“Yesterday’s” Comic: Green Lantern 3D

Luckily this is pre-Identity Crisis so this isn’t going to end as badly for Jade.

Green Lantern 3-D

DC Comics (December, 1998)

“Into The Light”

WRITER: Ron Marz

PENCILER: Georges Jeanty

INKERS: Dexter Vines & John Lowe

COLORIST: Mike Danza

LETTERER: Chris Eliopoulos

3-D EFFECTS: Ray Zone

EDITOR: Kevin Dooley

It’s only Jade’s second day as a Green Lantern and she’s falling right into the deep part of pool. Dr. Light has been trapped in the Lantern used to charge Green Lantern rings (the one that’s left), but he manages to reach out and snag Kyle. Jade follows and finds a recreation of Oa in constructs, later thought to be Hal’s doing. Unfortunately Light controls his namesake and that includes the constructs of people and buildings. Aided by the construct Green Lanterns, Kyle and Jade barely manage to escape the battery, trapping Light again within the non-world that used to be there.

What they got right: My old 3-D comics from Blackthorne are unreadable now even with the 3D glasses on. Whether that’s a result of my eyes or the paper degrading or something else I couldn’t tell you, but I had no problem here. The 3-D effects work quite well, only used within the “lightworld” of the battery, while scenes outside are done in normal 2D printing. It’s an effect that works very well visually. Jade is a rookie but still manages to do a good job while still making mistakes you’d expect from a rookie.

What they got wrong: Or at least a rookie Green Lantern. Jade has done some fighting with her original Starheart powers, right? Dr. Light makes an effecting villain here, going against the misconception of him being a “joke” villain until Identity Crisis turned him into the crazy rapist. Good on this comic, bad on the bad writing that followed.

Other notes: This was one of a series of 3-D one-shots done with Ray Zone , who specialized in this kind of 3-D. I don’t think I got the other ones. If memory serves I saw this on the shelf, liked it, and picked it up.

Recommendation: Between being a good story, a good use of 3-D within the narrative, and an effect that still works years later unlike other 3-D comics in my collection, this is one worth checking out.