Comic Book Review: Green Lantern: Legacy Author Minh Le, Illustrator Andie Tong
Three generations live in the cramped apartment above the Jade Market. Tai Pham is okay with this. He loves his parents and especially his grandmother Kim Tran, who founded this neighborhood store when she and his grandfather came to America from Vietnam. But one day Tai finds that his grandmother’s unusual jade ring is in his room. She claims that the ring has chosen him, and when she passes on, Tai discovers that she has left him a legacy indeed–the mantle of Green Lantern!
Although veteran Green Lanterns John Stewart and Iolande begin training Tai to eventually protect his entire star sector, his immediate concerns are a bit more local. Tai’s friends Tommy and Serena need help with school projects, there are racist bullies harassing people, and innovator/billionaire Xander Griffin has a visionary plan for re-inventing the neighborhood. Can Tai learn to trust the right people and fully understand what a legacy is?
This middle-school graphic novel is set in a slightly different continuity than the mainstream Green Lantern comics. While Kilowog (the usual Green Lantern trainer) and Sinestro (former Green Lantern turned renegade with a yellow ring) are namedropped, and Bruce Wayne exists, Kim Tran entirely replaces Hal Jordan as Earth’s primary Green Lantern.
Good: Good art, and I like the theme that legacy and connections to those around you can be a source of strength.
Less good: Xander Griffin is super obviously the bad guy from the moment he appears. So some valid points he makes about shedding a past that constricts your imagination and prevents you from reaching your creative potential, and not letting people hold you down, are simply villain rants.
Also, Tai is terrible at doing the secret identity thing. He’s not going to last long in the superhero biz if he keeps slipping like that!
Content note: xenophobia, bullying, death of a family member. Parents may want to discuss the Vietnam War and the importance of welcoming refugees with young readers.
Overall: A good comic for middle-school superhero fans.
