1PanelReview Green Lantern: Hunt and Seek

Time for a review a DC Comics book you probably never heard of. It's an European exclusive! Basically, it's "Where's Waldo Green Lantern?"

Well, I did promise you all more obscure reviews. This is without a doubt the only good thing to ever come out of the awful Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern film.
 

What it is: Green Lantern : Cherche et trouve  (in English "Green Lantern: Hunt and Seek")

Which is: A children's puzzle book/Where's Waldo? with Green Lantern characters

Written by: Use Boëll
Art by: Art Mawhinney
Published by DC Comics/Editions Albin Michel 
From July 2011
Lineup Green Lantern series
Format: Hardcover trade paperback (Franco-belgium comics format).

Are you familiar with Where's Wally?/Where's Waldo? Well for the release of the 2011 live action Green Lantern film a lot of merchandising was produced around the character. Children's books, novelizations of the film, puzzle books, etc. For the European market we even got a non-DC Comics published Where's Waldo-ripoff all-age book that was... actually pretty decent, if you're familiar with the character.

This very rare book was published by Albin Michel for French-speaking countries and the UK. When I glimpsed it in a supermarket back in 2011 I just knew I had to pick up a copy (as I was a huge GL fan back in the day). It took me a while to finally think about making a little review for it over here on the blog, but it's well worth a look actually!

Hunt and Seek Green Lantern Hal Jordan as the Corps takes you over all major GL storylines (no kidding!) And when you're done looking for Hal in the various splash pages, there are then over 100 hidden familiar GL objects to find in those very same pages!

What's Good about it: This is actually a pretty decent Where's Waldo-knockoff all things considered. It was just a quick cheap GL movie tie-in, with rushed lazy artwork, but some thoughts were actually put in the making of this book. If you're familiar with Green Lantern comics you will quickly noticed the people who worked on this book were actually fans or at the very least familiar with the actual mythos of the series. For all the amateurish tone this entire thing feels like, it's also a lot more faithful and packed with the overall GL series. You could say this was a lot more worthy of the series than Martin Campbell's film.
Have you ever wanted or wondered what a Where's Waldo book filled with superheroes could look like? Well, ask no more! This book actually covers all the major landmarks of Hal Jordan's comic book career - from working at Ferris Aircraft as a test pilot to finding the GL ring in the hands of the dying Abin Sur. Then you got some training on the planet Oa with Kilowog and co. Fighting Manhunters. And finally the Sinestro Corps War!!
Each "arc" is told via a big epic scene filled with characters on these double-splash pages.
There are so many fun cameos and easter eggs hidden amongst the book, despite it being clearly aimed at young readers and children not familiar with the characters! If like me you always liked looking for hidden cameos in actual Green Lantern action splash pages, then this book is for you! (Sadly there are no Predators in this book - fans will know what I'm talking about here.)
A lot of familiar faces pop up in this book. If Hal Jordan's too easy to find on most pages (unlike Waldo), it's a whole other game to try finding Tom Kamalku, Carol Ferris, B'dg, Arisia, G'nort, Tomar-Re and many others! Yes, even Tom Kamalku is in this book! All the regular human Lanterns such as John Steward, Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner are also in this book!
It's just a fun silly stupid book.
And while it looks pretty cheap, you know, for kids, there's a lot of actual allusions to GL material (pre-New 52), just short of Blackest Night-lore.


What's Bad about it: The only real complaint I would have with this book is that the art is nothing much. Pretty simple and amateurish (specially for a French release). 
It's just a simply quickly put-together commercial tie-in for kids. I thought that it worked. in the context here, but I would expect some more detailed artwork for a Where's Waldo-clone.
Also the book is ridiculously hard to find nowadays (apparently), and it was strangely not made available in the US. (But apparently the All-Age market is not that big over there, right?)

Overall: I adore this book! This fun silly stupid book.

It's just fun to look at and wonder around the pages, I wish there were more pages to cover more stories. (John Stewart's "Mosaic" days, Kyle's origins, Guy Gardner's Warrior and JLI era, etc.)

I meant to review this book for so long, but I always forgot.. It's a great fun book, a Must Have for any fans of the Green Lantern Corps. I'd suggest looking for it in thrift stores if you live over here or try looking for it online (Amazon appears to still have some copies of it). I really doubt this has any value outside fans, to be honest. But give it a look if you can locate or order a copy online. At the very least it will make you forget the taste of the awful "live action" Green Lantern film.

Easily the best thing to come out that failed Ryan Reynold's film, no a doubt.

 

I give it: 2 / 3!

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