I read the Dark Crisis issue, and I'll say that it's literally the first time I've enjoyed reading John in years. Haven't felt this way since Van Jensen wrote his solo or Robert Venditti wrote him on teams. Makes sense though, since Jensen noted and handled the builder/destroyer dichotomy just as well. Finally nice to see his family again and to get actual
character work, rather than yet another form of fandom oneupsmanship masquerading as storytelling. If PKJ is going to be diving into who John is as a person and celebrating that, count me in. The powers in a superhero story are just flash to draw you in; the character work is the substance--and we're getting that again. I don't care about changing John so that he can rearrange universe, which I find boring. Or changing him so that the work-for-hire guy can get some royalties in a possible adaptation. What get's me reading is seeing him live up to his values despite the challenges he faces. Definitely the guy who plants his feet when the going gets tough. Glad to see quality storytelling again, since that's how fandoms are built.
My only problem with the Jensen solo is that crossovers made it hard to give someone new/unfamiliar a self-contained character piece, like
Batman: Year One or one of the Superman/Wonder Woman/Flash trades. Hopefully PKJ can generate the book that I want to be able to share with folks who are curious about this
Green Lantern from cartoons or video games.
Also, I wouldn't be surprised one way or the other if PKJ read the Van Jensen stories or if he just independently came to the same perspective. I think he did read Jensen though, since he also seems to have done research and read about John's sister's fate under another writer. The marine background isn't going anywhere due to the other John Stewart adaptations, but I'm glad it's being pointed out that this is only one, very limited and limiting facet of his character. I like that the architect side of him is being handled this way again, instead of forgotten like in some recent adaptations.