John Stewart Appreciation 2019

[Johnny]

This is interesting. So it looks we may get some John Stewart Green Lantern reveal. DC really needs to capitalize on this character's popularity. There shouldn't be any reason for him not to get a book. At least give the guy a mini. Hopefully with all of what's going on in Justice League, I'm hoping that DC will release minis for each JL character on an ongoing event.

There's a bunch of nods in the episode, such as a scene where General Stewart is tied to a chair and Diggle tells him that he "can't will his way out of those ropes", or a bunch of times where Diggle conveniently stays in front of a green light, etc. Like I said, I'm no fan of this kind of tropes in superhero shows when they develop an original character for many seasons and then suddenly decide to retcon the character into an established hero from the comics, because I feel it's a poor form of storytelling, but who knows, it could actually be done well here.

[lemonpeace]

There's a bunch of nods in the episode, such as a scene where General Stewart is tied to a chair and Diggle tells him that he "can't will his way out of those ropes", or a bunch of times where Diggle conveniently stays in front of a green light, etc. Like I said, I'm no fan of this kind of tropes in superhero shows when they develop an original character for many seasons and then suddenly decide to retcon the character into an established hero from the comics, because I feel it's a poor form of storytelling, but who knows, it could actually be done well here.

I doubt it'll be done all that good but it will be a decent alternate Earth cameo fan service. I'm glad it's looking like we'll only see him in Crisis crossover next season and likely not outside of that, I don't trust the CWverse enough to handle a Green Lantern (especially my favorite one) well for an extended period of time.

[Sodam Yat]

[Sam]

I see the Justice League animated series influence remains strong.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I doubt it'll be done all that good but it will be a decent alternate Earth cameo fan service. I'm glad it's looking like we'll only see him in Crisis crossover next season and likely not outside of that, I don't trust the CWverse enough to handle a Green Lantern (especially my favorite one) well for an extended period of time.

I don't think they'd have the budget to pull it off either

[lemonpeace]

I don't think they'd have the budget to pull it off either

Oh man, I shutter to think of how they'll try to pull it off. I can see the glowing green rubber man CG now. I'm sure they can pull off a serviceable Green Lantern but boy, of all the heroes the GLs must be insane budget killers by nature.

[Sodam Yat]

I see the Justice League animated series influence remains strong.

VERY strong indeed.

[Sodam Yat]

Still waiting with bated breath for answers about John's ring and for that to pay off. Please god, let him do something cool with this ring before it gets retconned out of existence. If I have any criticism about Snyder's Justice League, it's that he's introducing so many concepts and ideas that they don't anyways get fleshed out or realized properly.

I totally agree with this. I certainly don't want this to be the same situation to what happened in Van Jensen's run.

This really needs to be resolved and not forgotten. Thanks to Scott Snyder NOT resolving this issue, I'm seeing John appearances in the Year of the Villain where he has a ring, which is complete false. He supposed to have a tattoo ring, not a real one.

If there will be a showdown between John Stewart and Thaal Sinestro as shown in the upcoming Justice Leauge issue, then it's possible we may get some answers there.

[lemonpeace]

I totally agree with this. I certainly don't want this to be the same situation to what happened in Van Jensen's run.

This really needs to be resolved and not forgotten. Thanks to Scott Snyder NOT resolving this issue, I'm seeing John appearances in the Year of the Villain where he has a ring, which is complete false. He supposed to have a tattoo ring, not a real one.

If there will be a showdown between John Stewart and Thaal Sinestro as shown in the upcoming Justice Leauge issue, then it's possible we may get some answers there.

Honestly, I'd be extremely disappointed but relatively ok if this new ring concept doesn't stick (goes the way of Cyborg regaining his body) or doesn't necessarily crossover into John's (very few) appearances in other titles; I've come to expect the reneging from DC. I just would like for some clarity about what it means, what John can do now, and how exactly this new ring is different or unique.

[Vampire Savior]

I don't want to be a downer for people, but I doubt that invisible spectrum stuff will stick for anything that isn't written by Snyder. It seems that lately the only time anything in comics sticks is if it's very popular or very high profile. For example, the Emotional Spectrum has been around so long because it was popular with readers, which allowed Geoff Johns to keep focusing on it over time, to the point where it eventually seemed like the backbone of Green Lantern, for better or worse. Also, what happened to Wally West in Heroes in Crisis won't be forgotten any time soon because it's such a high profile event and Wally West has a long history of being suchh a major character. Yet, the Invisible Emotional Spectrum just doesn't seem to be making big enough waves for John Stewart, and I think he's too minor a character for it to really matter to anyone else who may write him. Snyder may be a popular writer, but he's focusing on so many different things that this particular aspect of this particular--somewhat negligible--character (I regret to say), just doesn't seem like it's anything too notable or essential.

[Sodam Yat]

Honestly, I'd be extremely disappointed but relatively ok if this new ring concept doesn't stick (goes the way of Cyborg regaining his body) or doesn't necessarily crossover into John's (very few) appearances in other titles; I've come to expect the reneging from DC. I just would like for some clarity about what it means, what John can do now, and how exactly this new ring is different or unique.

I agree, mate. But personally, I don't think we should give these guys a break. Because if we do, we'll be letting writers keep doing half ass jobs. The editorial screw up with Lost Army and Oblivion is a good example what I would hate to see happen in this run. Don't get me wrong, I love Scott Snyder as a writer. He's one of the (few) writers at DC I respect the most. But John is a character that needs development like Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl. Those two characters got some good development, where their stories are fully explained. But John is the only character who haven't got any real answers about his new powers. I do not want John to end up like how things went for Cyborg.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I agree, mate. But personally, I don't think we should give these guys a break. Because if we do, we'll be letting writers keep doing half ass jobs. The editorial screw up with Lost Army and Oblivion is a good example what I would hate to see happen in this run. Don't get me wrong, I love Scott Snyder as a writer. He's one of the (few) writers at DC I respect the most. But John is a character that needs development like Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl. Those two characters got some good development, where their stories are fully explained. But John is the only character who haven't got any real answers about his new powers. I do not want John to end up like how things went for Cyborg.

I must admit that my enthusiasm for Snyder's handling of John has dimmed the longer his run has gone on, particularly after the creative misfire that was Drowned Earth and the Thanagarian arc, in which nothing of interest has been done with the character.

Granted, Snyder course-corrected admirably with Superman after fumbling with him in Metal, so maybe Snyder will do the same with John.

[lemonpeace]

I agree, mate. But personally, I don't think we should give these guys a break. Because if we do, we'll be letting writers keep doing half ass jobs. The editorial screw up with Lost Army and Oblivion is a good example what I would hate to see happen in this run. Don't get me wrong, I love Scott Snyder as a writer. He's one of the (few) writers at DC I respect the most. But John is a character that needs development like Martian Manhunter and Hawkgirl. Those two characters got some good development, where their stories are fully explained. But John is the only character who haven't got any real answers about his new powers. I do not want John to end up like how things went for Cyborg.

I agree, John especially because unlike the Flash, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman who have titles that can further the developments from Justice League, Justice League is John's primary book right now. It's weird that, considering all the major changes DC does trying to reintroduce and restore old continuity, they are surprisingly lax about basic individual character continuity. The Cyborg thing in particular really perplexes me and, if Year of the Villain #1 is any indication, the John physiology thing might end up that way too. However, I feel it's partially because Snyder hasn't fully fleshed it out that other creators don't think about it. I love Snyder tho and if Metal is any indicator he'll definitely give each member a chance to showout whenever he gets to where he's going, my worry is will the damage be done by then; in the sense that no one will care by then or it'll be disappointingly easy to ignore.

[lemonpeace]

I must admit that my enthusiasm for Snyder's handling of John has dimmed the longer his run has gone on, particularly after the creative misfire that was Drowned Earth and the Thanagarian arc, in which nothing of interest has been done with the character.

Granted, Snyder course-corrected admirably with Superman after fumbling with him in Metal, so maybe Snyder will do the same with John.

I am somewhat in the same boat, it feels like Snyder is struggling juggling the ensemble cast. I didn't mind Drowned Earth, but the Hawkworld arc was disappointing mainly due to the misleading solicits giving me misplaced expectations about John's role in that arc. However, it did shed some light on John's ring situation so it did give me a little bit of hope that Snyder hasn't just dropped that beat entirely. He said before that Justice League is basically a Martian Manhunter/Hawkgirl book so he wants to give them plenty of shine, and given that the other members have books to expand into, imo it's becoming apparent that he didn't have an running character arc for John going into this title. I do believe he likes the character and I do think he has/had something for him to do but nothing so expansive that we were hoping for.

[Vampire Savior]

Writers never seem to have anything for this character.
He rarely has solo titles. In the last twenty-five years, the closest to that he's had are the Van Jenson run on GLC and Cullun Bunn's Green Lantern: Lost Army, which together amount to about 25 issues. That's like the equivalent of one single comic a year. And whenever he's on the League, it seems to me the only reasons he's there are so that he's visibly somewhere in the DCU and not in limbo, and/or to resemble the Bruce Timm cartoon show. Writers don't seem to actually have any ideas to do anything with him story-wise. This happened in the Joe Kelly Justice League way back in the early 00s, the Dwayne McDuffie League, and now here. Ever since the start of this particular incarnation of the League, it's been clear that Snyder is much more interested in the Martian Manhunter, and John is just...there. How many issues are there into this run now? Going on 25 or so,, and still nothing's been done with the character. When I saw that Snyder spat in the face of John Stewart fans by putting Hawkgirl with Martianhunter WHILE John Stewart was right there with them while it happened, and WHILE Shayera was standing right there, I knew it was over for him. For John Stewart to walk away completely asexual after a situation like that, and thus lacking any interesting opportunities for character interaction and development, sealed the deal, and I knew there was no hope for him. it sounds silly, but it was true

And for a writer to pull something like that--to intentionally dodge expectations, but at John Stewart's expense--I knew that, regardless of whatever he may say, he doesn't really have John Stewart's best interests in mind. A writer who does wouldn't have pissed away an opportunity like that, or in such a way where they obviously throw it in the fans' faces.