Green Lantern John Stewart Appreciation Thread

[Desh]

Exactly. John still has a personality. Hal became interesting to me when he had the Paralex thing going on, but that's it. John & Kyle are my lanterns, but Guy is starting to grow on me.

Dude, I LOVE Hal Jordan as Parallax. Best GL villain and the only time that character ever did anything for me.

But yeah, John is a diverse character that displays a wide range of emotions fluidly. That is largely what made his story with Hawkgirl so great and convincing. The only time in the cartoon when he was a one note character was in the first Secret Origins story... But then, so was everybody else.

[Sodam Yat]

I like John Stewart because he's calm, collected, disciplined and focused on the task ahead. He's more tactical than Hal, John, Guy & Kyle put together. A lot of people say he's boring because he's too serious but I think John is just fine. And I hope he's THE GL OF THE DCCU.

I think it's more to it when some people say he's a boring character. I don't think it has nothing to do with him being serious. John hasn't really been developed upon for decades, before Van Jensen started writing him of course. Since writers such as Geoff Johns notably, he did very little with him. John's dialogues were minor, often missing in panels, placed John on a separate mission apart from the main story so he doesn't get developed. So it resulted of him being characterized as being stoic (which Cyborg is suffering with unfortunately) and mopes about his past failures and mistakes. Other writers like Tony Bedard and Peter Tomasi picked up the same trend after Johns, but they done a bit better with him, since he got a bit more focused.

[Desh]

It's not John Stewart's fault that the Green Lantern writing teams of the Geoff Johns era felt like burying him, giving him nothing interesting to do, and more or less excluding him from comics. John is excellent when written by Steve Englehart, Gerard Jones, Dwayne McDuffie, and the other JL/JLU writers, and Van Jensen.

[Sodam Yat]

You're right, Desh. I noticed some people who refer to John being boring are those that only read Geoff Johns run and co of the green lantern franchise, before the new creative team. Some of the same people I've spoken that mentioned he was boring also said he wasn't boring in JL/JLU, but an interesting character. I personally think that's why I don't think people are referring him being boring, only because he's serious.

[Desh]

You're right, Desh. I noticed some people who refer to John being boring are those that only read Geoff Johns run and co of the green lantern franchise, before the new creative team. Some of the same people I've spoken that mentioned he was boring also said he wasn't boring in JL/JLU, but an interesting character. I personally think that's why I don't think people are referring him being boring, only because he's serious.

Yeah. I actually wrote on article on this very subject:
http://greenlantern.co/why-would-any...-john-stewart/

I was inspired to do that when I read discussions about which Green Lantern people would like to see in the cinematic universe, and I would always see some people say that it was so weird that so many people were behind John Stewart, and they could not understand why people would like him, because he's "boring." I set out to answer the question and try to explain the appeal of John Stewart and where it comes from.

It's kind of weird how some think there is only one dimension to Green Lantern. As if it started with Geoff Johns, and his take is the only take there has ever been, and the only take that is worth anything. What else is interesting is that Johns' rendition of Green Lantern isn't even necessarily the most well known one, otherwise so many people wouldn't have been confused when a White Green Lantern appeared in the trailer for the film.

[green blogger]

Not sure if this has been already shared here...

[nightrider]

This really isnt a john appreciation thread, its a i hate hal thread.

[Desh]

Another cool image of John Stewart:


EDIT:
This actually makes me think. I wonder if Van Jensen is finished with the conflict John Stewart has with Hal Jordan. I hope not. I actually found it really interesting. Hal Jordan never reneged on his stupid policies of policing all other Corps, it just hasn't come up again yet. I'm not sure if that's something John Stewart would go along with. He obviously has a problem with it.

[andersonh1]

This really isnt a john appreciation thread, its a i hate hal thread.

Yep, I noticed that myself.

[king of hybrids]

Another cool image of John Stewart:


EDIT:
This actually makes me think. I wonder if Van Jensen is finished with the conflict John Stewart has with Hal Jordan. I hope not. I actually found it really interesting. Hal Jordan never reneged on his stupid policies of policing all other Corps, it just hasn't come up again yet. I'm not sure if that's something John Stewart would go along with. He obviously has a problem with it.

considering hal has previously shown himself willing to allow whole armies of sociopaths (indigos), brainwashed stalkers (sapphires), psychopaths (yellows) and self-righteous space-punishers (reds) run rampant across the universe based soley on his relationships/history with their founders or leaders (abin sur, carol, sinestro, guy); impartially policing them or shutting them down (in a manner that costs the GLC little) would be preferable.

[skyvolt2000]

This doesn't really feel like a John Stewart appreciation thread so much as a "John would be great if it wasn't for Hal Jordan!" thread. It's not a competition, we've got a couple of really good characters here. There's no need to tear one down to build the other up, surely.

Feel free to write a letter to DC and tell them that. They are the ones that caused this mess with trying to bury John in favor of Hal. Instead of using common sense and figuring out a way for both to be used in and out of comics.

And for the record the Hal fanbase attacked John more than anybody especially in the old John thread. Even when they got asked to leave they kept coming back. They don't want John around.

[Rahul]

So, coming back to the John Stewart appreciation....

Who do you think has been the best non-Phil Lamarr voice for John Stewart? Kevin Michael Richardson and Michael Jai White have played as him.

Gonna have to go with Kevin Michael Richardson for this one.

[The Darknight Detective]

Feel free to write a letter to DC and tell them that. They are the ones that caused this mess with trying to bury John in favor of Hal.

Didn't that happen to Hal 20 years ago, too? At least nobody was planning on turning John into a villain.

Instead of using common sense and figuring out a way for both to be used in and out of comics.

No disagreement there. That's the most reasonable and mature course of action.

And for the record the Hal fanbase attacked John more than anybody especially in the old John thread. Even when they got asked to leave they kept coming back. They don't want John around.

There's always a contingent of fans for a character perceived as being on the outside looking in who feel they have to vociferously defend that character to the hilt. When Hal was wandering in the wilderness, his most fanatical devotees did and said whatever was needed to get him back in the limelight. Now it's John's most ardent fans who are doing this same exact thing (though John Stewart still does have a presence in the comics at the moment, unlike Hal, who didn't have one for many year until recently).

[The Darknight Detective]

So, coming back to the John Stewart appreciation....

Who do you think has been the best non-Phil Lamarr voice for John Stewart? Kevin Michael Richardson and Michael Jai White have played as him.

Gonna have to go with Kevin Michael Richardson for this one.

That's my opinion, too. Still, Lamarr is the king, AFAIAC.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

This doesn't really feel like a John Stewart appreciation thread so much as a "John would be great if it wasn't for Hal Jordan!" thread. It's not a competition, we've got a couple of really good characters here. There's no need to tear one down to build the other up, surely.

Exactly! I don't get the insistence of some users on this forum to tear down Hal Jordan just to build up John Stewart. Like seriously, why? Does Hal Jordan's presence in the Green Lantern universe pose that much of a threat to John Stewart? If you guys like John, that's fine, but that doesn't make Hal Jordan the devil. Despite the belief of some, DC never tore down John Stewart to build up Hal more. He was still very much a part of GL books, even during Geoff Johns' run. He played a part in the events and proved himself as a member of the Corps, along with Guy and Kyle. If anything, other characters, like Batman, got that treatment as opposed to John.

Hal Jordan has been the main protagonist of Green Lantern for 40+ years. Of course people are gonna be attached to him. Its like Tony Stark and James Rhodes. Yes, Rhodey inherited a suit from Tony and even took over for Tony as Iron Man for a while. But Marvel would never PERMANENTLY replace Tony with Rhodey because Iron Man fans would throw a ****, like how H.E.A.T. emerged in the wake of Emerald Twilight.

Point is, Hal Jordan doesn't need to disappear for John Stewart to shine brighter. There's room enough in the GL universe for both of them...as Green Lanterns.

Let's hope they handle the Hal Jordan/John Stewart dynamic in the DCCU the same way they handled the Tony Stark/James Rhodes dynamic in the MCU.