Buying guide
What to buy
The collected editions worth paying for. One clear first buy, then the books that stand on their own, then the ones for a specific Lantern.
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The one to buy
Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol. 1
Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Ethan Van Sciver · Omnibus
This is the modern Green Lantern story in one hardcover. Hal Jordan comes back, the Corps is rebuilt, and the book ends with the Sinestro Corps War. It is long, and it is the one to own if you buy a single volume of the saga.
Collects Green Lantern: Rebirth, Green Lantern Corps: Recharge, Green Lantern #1–25, and the Sinestro Corps War.
A smaller start
The omnibus is more than a thousand pages. These two paperbacks are the same era, in pieces you can finish.
Green Lantern: Secret Origin
Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis · Paperback
Hal Jordan's origin: a grounded test pilot, a dying alien, and the ring. You can read it with no other Green Lantern comic. The same story is inside Omnibus Vol. 2, so skip this if you are buying the set.
Collects Green Lantern #29–35. This link is the 2026 printing.
Buy on Amazon: Green Lantern: Secret Origin (opens in a new tab)
Green Lantern: Rebirth
Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver · Paperback
Six issues that start the Johns era. Kyle Rayner brings Hal back, and the book explains Parallax, the fear entity that had been using him. Buy this if you want the saga and the omnibus is too much book. It is the opening of Omnibus Vol. 1, so you do not need both.
The rest of the Johns run
Only after Vol. 1. These are the sequels. The hardcovers go in and out of print, and a new copy is sometimes priced like a collector's item. A used copy is the same book.
Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol. 2
Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Doug Mahnke · Omnibus
The emotional spectrum goes to war. The dead rise wearing black rings, and the other Corps have to pick a side. This is the Blackest Night volume.
Collects Green Lantern #26–52 and Blackest Night.
Buy on Amazon: Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol. 2 (opens in a new tab)
Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol. 3
Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke · Omnibus
The last act of Johns's run, from the War of the Green Lanterns through Wrath of the First Lantern. Read it after Vol. 2.
Buy on Amazon: Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Omnibus Vol. 3 (opens in a new tab)
One book, no homework
None of these need the Johns run, or any other Green Lantern comic.
Far Sector
N.K. Jemisin, Jamal Campbell · Compact paperback
Sojourner Mullein, a new Lantern, is assigned to a city that deleted its own emotions, then has to solve its first murder in five hundred years. The full twelve-issue series, in DC's smaller compact edition. The best one-and-done Green Lantern book in years.
Absolute Green Lantern Vol. 1: Without Fear
Al Ewing, Jahnoy Lindsay · Paperback
A different universe, not a sequel. A monolith cuts the town of Evergreen off from the world, and Jo Mullein and Hal Jordan are both caught in whatever is judging it. This is the first volume of the current Absolute series. Start here if that line is what brought you in.
Collects Absolute Green Lantern #1–6.
Buy on Amazon: Absolute Green Lantern Vol. 1: Without Fear (opens in a new tab)
Green Lantern: Earth One Vol. 1
Gabriel Hardman, Corinna Bechko · Hardcover
Hal Jordan as an asteroid prospector who finds a ring after the Corps has already been wiped out. Science fiction first. It is the first of three volumes, and it ends on a hook.
Buy on Amazon: Green Lantern: Earth One Vol. 1 (opens in a new tab)
The Green Lantern Vol. 1: Intergalactic Lawman
Grant Morrison, Liam Sharp · Paperback
Hal played as a space cop. Strange, funny, and almost entirely its own comic. The first volume of Morrison and Sharp's series.
Buy on Amazon: The Green Lantern Vol. 1: Intergalactic Lawman (opens in a new tab)
Other Lanterns
Hal is the default on the shelf. These are the books to buy when you want someone else wearing the ring.
Green Lantern: War Journal Vol. 1: Contagion
Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Montos · Paperback
John Stewart, after he has put the ring down and been pulled back. The current John Stewart series. You do not need the Johns omnibus first.
Buy on Amazon: Green Lantern: War Journal Vol. 1: Contagion (opens in a new tab)
Green Lanterns Vol. 1: Rage Planet
Sam Humphries, Robson Rocha · Paperback
Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz, new Lanterns assigned to Earth, up against the Red Lanterns. A good introduction to both of them. It is the first volume of their series.
Buy on Amazon: Green Lanterns Vol. 1: Rage Planet (opens in a new tab)
Alan Scott: The Green Lantern
Tim Sheridan, Cian Tormey · Paperback
The original Green Lantern, from the 1940s, before the Corps existed. His power comes from a magic lantern, not a Guardian's ring. A short, complete story. Alan Scott is gay, and the book is about him keeping that life a secret as much as it is about the mystery.
Collects Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #1–6.
Buy on Amazon: Alan Scott: The Green Lantern (opens in a new tab)
Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner Rising Compendium
Ron Marz, Darryl Banks · Compendium
Hal has fallen, the Corps is gone, and the last ring goes to Kyle Rayner, an artist. This is the start of his 1990s run. The storytelling is of that era. Buy it because you want Kyle, not as a first Green Lantern comic.
Buy on Amazon: Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner Rising Compendium (opens in a new tab)Kyle Rayner reading order
Green Lantern Corps by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason Omnibus
Peter J. Tomasi, Patrick Gleason · Omnibus
Guy Gardner and the Corps away from Earth. It overlaps the Sinestro Corps War, which is already in the Johns omnibus. Buy it for Guy and the rest of the Corps, not to read that war again.
Reading now
The monthly Hal Jordan comic, collected. It assumes you already know him.
Green Lantern Vol. 1: Back in Action
Jeremy Adams, Xermanico · Paperback
The 2023 series. The Guardians have cut Earth off from the Corps, and Hal goes home. A good read if Hal is already your Lantern. A hard place to meet him.
Buy on Amazon: Green Lantern Vol. 1: Back in Action (opens in a new tab)Current era reading order
Covers from ComicVine.