Hey, welcome back to the new and improved column on a brand new day! I’d like to give a warm welcome to Tim Stevens, who will be replacing Ben Morse as the voice of reason for the column. Tim, do you want to say a few words to the readers? (Be careful, don’t let them see you sweat, they can smell fear!)
Well, I already spewed all the nonsense about being honored and such last week, so we’ll just get right down to new business. First, this is my color. It’s green. Ben wrote in red because he was closed off and repressed. I write in green because I am calm and open to new ideas. Green means go for thinking outside the box. (Yes, the goal of that was to sound as much like “New Management” as possible and to insult Ben. Mission accomplished).
Also, as you can see, this column is now on Thursdays, with its counterpart, The Marvel Handbook running on Wednesdays. Except this week, where we are both on Thursdays, because of Ben’s final column, which is most excellent and must be read here immediately. Immediately after you read this column anyway.
Alright, business out of the way, time to get to the good stuff!
Linkicious
And of course The Amalgam Tourney and DOL!
Tim, I know that you want to link some things.
Wow”¦I’ve actually never done this before. Here it goes.
I must show love to my counterpart at Marvel News and Views, Mr. Mike Maillaro, who does a bang up job week after week.
Also, James “The Drunk Hatton” is always good for some excellent reviews. The real action this week, however, is taking place on the message boards where he and Ratcat go at it about Mary Jane, romance comics, and what ladies like to read. Who knew arguing could be so fun?!
Last, but not least, check out the other greatest Tim on earth, Tim Sheridan, and his review of Daredevil #67 . It is a great review of a great book.
That’s all the links I have this week. Next week I promise better and more various ones.
Last Week’s Reads
Green Lantern: Rebirth #2 – I am so loving this book. It’s a shame that some readers aren’t giving it a shot because misconceptions.
Not to blow my own horn, but I go on about this book in my typically long winded fashion right here on this very site. Check it out”¦if you are tough enough. Are you? Are you tough enough?
Superman #211 – Who doesn’t love Superman/Wonder Woman action? She actually cut him!
Hellblazer #202 – If there were every a comic promoting safe sex, aside from the current Green Arrow, this is it.
Supreme Power #13 – As much as I love this title, it’s not a good sign when Superman/Batman has released more issues, and you launched at the same time.
Ouch”¦you’re right. I didn’t even realize that. I guess I’ve been enjoying it so much (as opposed to S/B which”¦I don’t) that it didn’t bother me.
The Losers #18 – The book rarely disappoints. I should be trumpeting it more often.
Richard Dragon #7 – Who doesn’t love backstory? We even get a glimpse at the folks Richard’s trained.
Adam Strange #3 Read my review.
The Flash #216 Read my review.
Listen the man! Read his review!
Batman #634 – Talk about your false advertising! I thought I was buying the first issue of the new team. What a gyp. It was cool to see the aftereffects of War Games though.
Sadly no one placed the lyric at the end of the last column. That means I determine the shape and form we take. And the Wheel of WWITDCU has landed on”¦Green Lantern!
RatCat posted this on the Forums;
As a new reader to Green Lantern what should I absolutely know?
Ouch, that’s not easy. I’ll try to give you a brief rundown on some major parts of the mythos. The Guardians of the Universe were a bunch of short blue guys who where obsessed with knowledge and order. They were so obsessed that their women left them, to become the Zamarons. That left only males. Some of the males even left, to become The Controllers (who later backed the Darkstars.)
Anyway the Guardians lived on the planet Oa, which is confidently located in the center of the universe. One day Krona was looking back trying to discover the origin of the Universe, even though everyone warned him against it. Just as Krona was about to discover the secret there was a huge explosion, and evil was unleashed across the universe.
Now the Guardians dealt with Krona (who most recently popped up in the JLA/Avengers miniseries.) But they felt guilty. Since one of their own had brought evil to the universe the Guardians decided to clean up that mess. They created a squad of robots, the Manhunters, to police the universe. But as robots generally do, the Manhunters proved faulty and rebelled. The Guardians had to end that plan.
So then the Guardians decided to make a weapon (a power ring) which they could fuel with energy. They would then bestow the ring on worthy individuals, one from each of the 3600 sectors that the Guardians had divided the universe into. Each Green Lantern would patrol a sector, and keep order in the universe. They also installed a weakness to yellow into the ring as a failsafe to keep the Green Lanterns on the straight and narrow.
Don’t forget that the rings also had to be recharged once every 24 hours.
Yadda yadda yadda, time went on and we end up in the 20th Century. Long ago the Guardians decided that they didn’t really like having “magic” in the universe so they gathered it all up and sent it into space. Some of it landed on Earth and ended up in possession of Alan Scott in the form of a green lantern. He made a ring out of part of the lantern and became Green Lantern.
Later in the century, Abin Sur, the Green Lantern of sector 2814 (where Earth resides) was flying his shop close to Earth. He crashed and was mortally wounded. He sent his ring in search of a successor, and it brought back Hal Jordan, who became the second Green Lantern.
Hal was trained in the ways of the Lantern by Kilowog, who became a close ally, and Sinestro, who became his worst enemy complete with a yellow power ring. Hal had lots of exploits and even had a couple of back up Green Lanterns, named Guy Gardner and John Stewart. Hal is eventually considered one of the greatest Green Lanterns ever.
Guy Gardner fell into a coma. Hal Jordan quit the Green Lantern Corp. John Stewart became the Green Lantern of Earth. Guy Gardner comes out of his coma and becomes Green Lantern. Hal Jordan becomes Green Lantern again. The Guardians leave the dimension, and the Green Lanterns no longer have to patrol sectors, a handful come to Earth. John marries fellow Lantern Katma Tui. The Green Lanterns decide to kill Sinestro for his crimes, but that results in the destruction of the Central Power Battery of Oa, which leaves only a few Green Lanterns in the universe, including Hal Jordan. John, who still has a ring, accidentally destroys a populated planet. Hal’s sometime girlfriend, Carol Ferris’ evil persona Star Sapphire kills Katma Tui.
Guy and John get rings again. The Guardians return, but one goes crazy. John becomes the caretaker of Oa, which has become populated by cities from across the universe. An alien with a grudge against Superman destroys Hal hometown of Coast City. Hal goes crazy and begins to take rings from every Green Lantern on his way to Oa. When he gets there he kills Kilowog and Sinestro. Then he absorbs all of the power of the Central Power Battery, and becomes Parallax. All of the Guardians die, except one, Ganthet, who gives the last remaining Green Lantern ring to Kyle Rayner.
Kyle is the only Green Lantern for a long time. Parallax tries to restart time to make things right, but the heroes of the DCU stop him. He eventually sacrifices his life to relight the sun. Then he returns as the human part of the Spectre. Kyle gets an additional Green Lantern ring, which can replicate itself, from a time tossed young version of Hal Jordan. Kyle gives that ring to Jade, daughter of the original Green Lantern Alan Scott. Jade then gives it back to Kyle, who gives it to John. John joins the JLA.
And I think that’s about it? Tim, did I miss anything major?
Just a few quick bits about Alan and Kyle’s rings. Alan’s did not have the weakness to yellow, but was vulnerable to attacks with wooden weapons. Kyle’s had no such weaknesses and did not require a charge every 24 hours. And that, I think, covers it.
Bryan G, want to continue the Green Theme?
As a lifelong GL fan, I’ve always been disappointed by the quality of the GL villains themselves. Who do you think the best GL villains (Kyle, Hal, Alan, Guy, or John-related) were, and can you give us a bit of info on any of them?
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; there is no such thing as a “good” Green Lantern villain. Alan Scott didn’t have too many powered foes. Back in the day heroes took care of crooked politicians and mobsters. Plus if you did bring back any of his old foes, you’d also have to explain why they were still so vital after all this time.
Here is what I said in The Nexus debut of this column;
Green Lantern doesn’t have menacing foes like Batman, or cool rogues like The Flash. He doesn’t even really have iconic foes like Superman. I guess Green Lantern is right beneath Superman and above Aquaman and Wonder Woman in terms of enemies.
Green Lantern foes are kind of lame. Well maybe that’s not right. They just hadn’t realized their full potential.
Let’s take Eclipso. He faced Green Lantern a few times, but was not cool at all. But when he took over the annuals in the 90’s he was no joke. Geoff Johns even made him cool in JSA. But the whole Bruce Gordon/Eclipso dynamic got old fast.
Major Disaster is one of the prime examples of how Underworld Unleashed worked well. The first appearance of the improved Major Disaster in Aquaman #14 was one of my favorite moments of the series. Now Major Disaster is a good guy with J.L. Elite.
Doctor Polaris became a major baddie over in The Ray. Johns also redeemed Goldface (perhaps the worst conceived villain ever) but he’s not really a bad guy anymore either.
The real question is can anyone save Javelin? How about The Demolition Team? Could the Shark or Baron Tyrano be made cool again?
I think that maybe Myrwhydden (the evil wizard that lived in Hal’s ring) could possibly withstand a revamp. Maybe GL could get stuck in a wacky bizarre type world of Myrwhydden’s creation. That would be good for one arc.
Hector Hammond should lose the “huge head” gimmick. He should return to his suave natural self, and keep his powers. His motivation for taking on GL would be pure pride, for being beaten all those times in the Silver Age.
Sonar could also be motivated by pride. But he should go back to being the ruler of his country. And I never liked his current incarnation.
The Black Hand shouldn’t be a costumed foe anymore, but rather a mastermind, who sends teams of up and coming villains against G.L.
Malvolio would be a good baddie for a space story, and perhaps as a way to explain away Hal’s actions during Emerald Twilight.
Evil Star would be cool too. His starlings are way creepy. I wouldn’t change too much about him. He’s actually pretty good the way he is.
Of course Sinestro needs to come back. You either need a rogue GL, or an anti GL; he’s both. But he needs to be backed by the Weaponers of Qward. Qward needs to be a major player.
Now if I was writing the G.L. re-launch with (I’m assuming) Hal Jordan, I wouldn’t have any Silver Age foes for the first year. The first year would be Hal getting used to the new DCU. Maybe toss in a few of Kyle’s equally lame or underused rogues, but for the most part put plant Hal firmly in the DCU.
Then as the cliffhanger for #12 have Sinestro show up. Man, I couldn’t wait for those 30 days to pass.
Or if you set the book in space have GL encounter the U in the DCU. But have him go to familiar places, not like Kyle’s recent jaunt in space. He doesn’t need to bump into old foes in space either, but mostly just cosmic foes.
Then as a cliffhanger in #12 have Sinestro show up. That’s right, I said it. I want Sinestro action! In space, Sinestro can show up with Mad God Sector 3600. That would rock. But the book needs Sinestro.
I basically stand by that assessment of Hal’s foes.
As for Kyle, his foes actually had potential, they were just squandered. I think the main problem with Kyle was that he wasn’t really allowed to inherit Hal’s foes (no matter how lame) like Wally inherited Barry’s rogues.
Kyle did have Effigy, a cool fire based villain, who was a pawn of the Controllers. But neither the Controllers nor Effigy had too much lasting power as a menace for Kyle.
Kyle also had Alex Nero, a mental patient with a yellow power ring. He was a creepy foe, but he didn’t really live up to his potential. I’m pretty sure he only appeared in one storyline.
Fatality was basically half a Kyle foe and half a John foe. She was from the planet that John accidentally destroyed and had an axe to grind against all Lanterns, but mostly John.
Grayven, Darkseid’s illegitimate son, was another foe of Kyle. He made a couple of appearances, but I’m betting he’ll be forgotten pretty soon. Kyle’s worst enemy was Major Force, a character known mostly as Captain Atom’s nemesis.
Now clearly in the right hands any of these foes can be capable. But as it stands right now, GL villains maybe plentiful, but they’re also plenty lame.
Tim, what’s your take on the Green Lantern foes?
I think your assessment of unused potential hits the nail pretty squarely on the head. Even those villains who have had moments in the sun (Doctor Polaris, Major Disaster, Eclipso) rarely actually did it in a GL book. I would throw in Parallax as an excellent Kyle villain. I know that the days of Parallax have passed (and never to return, I would guess, given Reborn), but he and Kyle’s slugfest on Oa in the 0 issue of GL was truly great.
Black Hand (after seeing him rendered by Van Sciver) and Evil Star (who I know next to nothing about) are two Hal villains I would like to see return and used to their full potential. On Kyle’s side, I would say Effigy, Grayven, and Nero could all use another chance on the main stage. Sinestro, oddly enough, I could take or leave. I feel dirty saying that, but it is true.
Bryan do you have a logical follow up?
Sticking with villains, why is it that Batman and Flash have these amazing rogues galleries, while Superman and GL have such terrible ones? Is it because the previous two books have just had consistently better writing in the last ten/fifteen years? I used to think it was because of the power issue (GL and Superman are nigh-omnipotent…so they need nigh-omnipotent villains) but when you get down to it, the Flash is SICKENINGLY powerful and Bats possesses what truly might be the most powerful weapon in the universe, his mind. So what’s the deal? At any rate, I think with GL you just have to get more creative, and I have all the faith in the world that Geoff will come through.
That’s really a tough call.
Look at it like this; Batman and Flash are still ruled by the laws of physics. Batman is just a normal guy, and all the Flash can do is run fast. Batman can be beaten, and Flash can get tripped up or outsmarted.
The Flash has so many rogues, mostly because he’s got the Barry Allen legacy. He inherited them. Batman has a lot of folks who have grudges against him.
It also doesn’t take much to level the playing field against those two. Batman can be outsmarted or overcome physically, while you negate Flash’s speed through powers (The Top, Tarpit) or projectiles (Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang) and he’s just a normal guy. So it is easier to beat those two heroes.
Meanwhile it’s incredibly difficult to place Superman in danger. And all Green Lantern has to do is imagine and it becomes real. You can’t really level that playing field. Superman is difficult to beat physically, and alternating magic and telepathic villains every week would get boring. Thus Superman has Lex, Brainiac and Bizarro among his notable foes. They also happen to be very iconic foes.
Green Lantern on the other hand really only has Sinestro. GL is also susceptible to sound attack and mental attacks, but those would get old soon. As stupid as the yellow weakness is, it proved an “out” for every villain in the DCU.
Superman and Green Lantern do need “super villains” where Batman can get by on mere criminals. The Flash is very powerful, but equally fallible, whereas we all know that “all Kyle has to do is see it in his mind and it’s real.”
Part of the blame goes to the writers for not thinking of intriguing ways to place the heroes in harms way, but part also lies with the characters for being so damn powerful.
Tim GL/Superman foes; horrible or just misunderstood?
Eh”¦a bit of both. I do think that writing is a big part of what makes a villain cool and dangerous or silly and non-threatening. Sure, there are certain villains that seem irredeemable (and maybe some of them are) but most just need a fresh angle.
The problem with Superman is that, more often than not, the “fresh” angle has been to have some massive event. That is okay once in a while (think Death/Reign) but it gets old quick (Death of Clark Kent, Return to Krypton, etc). The best way to create a strong Superman villain is to have said villain hit him where he lives, if you will. The reason Lex is such a great foe for Superman is that even though it would take Supes one punch to level the bald beauty and leave him forever toothless and misshapen, Superman never really gets that chance. Lex has him outmaneuvered at every step of the way. Superman may ultimately triumph but Lex always walks away virtually unscathed. A villain that can play upon Superman’s mental weaknesses (his moral code, his concern for the vulnerable, his love for friends and family) is an interesting villain regardless of whether or not he or she can physically or magically threaten the Big Blue.
Bryan, keep ’em coming!
What was the final fate of Sinestro/Guy’s Yellow Ring?
Ugh, I wish Ben was here; he really cared about Guy Gardner. I on the other hand, enjoyed him in JLI, but that was about it. Anyway, Guy had undergone more than a few changes in appearance, powers and character. Guy did at one time possess a yellow power ring. How did he get it? How else do you get a yellow power ring; that’s right you rob Sinestro’s grave.
The yellow power ring was just like the regular Green Lantern power ring, except that it was yellow. And that it didn’t always work. But it was also tied to the main Power Battery at Oa, in the fact that it ran on green ring energy. Thus when the central Power Battery was destroyed by Hal Jordan that meant that the yellow rings days were numbered. It ran out of power and stopped working for good.
But don’t worry, while the yellow power rings weren’t as plentiful as the rings of the Green Lantern Corps, there were a few. Y’see the Qwardians would churn them out for Sinestro, who ran through a few of them. And who could forget the one that Alex Nero, one time nemesis of Kyle Rayner possessed. Rest assured that the yellow power rings will appear again, sometime down the line. Of course John Stewart mentioned in the Rebirth #2 that the rings no longer have a weakness to yellow.
Tim, any thoughts on yellow rings or Guy Gardner?
The yellow ring made another recent appearance at the conclusion of the prior GL series when Fatality was wielding it for an issue or two after Major Force gave it to her.
As far as Guy goes”¦I like him in small doses. I think his appearances in GL when Kyle was the sole ring wielder (where he was more often than not drinking and playing cards and his own bar/restaurant Warriors) were a lot of fun. Besides that though, the whole, “I’m a jerk and don’t play well with others, but not in that Batman sort of way” attitude never really worked for me. However, I didn’t read almost any of his series and I understand that there was some good stuff to be found when Beau Smith was writing the title. But for me, I just never cared enough to check it out.
Bryan G, do you have another GL question?
Could you give us a little backstory on some of the more interesting members of the Green Lantern Corps? The ones that come to mind for me are Kilowog, Boddikka, and Jack T. Chance.
Well Kilowog was from Sector 647, from a planet called Bolovax Vik. This was a nice idyllic planet, where everyone was equal, and basically the same. Kilowog was selected as G.L. and had some exploits. But then the Crisis happened.
The waves of antimatter during the Crisis destroyed Bolovax Vik. The only reason why Kilowog survived is because his ring saved him. So when the Guardians decided to leave the dimension, Kilowog, a being who had never truly been alone, decided to go to Earth with Hal, John, Salaak, Ch’p, Arisa and Katma. They all set up the Green Lantern Citadel and were heroes.
Kilowog developed a crush on Arisa, who in turn was smitten with Hal Jordan. An interesting love triangle, never really developed. Kilowog even went to Russia, where the communism reminded him of life on his planet. He helped develop the Rocket Red armor that was used to protect the country. While in space Kilowog found a barren planet and decided to set up shop.
Y’see, remember a few paragraphs ago, when I said that everyone on Bolovax Vik were the same? Well they are identical. So when the ring saved Kilowog, it also saved their essences or souls as well. Kilowog’s entire race existed in his ring, waiting for the perfect planetoid to “live” again. Once he found it, he let them out of his ring.
Unfortunately Sinestro and the Mad God Sector 3600 were nearby and they destroyed the planet, killing off Kilowog’s race once and for all. But he eventually got over it. (Green Lantern Corps #218)
He lost his ring like many other Lanterns when the Sinestro was put to death. (Green Lantern Corps #224) He joined the J.L.I. as their handyman. When the Green Lantern Corp started up again he became the trainer on Oa. Unfortunately that left him Oa’s last defense when Hal Jordan went off his rocker. (Green Lantern #50)
Hal killed Kilowog. But former Lanterns placed Kilowog’s spirit in a cosmic golem as part of a plot to destroy the legacy of Hal Jordan. (The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan.) His purpose was only to destroy Hal Jordan’s legacy. He has since regained both is mind and his body. He was last seen attacking Kyle Rayner in Rebirth #2.
(Interesting note, as part of a retcon, in Emerald Dawn Kilowog was shown as Hal Jordan’s trainer, when Jordan was still a rookie G.L. This is odd because up to that point Kilowog had been portrayed as a character who was very connected to his race, and wouldn’t really relish the thought of being away from them. But whatever.)
Tim, any thoughts on the big orange guy?
He seems like a nice enough fella. I mean, my siste’s married, but if she wasn’t, she could probably do worse than good ol’ Kilowog.
Also, I wish he stayed dead. There, I’ve said it.
Now on to Jack T. Chance.
Jack T. Chance was a roguish Green Lantern. Y’see there was a world named Garnet that was so bad that everyone called it Hellhole. It was a known area of criminal activity. So the Green Lantern of that sector was sent to clean it up. He was promptly killed.
The ring then searched for a successor, someone worthy of the ring. The closest thing it found was Jack T. Chance. Jack accepted the ring, but not the uniform. He went after the guy who killed his predecessor. A battle ensued.
Jack found himself in a situation where the ring wouldn’t let him kill is combatant, and he was about to be killed. He pulled out his gun and killed his opponent. The Guardians immediately teleported Jack to Oa where they reviewed the situation.
The ruled that the killing was justified, but that Jack would have to undergo training. Jack, being the rebel that he was, decided to give up the ring rather than change himself. The Guardians realized that he was the only being capable of providing law to Garnet. Thus they allowed him to continue being Green Lantern, under their watchful eye.
They eventually called on him to stop Hal Jordan from coming to Oa, but Hal made short work of him and took his ring.
Personally I don’t care for the guy. In fact I was glad when he was beaten by Lobo (in Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #8) and Hal. Good riddance to bad rubbish, I always say.
Tim, are you familiar with Jack T. Chance?
Only from Emerald Twilight, in which Hal gave him what for. Wait, a man graying at the temples took him out? Some bad ass Chance turned out to be.
No wonder they brought back Kilowog, but not Chance.
Still”¦Kilowog should be dead.
Last but not least Boodikka.
Boodikka, was your typical warrior woman. She was a hired gun in the galaxy. She was recommended for entry into the GLC by Chaselon.
Hal didn’t dig her, but Kilowog thought she would be a training challenge. She eventually became a valued member of the Green Lantern Corp. She too, was of the Lobo model of hero that was popular in the early 90’s. She was a tough character. One of her few moments of actual development was in Green Lantern Mosaic #6, where her fears were confronted, sort of.
Anyway she was also called to help stop Hal Jordan’s rampage. He cut off her hand to take her ring.
Tim, who is your favorite Green Lantern?
If we are talking now earth dwellers (and I’ll assume we are) I have three. 1.)Tomar Re. You must love Fishfin Man!
2.) Kilowog. Just because I wanted him to stay dead does not mean I didn’t love the hippo looking son of a gun.
3.) Mogo. Why has no one ever demanded a Mogo the Planet with a Green Lantern Ring/Ego the Living Planet Crossover I’ll never know.
Mark Poa, do you have a (great) question for me?
I’ve heard somewhere that in the Legion of Superheroes, there used to be a Green Lantern member. I’ve been trying to find info on this guy but it seemed as if he was wiped from continuity after the Crisis. Do you have any info on this guy? Out of curiosity, I was wondering what happened to him post-Crisis as well. Was he part of the Legion or Legionnaires before they were rebooted recently?
Dude! I would love to gush about Rond Vidar, who by the way wears my favorite Green Lantern costume EVER!
Anyway back in the 30th Century (?), there was a Green Lantern named Vidar. He was a pretty good G.L. In fact he and a couple other G.L.’s attacked Earth’s Time Insatiate, on behalf of the Guardians of the Universe. This, of course lead to the banning of all Green Lanterns from Earth.
Vidar left the Corps and became Universo. So the Guardians needed a replacement. They selected his son, Rond Vidar.
Now Rond lived on Earth, so he kept his exploits a secret. He didn’t really do too much with his ring. He did prove to be a thorn in his father’s side, always helping the Legion thwart Universo’s schemes.
Rond got “outed” when he joined a few Legionnaires in battling the Time Trapper. He then left Earth. Later he hooked up with Laurel Gand and they had a kid. Rond’s ring was destroyed by Mordu.
Sadly Rond didn’t have too many exploits. In fact I only really saw his costume a couple of times. But he was a pretty major character in the Legion for awhile, powers or not.
Also he first appeared as Green Lantern post Crisis. His timeline was wiped out as a result of Zero Hour, so he wasn’t part of the latest relaunch. Hopefully Mark Waid will incorporate him into the new title.
Tim, which Green Lantern sports your favorite look?
Well, I have to admit I have a certain fondness for “crabface” Kyle Rayner. Perhaps it was just because that was the first time I really starting reading GL. His Ion duds were pretty cool too.
Oddly enough, however, the one set of GL togs that always come to mind for me have no place in actual continuity. (Well, I guess they do now. Thanks a lot Hypertime). It appeared in Green Lantern Annual #3, which was the year all the Annuals were Elseworlds, and it was worn by John Stewart.
I am sure, though, this Rond fella had a very nice costume.
RatCat, can I further help you in your quest for knowledge on things Green Lantern?
What back issues (or trades) should I read that will fill me in on some of the important moments in Green Lantern history?
If you want to see why people love the concept of The Green Lantern Corp, pick up Green Lantern Corps #2,3. There are some great stories there. It really exemplifies the concept at its best. And any issue of Green Lantern Corps Quarterly also features some interesting characters.
If you don’t understand what the big deal about Hal Jordan becoming Green Lantern again, pick up the TPB Emerald Twilight.
If you don’t understand why folks like Hal Jordan, I would suggest that you read The Brave & The Bold: The Flash and Green Lantern or Green Lantern #162 or perhaps even Green Lantern #181. A really good series involving Hal Jordan is DC: The New Frontier. While it’s not “in continuity” it’s still a mighty fine read.
If you want to read some good John Stewart stories pick up Green Lantern: Mosaic, which is a criminally underrated series.
Guy Gardner had a pretty impressive run on his own book.
Emerald Dawn I &II where decent reads, but they’re not my favorites.
Do you have any favorite G.L. comics, Tim?
I’d toss the Final Night mini on there to see Kyle willing to go to one of his worst enemies to try to save the planet and Hal redeem himself (until his dreadful return as Spectre derailed that idea). Zero Hour is good as well, especially that aforementioned 0 issue.
Hmm”¦if Kyle is your cup of tea, nearly any issue of Marz’s run is worth your time, but #59-75 stand out in particular.
Colin do you have a final Green Lantern question to close out the column?
I have a question about Hal and Bruce. I’ve always thought that even though Batman doesn’t like too many costumed types, he always liked and respected Hal Jordan? Why is it that in Green Lantern Rebirth, Bruce acts like he was always campaigning to get Hal ejected from the JLA, and that he could never be trusted? Wasn’t GL the one hero besides Ollie that Bruce really respected and got behind? What gives with the Bat? Why does he hate on Hal?
You do remember that Hal went loony, destroyed the GLC and tried to restart and reshape time, right?
That’s why Bruce has a beef; he feels ultra betrayed. Bats logic is “I never get fooled, but if you should happen to fool me once, it won’t ever happen again, ever!” Bats is looking at all the Hal related stuff happening in Rebirth and connecting the logical dots.
But Bruce is basically just hurt that he trusted Hal, at one point, and Hal lost it. Bruce thinks of himself as a good judge of character, and he thinks that he may have been a bit off on that one.
Of course another reason for Bruce’s hostility could be that he feels guilty (he tends to do that) about not being there for a friend. But that’s just my two cents.
Tim what do you think that cause for the strife between Bruce and Hal, and will they ever patch things up?
Cause wise, I think you hit all the major points above.
The frustrating thing about them reconciling is that they kind of did, posthumously, at Hal’s “funeral” following Final Night. Batman’s final speech is a bit pat, but it closed the door on that particular feud. However, with Hal back amongst the living (sort of) Batman has apparently rescinded his forgiveness. That Batman sure can hold a grudge.
Now that they are at odds again, I say that it remain like that for at least sometime. A little bit of inter-universe hostility tends to make for some good reading
Well I’m feeling a bit under the weather, so the column’s going to come to a close. Be sure to hit the forums and email me your questions. My question to you; What’s your take on Green Lantern: Rebirth, thus far?
“He’s got the fire and the fury, at his command.”
