Hal Jordan: The Green Lantern Appreciation 2022

[Frontier]

So… Grant Morrison confirmed he wrote Hal as a pansexual character (as we suspected). I want to know when will DC announce that.
https://grantmorrison.substack.com/p...s2-annotations

I would be kind of surprised if another writer ever follows up on it.

[j9ac9k]

So… Grant Morrison confirmed he wrote Hal as a pansexual character (as we suspected). I want to know when will DC announce that.
https://grantmorrison.substack.com/p...s2-annotations

Doesn't really mean anything if it's just his head-canon. Too bad he wasn't explicit about it on the page and see if he could get away with it.

[HAN9000]

I would be kind of surprised if another writer ever follows up on it.

That would be a big step-back.

[HAN9000]

Doesn't really mean anything if it's just his head-canon. Too bad he wasn't explicit about it on the page and see if he could get away with it.

Why do I feel you sounds like it’s a bad idea?

[StarSpangledMan]

Sorry if this comes across as a rant, I'm just throwing some thoughts down

I've been reading a lot of Hal Jordan lately. I've reread Johns' run, Hal&Pals, New Frontier, JLA Year One, Brave and the Bold; and I've read for the first time Willworld, The Final Night, Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan, and the Dematteis Spectre run.

And I've come to realise how shallow Hal's character is under Johns and Venditti by comparison. He's "just" a brave, cocky, flying by the seat of his pants pilot with some daddy issues. Now there's nothing wrong with this characterisation but to me it doesn't flow with how he's been written leading up to Rebirth, I feel that this suits a much younger Hal not one that has spent the last few years as the Spectre. And even the head in the clouds, flyboy Hal has been done better and with more nuance imo in GLTAS, New Frontier, JLA Year One/Brave and the Bold. Idk maybe it's just recency bias.

At least Morrison's Hal feels like a natural progression from early days Hal (New Frontier, JLA Year One/Brave and the Bold, GLTAS) to Emerald Twilight (urgh) to path of redemption (Final Night, Spectre, Last Will and Testament), where he comes across as seasoned, competent, and zen-like in attitude.

What has happened to his relationships? I can't believe Dematteis did more for Hal and Abin's relationship than anything I've read afterwards though to be honest what Dematteis did was so good that I could see why others might not want to touch it, but c'mon no mentions of their friendship or Lagzia.

AND WHERE IS HELEN? Where is cool Uncle Hal, the social butterfly of DC Comics?

[Johnny]

To be fair the exchange between Hal and Hyperman in Morrison's GL when Hyperman tells Hal to "Die like a man" and Hal replies "You first. If it looks cool I'll think about it" is exactly what I'd expect Johns' Hal to say.

And yeah Helen is missed. The part where Hal tells her that everyone from himself to her to Harrison Ford to Mick Jagger is evil was just the best.

[Johnny]

So… Grant Morrison confirmed he wrote Hal as a pansexual character (as we suspected). I want to know when will DC announce that.
https://grantmorrison.substack.com/p...s2-annotations

"The illustration on page 11 showing various Jordan girlfriends was originally intended to more obviously resemble a menorah rather than a colour spectrum. Hal Jordan is, of course canonically Jewish, and this issue owed a lot to Jewish esoteric ideas."

Admittedly I totally missed that.

[HsssH]

To be fair the exchange between Hal and Hyperman in Morrison's GL when Hyperman tells Hal to "Die like a man" and Hal replies "You first. If it looks cool I'll think about it" is exactly what I'd expect Johns' Hal to say.

And yeah Helen is missed. The part where Hal tells her that everyone from himself to her to Harrison Ford to Mick Jagger is evil was just the best.

I don't think that his point is that Hal was written out of character by Johns or Venditti, but that there was very little done with his character. And with Johns run I can understand it, Johns was basically relaunching Hal as the big hero again so he probably felt like he had to "simplify" the character for new audience to get hooked. Problem is that after the audience got hooked he didn't really expand and instead ended up doing more for Sinestro's character than for Hal's.

Venditti on the other hand has no excuses.

[StarSpangledMan]

New episode of Young Justice really was GLTAS episode 27 ha!

[SiegePerilous02]

Pansexual Jewish Hal is perfect.

If DC doesn't do anything with that, they are cowards. He will still have the "safe" endgame romance with Carol, so let's experiment in the meantime

[Johnny]

New episode of Young Justice really was GLTAS episode 27 ha!

Sadly that was also pretty much the final confirmation that they'd never bring GLTAS back, as if it wasn't obvious already. But it's nice the YJ producers were clearly aware there was fan demand to bring GL back. The episode was even written by Jim Krieg and Giancarlo Volpe.

[j9ac9k]

Why do I feel you sounds like it’s a bad idea?

Do I think pansexual Hal is a bad idea? Not at all. I wasn't trying to be ironic or anything. I do wish Morrison had been more explicit about it.

Admittedly I totally missed that.

Me too. The easy fix would have been to have Carol be placed higher in frame and her color band taller than the others. It would make sense since she's "the One" and then it would more resemble a menorah. (which was originally the seven-branched one. Most people might think of the 9-branched one which probably also made it less recognizable to most)

[NathanS]

Seriously Wolfman wrote the best Carol and Hal together stuff. Damn shame he didn't stay on the book longer. It could have used some stability in the 80s. Joe Staton on pencils was about as close as it got to stability. Also, it is a crime they have not made this available in any way outside of the long box yet.

[NathanS]

S
At least Morrison's Hal feels like a natural progression from early days Hal (New Frontier, JLA Year One/Brave and the Bold, GLTAS) to Emerald Twilight (urgh) to path of redemption (Final Night, Spectre, Last Will and Testament), where he comes across as seasoned, competent, and zen-like in attitude.

though Morrison has a... tendency to fall back on the 'zen like' approach to characters. I like a lot of their run, but also like it when they remember Hal can be quick to act and yes anger at times. Otherwise, I think you risk falling too much into O'Neil's view of Hal as in his own words, as sedate. Though at least they never fell into O'Neil's 'utterly obedient' claptrap.

[HAN9000]

Sadly that was also pretty much the final confirmation that they'd never bring GLTAS back, as if it wasn't obvious already. But it's nice the YJ producers were clearly aware there was fan demand to bring GL back. The episode was even written by Jim Krieg and Giancarlo Volpe.

I just thought it was a perfect time to revive the show…