Tim Seeley’s second trade for Green Lanterns is a quick read. This trade consists of four issues and an annual written by Andy Diggle. While it is quick, Seeley does a nice job tackling issues efficiently. The title of the trade tips its hand on some of the issues covered. What is interesting is the dovetail that Seeley writes that intersects the human trafficking with religious zealotry: superheroes kidnapped and enslaved to do work to benefit a religious cult.

The vulnerabilities that Seeley helps uncover in both Lanterns, and other heroes at large, namely, their feelings of loneliness and being unrelatable, is something that readers can empathize with. Harnessing those feelings through the use of a superhero dating app modernizes the storyline. The one concern that I have during this trade is in trying to link up Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz. While it doesn’t happen here, the seeds are laid bare and are a bit trite. Hopefully, it never happens. Romantically linking up the two leads of a show usually leads to its end and could easily make the title bland.

Barnaby Bagenda is the primary artist for this run and does a solid job. Bagenda has a style that is quite at home in science fiction. I have seen him in later work (see High Level) and you can see Bagenda is a natural fit for a Green Lantern book. Once again, the unifying voice is Dave Sharpe on letters. Sharpe’s level of consistency across all Green Lantern books helps with world-building, especially when alien races are involved. I have come to appreciate his work on all the GL books he touches.

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