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I don't know about you, but before I read Absolute Green Lantern by Al Ewing and Jahnoy Lindsay, I never had a fear of Abin Sur. He's a core part of Lantern mythology, as he's the Green Lantern who bequeathes his power ring to Hal Jordan before dying. I'd even go as far as to say that the best part of that terrible Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern movie was when Abin Sur fought Parallax. 

It's only natural, then, for the Absolute Universe's version of Green Lantern to feature a subversion of the Abin Sur that we all know and love. And that's exactly what writer Al Ewing set out to do with the series. I interviewed Al Ewing about Absolute Green Lantern, and asked him about why he chose to explore this idea of "the unknown" within a superhero book. 

"I was thinking about Green Lantern, I was thinking about what it would look like if Abin Sur descended and gave this power to a human being. And it looked biblical, and I just sort of remembered the Sodom and Gomorrah thing, where the angels just sort of arrive, and all God’s representatives arrive, and it's this whole bargaining thing. You know, ‘Oh, I will not destroy the city for 100's sake, I won't do it with 10's sake,’ They sort of just haggle it," Ewing began.

"And that's where the idea came for Abin Sur coming down and judging this town, judging this community, and what that would look like from the point of view of a bunch of people within it, or sort of slightly outside of the center of it... I've always been agnostically fascinated with the Bible and various religions. And yeah, this sounded like a story that I could really get into that," Ewing said. 

So there you have it. For Al Ewing, writing Absolute Green Lantern gives him the chance to explore theological and philosophical questions he's had on his mind. 

Get ready for what's next with our guide to upcoming comics, how to buy comics at a comic shop, and our guide to Free Comic Book Day 2025.