Hal Jordan: The Green Lantern Appreciation 2022

[SebastianS]

I mean, it's how I was introduced to the franchise so I guess it's just the take I naturally gravitate towards.

More power to you, and - from my perspective - you definitely got into the high point of the franchise, where GL was head to head with Batman and Superman, sales-wise.

Me? I got into GL with GL vol#3 46 (Reign of the Supermen crossover) and while I got really hyped for Hal, I became a Kyle Rayner fan overnight. But more importantly - and putting the character aside - I became a fan of a thematic approach to the franchise that, for better or worse, we have not seen in 20 years.

[TheKryptonMan]

More power to you, and - from my perspective - you definitely got into the high point of the franchise, where GL was head to head with Batman and Superman, sales-wise.

Me? I got into GL with GL vol#3 46 (Reign of the Supermen crossover) and while I got really hyped for Hal, I became a Kyle Rayner fan overnight. But more importantly - and putting the character aside - I became a fan of a thematic approach to the franchise that, for better or worse, we have not seen in 20 years.

Interesting post ! My first GL comic was also GL #46 because it tied into the Death/Reign of Superman . After that I started picking it up monthly, and Kyle was introduced , I too became a Kyle fan overnight.
I read Kyle's whole run , as Hal was sometimes also involved and John was in Kyle's run too.
At one point when Kyle became Ion and could be everywhere at any time , I thought that he was too powerful.
Enjoyed immensely Hal's Rebirth and have been a fan ever since.
I don't dislike any of Earth's GL's , and it's just so disappointing that there's barely one GL book now.
Hal is my favorite and John/Kyle tied for 2nd , but I like them all.
Wish DC would get their **** together and gives us a proper GL book again. Hell they should have 2 monthly books .
It's all about getting the right creative teams together.

[SebastianS]

Interesting post ! My first GL comic was also GL #46 because it tied into the Death/Reign of Superman . After that I started picking it up monthly, and Kyle was introduced , I too became a Kyle fan overnight.
I read Kyle's whole run , as Hal was sometimes also involved and John was in Kyle's run too.
At one point when Kyle became Ion and could be everywhere at any time , I thought that he was too powerful.
Enjoyed immensely Hal's Rebirth and have been a fan ever since.
I don't dislike any of Earth's GL's , and it's just so disappointing that there's barely one GL book now.
Hal is my favorite and John/Kyle tied for 2nd , but I like them all.
Wish DC would get their **** together and gives us a proper GL book again. Hell they should have 2 monthly books .
It's all about getting the right creative teams together.

Both Hal, John, Guy, Alan, and Jade played roles during Kyle's run, and I love how it really felt connected to the greater DCU. Kyle turning into Ion was not too bad for me because he let go of that power within 4 issues, but the attempt to Hal-lite him a bit by basically sending him to outer space and dropping all his supporting cast (as seen from GL v3 #155 onwards) was too much for me.

I enjoyed GL Rebirth - even if I knew it was pushing my favorite GL to the background - because it was a good story. I enjoyed John's first couple of issues, up until around Sinestro Corps War - until I realized the thematic change I mentioned before. After that... I can honestly say that I have not really enjoyed a run as much as I did back in the 90s. Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps was alright, but I miss GLs being back on Earth, interacting with the greater DCU, and having their own supporting cast.

Both Morrison and Thorne runs were - for me - pretty bad.

[sifighter]

To convene, report to the Guardians, meet up with old friends, and unwind a little?

Unless you would just use your home planet for that. I think the only GL's who are on Oa permanently are Salaak, Kilowog, and whoever is guarding the Science Cells.

I mean, it's how I was introduced to the franchise so I guess it's just the take I naturally gravitate towards.

Same here, Rebirth was my first ever green lantern series that I regularly read. I was aware of who Green Lantern was of course because of cartoons but the Johns era was what got me in.

[SebastianS]

Same here, Rebirth was my first ever green lantern series that I regularly read. I was aware of who Green Lantern was of course because of cartoons but the Johns era was what got me in.

You all guys are making me feel so old...

[sifighter]

You all guys are making me feel so old...

I mean if it helps I’m late 20’s, I mainly stuck to the Young Justice/Teen Titans/Robin/some Flash and Nightwing group of books because you know I was a kid and wish fulfillment and all that.

Though honestly my first ever green lantern was Alan Scott, because my favorite superhero team is the JSA. So I was reading all about an older magic man hanging out with his friends from WW2 and the young kids they took in when suddenly the space police showed up.

[SebastianS]

I mean if it helps I’m late 20’s, I mainly stuck to the Young Justice/Teen Titans/Robin/some Flash and Nightwing group of books because you know I was a kid and wish fulfillment and all that.

Though honestly my first ever green lantern was Alan Scott, because my favorite superhero team is the JSA. So I was reading all about an older magic man hanging out with his friends from WW2 and the young kids they took in when suddenly the space police showed up.

I was introduced to Alan Scott via Kyle Rayner. The "older magic man hanging out with his friends from WW2 and the young kids they took in (...)" reference you are making is so close to Kyle's run in that it was about "a guy hanging out with his friends" and having adventures... and then suddenly they're all space police enforcing the law at a universal level.

[NathanS]

Yeh Kyle was very much an attempt to re-wind the clock and undo the space-opera elements that had been core to the franchise since the 60's. Even then it was never fully successful at getting rid of them, and the JLA cartoon put that forward of the GLC back firmly in the limelight. It was honestly never sustainable. The higher-ups were CONTAINTLY having to tell the writers they weren't allowed to use the unique space organization and space-opera elements the franchise had built up over decades. Trying to get GL to just be another Superheroe with the ring's abilities as the solo unique aspect, was sooner or later going to end. That it would come roaring back as strong as it did when the writers finally won that fight, certainly took me by surprise.

[Restingvoice]

I think my first Lantern was Kyle in the 90s DC vs Marvel but I didn't have any background on the character. I was just disappointed that the duel is just one panel of green light

My first actual read was New 52 but by then I already knew about Hal and Parallax and Kyle and his fridge from reading wizard magazines in the 2000s

[Frontier]

It's hard for me to believe the Corps. wasn't a thing in the comics during S:TAS or early JL.

[NathanS]

It's hard for me to believe the Corps. wasn't a thing in the comics during S:TAS or early JL.

There were stories set in the past that cropped up here and there to show it, and writers kept setting up a "And now Kyle will bring back the Corps!" but then the higher-ups kept slapping their hands and saying "No!" From 1994 to 2005 when Rebirth wrapped up there was no Corps active in the main DCU. S:TAS run from 1996 to 2000. JL ran from 2001 to 2004. JLU ran from 2004 to 2006.

so all of S:TAS and all of JL there was no Corps in the comics.

[Frontier]

There were stories set in the past that cropped up here and there to show it, and writers kept setting up a "And now Kyle will bring back the Corps!" but then the higher-ups kept slapping their hands and saying "No!" From 1994 to 2005 when Rebirth wrapped up there was no Corps active in the main DCU. S:TAS run from 1996 to 2000. JL ran from 2001 to 2004. JLU ran from 2004 to 2006.

so all of S:TAS and all of JL there was no Corps in the comics.

That's kind of amazing in a sad way.

[Restingvoice]

There were stories set in the past that cropped up here and there to show it, and writers kept setting up a "And now Kyle will bring back the Corps!" but then the higher-ups kept slapping their hands and saying "No!" From 1994 to 2005 when Rebirth wrapped up there was no Corps active in the main DCU. S:TAS run from 1996 to 2000. JL ran from 2001 to 2004. JLU ran from 2004 to 2006.

so all of S:TAS and all of JL there was no Corps in the comics.

Oh right. They slaughtered the Corps and the Guardians before debuting Kyle.

That's why it happened?! So it will be more down to earth?!

[NathanS]

Oh right. They slaughtered the Corps and the Guardians before debuting Kyle.

That's why it happened?! So it will be more down to earth?!

They never gave us a full explanation but a few. A lot of it was focused on throwing Hal under the bus. Too much baggage, not interesting. Never mind they also ripped Guy of his yellow ring, de-powered John, and broke his back so he wouldn't be competition for GL and ordered Arisia dead to try and bury the corps as much as possible. There was also a lot of "If there are thousands of GL's then the main one isn't special enough, good superheroes need to be unique and distinct." (which makes Kyle held up as one of the paragons of legacy hilrous. He's a legacy made to stop legacy stuff from ever being thought about.) But given their admitted backup plan if Kyle didn't go over was Alan, and Kyle's run often focused much more on Earth than the more split focus that had come before... Wanting GL to be more like a traditional superhero that was more Earthbound and not part of an organization seemed to be part of it. A feeling that the whole corps thing was a mistake.

[SebastianS]

They never gave us a full explanation but a few. A lot of it was focused on throwing Hal under the bus. Too much baggage, not interesting. Never mind they also ripped Guy of his yellow ring, de-powered John, and broke his back so he wouldn't be competition for GL and ordered Arisia dead to try and bury the corps as much as possible. There was also a lot of "If there are thousands of GL's then the main one isn't special enough, good superheroes need to be unique and distinct." (which makes Kyle held up as one of the paragons of legacy hilrous. He's a legacy made to stop legacy stuff from ever being thought about.) But given their admitted backup plan if Kyle didn't go over was Alan, and Kyle's run often focused much more on Earth than the more split focus that had come before... Wanting GL to be more like a traditional superhero that was more Earthbound and not part of an organization seemed to be part of it. A feeling that the whole corps thing was a mistake.

To a degree, they are right in the "If there are thousands of GL's then the main one isn't special enough, good superheroes need to be unique and distinct." department, in so far we are all trying to make our preferred GL THE GL one way or another, and writers (maybe even editorial itself) push for this. Look how many times Hal, Kyle, and John have become some sort of super-God entity (Ion, Ion-like entities, white rings, special custom rings, etc). Heck, we even see that in the most recent run.

I am a firm believer you can have the best of the two worlds: have the GLC, interact with it only in big events/every now and then, and in the meantime, be a superhero on Earth, with a strong supporting cast. Something done to great results during Kyle's run (especially when Marz and Winick were writing), and early in post-Rebirth Hal's run.