Morrison on Green Lantern

[Scott Taylor]

Hey to each their own. I'm glad you all are enjoying it and didn't mean to step on the parade. I could be convinced to come back even, the art at least is good.

But I am curious how you think this compares to, say, Johns run on the title. In feel, that is.

[Nick Miller]

HAL 2000AD basically

These first 3 issues have been bonkers, woukd take another comic 12 issues to cram all this stuff in. Maybe

[Vordan]

I have a hard time believing that was him to be honest. My theory is it's the anti-matter Hal that we saw in the end of the first issue.

That was my thought too, but it could be Hal getting so incredibly po’d that he uses lethal force. Heck there’s no real law against lethal force against GLC enemies anymore is there?

[vartox]

I've seen a lot of speculation that the Anti-matter Hal lookalike killed Volgar Zo, but I think it was Hal himself. The solicit for issue #5 says he's left the GLC and plans to join the Blackstars, so I assume this event is what kicks that off. Whether it's part of a plot the Guardians asked him to do to expose the traitor in the GLC, or whether he was truly just angry enough to kill Volgar I am not totally sure. I could actually buy that Hal was pissed off enough from dealing with the Shepherd and the Earth being stubborn idiots that seeing Volgar gleefully explaining how the tormented slave kids in his ship deserved what they got that it would push Hal over the edge and he'd snap and kill somebody who is frankly no big loss.

[liwanag]

I have a hard time believing that was him to be honest. My theory is it's the anti-matter Hal that we saw in the end of the first issue.

cliffhangers like that made me wish the title was bi-monthly.

[Johnny]

That was my thought too, but it could be Hal getting so incredibly po’d that he uses lethal force. Heck there’s no real law against lethal force against GLC enemies anymore is there?

Morrison did say it would make sense as the story continues. I'm not sure if he would suddenly make Hal some dirty cop who abuses his authority just because he got angry, since I bet he's stumbled upon the type of scummy individuals like that slave trader many times before.

[Johnny]

I've seen a lot of speculation that the Anti-matter Hal lookalike killed Volgar Zo, but I think it was Hal himself. The solicit for issue #5 says he's left the GLC and plans to join the Blackstars, so I assume this event is what kicks that off. Whether it's part of a plot the Guardians asked him to do to expose the traitor in the GLC, or whether he was truly just angry enough to kill Volgar I am not totally sure. I could actually buy that Hal was pissed off enough from dealing with the Shepherd and the Earth being stubborn idiots that seeing Volgar gleefully explaining how the tormented slave kids in his ship deserved what they got that it would push Hal over the edge and he'd snap and kill somebody who is frankly no big loss.

Good point. I'd still stick to either the anti-matter Hal theory or the Guardians plot, since Hal killing some scumbag in cold blood because he got angry just isn't who Hal Jordan is. Especially after what he's been through in the past. But that's precisely the fan reaction that Morrison was counting on anyway. I won't be surprised if that plot isn't fully resolved until #12.

[numberthirty]

That was my thought too, but it could be Hal getting so incredibly po’d that he uses lethal force. Heck there’s no real law against lethal force against GLC enemies anymore is there?

On that, two of the Lanterns are discussing the possibility that they had been set up.

While it kind of looks like just an aside, it does seem like there was quite a bit between where the last issue left off and where this one picks up.

[numberthirty]

Morrison did say it would make sense as the story continues. I'm not sure if he would suddenly make Hal some dirty cop who abuses his authority just because he got angry, since I bet he's stumbled upon the type of scummy individuals like that slave trader many times before.

Last issue he did tell a nurse not to hurry with a call to the doctor on the account of that the patient was a mass murderer. While there might not be a connection, it was in the a similar vein.

[j9ac9k]

The biggest problem for me with Hal losing it against criminal scum and going over the line is that he just spent the *last storyarc* with the Darkstars fighting Tomar-Tu tooth and nail about how the GLC are not executioners and that they're better than that. I would like to think there's more going on than what we're seeing. Hal pretending to go rogue (again) to infiltrate the Blackstars seems more plausible to me.

[Mutatis_Mutandis]

The biggest problem for me with Hal losing it against criminal scum and going over the line is that he just spent the *last storyarc* with the Darkstars fighting Tomar-Tu tooth and nail about how the GLC are not executioners and that they're better than that. I would like to think there's more going on than what we're seeing. Hal pretending to go rogue (again) to infiltrate the Blackstars seems more plausible to me.

Yeah, this seems like the most plausible theory to me too.

[j9ac9k]

Should we just assume it was an error in the art that Hal doesn't seem to be wearing his ring when he launches those nails at Volgar Zo? (for an artist known for "details" it seems an odd one to miss)

[K. Jones]

I think we're almost certainly in for a "Hal as a vice cop" storyline.

Which is rad. Usually it seems to me like Guy Gardner is the one who tends to get the vice cop style stories.

This issue, I realized that the two Blackstars we meet are a Khund and a Psion. Top Tier DCU space trash. Plus there were just some all star cameos in that group of auction buyers. Steppenwolf played for laughs was pretty epic, actually. Dominators, Grayven, Starlings (and a star-shaped ship in the parking lot that reads almost straight out of Mel Brooks' "Jews In Space" vignette), and I recognized some others, too, even if I can't place them all. We've got Mongulla, sister to Mongul, back from the dead. Awesome. I don't think Morrison has ever done much with Mongul, right? An Alan Moore character. Pete Tomasi probably told the coolest Mongul stories in history. Then there's Queen Bee! Haven't seen her in a while but she was famously in Morrison's Injustice Gang during WWIII/Mageddon. The rest are all so esoteric! I recognize the big yellow dude with the bishop hat. I'm curious why Grant used ersatz Dhorians instead of Kanjar himself but I'm glad he did, because it's somewhat out of character for Kanjar at this point. Not that he isn't a nasty dude, just that he isn't "this nasty", and he's also jacked up and not as flimsy and pencil-necked and snakey as these Silver Age looking dudes. Plus we probably wouldn't buy Hal Jordan's "execution" style heel turn if it was Kanjar because he's not a redshirt type of villain. Is the white chick a White Martian? She has the look, which would be another Morrison JLA callback. If she is ... why clothes and humanoid female features? Why not just monstress? She seems like maybe the only female there, is she Gelgoth? That wouldn't be a very Martian name, though. Surprised no Lady Styx.

I really think that if this book had like Pat Gleason or Doug Mahnke or Bernard Chang art it would still feel pretty much like any given issue of the Johns-era. It's definitely Liam's 2000AD take on space that's multiplying just "how Morrisonish" it feels, because on paper, like, this cliffhanger ending is right out of the last decade's playbook. (And we've seen big gatherings of space criminals before ... most notably in Venditti & Jensen's stories). Also I liked that two books this week featured squads of Green Lanterns showing up weird places only for some hinky stuff to go down while some of the DCU's most classic alien scum bandied about - while not directly linked, this was a great accompaniment to Snyder's Thanagar Prime storyline in JLA.

Right ... loved the inversion ... riff ... twist on Star Trek V. There's a real love of Rocket Era Sci-Fi in this sucker and seeing Hal stare down a big white-beardy "God" cements that sort of William Shatner feeling.

My other complimentary vibe is that I want to go back and re-read the Venditti/Jensen run. Partly to see where we "left off" with a bunch of characters.

[SebastianS]

Yeah, this seems like the most plausible theory to me too.

Yeah, that seems likely to me, too.

[Jody Garland]

The big yellow dude with the bishop hat is Agammeno from Waid's The Silver Age mini. Overmaster of the Cadre was there too.