Green Lanterns #7
DC Comics
Written by: Sam Humphries
Art by: Ronan Cliquet
Fresh after the battle that pitted the two rookies together against the Red Lanterns, Jessica now faces her toughest challenge yet: An evening with Simon Baz’s family. Meanwhile, Simon is struggling with his own personal demons as he attempts to win his mothers approval by making ma’amoul, which is a Lebanese dessert.
Humphries takes the opportunity here, after the Red Dawn arc, to focus on character development and the chemistry between Simon and Jess. There were no villains the duo had to face, or anything life-threatening. This issue survives solely on dialog. Jessica and Simon appear to be much closer after surviving their previous run-in with the Red Lanterns. The two rookies have really began to warm up to one-another.
Humphries does a great job applying humor to this story as we see our two characters falling apart just to pick each other back up. In fact one of the best lines in the issue, comes from Jess requesting the number of Darkseid as an alternative to dealing with Simon’s family. Normally in the past, we have seen how Jess has handled anxiety but this issue dives a little deeper into Simon’s background, giving viewers a glimpse of some of his pressure points. In past issues, we have seen Baz face against the toughest opponents with confidence, however in this issue we see all that fall apart as Simon realizes his mother is visiting. One of the things I can appreciate about this issue is how relatable it is in terms of family relationships, especially between Baz and his mother. I’m sure we have all been there where an older sibling was barking orders around or trying to live up to some of your parents expectations. It’s nice to peel back a few layers, remove the superhero persona, and see how some of these heroes handle this type of environment from time to time. Perhaps the relationship discussion between him and his mother is setting up for something bigger in the future. Seeing some of the backstory of Simon was a pleasant surprise. It was rather ironic seeing Jess calm Simon down as he prepares to interact with his mother.
In terms of the artwork, Cliquet does a marvelous job as he perfectly conveys each of the characters emotions and close-ups as they go from calm to anxiety-ridden in page flip.
Green Lanterns #7 is a nice breather from the Red Dawn arc, we get some really good character moments. Between huge fist-throwing, action arcs such as Red Dawn, I’ve always appreciated the moments of relief, especially when used for character development. It’s nice to finally see some sort of friendship develop between Simon and Jess. These two characters are really starting to hit their stride and continue to prove their worth as a Green Lantern.