Hal Jordan: The Green Lantern Appreciation 2022

[sifighter]

You know maybe this is just me but I feel like Hal is starting to take on Alan Scott’s role. And what I mean by that and that I hope I can explain well, is given Hal’s appearances in Dark Crisis/Road to Dark Crisis, Green Lantern, here in Swamp Thing but also how some characters talk about him like Wally and Roy Harper he feels like he’s taking on the role of the mature elder statesmen of the hero community who advises and mentors younger heroes.

Wally, Roy, Jon, Jo, Jackson, Levi and possibly others I’m forgetting. It’s something to consider I think.

[Frontier]

You know maybe this is just me but I feel like Hal is starting to take on Alan Scott’s role. And what I mean by that and that I hope I can explain well, is given Hal’s appearances in Dark Crisis/Road to Dark Crisis, Green Lantern, here in Swamp Thing but also how some characters talk about him like Wally and Roy Harper he feels like he’s taking on the role of the mature elder statesmen of the hero community who advises and mentors younger heroes.

Wally, Roy, Jon, Jo, Jackson, Levi and possibly others I’m forgetting. It’s something to consider I think.

I'd be fine with it if they use him a lot in the role, although it's kind of weird when Alan is still around (and being used in Dark Crisis).

[StarSpangledMan]

You know maybe this is just me but I feel like Hal is starting to take on Alan Scott’s role. And what I mean by that and that I hope I can explain well, is given Hal’s appearances in Dark Crisis/Road to Dark Crisis, Green Lantern, here in Swamp Thing but also how some characters talk about him like Wally and Roy Harper he feels like he’s taking on the role of the mature elder statesmen of the hero community who advises and mentors younger heroes.

Wally, Roy, Jon, Jo, Jackson, Levi and possibly others I’m forgetting. It’s something to consider I think.

I've noticed that too and I really like it. I think it's about time that Hal grows/develops/however you want to put it. It would be interesting to see writers really lean into Morrison's take and new elder statesman Hal, maybe he and Carol can finally settle down too or at least figure out what they want to be.

[Johnny]

I have said this already but hopefully I can put it into words better than I have before, giving a character the role of an "elder statesman" usually seems to be for the purpose of making that character feel like a relic and/or make him unable to compete for the top spot in their brand anymore. After all you can't have your premier GL be an elder statesman since it's not practical on a long-term basis. I don't necessarily have a problem with Hal serving as a mentor to younger generations and by all means he should do that to a certain degree, but when I hear him being called "uncle Hal" by Wally, it gives the wrong kind of impression. It's one thing if Kid Flash Wally calls him that way, it's another when it's adult Wally with two kids. Dark Crisis is still a story about legacy so I can understand that given the character dynamics the story is going for, but I'm not sure I'm up for Hal being given a role like that on a more "permanent" basis, because it makes him look like someone who's had his time and his heyday has passed him by. And he doesn't need grey temples to be written that way.

[sifighter]

I have said this already but hopefully I can put it into words better than I have before, giving a character the role of an "elder statesman" usually seems to be for the purpose of making that character feel like a relic and/or make him unable to compete for the top spot in their brand anymore. After all you can't have your premier GL be an elder statesman since it's not practical on a long-term basis. I don't necessarily have a problem with Hal serving as a mentor to younger generations and by all means he should do that to a certain degree, but when I hear him being called "uncle Hal" by Wally, it gives the wrong kind of impression. It's one thing if Kid Flash Wally calls him that way, it's another when it's adult Wally with two kids. Dark Crisis is still a story about legacy so I can understand that given the character dynamics the story is going for, but I'm not sure I'm up for Hal being given a role like that on a more "permanent" basis, because it makes him look like someone who's had his time and his heyday has passed him by. And he doesn't need grey temples to be written that way.

See I don’t think that when I say “elder statesmen”, but I understand how one can get there when the older heroes generally get replaced by younger generations. It’s not like I don’t get that and I would never want a character that someone likes to be written out, room for all I say.

For me “elder statesmen” means the experienced heroes who have seen all the crises and the one people look up to when in need of guidance when they are the new hero. I think Levi here is a perfect example, he is way out of his element and is very new to being Swamp Thing as he’s about to fight an alien cacti armada, but there is Hal helping him be better and inspiring him to go be Swamp Thing to save the world.

But minds will differ and you aren’t wrong in considering making Hal to old will write him out.

[Johnny]

See I don’t think that when I say “elder statesmen”, but I understand how one can get there when the older heroes generally get replaced by younger generations. It’s not like I don’t get that and I would never want a character that someone likes to be written out, room for all I say.

For me “elder statesmen” means the experienced heroes who have seen all the crises and the one people look up to when in need of guidance when they are the new hero. I think Levi here is a perfect example, he is way out of his element and is very new to being Swamp Thing as he’s about to fight an alien cacti armada, but there is Hal helping him be better and inspiring him to go be Swamp Thing to save the world.

But minds will differ and you aren’t wrong in considering making Hal to old will write him out.

I think it's mostly because I'm influenced by the version of the character I was originally introduced to, the young hot shot who was still reliable and could probably come off as a mentor to younger heroes in certain situations, but one who also didn't feel out of place among them and being a mentor wasn't a defining quality for him like it is with the Golden Age generation.

To be clear though, since we don't really tend to see much of him anymore these days, any story that paints him in a positive light is good for his character. I think it just depends on DC's overall plans for him going forward.

[HsssH]

This remind me a bit when Barry "joined" Justice Incarnate team and some people on this forum argued that it is a promotion or lateral shift for Barry. Well, we know how that turned out and now we have some Barry "fans" arguing that maybe he should stay in his dream prison because there is no place for him in Flash book anyway.

DC might have lots of stories about the multiverse getting blown up, but they don't really publish stories where characters simply have some adventures in multiverse. And same for elder statesmen, we have dozens of them, but DC would prefer if they were all dead.

If character is not in his prime then it is very likely that DC will slowly phase him out. And it is not like this is some unique thing to DC, we don't have many successful comic books where lead characters are either old farts or dealing with some complicated concepts like multiverse.

[Vordan]

The “elder statesmen” are the irrelevant ones, the ones who pop up in a Crisis to spout some uplifting words about how back in THEIR day they handled punks like Anti-Monitor for breakfast. They’re not the focus and only get trotted out for nostalgia and to prop up other characters. I’d say Hal is in a tough position because no major GL project outside of comics seems planned to star him, but I don’t think he’s in danger of ending up like Alan.

[Johnny]

[Johnny]

He will probably go back to starring in Green Lantern after Dark Crisis. John Stewart is the one who got shuffled off into some other role, though I don't expect that to last too long, unless no one who makes a difference plans to do much with him and they just leave him like that.

Um, I don't see why it matters that John won't be called "Green Lantern" for some small amount of time, when currently it's his face that's being plastered over the DC merchandise and the outside media projects, not Hal's. They won't have Hal take over the GL title while that's the case, just like they didn't have John take it over while Hal's face was plastered over DC marketing. Come on now, anyone who's been following DC for a while should know their business practices by now and how they tend to prioritize their main characters, particularly with this specific brand. The poster boy gets everything, the others get crumbs. That's how it's always been no matter who has been positioned as the "default Lantern" or who was in charge. In the 90s they wouldn't even let Waid and Ross use Hal in Kingdom Come so they used Alan instead, today they wouldn't even let Hal be in that 3 issue Aquaman/Flash book, yet you think they'd give him the main GL title back? At best Hal will either get some limited series like when Kyle got the Ion series despite that DC stopped pushing him at the time, or he will most likely be part of the secondary GLC title that has no relevance to the main direction of the franchise and only serves the purpose of stuffing a bunch of Lanterns together since they need to do something with them, while the focus is on the main guy. We've all seen that same song and dance before.

[silly]

On a different note, Ram V seems to be writing Hal very much in character in the incoming Swamp Thing issue.

https://aiptcomics.com/2022/06/24/dc...wamp-thing-14/

Cool.

So Alec Holland is no longer Swamp Thing?

[sifighter]

Cool.

So Alec Holland is no longer Swamp Thing?

Kind of. How do I explain this….see Levi is the human host but because of weirdness with the Green that Levi can just sort of tap into the memory of Alec. Example is that Levi was in England and ran into John Constantine on a mission, he knew who John was but says “Alec Holland is a name I carry but not one I have a right to take”. So something of Alec lives on in Swamp Thing.




Not to mention we’ve seen a living spirit of Alec within the Green similar to Poison Ivy. Oh and Alec’s daughter Tefé from the vertigo comics is canon as well now.

[Frontier]

I think some of the plans for John Stewart--such as the upcoming direct to video feature--were set in place when Daniel Cherry III was at DC, who publicly endorsed John Stewart. He's not there anymore (didn't last very long).

I don't think John Stewart will star in an upcoming title called "Green Lantern". Rumor has it he will be in something else. If a book called "Green Lantern" is released after Dark Crisis, yes, I suspect it will feature Hal Jordan.

Currently,--and this is just a feeling based upon my own observations--I don't think any real high up person feels very strongly about GL or any particular GL one way or the other. At least not the way that Johns and DiDio felt about Hal Jordan. So I don't know that there is any real strong "poster boy" right now.

I think it's all a matter of if DC feels like publishing a title with John in his new role separate from the traditional GL or GLC book or will just conflate the two (even if Geoffrey Thorne would prefer otherwise).

[silly]

Kind of. How do I explain this….see Levi is the human host but because of weirdness with the Green that Levi can just sort of tap into the memory of Alec. Example is that Levi was in England and ran into John Constantine on a mission, he knew who John was but says “Alec Holland is a name I carry but not one I have a right to take”. So something of Alec lives on in Swamp Thing.




Not to mention we’ve seen a living spirit of Alec within the Green similar to Poison Ivy. Oh and Alec’s daughter Tefé from the vertigo comics is canon as well now.

Thanks. So Alec Holland is dead?

[j9ac9k]

... today they wouldn't even let Hal be in that 3 issue Aquaman/Flash book...

What makes you think they would't "let" Hal be there? Maybe the writer just chose to use John. Why would they "let" Hal be in "World's Finest" or "Swamp Thing"? I know it sucks Hal doesn't have a book currently, but he was supposed to headline GL before the writer dropped out. I think DC is trying to broaden the GL franchise since it's built for that, but I don't buy into the "DC is out to get Hal" gripes