Green Lantern: Sector 2814 is Dave Gibbons spotlight book

One of the few surprises in DC's recent Fall 2012 trade solicitations was Green Lantern: Sector 2814 Vol. 1, a collection of early 1980s Green Lantern stories by Len Wein. I'm glad to see a collection of this mostly-uncollected period of Green Lantern history, but its inclusion on the DC list amidst all the DC New 52 books seemed fairly random.

It turns out you can thank Before Watchmen for this one.

Well ... maybe not Before Watchmen per se, but despite the fact that Sector 2814 also includes art by Dick Giordano and possibly also Gil Kane, the impetus for this collection appears to be Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons, and I can't believe the timing is all that coincidental ...

Here's DC's new solicitation for the book:

In 1984, DC Comics introduced British artist Dave Gibbons to U.S. readers with GREEN LANTERN #172, the start of a popular run by Gibbons and writer Len Wein, best known as the creator of both Swamp Thing and Wolverine. Over the course of thirteen action packed issues, Green Lantern battled some of his greatest foes, clashed with the Guardians of the Universe, and was replaced by another human Green Lantern - John Stewart!

This title is a showcase for the art of Dave Gibbons, who moved straight from GREEN LANTERN to WATCHMEN, the best-selling graphic novel of all time. Gibbons returned to the world of GREEN LANTERN in 2007 as the writer of the new series GREEN LANTERN CORPS.

See what I mean? Sector 2814 isn't specifically Watchmen related, of course, but it does seem like DC's suggesting that these stories were Gibbons's project "before Watchmen," if you will ...

I'm looking forward to this one when it comes out.