Hal Jordan: The Green Lantern Appreciation 2022

[j9ac9k]

^^ Fwiw, I agree with you. The GLC was meant to be cosmic, but they've been made to seem mundane.

[Frontier]

I guess for me I see guys like Tomar-Re, Kilowog, and Salaak as being as important as, say, any GL's Earth supporting cast (if they have them) so I've never really seen other GL's being as rare. But, again, probably comes down to how I came into the franchise.

[NathanS]

Honestly, the Guardians lost their mystery REAL quick. And by the 70's they were showing up like... once every few issues to say something. And by the mid 80's... GLC members were part of the regular cast. The 60's is the only period where the GLC feels distant. And I don't think this is an egg you can unscramble.

[ducklord]

I guess for me I see guys like Tomar-Re, Kilowog, and Salaak as being as important as, say, any GL's Earth supporting cast (if they have them) so I've never really seen other GL's being as rare. But, again, probably comes down to how I came into the franchise.

To be fair, there *were* a lot of unanswered questions about how the GLC did business in the old days that left a lot to be desired.

For one thing, the training of GL members in the Before Times seemed reallllly haphazard, if not non-existent. Basically, it seemed like it went something like this:

a) A GL dies, and their ring chooses a noob.
b) The noob gets a ring-generated speech explaining the basics, along with the costume.
c) At some point later, the Guardians get in touch to tell the noob things like "we know you're brave 'n' heroic, but try not to take over any planets, m'kay?"
d) Sometimes, if the noob is lucky (eg Katma Tui), the Guardians may send another GL over to help them through some tough patches.

But other than that, it seems like they were mostly on their own. It's a good thing they were fearless, 'cause getting tossed the most powerful weapon in the universe, and being told to patrol millions of galaxies with it with zip training is pretty darned intimidating.

Even after the Crisis, when Kilowog was first introduced, it took a while to retcon the notion of him being a "trainer" of GL's into the canon - when he first showed up on Earth he was just another GL that the other earthbound GL's didn't really know (which made sense, since they rarely interacted). Heck, the whole idea of Hal being Sinestro's protégé didn't kicking in until the Emerald Dawn series' (if I'm recalling correctly).

Even though I a grumpy old fart, I *do* like the idea the the Guardians had some system of squiring noobs to more senior GL's for a time. I even like the notion of Kilowog as the one-stop "here's how you use your ring" guy.

But there's really no reason to be on Oa for their training, is there?

[NathanS]

I mean... why NOT Oa? Oustide of some desire to see at more mysterious than it had been. GL's had been showing up their en mass since what Volume 2 #16? Somewhere there about? It was treated as a headquarters. When They planned their group attack on the prisoner World.. they meet on Oa. When they planned thier fight against Qwad's invasion at the very end of O'Neil's run they meet on Oa. When Hal started showing up on Oa there were GLs just haning around there in Marv Wolfman's run. The shipped had sailed a LOOOOOOOOOONG time ago.

[silly]

Doesn't really look like Hal.

[Johnny]

[Gaius]

[Frontier]

Nice formal wear .

[Johnny]

Nice formal wear .

And still felt the need to keep the domino mask.

[j9ac9k]

And still felt the need to keep the domino mask.

I always take it as a symbol of his office. They all used to wear them. Perhaps it's just voluntary now, but I will always prefer Hal with mask. I think you always want to be able to identify a hero even if you just see their face. (that's why Supes' S-curl was always there for so long)

[Frontier]

I can't imagine Hal without a domino mask.

[Shadowcat]

Re-reading the year before Infinite Crisis, and I just started on Rebirth. Remembering when I re-fell in love with Hal after his turn as Parallax. I really miss that era of the DCU.

[silly]

I haven't read DC vs Vampires (yet). Anybody have thoughts about Hal in the latest issue?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I haven't read DC vs Vampires (yet). Anybody have thoughts about Hal in the latest issue?

If you like Hal inexplicably having a ridiculously outdated weakness he hasn't had in a quarter of a century simply so that he can get punked by the Bat-family, then you may like it. Otherwise?

Um, the art is very, very pretty.

Now, if the story was set in the past when the GL rings still had the yellow impurity, I wouldn't be complaining, but this is clearly set in an alternate Earth based upon the modern DCU, so this is just straight up lazy writing no matter how you cut it.

And don't get me started on how badly Wonder Woman or Superman have been treated either.