John Stewart Appreciation 2019

[Anthony Shaw]

Yup I feel you on that. DC animation is what got me into the DC characters in the first place. JLU, Teen Titans, Static Shock and later shows like Brave and the Bold and Young Justice. Unfortunately the comics just aren't as good as the shows, especially in regards to diversity.

Diversity does flows more naturally in outside media than the comics. It seems like a Herculean task to humanize POC in comics still.

[lemonpeace]

I totally agree with you. The rare exception would be Harley Quinn, imo.

I'm actually blown away that DC will ignore popular outside adaptions for the same stale stuff.

Or when they do use an outside the comics adaptation, like USMC John Stewart, they leave out all the subtleties, nuances, and storylines that made that interpretation work.

John was in a star crossed romance that turned into a love triangle, had a buddy-cop/big brother with Wally West, had a down for whatever landlady, weird reunion with Kat, dealing with the Guardians, mentoring Supergirl, and more. John was constantly in situations that were out odds with his ultra-disciplined nature.

That was vastly entertaining, to me.

It was also worth noting he never caught the Bat-glare, nor any of Batman's sass directly. Batman was the star of the DCAU.

John & Bruce interacted as equals.

Meanwhile in comics, John and Bruce's most memorable moment together in recent memory was....*checks notes* berating Batman for bad mouthing Hal Jordan...

(not a slight against Hal, I don't want this thread to devolve into another John vs Hal suckfest)

I'm glad Scott made it that Bruce recognizes John's capability and purposely chose him to join theleaguebecause he felt he was the LAntern they needed in the wars to come. I would love for at least one story where John and Batman to work together on some kind of mystery, they are after all the brightest minds on the League in it's current incarnation.

[lemonpeace]

Diversity does flows more naturally in outside media than the comics. It seems like a Herculean task to humanize POC in comics still.

Probably because everyone running DC is old as dirt and, unlike Marvel (whose higher ups are probably just as old), DC's edict was never to reflect the world around us. So, change and bringing "smaller" characters (which are all the POC's at DC) onto the same level as their "big guns" are things they just can't bring themselves to do in a meaningful way; unfortunately.

[Anthony Shaw]

Meanwhile in comics, John and Bruce's most memorable moment together in recent memory was....*checks notes* berating Batman for bad mouthing Hal Jordan...

(not a slight against Hal, I don't want this thread to devolve into another John vs Hal suckfest)

At the time, I thought that was a great scene. Now, I just cringe at it. IMO, Geoff writes a terrible Batman & John Stewart. I often wonder how Geoff's Batman lived for so long (he seems like a dangerous mix of arrogance & stupidity).

I'm glad Scott made it that Bruce recognizes John's capability and purposely chose him to join theleaguebecause he felt he was the LAntern they needed in the wars to come. I would love for at least one story where John and Batman to work together on some kind of mystery, they are after all the brightest minds on the League in it's current incarnation.

It was great that Batman sees the greatness in John. John would never toot his own horn. Given Batman's methodical nature, wildcards like Hal & Guy probably aggravates his paranoid tendencies. I have always held that Batman probably prefers John & Kyle. Kyle probably reminds Bruce of Dick Grayson.

I think John probably reminds Bruce of Jim Gordon.

I'd love to see an odd team-up between John Stewart & Jim Gordon.

[Anthony Shaw]

Probably because everyone running DC is old as dirt and, unlike Marvel (whose higher ups are probably just as old),[B] DC's edict was never to reflect the world around us[/B]. So, change and bringing "smaller" characters (which are all the POC's at DC) onto the same level as their "big guns" are things they just can't bring themselves to do in a meaningful way; unfortunately.

That is a blessing and a curse for DC. I enjoy the larger than life stories, but the resistance to making a larger table to accommodate diversity is wack.

[Shockingjustice]

Probably because everyone running DC is old as dirt and, unlike Marvel (whose higher ups are probably just as old), DC's edict was never to reflect the world around us. So, change and bringing "smaller" characters (which are all the POC's at DC) onto the same level as their "big guns" are things they just can't bring themselves to do in a meaningful way; unfortunately.

It's also interesting they're bringing back the JSA and Legion, both teams so far are looking very white only.

[lemonpeace]

It's also interesting they're bringing back the JSA and Legion, both teams so far are looking very white only.

I don't doubt in the book there will be some people of color but, in usual DC fashion, they have to start with their bigger draws first, ergo the white ones because both of those teams were made in a time where the white face was a considered the profitable face. I'm mainly interested in the JSA return because it's gonna be John helping to usher them back in, otherwise I wouldn't really care. The saving graces with Legion are a) Cosmic boy is drawn a little more tan so maybe they'll make him latino or Asian or something and b) Bendis, he is one of the few big names who consistently takes representation into account. Still the return of the Legion and JSA I hope is just a big moment and does take out the entire DCU for too long because honestly I'm not interested in an extended period of more masturbatory nostalgia tripping. I'd check it out if they bring back Tyroc but if they retcon Marzal into another boring planet instead of it's much more interesting origin I'm just gonna ignore that book unless they give me something worthwhile to check out.

[Anthony Shaw]

I'm looking to see if a writer will ever seek to connect Tyroc (Troy Stewart) with John Stewart.

You never know....

[lemonpeace]

I'm looking to see if a writer will ever seek to connect Tyroc (Troy Stewart) with John Stewart.

You never know....

I'm so torn on that idea. The John fan in me is like "yes, do it! DO IT!!" but the African in me is like "why is it that a descendant of Africans who avoided slavery and returned to an African island is named Troy Stewart? Change that ****!"

However I'm more incline to believe DC would sooner connect him to John before they make the character more authentically African.

[SecretWarrior]

I'm looking to see if a writer will ever seek to connect Tyroc (Troy Stewart) with John Stewart.

You never know....

John Stewart, Lynn Stewart, Troy Stewart...

And you can't forget Rex Stewart...

Giving the Waynes a run for their money.

Always preferred the black version of Star Boy over Tyroc though.

[Anthony Shaw]

I'm so torn on that idea. The John fan in me is like "yes, do it! DO IT!!" but the African in me is like "why is it that a descendant of Africans who avoided slavery and returned to an African island is named Troy Stewart? Change that ****!"

However I'm more incline to believe DC would sooner connect him to John before they make the character more authentically African.

That is the fun of sci-fi.

Perhaps Troy's maternal side avoided slavery while Troy's paternal is side was the descendant of John Stewart. Since we talking about John Stewart, it is possible John's bloodline continued off Earth only to return meeting up with Troy's maternal side, thus forming Troy's heritage.

Afro-futurism is fun!

[Anthony Shaw]

John Stewart, Lynn Stewart, Troy Stewart...

And you can't forget Rex Stewart...

Giving the Waynes a run for their money.

Always preferred the black version of Star Boy over Tyroc though.

With the silver age version of Star Boy (with the Geoff Johns induced schizophrenia) featured in outside media, I doubt we see the Threeboot version of Thom any time soon.

His uniform was awesome.

[Wakeneuron]

I'm confused. Are you saying that African Americans are still slaves because they kept their surnames?

[lemonpeace]

I'm confused. Are you saying that African Americans are still slaves because they kept their surnames?

That's quite a leap, I'm not sure how you reached that conclusion. Think of it like this, if you were born in Japan and Japan never let anyone outside Japan on the island, and no one left the island but you're name is Juan Gonzales or John Conington, is that not odd? Would it not make more sense if your name were Yusuke Tanaka or Masahiro Urameshi?

[lemonpeace]

That is the fun of sci-fi.

Perhaps Troy's maternal side avoided slavery while Troy's paternal is side was the descendant of John Stewart. Since we talking about John Stewart, it is possible John's bloodline continued off Earth only to return meeting up with Troy's maternal side, thus forming Troy's heritage.

Afro-futurism is fun!

I guess that could be as good a explanation as any but as I said, I doubt DC would put that much thought into it. I'm sure if they brought him back they'd probably connect him to John Stewart long before they'd think to touch on anything remotely African about him or Marzal.