The Green Lantern 2-5

[Rikdad]

I would like to break down each issue as this run comes, but while I've been too busy to write, I haven't been too busy to read. Here is my take on issues 2-5 and I hope people have been enjoying the drama as it unrolls. Hal's murder of the prisoner from Dhor had me wondering how that would resolve, and it has, but we have a lot more going on in the meantime.

http://rikdad.blogspot.com/2019/03/g...ntern-2-5.html

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Your analysis is always eagerly anticipated, Rikdad!

[Mutatis_Mutandis]

I've been checking your blog regularly since your write-up on the first issue. Such a great read as usual, thank you so much for this.

Morrison can put Hal into heroic situations and ignore those weaknesses in his past, but instead, he's opening them up, acknowledging them, redeeming them. The heroic situations are many, to be sure, and provide pleasure after pleasure. It begins in #1 with Hal doing nothing but observe in amusement as the meganthrope destroys himself. Since then, he's gone on a tear of victory after victory. He doesn't fail, can't fail. He wins on the field of action, he enters every situation with unfailing confidence. Morrison is making Hal supreme in ways we've never seen before, superb as a detective, student of the cultures and civilizations of the 3600 space sectors, and even in the interrogation room.

But we also see Hal moving past the ghosts of his past. He dismisses his career failures as unimportant. He isn't, as the 1960 formulation of Hal went, utterly without fear, but, as he tells Countess Beelzebeth, "you have to know fear to overcome it, own it. Turn it into something you can use." He has been possessed by a demon, and having moved past that, has no inner demons. Geoff Johns, in Green Lantern: Rebirth explained Hal's greatest failings away, made them not really his fault. Morrison goes further, redeeming Hal totally. It's not just that he's not to blame. He's even better now because of his earlier defeats.

Yes, agreed. This is what made the "I don't do regrets" moment in issue 5 so powerful. And I also agree with you about Morrison taking Hal down unexplored routes such as a noir figure. I've always wondered what a Green Lantern noir story would look like so I'd actually love to see more of this explored. And yes to the possibility of pirate Hal and cowboy Hal in the future as well. Morrison is really showing just how much underrated a character Hal is and that there's so much that can be done with him if you see his often contradictory personality traits over his entire publication history as aspects of the same person. He becomes a much more interesting character then who's been through a whole lot - kind of the same as he did with Batman.

[Rikdad]

Thank you, Bored@3!

[Rikdad]

Max, the comparison to what Morrison did with Batman is right on. I also loved the "I don't do regrets" line. Hal is pretty absolute in what he is when he has his mind to it. And after the last two issues, I have little idea which of these directions we'll see next, but I doubt if it's going to stop at vampire hunter.