Green Lantern: Fresh Ink

Green Lantern: Fresh Ink

• John is back in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan catching up with his close mom, Lucia. She misses him and says she wishes he was always here but knows he’s so busy. They run into a meaningful role model of John’s when he was a kid, Mr. Hardin. Mr. Hardin runs their neighborhood’s community center. Apparently, it has gone downhill lately and there is gang activity in the area that seems to be mixing kids up with the wrong crowds. John knows that he has the power to look into this and see what he can do.

• John does some light detective work on the streets and runs into a group of three kids. One of them is more troubled than the other two and accidentally clues him onto the fact that a certain graffiti symbol is tied to the big-time gang in town. John begins casing the area and finds a few common locations with graffiti tags and some sketchy characters.

• While scoping out one place, tensions arise between two gangs in the street. Men are shooting at each other over turf. John powers up with iron beams and posts to get civilians to safety. He also can’t help but notice one of the troubled kids from earlier is present on the side of the graffiti gang. The tide of the shoot-out changes when a large man walks out into the street and takes off his hoodie, revealing he is covered in tattoos. The tattoos begin to peel off oh his body and come to life. A giant serpent tattoo smashes the enemy gang’s cars and a fiery tattoo scorches some men. John jumps in and blocks the fire with a flat energy construct to shield but the serpent tattoo goes under the shield and uppercuts John. John makes a blade to slice the serpent but as he does, it seems to dissolve and John is struck in the back by a tattoo sledgehammer. John pushes back with a blast of energy and the tattoo knocks back into a street lamp that begins to teeter over. John lunges forward to knock Tattoo Man out with a giant fist but a tattoo shart swims in front of it and blocks him. All the while, the lamp pole became weaker and fell down on the graffiti gang’s side of the turf war, right on top of the troubled boy John met earlier. John can’t stand seeing a young boy get hurt as a result of his actions, so John ditches the fight with Tattoo Man to rush the boy to the hospital. Tattoo Man heckles John for running away as he flies off.

• At the hospital, John calls Mr. Hardin from the community center to help him figure out who the boy is and how to contact his parents. Mr. Hardin explains that this particular boy doesn’t really have much for a family anymore. He was raised by a single mother who was just put away on drug charges a few months ago. For all intents and purposes, he is homeless, staying the night in the community center or sleeping over at a friend’s house whenever he can. John acknowledges this and says that he will cover all of his hospital bills. Mr. Hardin tries to pay but John insists, mainly because he feels so guilty and worked up over what happened to the boy because of him. John opens up to Mr. Hardin, sharing that all his life he followed orders. He was a military man through and through who did his job efficiently and well. If something went wrong in the field, it John could track the blame back up through the chain of command, so he wouldn’t feel as bad. Only now, as a superhero, John has nobody to blame if something goes wrong. Mr. Hardin helps him feel better by learning the lesson that no matter what he does, he can’t feel guilty for trying to help somebody. Any action is better than inaction. 

• John sets out to find Tattoo Man and make him pay for what he did to the boy. John follows more graffiti back to the gang’s hideout and busts in the door. He tries to get answers from them about where Tattoo Man is but then John is struck from behind with a giant football tat and is knocked nearly unconscious. Tattoo Man stands above him and taunts how predictable he is that he knew he’s come and how John can’t defeat him because he doesn’t think outside of the box. John knows he right. His engineering mind creates a barrier for him against Tattoo Man. If he wants to win, he needs to get more creative. Tattoo Man projects a giant boot above John and slams it down to squash him like a bug, but the shoe gets launched right back up because John created a giant green spring. Tattoo Man looks surprised and angry as John Smirks. They begin a crazy imaginative fight with Tattoo Man gerating random attacks and John responding with equally as spontaneous constructs. Tattoo Man makes a shark, John makes a kraken. Tattoo Man fires a cannon, John reverts it back with a roulette wheel. Tattoo Man charges with a sports car, John rams it with a steam roller. Both men are exhausted from the fight and in a final swipe, Tattoo Man unleashes an inferno of tattoo fire but John casts a giant lantern to trap the fire and Tattoo Man. The smoke from the fire builds up and Tattoo Man falls unconscious. 

• The goons look on in awe of John holding their powerful boss. John turns to them and lectures them on why would they look up to a thug. A man like this only causes disaster in a community and prevents it from blossoming in the way that it should. They have the brotherhood and organization to make a real change and John strongly recommends that that they start to make that change or end up in chains like their boss. John flies Tattoo Man away and the young gang members look around at each other feeling shame and disappointment knowing John is right.

• Cut to John back at the community center with his mom and Mr. Hardin. The center looks beautiful and they have a large new garden. Mr. Hardin thanks John for doing what he did to clean up the streets. John deflects and gives all the credit right back to Mr. Hardin for showing him how. From outside the window, they watch as the troubled kid from earlier plays with his friends at the center. John and his mom look at each other and smile lovingly.

• In a post credit scene, we cut to Hal Jordan beaten and bruised. Hal radios in to Oa from across the galaxy. He says he tried his best to stop him but he couldn’t. Warn John Stewart of Earth… Despero is coming.