Proximity plays a role in selection, so it makes sense story-wise. If an established GL gets taken down in the U.S., the ring would likely pick the next person from the U.S. Had Abin crashlanded in Paris, every GL would likely be French.
If the Preexisting GLs spent more of their R and R outside of the US, there would be, but it looks like they don’t.
We don’t need any more human GLs.
No, it would just mean the next one would. The proximity thing only explains Hal.(Guy and John were picked ahead of time, so it wasn't like an emergency where proximity would have been a factor) Hal didn't die in the U.S. so there's no reason for all the other earth GLs to be from the USA other than real-world reasons.
Last edited by j9ac9k; 01-18-2022 at 08:01 PM.
Guy was also selected for proximity. When Abin crashed, Hal was closest and Guy was second closest. Since Abin crashed near Coast City and Hal continued to live there, Guy remained the closest proximate potential recruit until his coma. The point of introducing Guy as a concept was to show that there was someone out there equally qualified who only lost out because he was further away. In other words, while HJ was supposed to be impressive, he wasn't so singular as to be more than human, like say Superman. Before the retcons, John was next closest in terms of qualification and proximity. When Abin first crashlanded though, he was too young to qualify for the ring. John being pre-selected is a retcon.
Proximity to the ring continues to play a role in selection. There are lots of people qualified for it, but the ring isn't going to waste its time and energy skipping over qualified people in order to recruit people from different political states that it probably doesn't even recognize.
The number of heroes in the U.S. perpetuates the likelihood of human GLs, since their presence attracts conflicts to the States. If a GL dies on Earth, it will probably be in the U.S. rather than Australia or Zimbabwe, for example, because the major, world-shattering crossover conflicts are likely to happen in the U.S.
If Abin had crashlanded on his own planet, there probably wouldn't be a human GL in their timeline. For all we know, 2814's original ring probably only selected people from where Abin was born.
And yes, in the real world, GL is an American book published by an American company that was meant to appeal to 20th Century Americans. It's not surprising that the lead would therefore consistenly be an American, like how Dr. Who is pretty consistently a British, white male (now with one exception).
Last edited by SecretWarrior; 01-18-2022 at 10:48 PM.