question about green lantern comics, where to start?

[flaggwalkstheline]

i'm thinking about starting to read green lantern comics (by read i mean "not byrne-steal") but i'm not sure which series to pick up... any of my amigos know much about dc comics? I'm thinking gl corps and the main title but there are a boatload of others as well so i'm not 100% sure...
I mean i'm familiar with the storylines and continuity and i know the characters but i don't know which series to start buying
lil' help here ?

[Sam]

I've been reading Green Lantern for nearly 20 years, so I guess I qualify. The first thing I'll ask is do you know who Kyle Rayner is and how he became a Green Lantern? If the answer is "yes", then you're fine so far. If the answer is "no" send me a PM and we'll continue this discussion there (cause it'll be a long one). The first (and easiest) place to start, assuming you know about Kyle, is with the Green Lantern: Rebirth trade. After that you will want to get the following trades in the Green Lantern line to get up to speed with the GL story. Be warned this is a long list so I will not write the obligatory Green Lantern before each title. I will just write the remainder of it. No Fear, Revenge of the Green Lanters, Wanted, The Sinestro Corps War parts 1 and 2, Rage of the Red Lanterns, Secret Origins, Agent Orange, Green Lantern: Blackest Night, and Green Lantern: Brightest Day (not yet released). You probably should also get the Green Lantern Corps stories because of how intertwined the stories become during the Sinestro Corps War and the Blackest Night stories. Here's that list, again leaving off the Green Lanter Corps part of the title. Green Lanter Corps: Recharge, To be a Lantern, The Darker Side of Green, (Sinestro War 1 & 2 go here), Ring Quest, Sins of the Star Sapphire, Emerald Eclipse, Green Lantern Corps: Blackest Night, Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns (not yet released). You should also get the Blackest Night trade and may want to read the Brightest Day series as well. That should get you about to the current point in the GL stories.

It's a lot dude. I've spent the last five months getting there as I had taken a three year leave from the GL series. If I can be any more help let me know.

[flaggwalkstheline]

i know who kyle rainer is, i know who hal jordan, guy gardner, john stewart, abin sur, sinestro, killowog, the planet oa, etc etc all are
i've been byrne stealing the series since rebirth so ive followed all of geoff johns stories from rebirth to brightest day

what i'm looking to make sure of is that the two series i see the most, green lantern and green lantern corps are enough to keep me aware of what's going on the series... those are the two main titles yes? what's the difference between them?

[Sam]

Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps are the two main series with Emerald Warrior being the third. GL follows Hal Jordan, Emerald Warrior follows Guy Gardner, Arisa, and Kilowog (at the moment), and GLC follows the rest of the GLs. Reading the stories of course will give you ALL the information, but you can get the basics of what has happened via the net. There is to be a fourth series coming soon based on the Red Lanterns. I'm not sure exactly when though.

I'd stick with GL, GLC, Emerald Warrior, and the Brightest Day series. The Brightest Day series has had little to do with the Green Lantern books and hasn't been following the GL storylines, but it DOES deal with the White Lantern Ring and has been interesting. Plus it's had art by Ivan Reis, so BONUS!!

I haven't been getting issues of GLC (buying the trades instead) but have been buying GL and Emerald Warrior along with Brightest Day. If you decide to pick up GL, I'd get the backstory going all the way back to Rebirth. With diligence, you can get the entire series in trades via ebay for really cheap. Or on Amazon for about $10.50 per trade.

[flaggwalkstheline]

yup used mailordercomics.com to order the backtrades, picked up the brightest day issues, rather enjoyed what i've read

so emerald warriors? that's not really necessary is it? cause it's like a limited series?
maybe i'll get the trade

[Sam]

If I were you, I'd get the trade of Emerald Warrior (if it's affordable that is, if they do the story as a hardcover I'd get the individual issues off ebay for cheap), but I really think some of the details that are covered in that story will shed considerable light on parts of the upcoming GL War storyline.

[flaggwalkstheline]

yeah I'm just getting all three, don't feel like waiting so long

your list helped me figure out what to get so thanks much for that!