Last week I wrote about my love for L.E.G.I.O.N. And I really do love the concept. Granted it’s sort of an obsolete one, given that it’s ties to current DCU continuity and the future Legion of Super-Heroes are tenuous, at best.
This last week I also finally read Green Lantern #9-12, a story focusing on Guy Gardner and G’nort. At the time, I wasn’t a Guy fan, so I skipped those issues. Of course I’ve since completely given in to my desire for complete runs and now I’ve got one for the 90s Green Lantern series.
The story is about Guy finding his new role in the GLC as it begins the rebuilding process. And it delves into the origin of G’nort and how he got his ring, complete with imposter Guardians. Obviously, the story never took place in the current continuity, which got me reminiscing about some other Green Lantern stories that I wish were still around.
John & Katma – I feel like the Katma/John relationship was the first one that I experienced in comics. I can remember her being assigned to train him and him flirting with her, relentlessly. They eventually hooked up and had a great relationship, until she was murdered by Carol Ferris.
But the joyousness of their relationship really stuck with me. They seemed to genuinely in love. And all that was lost, so we could get a John Stewart who is a sniper.
Great.
Green Lantern: Mosaic – Speaking of John Stewart, he got some much-needed depth during the run of his solo title, Green Lantern: Mosiac. John was tasked with holding together Oa, a planet that at the time was composed of cities from various other worlds.
It was a title that toyed with the effects of Cosmic Odyssey, where John failed to save the planet Xanshi. Where Cosmic Odyssey saw John responsible for a planet blowing apart, Mosaic saw John trying to keep a planet together. But now we have John Stewart, the planet slayer.
Kari Limbo – Limbo is kind of a tough character to defend because she wasn’t so much a character as she was a plot point. Basically she was Guy’s girlfriend, who witnessed his apparent death. Hal comforted her in her grief, but eventually dated her and they got engaged.
Needless to say, Limbo was yet another a bone of contention between Hal and Guy. But she was also a link between the two characters as well. Plus, can you ever have enough Hal Jordan exes?
“Pol Manning” – Ok, so the whole “getting brainwashed and kidnapped to the 58th Century” is kind of corny, but I’d argue that it’s still a viable storyline. It’s especially viable in the modern age.
Imagine the ramifications and the dark aspects of being brainwashed and kidnapped to the future. I’m sure that current writers would have a field day with that premise. Of course now it would be a reimagined story, rather than a revisited storylilne.
Kilowog on Earth – One of the best parts of the post-Crisis Green Lantern Corps title was the development of Kilowog. With the Cold War in full effect, he linked up with the Soviet Union and helped create the Rocket Red program. And he also served as the fixit guy for the J.L.I. after the demise of the Green Lantern Corps.
Naturally that three-dimensional portrayal of Kilowog has been replaced by one where he’s a drill sergeant for the GLC and has to say “poozer” every third sentence. It’s really a shame, because Kilowog was once a character with actual depth at one point.
Hal in Space – Back in the day Hal Jordan would periodically go out on space adventures. Sometimes he’d go out on his own and other times the Guardians would punish him for spending too much time on Earth by making him spend a year in space, patrolling the sector.
During those times, readers got an expanded look at Sector 2814. We got to see some of the other planets and aliens who called the sector home. It was like world building but on a cosmic level. Unfortunately, now we’re back to continuity where Earth is the only planet of note in 2814. Pretty sad.
Being the optimist that I am, I keep hoping that we’ll see someone at DC fold some of these concepts and storylines into a title in the future. The surface was barely scratched for most of these stories the first time around, I’m certain now they could reach the level of classic stories.
Well, it’s Wednesday, which means fresh new comics. Make sure you visit your local comic shop and pick some up.
