Would Geoff John's GL Be As Big If It Starred John Stewart instead of Hal?

[Timothy Hunter]

John Stewart was getting unprecedented attention due to the Bruce Timm Justice League series and had just returned to being a Green Lantern in the pages of Joe Kelly's JLA.

[Sodam Yat]

I'm going to say, "yes". I think if John Stewart was the main Green Lantern during the Geoff Johns era, I think it would be as big if not bigger. Not only this, but I believe that kind of move would break the barrier and give out more opportunities for diverse characters at DC comics books. At least it would give more DC fans more hope. I wouldn't be surprised if this was one of the reasons why John was treated the worse, compared to the other Green Lantern characters, where they had their own books.

The reason I answered yes, is because as much as I don't like Geoff Johns and don't have no respect for the guy personally after the things he's done with John, there's no doubt that he's a talented writer. The point is that you don't necessarily need to be a Hal Jordan fan to read the books. It's his story that appealed to a lot of to comic book readers.

[The no face guy]

The answer is no. (I love John Stewart/Mosaic but read below...)

When Hal Jordan was replaced by Kyle Rayner in the 90's Green Lantern fans were furious. Hal was the hero they loved waking up to watch Saturday morning cartoons as a kid, and now he had been turned into a mass murderer to be replaced by a newbie.

Kyle brought in new GL fans, but the ground swell for Hal Jordan just kept boiling and boiling until the lid was going to pop off. If you had been around during the early 2000's on the now defunct DC message boards, there was one common theme. (Bring back Hal) to the point the GL board was turned into a virtual warzone. DC brought Hal back, not just because Geoff Johns loved him, but because they saw the $$$$ dollar signs, plain and simple.

[Robanker]

I'll say that John in the lead would definitely change the course of the narrative, if only for his redemption arc being that of hubris instead of betrayal. He also has a weaker connection to Sinestro which is really key to the run.

I think if we're just changing leads, no. If Johns did tailor it more to John? Maybe, but I don't know who or what they could do to replace Sinestro and Hal's relationship except use Parallax himself. I'm leaning no presently, but I do think it brought enough attention back to GL as a franchise that it would have been the right time to have John lead a book all his own and they squandered that chance

[phantom1592]

The answer is no. (I love John Stewart/Mosaic but read below...)

When Hal Jordan was replaced by Kyle Rayner in the 90's Green Lantern fans were furious. Hal was the hero they loved waking up to watch Saturday morning cartoons as a kid, and now he had been turned into a mass murderer to be replaced by a newbie.

Kyle brought in new GL fans, but the ground swell for Hal Jordan just kept boiling and boiling until the lid was going to pop off. If you had been around during the early 2000's on the now defunct DC message boards, there was one common theme. (Bring back Hal) to the point the GL board was turned into a virtual warzone. DC brought Hal back, not just because Geoff Johns loved him, but because they saw the $$$$ dollar signs, plain and simple.

Agreed.

Johns writing is generally hit and miss. He's had some great runs and some generally forgetable ones. I don't believe that Rebirth and his GL run was a hit because of his fantastic writing... i wholeheartedly believe because it was THE RETURN OF HAL JORDAN!!!!! The golden boy that 10 years later still had fans foaming at the mouth over.

As has been mentioned, John stewart had already gotten his ring back... his JL costume came over.. and that was the status quo for 2 years and nothing happened. If anything i believe that the failure of the John fans to set the world on fire after his return is what prompted DC to bring back Hal. That was the perfect opportunity for John to leap into the spotlight and ignite all those JL fans that pushed for him... but nothing really happened.

If Geoff Johns tried to push him again 2 years later... i think the result would have been about the same.

Stewart has always had fans... but they were never as rabid as the Hal fans (myself included) were.

[HAN9000]

First of all, if they didn't plan to bring Hal Jordan back, Geoff Johns wouldn't be on board to write GL. So this question itself is a pseudo-proposition.
Second, Geoff Johns said many many times that IT HAS TO BE Hal. The mythology started with Parallax became the living yellow impurity which tied into Sinestro’s ring. Then there came the Sinestro Corps War, the rainbow lanterns, Blackest Night, etc. Star Sapphire is Hal Jordan's true love. Indigo Tribe was founded by Hal's predecessor. Everything is connected to the linchpin, Hal Jordan. Also Geoff Johns said the unique relationship of Hal/Sinestro is the core of the whole Green Lantern run.
So sorry, those who said "any other character would do" really didn't read comics carefully.

[Will Evans]

To answer to OP, then no.

You lose the connections to Parallax, Sinestro, The Carol Star Sapphire. Black Hand too.

Would Detroit be the setting instead of Coast Coty?

You lose the tension with the previous fallen lanterns.

He’d have to use different guest stars than Ollie in Rebirth and Barry in Blackest Night.

Actually, if John Stewart was used for that run, then it would have to be Hal not Black Hand as the main Black Lantern.

[skyvolt2000]

Kyle brought in new GL fans, but the ground swell for Hal Jordan just kept boiling and boiling until the lid was going to pop off. If you had been around during the early 2000's on the now defunct DC message boards, there was one common theme. (Bring back Hal) to the point the GL board was turned into a virtual warzone. DC brought Hal back, not just because Geoff Johns loved him, but because they saw the $$$$ dollar signs, plain and simple.

DC messageboards were toxic for a LOT of folks-ask Jaime Reyes & Jason Rusch fans. Heck as Jamal Igel how toxic it was-he was drawing Jason's book and one of the reasons that board got shut down was due to hos nasty the behavior towards Jason was. It got shut down for two week for that very reason.

We won't talk of McDuffie's Justice League.

People complain about how Johns wrote John but that seemed to be more out of how underutilized he was then absolutely writing him OOC, unless him being so supportive of Hal was the deal-breaker.

I think the issue is for many is when you look at OTHER media versus comics with most characters is it's night and day.

When you look at other media-you see the potential said character can have.

Now to add on what Midnight V said-forcing a writer to use a character that he does not care for CAN have a negative effect. Especially if you are dealing with a flagship title or a book where that person is only appearing in. How you writer that character can be the difference between success and failure.

which you can also blame Tomasi and Berganza for (and above all else, Dan DiDio), but the character was written in a way where no one would actually enjoy seeing him. He moped, moped, and moped some more. He was boring and the only thing of real note he did was kill Green Lanterns, like Kirrt and Mogo. He was an extremely boring character in general and didn't bring anything to the table.

He was not doing that in LOW selling books-he was doing that ins TOP selling books. Books many have access to. This is what they are being sold. Green Lantern was a top seller.

So IF you try a John solo book-EXPECT it to fail because we got 10+ years of moping and woe is me John Stewart.

Same with Vixen, Duke, Cyborg, Wallace West and Aqualad. John Stewart would need what Aqualad, Raven & Cassandra Cain got an OGN book that won't have trouble finding readers.

[Sacred Knight]

Probably not as big, no. First there was the huge hoopla made over Hal coming back after being out of the role for so long. That was the backbone that started the whole endeavor, contributed a whole lot to the mystique of the run. Secondly, with general comic readers Hal was still the more popular character. I don't think John's increased recognizability and popularity from the DCAU, nor Jordan's status for the then past decade had changed that amongst comic fandom. But I do still think it would have been successful, he's still a liked character, and the story still could have been on the same epic scale. Although there are good points though that the key villain players had the strongest connection to Hal Jordan. That element would have been missing too.

[Will Evans]

I want space Casanova John going around with Meraryn, Fatality, Vixen and Hawkwoman. All the while, moping secretly about Katma.

[The no face guy]

DC messageboards were toxic for a LOT of folks-ask Jaime Reyes & Jason Rusch fans. Heck as Jamal Igel how toxic it was-he was drawing Jason's book and one of the reasons that board got shut down was due to hos nasty the behavior towards Jason was. It got shut down for two week for that very reason.

We won't talk of McDuffie's Justice League.

I wouldn't know about the other stuff, or the "toxic" environment, because I wasn't on the message boards at that time, or if I was I wasn't paying attention to those forums. All I know is that for years the Hal Jordan groundswell was building, and they brought him back primarily because they saw $$$ signs in the character. Green Lantern was the top selling comic for sometime when Hal Jordan came back. Think about that, not the Xmen, or Batman, or Spiderman, but Green Lantern! I doubt we will ever see Green Lantern sales like that again.

It was an extraordinary time for GL.

[Holt]

If they had made it John poor guy would've been in that wack-ass movie that basically killed the entire mainstream push for the franchise, so I guess small victories.

It's funny looking back on it now. In that period after Rebirth DC and WB really were building up Green Lantern as the next big thing and were clearly hoping he'd be an Iron Man-like breakout hit with the mainstream (I even remember certain fans claiming Jordan should take WW's place in the Trinity because he was outselling her by such a wide margin). Then it seems like overnight that went away.

[SecretWarrior]

The "Rebirth" aspect had nothing to do with what made the run interesting considering it had no effect on any plot points down the line. What made that run interesting was the blackest night prophecy established by Alan Moore, and that would've worked well for any GL including John, who had developed a fanbase from the cartoon. By and large GL villains are Corps villains, so as long as you have conflicting ideologies you can create conflict--even parallelism. It's been done with Batman, Captain America, Ant-Man, Black Panther, Spider-man, etc. Arguments that the Rebirth mattered are just personal fanboyism, not an analysis of the plot.

-Any GL could've taken down Sinestro in SCW
-Any GL could've made contact with the Reds in Rage of the Red Lanterns
-Any GL could've taken down Black Hand if they were at the right place at the right time

John has multiple connections to Sinestro and Korugar, and, even if he didn't, it wouldn't have mattered. Silence of the Lambs didn't require Jodie Foster to have a deep connection to Hannibal Lector. They were placed in opposition by ideology and circumstance.

Anyway, once the prophecy was fulfilled, the book pretty much died a creative death, continuing to spin its wheels with some Krona storyline.

[Restingvoice]

John Stewart was getting unprecedented attention due to the Bruce Timm Justice League series and had just returned to being a Green Lantern in the pages of Joe Kelly's JLA.

I don't know... one of the biggest sources of the popularity is because he fixed Hal isn't it? So I think it will still be big if he's using all the same elements with John, but it will not be as big as Hal because it has the added attention of a character-assassinated hero returning to glory.