Has any Comic Book ever been rebooted more times than Green Lantern?

[Iron_Leopard]

Saw an ad today in Superman #4 for The Green Lantern #1. Or was it Supergirl#23? Can't remember?

Anyway. How many solo Green Lantern comics have their been?

Should they cancel ALL Green Lantern comics for at least a decade? If they keep starting over this many times then that's a bad sign. Something must not be working.

[married guy]

Aquaman has a had a few if memory serves.
Probably more than Green Lantern.

[nightw1ng]

Marvel definitely has a lot more titles that have been rebooted more than Green Lantern, but if you're talking about just DC, I'm not sure which is the top, but in general, a lot of their top titles are on their 5th renumbering (like Aquaman, Flash, Green Lantern, Superman, and Wonder Woman). This does not include satellite titles. I'm basing it on the database at www.mycomicshop.com. Search for a title, and you can see how many series they've had.

[Carabas]

Green Lantern has rebooted just the one time, after Crisis On Infinite Earth.
Green Lantern is one of only two DC franchises that managed to largely not get rebooted with the New 52.

As for new #1s, which is not the same as rebooting at all, it feels like Green Arrow has got it beaten easily.

[Username taken]

Green Lantern isn't being rebooted.

It's just a relaunch.

[Tec15]

I don't think you know what the word "reboot" means.

[Jim Kelly]

A new number one is a reboot. It's just not a reboot in the way that comic fans have come to use the word. But starting a series over again fits the metaphor that is suggested by reboot. When you have to bootstrap your computer again--to restart and reload the operating system--you reboot it. So if a title starts up again, that is a reboot. But a character can also get rebooted, start up again.

[Jekyll]

I don't think you know what the word "reboot" means.

Does anyone really know what that word means anymore?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

In the context of long-running entertainment properties, a reboot implies a continuity reset. It's not just another word for revamp, relaunch or revival or follow-up. This is not just a comic book geek thing. For instance, the James Bond franchise was rebooted with Casino Royale when Daniel Craig took over the role, whereas Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore and George Lazenby were considered relaunches of the franchise that existed within the same loose continuity of the previous films (although with a sliding timeline once Dalton & Bronsnan came on board).

The Samuel L. Jackson Shaft film was a relaunch because he was the nephew of the original, who appeared in the film. The JJ Abrams's Star Trek film was a reboot that incorporated the reset of continuity as part of its story. Star Trek Discovery is a relaunch. The new Hawaii 5-O, MacGyver, Lethal Weapon and Magnum P.I. shows are reboots. Bryan Singer's Superman Returns was a relaunch/sequel to the Donner films. Man of Steel was a reboot.

The Green Lantern franchise has had its continuity tweaked, but it has never been rebooted. The comic has been relaunched several times though, but only once because of low sales, which was during the acclaimed O'Neil/Adams Hard Travelling Heroes run. Since then, the main Green Lantern title has only been ended in order to accommodate an imminent relaunch. After GL/GA was revived in the late 1970s, the book continued on until the end of popular Englehart & Staton's run when the book ended after Denny O'Neil took editorial control so GL could headline his Action Comics Weekly experiment.

When Andy Hefler regained control of the book, the main GL comic was subsequently relaunched and regained its status as one of DC's top selling books, and soon spawned three spin-off titles. That title didn't end until the book was relaunched with Geoff Johns's GL: Rebirth, which again became one of DC's most popular comics. The most recent volume is also not ending because of poor sales, but due to Grant Morrison desire to relaunch the book with a very different direction.

So, I'm not exactly sure why DC would cancel Green Lantern for a decade when it has been one of DC's most consistently popular titles for longer than most of us have been alive.

But, sure, let's just cancel it because of...reasons.

[EmeraldGladiator]

Moon Knight and Captain Marvel (the marvel comics version) by a mile.
for DC Hawkman, maybe Teen Titans if you count all the spin offs (titans, new), Aquaman, hell maybe even Wonder Woman

[JustJelly]

I'm pretty sure Blue Beetle takes that prize. The character has been rebooted, relaunched, retooled, and replaced a ton of times since the 40's.

[Jim Kelly]

The Green Lantern franchise has had its continuity tweaked, but it has never been rebooted.

This is a bit like the Ship of Theseus. Although in the Theseus paradox, the ship looks exactly the same (but it's arguably a different ship). Green Lanten now doesn't look anything like Green Lantern in 1959. So you might argue the character hasn't been rebooted--but every single part of the character and his mythology has been rebooted, piecemeal. So the effect is the same as if Green Lantern had been rebooted.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

This is a bit like the Ship of Theseus. Although in the Theseus paradox, the ship looks exactly the same (but it's arguably a different ship). Green Lanten now doesn't look anything like Green Lantern in 1959. So you might argue the character hasn't been rebooted--but every single part of the character and his mythology has been rebooted, piecemeal. So the effect is the same as if Green Lantern had been rebooted.

Thanks to the sliding timeline, you could say that about virtually every long-running superhero. Spider-Man and Iron Man have had their origins retconned so many times now it's ridiculous.

However, updating your ship metaphor to a modern automobile, the current model of Hal Jordan is still built on the same sturdy chassis that Broome, Kane & Shwartz constructed.

within the context of the regularly occurring retcons, tweaks and updates that decades old superheroes receive, I would agree with Morrison that Batman and Green Lantern are the main two DC characters that have survived with most of their prior continuity in place. Your mileage may vary, but I would certainly consider the Hal Jordan of today to be same guy who first appeared in 1959.

[ed2962]

This is nothing compared to Carol Danvers.

[Jim Kelly]

It put my nose out of joint when Geoff Johns wrote the Secret Origin for Hal that effectively replaced everything Broome, Kane and Schwartz had created with Geoff Johns brand retcon. That on top of what had already happened to Hal's origin in EMERALD DAWN and EMERALD DAWN II.