From Bzzt's recordings on the wall of a DC editorial meeting:
Dan: "How do we get more readers invested in Hal Jordan as Green Lantern in the wake of that movie?"
Editor 1: "Well Geoff just finished his magnum opus and we're a bit rudderless at the moment so mayb--"
Editor 2: "Remember when he was a big dummy? What about we go back to that and make him a manbaby too."
Editor 1: "Guys I don't--"
Dan: "You son of a bitch, you did it again. Let's break for lunch. Who wants wings?"
Editor 1: "No, wait, I really think we--"
Dan: "You're making my wings cold, bro, and when my wings get cold I kill Titans."
Editor 1: "Yeah okay, dumb is fine."
Dan: "Good, good. *Pages Jim Lee* Tell Geoff he can kill Dick."
Editor 1/2: "... But you said..."
Dan: "I have altered the deal. Pray my wings do not get colder."
Editor 2: "Way to go, Hal."
Last edited by Robanker; 12-07-2020 at 09:45 PM.
The thing is, Hal Jordan is SUCH a storied character with SO much history and SO many stories told about him, that there's debate about "who is he really?" He's been interpreted in different ways over the decades depending on which of his MANY traits any given writer chooses to emphasize. And unfortunately, someone with SUCH a deep history can be easily misinterpreted.
He is a complicated man. It's only part of why he's THE BEST GREEN LANTERN EVER!!
At the end of the day, I do consider Hal to be the greatest GL. However, it was Geoff Johns that somewhat diminished Hal in my eyes.
Geoff rained on Hal's parade with the emphasis on Sinestro & Batman.
Part of what makes Hal great is his various relationships with other heroes.
2005 Rebirth: Kyle (who really did not know him), John (whose ex chopped his wife up), Guy (who did not like him), honorable shoutout to Kilowog, and Oliver were all ride or die for Hal when so many doubted him, especially Batman.
But deep down.....
By the end of the Geoff's run.....
Does Hal suffer from some case of Stockholm's syndrome for the man who ruined his life?
I also gotta mention the PIS regarding the POW story.
Sorry, Frontier.....I could not stop myself from this age-old rant.
I tried...I really did....
Batman has this weird friendship inertia where as time goes on, more of the JLA Stan him. In the Silver Age most of the core team liked each other, but once conflict set in, there was a core argument for "Superman is his bud," then we started talking about a Trinity and Diana liked him. Then I guess Barry because The Flash started selling and GL because we need to save this nosediving IP.
Pretty soon Bruce is going to be vouching for why Clark needs to be in the JLA.
For Earth heroes, I love Ollie/Barry/John being Hal's ride or die friends and Guy someone he won over and are friends, if a bit callous with one another ("you're a bastard, but I like you"). I wish he and Bruce never really got over their beef, though, mostly because Bruce can't admit he's wrong. Because modern Batman kind of sucks.
Hal should be the polar opposite of Batman & Sinestro. Geoff ignored Hal's previous relationships for forced ones.
At best, Hal & Bruce should keep it professional. Sinestro is a dirty cop, and cruelly arranged the death of Kyle's mom. Kyle was the one who proved Hal was corrupted by Parallax to begin with. So, it looks bad for Hal to have conflicted feelings for the dirty cop who had a Hitler haircut. The only conflict Hal should have is whether to give Sinestro a left, or right cross. It makes no sense that Geoff wrote Hal wanting to personally be around fear mongers. Kyle lost a lot looking after Hal.
So, when Carol hooked up with Kyle, I was not even mad. Plus, it is also funny that Kyle had a relationship with Sinestro's daughter.
Comics can be so weird.