Hal Jordan: The Green Lantern Appreciation 2022

[Captain Nostalgia]

I guess so. But Hal generally never takes the ring off so it's monitoring him in his personal life as well.

It is kind of a spooky concept from an Orwellian perspective.....even if it makes sense in the context of Hal being a space cop, but imagine.....

If the rings surveillance technology could be duplicated and used by employers or governments. People having to wear these rings at work, so that Jeff Bezos can make sure everyone is continually working and not talking about forming a union.

This is all conjecture of course, but I wonder how Hal (or other earth GL's) feel about the growth of security cameras all over street corners? They would probably like it, Ollie always had a better grasp of the political dangers of authoritarianism.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

It is kind of a spooky concept from an Orwellian perspective.....even if it makes sense in the context of Hal being a space cop, but imagine.....

If the rings surveillance technology could be duplicated and used by employers or governments. People having to wear these rings at work, so that Jeff Bezos can make sure everyone is continually working and not talking about forming a union.

This is all conjecture of course, but I wonder how Hal (or other earth GL's) feel about the growth of security cameras all over street corners? They would probably like it, Ollie always had a better grasp of the political dangers of authoritarianism.

That's definitely the point Johns is having Ollie make, which is a good one, but Hal is also right in that any honest cop that's not doing anything wrong shouldn't be worried about the authorities supervising him 24/7 while he's wearing such a powerful weapon.

This is why I'd point to that scene as being one of the few Hal/Ollie political debates that treats both characters with respect.

[Captain Nostalgia]

That's definitely the point Johns is having Ollie make, which is a good one, but Hal is also right in that any honest cop that's not doing anything wrong shouldn't be worried about the authorities supervising him 24/7 while he's wearing such a powerful weapon.

This is why I'd point to that scene as being one of the few Hal/Ollie political debates that treats both characters with respect.

It's all good, I'm just having a bit of fun stirring the pot, though I did feel Hal was endorsing Big Brother when I read the issue 20 years ago.

But has you stated, cops should have what they're doing supervised, I completely agree with that. I understand Hal's perspective now, cheers.

[silly]

Is this based from Hal's Injustice costume?

[Johnny]

It's an original design for the Mezco figure. Aside from the white boots I actually think it looks good.

[silly]

It's an original design for the Mezco figure. Aside from the white boots I actually think it looks good.

The workmanship does look nice. Although the hair and jawline (maybe) looks a little different from the usual Hal I imagine.

[Johnny]

The hair has to always be on point no matter the circumstances.

[sifighter]

The hair has to always be on point no matter the circumstances.

Hal’s just using the ring’s force field to constantly keep his hair in place.

[Refrax5]

Yes, because he's wearing one of the most powerful weapons in the universe.

I'm not sure what your issue is with this. Given what happened with Sinestro, wouldn't it be a good idea to monitor space cops while they're still welding their unimaginablely powerful weapons?

Setting aside the Guardians' moral dodgey-ness that Johns began revelling in at the end of his run, doesn't that policy make sense?

If any GL wants some time to themselves without being monitored by the Oans, they can simply take the ring off.

I don't really have that much of an issue with that moment in particular, just that it comes off eyebrow-raising when you see how much cop and military worship is in that run and Johns' other work. On its own, I don't think it's a big deal.

[Johnny]

I don't really have that much of an issue with that moment in particular, just that it comes off eyebrow-raising when you see how much cop and military worship is in that run and Johns' other work. On its own, I don't think it's a big deal.

Is there something about Geoff Johns' run that you liked.

[Refrax5]

Is there something about Geoff Johns' run that you liked.

A number of things. I said that. I just don't like the paper thin characterization and the the heavy right wing stuff, which isn't just limited to his GL work. Johns does a lot of Michael Bay type stuff, which is entertaining enough, but it's kind of shallow and problematic. Much more talented writers have worked on the character, so it's a little disappointing to always be stuck with arrogant, douchey copaganda Hal that he popularized. Hal was once my favorite DC character so it's disappointing..

[Frontier]

A number of things. I said that. I just don't like the paper thin characterization and the the heavy right wing stuff, which isn't just limited to his GL work. Johns does a lot of Michael Bay type stuff, which is entertaining enough, but it's kind of shallow and problematic. Much more talented writers have worked on the character, so it's a little disappointing to always be stuck with arrogant, douchey copaganda Hal that he popularized. Hal was once my favorite DC character so it's disappointing..

I don't know if I would say we're stuck with that kind of Hal, at least in most of his appearances that I've seen from other writers post-Johns they generally don't depict him that way. Even Venditti didn't write him that way, at least majorly (ineffectual and out of touch, maybe, but...)

Okay, I guess New 52 animated Hal was kind of a lot of that...

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Morrison's run was enough of a course correction on Johns's characterization of Hal for me.

Granted, a lot of comics fans will probably never even read Morrison's take because they'll be weirded out by all the craziness, but I'm not too concerned with that. In the long run, Morrison's TGL will likely reach a larger audience over the next few decades.

The transitory popularity of whatever is the Big Thing in mainstream superhero comics pales in comparison to the more consistent audience of bookstores and digital.

That said, I'd expect Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night to continue to be DC standards for years to come, but those books are thankfully free of most of the weaker elements that tend to pop up in Johns's writing of Hal.

[Refrax5]

Morrison's run was enough of a course correction on Johns's characterization of Hal for me.

Granted, a lot of comics fans will probably never even read Morrison's take because they'll be weirded out by all the craziness, but I'm not too concerned with that. In the long run, Morrison's TGL will likely reach a larger audience over the next few decades.

The transitory popularity of whatever is the Big Thing in mainstream superhero comics pales in comparison to the more consistent audience of bookstores and digital.

That said, I'd expect Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night to continue to be DC standards for years to come, but those books are thankfully free of most of the weaker elements that tend to pop up in Johns's writing of Hal.

Yeah, I think Morrison's Hal, as well as the Earth One GNs, largely brought back the character I love, albeit different takes on him.

[Captain Nostalgia]

Morrison's run was enough of a course correction on Johns's characterization of Hal for me.

Granted, a lot of comics fans will probably never even read Morrison's take because they'll be weirded out by all the craziness, but I'm not too concerned with that. In the long run, Morrison's TGL will likely reach a larger audience over the next few decades.

The transitory popularity of whatever is the Big Thing in mainstream superhero comics pales in comparison to the more consistent audience of bookstores and digital.

That said, I'd expect Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night to continue to be DC standards for years to come, but those books are thankfully free of most of the weaker elements that tend to pop up in Johns's writing of Hal.

I'm going to give Morrison's run another go when it comes out in tbp.

Although I enjoyed the concept of a vampire planet, (I think sub consciously, part of me was concerned with the whole Blackstar uniform, wondering if this was going to be a way to rotate Hal out of being a GL)

My main issue is that it was philosophically dense or wordy for a comic book. I read enough philosophy in my spare time, that I like my comics to be fun brain candy.

If I were to draw a classic rock analogy; Geoff Johns's GL is like early AC/DC (easy to get into 4/4 rock) while Grant Morrison's writing is like listening to Rush (off time signatures, you have to sit and let it sit in until you fully appreciate it)

I think it's a shame Morrison left so early, I wonder if he would have been able to keep the sales of GL consistently high, and....I wonder if there is any chance he'll come back to finish what he started?