John Stewart: Green Lantern Appreciation 2020

[lemonpeace]

hot take: I couldn't care less about Katma Tui. I know John fans love her and want DC to resurrect her so they can be together but honestly I feel she's better off dead. I've gone back and read some of her and John together from waaay back in the day and genuinely don't get the hunger for her; she just wasn't all that remarkable to me beyond a typical love interest. I don't think she's a bad character, just not a special one.

[Dark Falz]

Looking back on it, the thing that I think was a bit weak about Katma is that the writer (Steve Englehart) essentially through the characters together after one issue, and their relationship never really advanced much after that one issue. I know they got married, and while that's a big event, it's not like we really saw a relationship develop. It was just there all of a sudden. That seems very elementary to me when you compare it to other relationships John Stewart has had, like Rose Hardin from the Mosaic era and Hawkgirl, where we actually saw a relationship unfold and be challenged by different circumstances. We saw the characters fight, have differences, and believably begin at one place and get to another. I don't feel that was really actualized well with Katma.

All that said, I do like Katma a lot, and she seems to have set in the general consciousness as John's "true" love interest, for lack of a better term. Or, at least, that's how it seems from my perception. All the others were either forgotten and never referenced (Rose), are someone else's love interest and mainly only happen in a single adaptation (Hawkgirl), or were pretty darn questionable to begin with (mind controlled Fatality).

[Dark Falz]

That said, a dude who--and he MUST know this if he stops to think about it--chooses to date a girl he knows is a serial murderer, but who's been brainwashed into loving him, is actually fuel for some potentially very interesting storytelling. Add in that he's somewhat responsible for the destruction of her planet. It's very fascinating, actually, especially when you go further and add in that, for a big part of their relationship, the girl was replaced by a shapeshifter.

However, I don't know if fans of the superhero character John Stewart would like for that storytelling to be taken where it probably should go, because it would reveal some serious, SERIOUS character flaws with John Stewart. I would be fine with it, because I don't need for John Stewart to be some shining paragon, but I don't think a lot of other people would like where such a story could, and probably should, go.

[Crazy Diamond]

That said, a dude who--and he MUST know this if he stops to think about it--chooses to date a girl he knows is a serial murderer, but who's been brainwashed into loving him, is actually fuel for some potentially very interesting storytelling. Add in that he's somewhat responsible for the destruction of her planet. It's very fascinating, actually, especially when you go further and add in that, for a big part of their relationship, the girl was replaced by a shapeshifter.

However, I don't know if fans of the superhero character John Stewart would like for that storytelling to be taken where it probably should go, because it would reveal some serious, SERIOUS character flaws with John Stewart. I would be fine with it, because I don't need for John Stewart to be some shining paragon, but I don't think a lot of other people would like where such a story could, and probably should, go.

Thing is you would have to assume that the writers at DC would be able to make that story work. In practice it's just going to be yet another plot point that's used to drag down John and hobble the character like Xanshi was.

Hal Jordan becoming a villain could've led to some interesting storytelling but in practice not much was done with it at best. Most of DCs writers seem to struggle with nuance these days but that's been problem for a very long time (hello Maxwell Lord).

[Frontier]

Hal Jordan becoming a villain could've led to some interesting storytelling but in practice not much was done with it at best. Most of DCs writers seem to struggle with nuance these days but that's been problem for a very long time (hello Maxwell Lord).

Dude vaporized Kilowog. The only way forward for him was down after that.

[Crazy Diamond]

Dude vaporized Kilowog. The only way forward for him was down after that.

Yeah as shocking as it was it wasn't necessary. Emerald Twilight is a story where you can see how rushed it was but what do you expect from a story written during a rock concert?

[Anthony Shaw]

My favorite couple as well!

I've been rereading the stories with them and have been pushing the John and Katma agenda lmao.

It's literally a tale of two Johns from the time they were together, and how he functions after her death.

He smiled, cracked jokes, and even got matching costumes with Kat.

It's hilarious & sad how he acted more human whiled married to an alien.

[Anthony Shaw]

Looking back on it, the thing that I think was a bit weak about Katma is that the writer (Steve Englehart) essentially through the characters together after one issue, and their relationship never really advanced much after that one issue. I know they got married, and while that's a big event, it's not like we really saw a relationship develop. It was just there all of a sudden. That seems very elementary to me when you compare it to other relationships John Stewart has had, like Rose Hardin from the Mosaic era and Hawkgirl, where we actually saw a relationship unfold and be challenged by different circumstances. We saw the characters fight, have differences, and believably begin at one place and get to another. I don't feel that was really actualized well with Katma.

All that said, I do like Katma a lot, and she seems to have set in the general consciousness as John's "true" love interest, for lack of a better term. Or, at least, that's how it seems from my perception. All the others were either forgotten and never referenced (Rose), are someone else's love interest and mainly only happen in a single adaptation (Hawkgirl), or were pretty darn questionable to begin with (mind controlled Fatality).

For me, I enjoyed a lot of the Pre-Crisis tropes John did not adhere to.

Revealed his identity early on.
No tales of deception with Katma. John knew he wanted Kat, and avoided a lot of the shenanigans/gaslighting other DC heroes engage in with love interests.
Actually asking for aid & training after becoming GL full time.
Thinking outside the box when dealing with situations.

The book was crowded, so I did not mind how the romance was fast tracked.

Outside of Katma, none of his other relationships really stood out, imo. Writers had decades to really bring in a new definitive love interest, it is clear how little thought went into his various romances.

Sadly, it still is not the norm for a black male hero to have a long-standing love interest.

[Anthony Shaw]

That said, a dude who--and he MUST know this if he stops to think about it--chooses to date a girl he knows is a serial murderer, but who's been brainwashed into loving him, is actually fuel for some potentially very interesting storytelling. Add in that he's somewhat responsible for the destruction of her planet. It's very fascinating, actually, especially when you go further and add in that, for a big part of their relationship, the girl was replaced by a shapeshifter.

However, I don't know if fans of the superhero character John Stewart would like for that storytelling to be taken where it probably should go, because it would reveal some serious, SERIOUS character flaws with John Stewart. I would be fine with it, because I don't need for John Stewart to be some shining paragon, but I don't think a lot of other people would like where such a story could, and probably should, go.

The more thought I put into it, the messier the relationship looks.

Geoff clearly wanted Yrra to be John's endgame, but he clearly did not put too much thought into the build-up of the relationship.

[SecretWarrior]

[SecretWarrior]

[SecretWarrior]

[SecretWarrior]

[SecretWarrior]

[SecretWarrior]

Venditti wrote the Justice League as a Five Man Band, but he assigned several characters to roles they're not usually written as:

Leader - Green Lantern (Usually the Big Guy)
Lancer - Batman (Usual)
Heart - Superman (Usually the Leader)
Big Guy - Wonder Woman (Usually the Heart)
Smart Guy - Flash (Usual)