Hal Jordan: Green Lantern Appreciation 2019

[liwanag]

Well in the old canon he did. I haven't read a lot of the early 90s issues but I believe there was an issue of Hal celebrating his 40th birthday and at the time it was said that he had been GL for 15 years. That pic is from the Tales from the Dark Multiverse take on the Death of Superman and Hal has the white hair at the time like he did in the original story.

really?

any idea how old barry, oliver, and dinah is? (and the rest of the satellite league).

i'm also interested how old bruce is. and how many earth years is clark supposed to be.


(and how all this translates to dc's current 4g announcement).

[Johnny]

During the time shortly post-CoIE, Hal, Ollie and Dinah were certainly presented as some of the senior JL members. Bruce has always been a more complicated case. Shocker, I know. He never got visibly older but he can't possibly be younger than the aforementioned, raising four Robins and everything.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

During the 90s, Ollie was stated to be 43, and Hal was supposed to be a tad older than him.

Meltzer maintained that idea, but established that both Hal & Ollie were deaged into their physical primes when they were resurrected.

However, since that was at least two continuity revamps ago, I think it's safe to say that they're back to their traditional mid-30s ages again, irregardless of how much time has passed.

[Anthony Shaw]

No one gave Meltzer a copy of GL: Rebirth?

What is up with these comic book editors?

[Anthony Shaw]

Regardless of who will be the GL in the HBO series, I just hope the story is good to keep the franchise in the mainstream. I think I's rather see Kyle, Jessica, & Simon in this format.

If I'm keeping it real, I do hope Hal, Guy, & John are featured in films.

[silly]

Good question. Somehow, in my head canon, most of the Satellite League are within the same age range. I mean most of them are in thier 30's. Maybe except the Amazonian, Atlantean, Martian league members.

So I guess Abin Sur protected the Earth after the JSA disappeared. Well maybe a bit later, but just before Superman's 1st appearance.

[silly]

Regardless of who will be the GL in the HBO series, I just hope the story is good to keep the franchise in the mainstream. I think I's rather see Kyle, Jessica, & Simon in this format.

If I'm keeping it real, I do hope Hal, Guy, & John are featured in films.

Let's not forget Carol.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

No one gave Meltzer a copy of GL: Rebirth?

What is up with these comic book editors?

Rebirth didn't retcon Hal's age, they just retconned the reason for his gray hair. There are people in their thirties who go gray, and there are people who don't go gray until their fifties. Hal's specific age was irrelevant to the whole the "Yellow Impurity was Parallax" story, even though it did have the side benefit of removing something DC editorial and some fans saw as a problem for the character--that he was too old. Getting rid of the gray hair and ramping back up the "cocky hotshot" aspects of his personality helped that immeasurably.

[silly]

No one gave Meltzer a copy of GL: Rebirth?

What is up with these comic book editors?

I have great respect for Geoff for being able to explain Hal's grey hair.

[Anthony Shaw]

Let's not forget Carol.

For me, Carol is part of the Hal combo.

[Anthony Shaw]

Rebirth didn't retcon Hal's age, they just retconned the reason for his gray hair. There are people in their thirties who go gray, and there are people who don't go gray until their fifties. Hal's specific age was irrelevant to the whole the "Yellow Impurity was Parallax" story, even though it did have the side benefit of removing something DC editorial and some fans saw as a problem for the character--that he was too old. Getting rid of the gray hair and ramping back up the "cocky hotshot" aspects of his personality helped that immeasurably.

Well, I started going grey in my teens.

I know before Geoff, Post Crisis Hal was an elder statesman. IIRC, Guy should be about the same age, but may have used the ring to stay in his prime.

During Rebirth, I assumed the third panel that I posted was a retcon of his age indicating that Hal went grey "so early" (not being aware of Parallax).

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Well, I started going grey in my teens.

I know before Geoff, Post Crisis Hal was an elder statesman. IIRC, Guy should be about the same age, but may have used the ring to stay in his prime.

During Rebirth, I assumed the third panel that I posted was a retcon of his age indicating that Hal went grey "so early" (not being aware of Parallax).

Yeah, like I said, going gray "so early" is a relative thing that depends on the person and their family history. My mom started going gray in her thirties, so it wasn't a surprise when the same started happening to me around the same time. If Hal's family had no history of going gray until much later in life, then getting those gray temples in his early 40s would be considered "early" for him. That said, I'm sure Geoff Johns's intention was to course correct away from the middle aged veteran characterization from the Gerard Jones era, but Rebirth didn't explicitly retcon away all that mileage that Hal & Ollie had gained, which is why Meltzer's idea of them being resurrected as young men in their physical prime worked just fine.

I think Meltzer's guilty of more than a few creative missteps over the years, but this is not one of them.

[phantom1592]

Yeah, like I said, going gray "so early" is a relative thing that depends on the person and their family history. My mom started going gray in her thirties, so it wasn't a surprise when the same started happening to me around the same time. If Hal's family had no history of going gray until much later in life, then getting those gray temples in his early 40s would be considered "early" for him. That said, I'm sure Geoff Johns's intention was to course correct away from the middle aged veteran characterization from the Gerard Jones era, but Rebirth didn't explicitly retcon away all that mileage that Hal & Ollie had gained, which is why Meltzer's idea of them being resurrected as young men in their physical prime worked just fine.

I think Meltzer's guilty of more than a few creative missteps over the years, but this is not one of them.

What is this about Meltzer? I remember Kevin Smith explaining that Hal as Spectre resurrected Ollie in his physical prime. And it really hurts my soul to give Kevin Smith credit for anything... but that was a good resurrection.

[phantom1592]

really?

any idea how old barry, oliver, and dinah is? (and the rest of the satellite league).

i'm also interested how old bruce is. and how many earth years is clark supposed to be.


(and how all this translates to dc's current 4g announcement).

Longbow Hunters put Ollie at 40 and then they tried to real time him a bit from there... but it didnt' really stick. Batman will always be 30-35. His whole core is that he's in perfect physical prime and a human weapon... SO regardless of however many Robins they've crammed in... Batman will always be 'the perfect man'. Despite all the garbage people throw around about 40 is the new 20... it's not true. Takes longer to heal... everything hurts more... THAT is the Nolan Batman who was broken and quit. Comic Batman will always be in his prime.

And if the universe has to reboot to make it happen.... then that's what will happen. Same is true for most of the heroes (and why I'm a firm believer that Legacy in comics just doesn't work) Everyone wants the sidekicks and the sidekick's children to become heroing age... but the main foundational characters can't age either, and I really don't want them to.

[Mutatis_Mutandis]

Hal being in his 40s is not really a problem. The problem was that the brasher aspects of his personality were all but gone by the time of ET (I think it was still present in the first few arcs of vol. 3, like in the first issue, when Hal just jumps off a cliff and changes into GL at the very last second; or when he gleefully accepts Guy's challenge to a fight without rings). The look of the gray hair also didn't help (imo, the gray should have been much more scraggy than so neatly combed). It wasn't until Waid's JL: Year One I think that we got back the more cocky hotshot Hal.

I think the problem was also that Kevin Dooley simply didn't understand the character.