Misconceptions of the Green Lantern

[terry78]

The scene with the chick who's about to get assaulted smiling in the next panel as Batman basically beats the two dudes to a pulp kind of made me crack a smile the first time. She was seriously getting wet, and not due to the rain.

 

[Hound55]

I never got the hal hate... He's essentially Han solo with superpowers! I mean, what's NOT to ****in love!?

First he's John McClane now he's frickin' Han Solo..?

Don't make me post the Goddamn Robin hitting Goddamn Hal in the Goddamn throat again...

 

[SuperFerret]

I never got the hal hate... He's essentially Han solo with superpowers! I mean, what's NOT to ****in love!?

Except Han is able to have some sort of "Hey, he's a pretty okay guy" vibe show through the whole confident cocky exterior. I don't like Hal not for his supposed lack of personality, but the fact that the personality he does have would make me want to punch him in the face. Aside from Alan Scott, John Stewart is my favorite Earth GL.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

I never got the hal hate... He's essentially Han solo with superpowers! I mean, what's NOT to ****in love!?

He's nothing like Han Solo. For one, he is no where near as charismatic. For two, the guy is so stoic and by the book it makes you want to punch him in the face. For three, in most of his incarnations he is toooo perfect. People think Superman is a boy scout? Na... Hal Jordan is. And he's the annoying kind of boy scout. They type who would grass you up/tattletale if you was smoking weed in the tent.

 

[Hound55]

Four, he has a ring that can do damn near anything yet his modus operandi is to use it to punch people in the face.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Four, he has a ring that can do damn near anything yet his modus operandi is to use it to punch people in the face.

HAHA so true.

Five. The best thing to ever happen to him, character development wise, was retconned.

 

[protocida]

Parallax was one of the worst things to happen to Hal. He was completelly descharacterizated and turned into a villain just because he wasn't "cool" enough in 90's and DC wanted their own Peter Parker. Turning Parallax into the fear entity not only started one of the best comic books storylines in the last years as also made the Green Lantern mythos attractive to all fans. Also, you make it sound like Hal was made completelly innocent and Kyle was put on a bus never to be seen again. Not. The. Case. Hal was still somehow responsible for what happened. He felt fear. He wasn't strong enough and opened the door in which Parallax infected his soul. And alas, the Corps still pretty much hates him and he feels hella' guilty. And Kyle, after a good track of bad ideas and characterizations, was made into a very cool character, with an identity of his own and became the star of a title along Guy, another character who was turned into something good after a long run as an *******.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Well him turning bad actually gave him some much needed depth. I mean, he witnessed his home town and millions of innocents getting destroyed, I and no one else should begrudge him for going a little bit nuts. He wanted all that power for a good cause. But he did it in the wrong way. It made Hal have flaws, it made him a real HUMAN instead of as Anubis rightly puts it, a cardboard cut out cliche superhero.

Then they retconned it to "Oh hey guys it wasn't really me! It was a parasite!"

 

[Mr. Earle]

So when Hal destroyed the corps, the battery and everything, how did the rest of the corps survive and power their rings?

And what's the status of the corps now? Is Oa, the battery, and the corps back to normal or are they still recuperating?

 

[Ace of Knaves]

The Corps is recuperated, even stronger than before with 7000 plus members. Then Blackest Night came along.

Recharge and the main Green Lantern Corps series was better than any Hal Jordan book by Johns. Says it all really...

 

[Mr. Earle]

Well him turning bad actually gave him some much needed depth. I mean, he witnessed his home town and millions of innocents getting destroyed, I and no one else should begrudge him for going a little bit nuts. He wanted all that power for a good cause. But he did it in the wrong way. It made Hal have flaws, it made him a real HUMAN instead of as Anubis rightly puts it, a cardboard cut out cliche superhero.

Then they retconned it to "Oh hey guys it wasn't really me! It was a parasite!"

Well as Protocida said, the destruction of his home town made him weak and allowed Parallax to get to him. In other words, he let his guard down, but he didnt turn into the Joker with a power ring.

 

[protocida]

It was him. Influenced by Parallax, but still him. And, as Geoff Johns proved, you don't need to change everything about a character and make him into a villain out of nowhere to give him depth. Johns and Peter Tomasi made every single character of the GL mythos, including Hal, John, Guy and Kyle, into singular character, with much depth, without subverting their very principles.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Well as Protocida said, the destruction of his home town made him weak and allowed Parallax to get to him. In other words, he let his guard down, but he didnt turn into the Joker with a power ring.

Well, yea. It made him human. Not some flawless cliche superhero who is only popular because he's got cool powers.

But now he is back to being a cliche superhero who is only popular because he's got cool powers.

See, Hal Jordan is the epitome of that whole "powers over personality" thing. Seriously, if he wasn't a Green Lantern with that bad ass power ring he'd be nothing.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

It was him. Influenced by Parallax, but still him. And, as Geoff Johns proved, you don't need to change everything about a character and make him into a villain out of nowhere to give him depth. Johns and Peter Tomasi made every single character of the GL mythos, including Hal, John, Guy and Kyle, into singular character, with much depth, without subverting their very principles.

What depth has Hal got though? Seriously, what would Hal be without his power ring? He'd be nothing. That is the sign of a crap character.

I'm not having a dig at people for liking Hal, no way. If people like him, fine. But it really does baffle the mind.

 

[protocida]

He'd still be a brave pilot that fight for what he believes that's right.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Yea that's cool. But that isn't his actual personality. His personality is typical cliche hot shot, womanizing, fighter pilot.

You look at the likes of Tony Stark. *****e bag playboy who does some morally questionable things and is/was a piss head. But he's got a heart of gold.

Or Steve Rogers. The soldier who was used by his country as a propaganda tool but he grows into something more and doesn't allow himself to become a puppet of his government contradicting the American ideals he strongly believes in.

Superman the alien from another world who is basically a God but has real human emotions, flaws and ideals. An alien being the greatest role model for human kind.

Those are GREAT characters.

 

[Mr. Earle]

I dont know much about the GLs, but JLU John Stewart (i know he is different from the comics) and Kyle are a lot better than Hal imho. As you guys pointed out, Kyle is somewhat like DC's Spiderman, while John is a no-bullcrap GL.
Hal to me is like a piece of cardboard.

 

[protocida]

John is only no-bullcrap in the DCU. In the comics, he's as "cardboard cutout" as Hal, if not more. But guess who is changing that by making John a mix of his classic personality with the no-bullcrap ex-marine? Geoff Johns.

 

[Mr. Earle]

John is only no-bullcrap in the DCU. In the comics, he's as "cardboard cutout" as Hal, if not more. But guess who is changing that by making John a mix of his classic personality with the no-bullcrap ex-marine? Geoff Johns.

John was picked for the JL cartoon probably because they wanted "racial variety" in the team.
But since they picked him, they had to make him work, so Dini and his team actually developed him. I personally loved every minute of him, he had many badass moments, a love interest and his big brother relationship with Flash was simply hilarious.

It was only after the JL cartoon did something with John that the comics started to handle him as more than just a dude in the background (at least that's what i heard). I hope Johns will finally do him justice.

 

[dnno1]

John was picked for the JL cartoon probably because they wanted "racial variety" in the team.
But since they picked him, they had to make him work, so Dini and his team actually developed him. I personally loved every minute of him, he had many badass moments, a love interest and his big brother relationship with Flash was simply hilarious.

It was only after the JL cartoon did something with John that the comics started to handle him as more than just a dude in the background (at least that's what i heard). I hope Johns will finally do him justice.

Actually John Stewart was in the series "Green Lantern: Mosaic" where he stared. It ran for about 18 issues. He was also featured in Green Lantern Volume 3 number #13 back in the early 1990's, so he he was handled more than just a background character in the past.

 

[Octoberist]

I'm not an avid fan of Green Lantern (I do have some of the TPBs) but here are the debates going on:

For Hal: "Oh he needs to stoic and serious. I will never accept a funny Hal Jordan."

Against Hal: "Hal is such a paper thin boy scout."

I guess Hal can't catch a break. Either people are too much a purist, or there are too many people referencing the Hal Jordan from the Silver Age and not in the post-Rebirth days.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Silver Age and post-Rebirth Hal are practically the same though. Basically, Johns whole mission statement for the new GL status quo is "MOAR SILVER AGE!"

 

[protocida]

Not at all. Hal, much like all other Silver Age heroes, was very stoic and serious. Modern Hal is more sarcasting, commits mistakes, feels guilt and, as much as haters don't like him, has depth.

 

[Anubis]

Like a puddle.

 

[Hound55]

Oh please, Hal Jordan has about the least depth of any major character from either DC or Marvel.

And as Ace (or Remi) correctly put it, about the only thing which started to give him some depth was retconned away.

Hal Jordan has no depth... it seems dude is allergic to depth and the writers wanted to protect him from it.