John Stewart Appreciation 2019

[Vampire Savior]

Oh, please. Just because you haven't met people who have Martian Manhunter as one of their favorites...

I saw this coming and stopped reading right there.

[Sam]

I saw this coming and stopped reading right there.

Well, it's flawed logical reasoning, so such a response should be expected.

[skyvolt2000]

Oh, please. Just because you haven't met people who have Martian Manhunter as one of their favorites doesn't mean it might not be that way for Snyder. Other people's preferences can't be used to make assumptions about a completely different person's preference. That's ridiculous.

And Scott Snyder has stuff to say about John Stewart. The issue is that he said it early in the book, during the first arc, so now that's it's been as he's been saying stuff about other characters as well. I think it goes without saying that J'onn has gotten the most focus in the book, but the dude just got sidelined big time, leaving room for the other characters to get more play. And John has gotten more focus than a bunch of the other characters in the book. He's certainly gotten more than Diana and Barry. Arthur got his own arc, but then left the book, so I'd say John's up on him too. John's probably about on par with Clark and Bruce at this point with focus, which isn't a bad place to be.

DC has been doing it for YEARS.

Folks like J'onn will SNIFF an ongoing or mini series every so often.
Diana, Barry & Arthur have their own BOOKS. Whose job it is to SELL them to the public. It's not Justice League book's job to sell folks who already have books or can get a mini.

Bruce & Clark have BOOKS. John is NOT on par with them.

John is in the same boat as Nightwing, Tim, Wally and others-where DC is WILLINGLY to sacrifice money to make you like what they like. Meanwhile OTHER companies are laughing to the bank.

[Sam]

DC has been doing it for YEARS.

Folks like J'onn will SNIFF an ongoing or mini series every so often.
Diana, Barry & Arthur have their own BOOKS. Whose job it is to SELL them to the public. It's not Justice League book's job to sell folks who already have books or can get a mini.

Bruce & Clark have BOOKS. John is NOT on par with them.

John is in the same boat as Nightwing, Tim, Wally and others-where DC is WILLINGLY to sacrifice money to make you like what they like. Meanwhile OTHER companies are laughing to the bank.

Calm down. I was talking within the context of Justice League and Justice League is a team book. It's job is to give equal focus to the entire team, whether they have a book or not. It's not a book where you can demand that the writer weigh which characters get exposure outside the title and which don't. Even in that respect though, Snyder is doing a pretty good job if Kendra and J'onn are getting a ton of focus and John is getting as much focus in the book as Clark and Bruce.

You want to complain that John doesn't have his own title? Go for it. I'd love to see one too. You want to somehow imply it's Snyder's fault that John isn't getting enough play because he isn't writing Justice League exactly the way you want him to. Well, that's just silly.

[DragonsChi]

It's from Cosmicbook.news, man, they're even worse than Wegotthiscovered.

Eh, there more honest then Bleeding Cool at least.

Almost all the comic sources are pretty bad for "actual" and factual news. Even the one we are on. The key is just to take what you can from them and piece together what you can from multiple sources for the truth.

[Sam]

Eh, there more honest then Bleeding Cool at least.

Almost all the comic sources are pretty bad for "actual" and factual news. Even the one we are on. The key is just to take what you can from them and piece together what you can from multiple sources for the truth.

Bleeding Cool I generally find to be good with comics rumors, but not any other kind of rumors.

[Sodam Yat]

The excuse that they have good reason to believe it won't sell all that well unless there is big name talent working on it is "no excuse"? I mean, that's the best excuse of all, if you ask me.

If DC does what you're suggesting, the likely scenario is that they'll end up with another book lingering around the low or mid 20,000s in sales, like what they ended up having with Lost Army. If I'm aware of this, I'm sure they are. With the state their publishing company is in, it doesn't seem like they're in wild risk taking mode to see if, on the off chance, the likely thing actually WON'T happen.

I don't think it takes big talent for the comic to sell. But of course it seems like if DC is fully behind John Stewart they would do all they can to make sure the book sells, which is why other characters gets another chance after another and figure out what's best for the character's success, like Hal Jordan for instance.

Lost Army didn't share the variant covers that other top comics had. When you see guys like Dan Didio mentioning and promoting Robert Venditti's Green Lantern and not even bringing up Lost Army in his DCYOU interview videos, then that's a problem. The most common question that I see from fans was that "is this a good jumping point"? That's what happens when a book isn't being promoted properly. And the book wasn't an ongoing, just a mini. But the book wasn't even cancellation numbers. Cullen Bunn said the sales were fine. I do agree the sales should've been better, but I guess DC felt bringing in Van Sciver would've boosted up sales.

[Sodam Yat]

I agree what Sam is trying to say. Scott Snyder went out of his way to make Martian Manhunter the most prominent character in the book. And even went as far as tying his origin story with Lex Luthors. And even went on twitter asking fans on how would they feel if Martian Manhunter is back on the team. He's just one of the guys that's a big fan of the character. I don't see why that's hard to believe, just because other people that you may have met or heard of isn't a big fan of the character.

[Vampire Savior]

I don't think it takes big talent for the comic to sell. But of course it seems like if DC is fully behind John Stewart they would do all they can to make sure the book sells, which is why other characters gets another chance after another and figure out what's best for the character's success, like Hal Jordan for instance.

A reason why it makes some sense to give Hal Jordan another chance is there is a relatively recent frame of reference of the character leading a title that was one of DC's top sellers. John Stewart doesn't boast anything like that, and I don't believe he ever has. And it's not like Hal Jordan has a recent history of failing over and over again in comics.

Lost Army didn't share the variant covers that other top comics had.

That's not true. It had three Ben Oliver variants. The variants were stopped on the latter three issues probably because DC knew they weren't continuing the series beyond issue 6 because the sales on the first three issues weren't strong enough.

When you see guys like Dan Didio mentioning and promoting Robert Venditti's Green Lantern and not even bringing up Lost Army in his DCYOU interview videos, then that's a problem.

Dan DiDio sparing a sentence to mention Lost Army in a video could have helped some, but it would probably be pretty negligible.

And the book wasn't an ongoing, just a mini.

It was originally a maxi-series. It got cut down to being a mini, likely when sales proved fairly weak.
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/10...an-by-twitter/

Lost Army went back and forth. When I took the assignment, I was pretty adamant that it needed 12 issues. Then it went to 6. Then up to 13. Then 6. Rollercoaster!

I had the story planned out for 13 issues, at which point it would have collided with Sinestro. I don;t know how much of my outline Tom [Tom Taylor, writing the sequel Green Lantern Corps story, Edge Of Oblivion] has seen. I really don’t know much about the story ahead.

But the book wasn't even cancellation numbers. Cullen Bunn said the sales were fine. I do agree the sales should've been better, but I guess DC felt bringing in Van Sciver would've boosted up sales.

I don't believe Cullen Bunn said that. I recall him saying something to the effect of, "I wished the series could continue, but sales are what they are." However, I'm having some difficulty finding that. If I recall correctly, it was in a tweet he made. Unless someone comes up with a verifiable quote from him about the issue, I suppose it'll just be your word against mine.

I mention Lost Army because it's a frame of reference. It's a fairly recent John Stewart led book that didn't sell all that great. The point being that if DC produced another John Stewart led book, there's a good possibility they would end up with a very similar result. Of course, it's never a sure thing, and there are a lot of factors that could make a difference, but there is good reason to believe that the result wouldn't be too different unless they brought in big creators to work on it. Thus, I'm a little perplexed when I see posts about how John Stewart deserves his own title and its somewhat of an inexcusable injustice that he doesn't have one. I guess the same could be said of countless other characters, but DC just can't publish everything. These things cost resources of money, time, and manpower to make, and DC probably wants to spend those resources on projects they believe will give them the biggest return.

To cut straight to the point, what I believe it really comes down to is fan emotions causing fans to lose perspective on several realities. Contrary to what some might believe, I don't intentionally set out to rain on fans' parades, but sometimes I find them acting in a fashion or holding certain beliefs that aren't quite reasonable to me, disregarding many key factors because they don't coincide with their narrative or wish.

[Ironmonk]

I'm a big fan of Martian Manhunter and enjoyed the Burning arc and his solo that he had during DCYOU. But I have to admit I'm not a fan of Snyder linking him to Luthor and this constant stakes raising story we are having right now. Feels like the only characters really getting focus since Snyders been writing are Superman, Batman, Kendra, and Martian Manhunter. I hope during the next arc that John, Wonder woman, and Barry can get some more focus in the overall plot.

[Cosmic Emerald 23]

A reason why it makes some sense to give Hal Jordan another chance is there is a relatively recent frame of reference of the character leading a title that was one of DC's top sellers. John Stewart doesn't boast anything like that, and I don't believe he ever has. And it's not like Hal Jordan has a recent history of failing over and over again in comics.



That's not true. It had three Ben Oliver variants. The variants were stopped on the latter three issues probably because DC knew they weren't continuing the series beyond issue 6 because the sales on the first three issues weren't strong enough.



Dan DiDio sparing a sentence to mention Lost Army in a video could have helped some, but it would probably be pretty negligible.



It was originally a maxi-series. It got cut down to being a mini, likely when sales proved fairly weak.
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/10...an-by-twitter/




I don't believe Cullen Bunn said that. I recall him saying something to the effect of, "I wished the series could continue, but sales are what they are." However, I'm having some difficulty finding that. If I recall correctly, it was in a tweet he made. Unless someone comes up with a verifiable quote from him about the issue, I suppose it'll just be your word against mine.

I mention Lost Army because it's a frame of reference. It's a fairly recent John Stewart led book that didn't sell all that great. The point being that if DC produced another John Stewart led book, there's a good possibility they would end up with a very similar result. Of course, it's never a sure thing, and there are a lot of factors that could make a difference, but there is good reason to believe that the result wouldn't be too different unless they brought in big creators to work on it. Thus, I'm a little perplexed when I see posts about how John Stewart deserves his own title and its somewhat of an inexcusable injustice that he doesn't have one. I guess the same could be said of countless other characters, but DC just can't publish everything. These things cost resources of money, time, and manpower to make, and DC probably wants to spend those resources on projects they believe will give them the biggest return.

To cut straight to the point, what I believe it really comes down to is fan emotions causing fans to lose perspective on several realities. Contrary to what some might believe, I don't intentionally set out to rain on fans' parades, but sometimes I find them acting in a fashion or holding certain beliefs that aren't quite reasonable to me, disregarding many key factors because they don't coincide with their narrative or wish.

That's it right there. John hasn't had that big major push with A-List talent on his books (I know about the brief EVS stuff but I'm talking in more consistent terms). I get it, they can't publish ALL characters' books, but this is arguably one of, if not the most well known Lanterns among fans and general audience. It's not like we're asking for them to get behind somebody like Animal Man and try to make him a major player. I'm hearing that DC isn't doing too well right now so they are really clinging to their big guns that have had recent success as you said. I'm not saying he's gonna save the whole company with is book's success 90's Jim Lee X-Men style, but I think it'd be worth it to try to inject some life into the GL franchise, granted if they're in a position to do it.

Truth is, we don't know how well a true John Stewart solo would do with a genuine major push from the whole company with top level advertising, artists, writers and all, something like Hal and Kyle got (no malice in mentioning this, it's a fact that they had way more of a push than John ever had). It sucks that they're not in a position to go forward with him, but hey, they did this to themselves. Hopefully the comics industry as a whole can at least gain more stability in the near future so that John can get the chance he never had in the first place, something that is unfairly used against him.

[skyvolt2000]

Calm down. I was talking within the context of Justice League and Justice League is a team book. It's job is to give equal focus to the entire team, whether they have a book or not. It's not a book where you can demand that the writer weigh which characters get exposure outside the title and which don't. Even in that respect though, Snyder is doing a pretty good job if Kendra and J'onn are getting a ton of focus and John is getting as much focus in the book as Clark and Bruce.

You want to complain that John doesn't have his own title? Go for it. I'd love to see one too. You want to somehow imply it's Snyder's fault that John isn't getting enough play because he isn't writing Justice League exactly the way you want him to. Well, that's just silly.

Where did I blame Snyder? I don't read the book and could careless who gets showcased because at the end it does not HELP anyone in the book. It's just another book on the shelf.
Once again you can give equal crap to those without books-its not going to mean ANYTHING other than an excuse NOT to use them elsewhere.

Lost Army didn't share the variant covers that other top comics had. When you see guys like Dan Didio mentioning and promoting Robert Venditti's Green Lantern and not even bringing up Lost Army in his DCYOU interview videos, then that's a problem. The most common question that I see from fans was that "is this a good jumping point"? That's what happens when a book isn't being promoted properly. And the book wasn't an ongoing, just a mini. But the book wasn't even cancellation numbers. Cullen Bunn said the sales were fine. I do agree the sales should've been better, but I guess DC felt bringing in Van Sciver would've boosted up sales.

Yes that book had variants.

Cullen did plan it out for 12 issues. A lot of the DC You books were slated to be 12. However books like Lost Army & Doomed did not get them and when the ax came it was after scripts were in. So in Doomed case you get an empty ending and a filler issue like number 2 & 5 were.

[Vampire Savior]

Truth is, we don't know how well a true John Stewart solo would do with a genuine major push from the whole company with top level advertising, artists, writers and all, something like Hal and Kyle got (no malice in mentioning this, it's a fact that they had way more of a push than John ever had). It sucks that they're not in a position to go forward with him, but hey, they did this to themselves. Hopefully the comics industry as a whole can at least gain more stability in the near future so that John can get the chance he never had in the first place, something that is unfairly used against him.

My honest opinion is that it would probably do okay if it was done well. I guess the thing with Green Lantern is that someone has always thought to do that for some other Lantern rather than John Stewart. That's the danger of being a fan of a character that has, like, eight alternate counterparts in a comic franchise that was designed for one lead. Pleasing all Green Lantern fans is a difficult task, especially with quite limited resources. As we've seen here, just putting John Stewart in the Justice League and giving him a tattoo isn't quite enough to satisfy his fans. That said, I've always contended that Snyder could do much better with the character...he just hasn't seemed especially interested in doing so.

[Sodam Yat]

A reason why it makes some sense to give Hal Jordan another chance is there is a relatively recent frame of reference of the character leading a title that was one of DC's top sellers. John Stewart doesn't boast anything like that, and I don't believe he ever has. And it's not like Hal Jordan has a recent history of failing over and over again in comics.

I never said otherwise, though. John also seemed to have success in sales back in the 80s and 90s on his solos and look how that went. The thing is, DC put effort and capitalize on characters on who they want to push.

That's not true. It had three Ben Oliver variants. The variants were stopped on the latter three issues probably because DC knew they weren't continuing the series beyond issue 6 because the sales on the first three issues weren't strong enough.

Huh? It is true, those Ben Oliver variants were different from the regular DC variant cover books.

Dan DiDio sparing a sentence to mention Lost Army in a video could have helped some, but it would probably be pretty negligible.

Again, no effort, regardless how negligible it is. It's better than nothing, right?

It was originally a maxi-series. It got cut down to being a mini, likely when sales proved fairly weak.
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/10...an-by-twitter/

Well that's what I meant. It wasn't an ongoing. I thought mini and maxi was the same thing.

I don't believe Cullen Bunn said that. I recall him saying something to the effect of, "I wished the series could continue, but sales are what they are." However, I'm having some difficulty finding that. If I recall correctly, it was in a tweet he made. Unless someone comes up with a verifiable quote from him about the issue, I suppose it'll just be your word against mine.

Cullen Bunn said something like he doesn't know how the sales are going to be for 12 issues or something like that and said so far, people seem to dig it. He said this in a Q/A. And a month later, that's when they announce the cancellation for Edge of Oblivion. Even Cullen Bunn said he had no idea there was another series in the works when he was writing Lost Army.

I mention Lost Army because it's a frame of reference. It's a fairly recent John Stewart led book that didn't sell all that great. The point being that if DC produced another John Stewart led book, there's a good possibility they would end up with a very similar result. Of course, it's never a sure thing, and there are a lot of factors that could make a difference, but there is good reason to believe that the result wouldn't be too different unless they brought in big creators to work on it. Thus, I'm a little perplexed when I see posts about how John Stewart deserves his own title and its somewhat of an inexcusable injustice that he doesn't have one. I guess the same could be said of countless other characters, but DC just can't publish everything. These things cost resources of money, time, and manpower to make, and DC probably wants to spend those resources on projects they believe will give them the biggest return.

John Stewart does deserve his own title, even one of the DC talent shop writers even said the character does deserve his own title. It just takes effort from DC to warrant this. I don't see why he doesn't deserve one. So I disagree that fans themselves shouldn't ask DC to give John Stewart a title, even knowing that he's on the Justice League.

To cut straight to the point, what I believe it really comes down to is fan emotions causing fans to lose perspective on several realities. Contrary to what some might believe, I don't intentionally set out to rain on fans' parades, but sometimes I find them acting in a fashion or holding certain beliefs that aren't quite reasonable to me, disregarding many key factors because they don't coincide with their narrative or wish.

I think it's reasonable for fans here to want for John Stewart to have a title. They're fans of the character after all. There's really nothing wrong with that.

[Sodam Yat]

Snyder has the time (what that means is "the interest") to work on Kendra and Martian Manhunter's characters and their romance, likely because he's simply more interested in them than he is in John Stewart. I know this might be a somewhat silly thing to say, but if you like Martian Manhunter more than John Stewart, that tells me you probably don't like John Stewart all that much. It's very rare that I find people who have Martian Manhunter as even one of their favorite characters. Most people I've seen just casually like him, while others think he's outright boring and/or overpowered, though I know he does have his fans.

In any case, everything is pointing to Snyder simply not having much to say with John Stewart. Even in a setting like Justice League, if a writer has something to say with a character, they can find ways to say it.

I disagree. I don't think he dislikes John Stewart all that much.