Hal Jordan: Green Lantern Appreciation 2020

[sifighter]

Well I’ll give Morrison this he’s creative with Cosmidor City and all the creative stuff he can just come up with. Still not sure how I feel about him writing Hal as though he hates to come to earth. I think it makes sense to an extent, I could see a life among the stars where he’s the best and honored among the green lanterns must be great compared to coming back to earth at times. Though that’s more me rationalizing Morrison’s writing then agreeing, I’ve never really seen Hal hate coming to earth before so it doesn’t quite feel right.

https://www.adventuresinpoortaste.co...rn-season-2-2/

[Johnny]

I've said this before but I think the reason I choose to tolerate this strange disdain he has towards being on Earth is because it at least provides a story reason why he's never there. Superman reveals his identity, Hal's not there. The League faces Perpetua, he's not there. People keep messing with the timeline, he's not there. Another "Metal" event is happening and despite being part of the first event, he's not there. Well at least we know he's not there because he doesn't want to, not because he doesn't care.

[Mutatis_Mutandis]

Well I’ll give Morrison this he’s creative with Cosmidor City and all the creative stuff he can just come up with. Still not sure how I feel about him writing Hal as though he hates to come to earth. I think it makes sense to an extent, I could see a life among the stars where he’s the best and honored among the green lanterns must be great compared to coming back to earth at times. Though that’s more me rationalizing Morrison’s writing then agreeing, I’ve never really seen Hal hate coming to earth before so it doesn’t quite feel right.

https://www.adventuresinpoortaste.co...rn-season-2-2/

It makes total sense to me if we see this as not something intrinsic to Hal but where Hal is right now. At one point in time, Hal was indeed homesick and longed to go back to Earth. But he's been on Earth since then several times and Earth tbh is a pretty terrible place compared to the cultures he must have seen in space. I see Hal as a character who's constantly refusing to be chained down (comes with his love of flight), constantly looking to expand his horizons. He rightly describes Earth as an "authoritarian suicide sphere" here and what's really there for him to actually seek it out?

Now I'm not saying he should totally abandon Earth but I'm hoping there will be good in-story reasons that connect his character to Earth somehow other than him having humanoid friends/love interests (he has those in space too; why should the former take precedence)?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

To add my two cents worth (inflation factored in), thanks to his being a space cop, Hal gets to travel from one end of the universe to the other, he sees all manner of strange, fantastic and mostly beautiful sights while interacting with all manner of incredible lifeforms, to be shackled on one planet populated by people unable, or unwilling to get past their baser instincts no doubt chafes at him. On top of that, with four other Lanterns and scores of other heroes on Earth, he probably wonders why he has to be the one to come to the rescue when other planets in his sector demand his attention. Just an opinion.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I think the notion that Hal doesn't like spending much time on Earth makes sense given the character's long history. Earth is a known quantity already overcrowded with superheroes. In space, Hal gets to explore strange new worlds and civilizations. Hal's built from the same mold as Captain Kirk, and Han Solo. Those type of characters aren't really guys who like staying home. As crazy as Earth gets, Hal strikes me as someone always looking for the next fix of adrenaline and excitement.

It doesn't mean he'll never go back to Earth. He loves hanging out with Barry and Ollie. He was having a ball fighting dinosaurs with Batman. He's still determined to be Superman's bestie. And, of course, he'll always come back to Carol, no matter how long they're apart, they can't stay away.

[Frontier]

I think the reason I don't buy it is that Hal has too much on Earth that he cares about and is invested in to just write off the planet or get bored there, especially when the Earth in the DC Universe is pretty exciting in-and-of itself. He was born and raised there, I think that sentiment would keep it important in his heart over being in space, and he loves flying in blue skies.

You never really see this with the other Earth GL's, although I think the Far Sector Lantern didn't want to be near Earth when she got assigned.

[Vampire Savior]

Realistically, I think the only thing on Earth worth a whole lot to Hal Jordan nowadays (from a real world perspective, not an in-story one) is Carol Ferris. His occupation doesn't seem to matter much anymore, his supporting cast (like Tom) is basically gone, and frankly, I think most (all) of his villains there are pretty lame. Some of them, like Doctor Polaris show some potential, but a writer would actually have to make him cool instead of working with a character that already is cool. His relationships with a few of the DC heroes are okay from a shared universe perspective, but quite possibly not something one would feel like exploring if writing a Green Lantern story.

Considering all that, I can see why writers keep him off Earth. It doesn't have a lot to offer for him versus outer space, and I believe it would require more effort to write a very gripping story there for this particular character.

Morrison doesn't understand the character as much as he may think. That's not to say he can't tell an interesting story with him. I think he understands his version of the character, but if he knew his Hal Jordan history well, he would know about Hal's time exiled from Earth in the early 80s and how much that affected him, and how in early 90s, he specifically wanted to be the Green Lantern of Earth but was upset when that role went to Guy Gardner instead.

I get that there's a lot to research with these characters (it's actually not that difficult with the internet at your disposal), but I generally don't think writers or editors these days really know them well enough.

[j9ac9k]

Morrison doesn't understand the character as much as he may think. That's not to say he can't tell an interesting story with him. I think he understands his version of the character, but if he knew his Hal Jordan history well, he would know about Hal's time exiled from Earth in the early 80s and how much that affected him, and how in early 90s, he specifically wanted to be the Green Lantern of Earth but was upset when that role went to Guy Gardner instead.

I get that there's a lot to research with these characters (it's actually not that difficult with the internet at your disposal), but I generally don't think writers or editors these days really know them well enough.

I agree that Morrison found "an interesting take" on Hal Jordan that inspired him, rather than developed him based on continuity. With a character like Hal who has been around so long, a writer can cherry-pick which aspects they find interesting and go with that more than other aspects. If Morrison weren't so focused on silver age stories, he could actually use Hal's experiences as Parallax and the Spectre as instrumental in Hal feeling less connected to earth.

[Vampire Savior]

If Morrison weren't so focused on silver age stories, he could actually use Hal's experiences as Parallax and the Spectre as instrumental in Hal feeling less connected to earth.

That would make more sense than what Morrison did. I would, however, wonder why something like that manifested all of a sudden when we didn't see any hint of it in the rather long Johns and Venditti runs. I suppose you could always brainstorm something to make that fit.

Hal Jordan could have believably been taken to the point where he feels he doesn't want to be on Earth...the thing is...you would actually need to tell that story (and it would need to be convincing) for readers to really believe it. Morrison didn't tell that story and just had Hal Jordan be that way, so it's jarring and doesn't fit with the character.

[Midnight_v]

Morrison's run has been really great. Uncluttered by many of the trappings that came before while simultaneously pulling in huge swaths of mythos. Not to mention interesting creations.

I've not had this much fun with a book in while, so I went and bought all the copies this past week. I like it a lot and I wish more writers would take this kind of effort with the books they're writing.

Hal Jordan. Glad to appreciate you.

[sifighter]

I like Morrison, he has interesting ideas, he plays with Sci-fi well, and he’s had some great moment with Hal like the end of Blackstars. I think the sudden hate of earth is questionable but beyond that it’s been good

[Johnny]

Given that Hal's current standing towards being on Earth has been a recurring plot point, he could very well end up changing his mind by the time the series is over. Maybe it's all meant to be that way so in the end he could remember what he actually cherishes about his home planet. Or at least I think that would be a logical conclusion, since currently he sounds way more harsh about Earth than simply not wanting to spend time there. It's one thing to say he wants to be in space, it's another to call Earth an authoritarian suicide sphere. He almost sounds like Earth feels more alien to him than all the worlds he's been on.

[silly]

Is volume 2 of GL Earth One supposed to be this year?

[Frontier]

Is volume 2 of GL Earth One supposed to be this year?

I think so? I remember it being announced fairly recently.

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Amazon shows June.