Originally Posted by
MaxStirner_91
I liked Johns' Hal early on in Rebirth and the first few issues of the run. I didn't really like the Wanted arc but I didn't mind his portrayal of Hal from SCW through Blackest Night. Somewhere along the way, however, Hal became someone occupying the passenger seat in his own series as it became more about Sinestro. And towards the end of the series, I didn't really care for his portrayal of Hal at all. The bit about losing the apartment is also exemplary in my problem with Johns and a lot of other people's portrayal of Hal. Here, Hal comes across as a failure. Whereas Morrison's Hal is a beatnik, not only on Earth but in cosmic terms. And far from this being a character "flaw", it represents an ethical incommensurability between what we traditionally take to be an understanding of the "good" life and Hal's understanding of it. It immediately makes him a hundred times more interesting. Morrison's Hal can also rush into situations not because he's a hothead but he's just that damn good. He's almost a paradoxical character, evoking a mix of Newman, Eastwood, Brando in terms of personality (and thus, in a sense, an old timey hero) but at the same time, an extraordinarily progressive one. My favourite Johns portrayal of Hal is probably in Rebirth when he smiles after getting punched by Sinestro. Sadly, that Hal is nowhere to be seen by the end of his run.