THE GREEN LANTERN: EVIL'S MIGHT #1 (of 3)

By: Tony Whitt
Review Date: Thursday, September 05, 2002

I had my reservations about this particular Elseworlds outing, despite its focus on Green Lantern and despite the appeal of its turn-of-the-century setting. Most of those reservations came from my opinion of Howard Chaykin, a writer whose comics works has always struck me as hit or miss and whose television work is often execrable. The series MUTANT X, for example, always seems to be that much better whenever Chaykin's name doesn't appear in the writing credits. And then there was his last foray into Elseworlds territory with last year's patently annoying SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPERHEROES. Perhaps it's David Tischman's influence, or perhaps it's working in an era that doesn't allow characters to go on and on about "kicking some ass" every other minute, but Chaykin has outdone himself with EVIL'S MIGHT.

One of the most appealing features of this imaginary story is Chaykin and Tischman's insistence on working each of the three incarnations of the Green Lantern into the storyline. There's Alan Scott, the leader of the Bowery Greens gang, a group of Irish immigrant extortionists who terrify the local businessmen and only just manage to stay out of jail. There's Hal Jordan, the fearless police inspector out to break up the gang before he marries Carol Ferris, daughter of one of the most corrupt businessmen in the city. And then there's Kyle Rayner, the honest young artist whose political cartoons have earned him the ire of Carol's father, whose attentions to Carol have earned him Jordan's hatred, and whose departure from the Greens has earned Scott's rage. Fortunately, Rayner has found a lantern and an emerald ring which may change his fortunes as well as those of the city he lives in.

Good thing this story's going on for three issues - the plot is complex and compelling enough that it needs continuation. The only real flaws in this script are occasional moments in which Chaykin's career-long interest in lowlifes and sexuality get the better of the fin de siécle setting. Otherwise, the rest of the book is exactly the sort of pre-Golden Age Green Lantern story we'd expect to get. And while the decision to make Alan Scott into a villain and Hal Jordan into a semi-adversary may seem extraordinary on the face of it, it's no more controversial than, say, making a long-time hero into a villain and then making him into another, far less popular hero. On top of all that, it all makes sense - even the Alan Scott-style costume that Kyle adopts has a proper raison d'être, inspired by the playbill of FAUST on Kyle's wall and his need for an outfit at a costume ball.


Rogers and Cebollero's artwork also deserves credit for establishing the feel of the period Chaykin and Tischman are trying to recreate. True, some scenes lack that verisimilitude - the scene in the brothel in particular looks out of place in the rest of the book - but these are more due to momentary missteps in the script than to anything Roger and Cebollero have or have not done. For that matter, the artwork captures the 19th century in far more believable style than does Kevin O'Neill's art for the contemporaneous LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, even down to making a twenty-something like Kyle look more like a 40-year old, as all those old photos seem to do.

Elseworlds hasn't been putting out the most impressive fare lately, given its seemingly endless slew of retakes on the JLA in particular, but EVIL'S MIGHT may signal a change. Despite its flaws, this is the most impressive new take on the Green Lantern mythos to come along in a long time.

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