is basically a tale of Jordan’s relationship with his parents, and Carol Ferris. The story is great and fun and the art of course is awesome but somewhat short. About as long as your standard comic book issue.

The “extras” included are the full rebirth scripts via Geoff Johns. While nice to have I never understood the point of having the script right after I just read the full story. But hey some people might enjoy it. There are also a few pages of Ethan’s character sketches, which are pretty cool but I am sure I have seen them published before elsewhere, so it’s  not new never before  seen stuff. But  still nice.

So overall a great  absolute edition particularly if you are a Green Lantern fan. (Like Me!)  But to be honest while I love anything Green Lantern  I think this feel a little short of what we’ve come to expect  from DC when it comes to the prestige format of an absolute. Not too many extras and nothing that you’ve really missed before. I highly recommend that you pick this up cause it’s still a pretty kick ass book, but don’t pay the full retail price of $75.00. Instead hit up Amazon.com for a cheaper price and still great edition.