Warning: contains mild spoilers for The Green Lantern Season 2 #11!
Hal Jordan isn’t exactly the most careful and considered Green Lantern – a trait that’s already the biggest problem for the Corps. as a whole – so it’s probably pretty terrible that he’s about to find himself in DC’s version of Game of Thrones. Superstar writer Grant Morrison has taken Hal to new heights in his The Green Lantern, which sees Hal truly acting as galactic law enforcement – and that role means he has a responsibility to bring the law with him, whether visiting a high-tech alien society or touching down on a world ruled by some very familiar swords and sorcery.
While the groundbreaking Game of Thrones’ final season had an extremely controversial ending, its impact on pop-culture is undeniable. It’s been mimicked or parodied in everything from The Simpsons to Sesame Street. Morrison’s ongoing stint with a power ring (which is released as ‘seasons’ akin to television shows) appears to be the next to jump onto the bandwagon, but Grant Morrison doesn’t write anything without making it his own.
In a DC Comics preview for The Green Lantern: Season 2 #11 from Morrison and artist Liam Sharp, Space Sector 2814’s grim, high-fantasy world of Athmoora readies for conflict in a story titled ‘Contest of Crowns,’ – a pretty clear allusion to the title of HBO’s gut-wrenching fantasy series. It features a plethora of hulking barbarians, monsters with skeletal armor, and other mainstays of the fantasy genre. There’s even a reference to Gandalf’s famous line from Fellowship of the Ring after he’s pulled down into the depths of Moria by the Balrog. Enjoy the cover and preview pages below:
Fekk the Faun’s cries to warn one “Sir Hal of the Green Lamp” suggests that Hal will soon return to the world of Athmoora, which he visited in Season 1 of Morrison’s story for a fantasy-themed vacation that turned south quickly. The concept of a sci-fi cop like Hal visiting a world with less advanced technology has a lot of fun implications, but even more enjoyable is the fact Athmoora still exists within the larger world, meaning there’s always the chance for off-world interference and for things to reveal they’re not as they seem.
Liam Sharp’s artwork is stunning as always, with the artist channeling his inner Frank Frazetta here. Hal even looks kind of like Conan the Barbarian – or a Dothraki warrior – on the issue’s cover. From warring factions and a villain that apparently raises his enemies from the dead, the Contest of Crowns is throwing Hal Jordan into his own version of Game of Thrones. Maybe a battle between Green Lantern and Draatha the Damned can make up for the one fans didn’t get between Jon Snow and the Night King. Fans will find out when the issue drops on February 9.
