Hal Jordan: The Green Lantern Appreciation 2022

[j9ac9k]

Superman is more of a jerk in DCSHG than Hal is.

For whatever reason, from the episodes I've seen the biggest jerk is Robin. I think he's the only hero character on that show who seems to have no redeeming qualities.

[Anthony Shaw]

Those ACW scans are the stuff of nightmares. The fear bug must have fond memories of that era.

Poor Hal & John.

My memory is hazy, but Guy Gardner was probably the top GL, story wise and creative team.

[Frontier]

For whatever reason, from the episodes I've seen the biggest jerk is Robin. I think he's the only hero character on that show who seems to have no redeeming qualities.

Oh yeah, DCSHG Robin is the worst .

[StarSpangledMan]

Seeing these scans makes me wish even more that the Parallax stuff was actually done well. Because jeez there are threads going back awhile.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Seeing these scans makes me wish even more that the Parallax stuff was actually done well. Because jeez there are threads going back awhile.

The great thing for me about the Parallax as Yellow Impurity idea is that I can use it to retcon away the train-wreck that was the Action Comics Weekly stories in a way that makes Hal's sad sack phase make perfect sense because I can now view all of these encounters as warped versions of what actually happened.

The way I see it, Parallax was constantly screwing with Hal's mind, trying to do everything it could to undermine his confidence, so it altered his perceptions of his interactions with his friends to be far worse than they were in reality. It also gives plenty of subtextual weight to all this stuff if you view it as a metaphor for substance addiction or mental illness because neither Hal nor those closest to him could see that he was struggling with something much worse than anyone thought. This adds so much more depth and emotional resonance to years of comics that would otherwise be pretty incongruous with the character as we know him.

The beauty of Johns's "Parallax is the Yellow Impurity" retcon is that it allows for so many different interpretations. If you just want to hand wave away everything Hal did between '88 and '04, you can certainly do that, but if you want to use it to explore other angles like depression or alcoholism or whatever else, that works to. And none of it diminishes Hal Jordan as a aspirational super-hero in any way because the reader gets to decide how much or how little Parallax was in the driver's seat.

[NathanS]

Yeah ACW is just a real low point. There's a reason the first story arc for GL when it got its own series again was called "The Road Back" Well ACW hadn't dimmed people's appetite for GL the current state of the franchise was in tatters. Both Hal and John needed a massive spit shine done on them. Guy was still in his 'quasi-villain state and they had gone and blown up the Corps at the very end of volume 2. I certainly get why the writer was really hoping Emerald Dawn would lead to Hal getting a clean slate start like Clark and Diana got, because ACW had been enough of a mess that "can we just... pretend none of this happened please?" had to be SUPER tempting. Never mind Arsia...

[StarSpangledMan]

The beauty of Johns's "Parallax is the Yellow Impurity" retcon is that it allows for so many different interpretations. If you just want to hand wave away everything Hal did between '88 and '04, you can certainly do that, but if you want to use it to explore other angles like depression or alcoholism or whatever else, that works to. And none of it diminishes Hal Jordan as a aspirational super-hero in any way because the reader gets to decide how much or how little Parallax was in the driver's seat.

I love this take! Personally, I prefer that Parallax only got the ball rolling and occasionally nudged Hal down that dark path so that he is still responsible for his actions and redemption.

Does anyone remember how Hal got infected in the first place? I read Emerald Dawn recently and Hal pulled the same move as he did in Emerald Twilight, entering the central power battery and absorbing its power. Maybe that's when he caught the fear bug but it just layed dormant for years?

[NathanS]

Officially it was at the very end of Volume 2 when he went into the central battery to fight a Sin that had merged with the yellow impurity. Engleheart's run is where the idea of colored energies first really came in. There is blue energy from the Guardians that they merged with the yellow impurity to make the green energy. The Zamaron had purple energy and there was a mention of red energy.

[Frontier]

It's all connected...

[StarSpangledMan]

There's an awesome cosmic mythological feel to this and we need more of it. And the art sells it so well.

[Refrax5]

If I recall correctly, Clark was the only one who was nice to Hal in that montage of rejection. I think Hal saw that Clark was already overburdened and actually felt bad taking up his time, so he begged off because he didn't want to add to it. The above scene was a different time. But either way, Supes was out of character there. There's a later scene where Hal recollects their exchange with Superman being even more of a dick, (was that when John was fighting Apartheid?) but then Hal kinda catches himself and says, "He wasn't really that rude" - which I wonder if it was a slight retcon of that scene - as though we're seeing it through how Hal feels, rather than what Superman actually said.

But yes, a weird time with Hal's writing around that time.

Yeah, that scene was in Hal's imagination or it was a dream he had. It didn't really happen.

[Vordan]

Where was this from?


Not positive, but I imagine that depiction of Superman blowing off Hal carried over from the Lego movies. (I think Lego Batman in particular?) And Hal isn't really a jerk in DCSHG - he's a bit too cocky, but all the characters have their one defining fault and are usually depicted as heroes despite their shortcomings.

Think it was Bendis Man of Steel #2.

John Stewart. He's... understandably not in a good mood when at Hal calls him after getting back to Earth after being in a space jail, over the whole Star Sapphire killing Kat and framing John for it so he's in jail.



ACW 606 is Hal feeling like his life is falling apart and realizing he could use being around some friends to help him ground himself. Which heck is a great message in a lot of ways. If you're stressed don't try to go it alone. Shame all his friends in it are assholes. And yes Clark is the nicest to Hal in it, but well the bar is LOW.

And people wonder why I hate Ollie. God what a prick. Can’t even claim it’s OOC because Ollie has been cemented as a loudmouth asshole at this point.

[HsssH]

I guess this is a good time to mention my controversial GL opinion - not really a fan of Green Lantern/Green Arrow run and I wouldn't mind if that "relationship" was dropped entirely.

[Gaius]

I guess this is a good time to mention my controversial GL opinion - not really a fan of Green Lantern/Green Arrow run and I wouldn't mind if that "relationship" was dropped entirely.

I've never read the run but GA's a character whose always thorn thin on me.

[NathanS]

Also worth noting the end of Volume 2 setting up the status quo for ACW was sort of a... beta version of Emerald Twilight. Hal has to fight the supposedly dead but is revealed to be alive in the Central Battery Siniestro who he finally kills for good (tm). By the end of it, almost every single GL across the universe has lost its rings. All the Guardians but one, a named one the reader and Hal have a history with, Appa Ali Apsa/Old Timer, are gone, and since ACW largely pretends Guy Gardner doesn't exist Hal is the last person in this corner of the universe with a ring. (John does get one back part way into ACW, just in time for Cosmic Odyssey!)

And if you want a look at how wrong-footed ACW was with GLs, the first issue does a great job. Hal and Arsia are staying with John and Kat in their apartment since Hal can't find a job. (And I guess Arsia can't either despite them showing her doing well as a model, and the GLC cathedral is just... off-limits for reasons.) When Hal points out he's looking for a job but can't get one John says "Hey no Guardians around so no rules, this paper mentions an abandoned diamond mine, go get diamonds from that for money with your ring!" And when John argues it's technically not stealing since it's an abandoned mine Hal goes along with the idea. And then when he's gone Star Sapphire shows up and murders Kat for shock value... I mean to send a message to Hal.