The Sins of the Past

As I noted in my review of Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War, there’s a certain kind of sensible logic in pairing up the noble peacekeepers of the Federation with the noble space cops of the Lantern Corps. It’s two great tastes that taste great together, and while the resulting comic was a silly mishmash of ideas and plot that really didn’t work together as anything other than a parody of both franchises, the fact is that putting Star TrekOriginally conceived as "Wagon Train in Space", Star Trek was released during the height of the Hollywood Western film and TV boom. While the concept CBS originally asked for had a western vibe, it was the smart, intellectual stories set in a future utopia of science and exploration that proved vital to the series' long impact on popular culture. and Green LanternMade up of aliens from sectors scross space, the Green Lantern Corp. defends the universe against threats with the power of the Green Light of Willpower. together was the least silly part of the whole endeavor. Certainly there are dumber ideas to build a comic book series around.

Speaking of dumber ideas, allow me to slide in with Green Lantern Versus Aliens. In the 1990s and early 2000s, Dark Horse had the rights to various franchises, including Alien vs. Predator. That allowed the company to write all kinds of comics for both alien species. And, with a cross-promotion deal with DC ComicsOne of the two biggest comic publishing companies in the world (and, depending on what big events are going on, the number one company), DC Comics is the home of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and just about every big superhero introduced in the 1930s and 1940s., it also allowed the company to write crossovers between a whole host of DC properties. That led to books like Superman/Aliens, Batman/Aliens, three full runs of Batman vs. Predator, Superman vs. Predator, Superman and Batman vs. Aliens and Predator, and, the focus of today’s review, Green Lantern versus Aliens. Were any of these books good? No, but they were unbelievably, hilariously fun.

Why pit the Lanterns (well, okay, just one Lantern) against Aliens? Because, like with the Star Trek crossover, putting a Lantern in the midst of these extraterrestrial hunters really isn’t the silliest idea around. The Lanterns fly the cosmos, protecting whole sectors of the universe (not just one galaxy but the universe). They meet all kinds of alien species, have extraordinary, extrasolar encounters, and get on really wild adventures. Considering the kinds of beasts these guys could, and have, fought, throwing Aliens into the mix really isn’t the silliest part of this adventure. It’s everything around the story that kicks up the dumb spectacle.

In the book Kyle Rayner, at the time the only active Lantern in the whole of the universe, has his day interrupted when former Lanterns (who survived the attack by Hal Jordan / Parallax that destroyed the Corps) Tomar-Dar, Brik, Ash, M'Hdahna, and Salaak show up at his apartment in need of assistance. As we learn, ten years earlier Hal led a rescue mission that turned into an extraterrestrial containment mission when his squad came face to face with xenomorphs. Not wanting to kill them, as life is precious, Hal and the other Lanterns moved the aliens to Mogo, the living planet (which was also a Lantern) assuming that Mogo could contain the beasts and keep the rest of the universe safe from their infestation. Of course, then Hal went bad and Mogo no longer has the power to contain them.

This is an issue as a spaceship, the Signet Dawn, crashed on Mogo not too long ago. The people onboard don’t know what’s lurking on the surface and could be in for a very rude greeting party. The former Lanterns beg Kyle for assistance as “this is a Lantern problem. Lanterns caused it, now Lanterns have to clean it up.” Reluctantly, Kyle agrees, and he flies off with them to Mogo. What they find is the crashed ship, a bunch of very dead humans, and one pissed off member of the crew, Crowe, who wants her revenge. With her help, Kyle and his team might just have a chance of getting anyone out alive.

As far as crossovers are concerned this one really isn’t the most ridiculous. While it’s true that xenomorphs are not normally part of DC continuity, there are plenty of alien beasties that aren’t too different from these aliens that putting in the xenomorphs doesn’t make for the most awkward of fits. Humans on spaceships, cyborgs, synthoids, and all the rest could blend in as well with little fuss, and it’s pretty clear that the creators on the book, Ron Marz, Rick Leonardi, and Mike Perkins, took great pains to try and limit any strange continuity issues caused by mashing the two together.

What that means is that while the xenomorphs are here, much of their mythology and continuity is not. You won’t see any named characters from the Alien franchise in this book, and there’s no mention of the Nostromo, the Sulaco, or of Ellen Ripley and her many and varied adventures. Instead what we have is, effectively, a Green Lantern book that just so happens to feature a monster (that can’t speak) from another franchise without any of the extra “baggage” their inclusion should entail. It’s kind of a cheat, really, and one that fans of the Aliens franchise might not really appreciate.

As a Green Lantern adventure, the book isn’t bad. It’s important to note that this story came along at the time when Kyle Rayner was the only star of Green Lantern, with the rest of the Corps thought missing or dead. As such, this book had a lot of leeway to play with characters readers hadn’t seen in a while because, at the time, it was thought that those characters would never show up again. Tomar-Dar, Salaak, and the rest were lost, and the writers here could have fun, bringing them back and if, in the process, the characters died again (due to those pesky aliens) it really wasn’t a big deal. There wasn’t any continuity to worry about.

It’s not a bad Kyle Rayner story, that’s for sure. The hero gets to show off his chops in a number of different ways. He seems honorable and trustworthy, willing to make the sacrifice as a Lantern, but also willing to push against the old code of the Lanterns because he’s doing things his way. He fights well with his ring, creating interesting and creative constructs (it’s always a plus when the artists make the Lanterns create constructs and not just shoot random beams of light), but he also has times where he has to fight without it, and these moments certainly test his mettle and his morals. The book is just as willing to push against Kyle as it is to have Kyle push against expectations.

I think where the book really falters (outside the fact that it’s not really an Aliens book despite the title) is where it lines up with continuity after the fact. Sure, this book is now viewed as a silly lark but it’s pretty clear the artists were trying very hard to keep this book solidly in the continuity camp, if at all possible. Later stories, though, like the retcon that was Green Lantern: Rebirth certainly shifted things around. That’s especially so in the case of characters that die in this book that then come back later. It was probably thrilling at the time to see named characters get killed by aliens but now this book is a weird curiosity that doesn’t fit in any established canon despite the best efforts of the team.

Plus, I have to admit, the aliens just aren’t scary here. They’re well drawn and interesting, but the team on the book clearly was much more interested in writing an interesting Green Lantern title than in trying to work out and invest in the xenomorphs in any meaningful way. The creatures here are little more than animals, attacking simply for the sake of and then disappearing from the story until we need an action beat again. More emphasis on the aliens might have helped to develop them into real threats instead of being something that Kyle has to bat away to save the day. It doesn’t quite work.

Still, Green Lantern Versus Aliens is stupid fun. It’s a solid, interesting Green Lantern book that’s most notable because it also has some other continuity’s monsters in it. That sets it in a weird place on the Green Lantern timeline, but it does make it fun as a casual read where you can simply shut off your brain and enjoy it for the dumb fun it is. Sometimes dumb fun is all you need.