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Credit should be given to the creators behind Future State: Green Lantern #1 for ensuring that the three stories which make up this anthology book each have a different tone. However, only one of them truly succeeds in what it sets out to do.
Written by Geoffrey Thorne, Ryan Cady, and Ernie Altbacker
Art by Tom Raney, Mike Atiyeh, Sami Basri, Hi-Fi, Clayton Henry, and Marcelo Maiolo
Lettered by AndWorld Design, Dave Sharpe and Steve Wands
Published by DC
'Rama Rating: 5 out of 10
That story is the middle one, which sees Jessica Cruz defending a station from members of the Sinestro Corps without being able to rely on her ring. Ryan Cady, Sami Basri, Hi-Fi, and Dave Sharpe tackle this Die Hard-esque tale with a strong sense of their lead's headspace, even if it's all too briefly carried out.
Speaking of being unable to rely on rings, the same applies to the Lanterns in Geoffrey Thorne's lead story, led by John Stewart – a brief flashback suggests why – as they defend a planet and its people amidst evacuation efforts. The overwhelming odds they find themselves up against are clearly communicated in Tom Raney and Mike Atiyeh's art, primarily made of dense and busy panels of action, even if the last-ditch efforts of the group struggle to stoke much emotion due to lacking contextual factors.
Ernie Altbacker's story is more light-hearted than the other two. It involves Guy Gardner getting stuck on a planet outside of his usual jurisdiction and how he spends his time waiting for his ring to fix itself. Of the three, this one starts at the right moment, allowing for a beginning, middle, and end, but the comedy is all one-note miscommunication jokes and gets stale fast, which means the issue goes out on its lowest note.
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