John Stewart: Green Lantern Appreciation 2024

[Refrax5]

I guess I just don't like the idea of thinking of someone in the armed services exclusively by their kill count.

Again though I think the past few runs have done a decent job of balancing the two sides of John. In my opinion at least.

I don't think of that when it comes to every member, but that's specifically what snipers do. They're speciality is lethal force. And I just find it hard to reconcile the righteous rebel John with crew-cut uniform guy, shooting whoever the government sends him to shoot, especially since that's his dominant modern characterization. It's just not the same character anymore.

[Sodam Yat]

He was a marine sniper and regarded as the top of his class. So yeah there’s a pretty good chance that John has a high kill count. He’s the only Justice League member who has lots of experience blasting people with a high powered rifle.

im absolutely not talking trash about people who serve their country, but it was just a weird choice for John. Lazy writers just made that his defacto personality. It’s another reason why I’m not a fan of John being turned into a hardened military vet. Plus there’s kind of a trope of black superheroes being soldiers or ex-military. Falcon, Spawn, War Machine, Blue Marvel, Nick Fury, Goliath, and now John Stewart.

Hal was in the Air Force but is known for being a test pilot. Even in New Frontier he would go out of his way to not take a life.

Yes, but most people identify him that way, due to the success of the JL/JLU toon show. And that background was added to make a dynamic with Wally West as the Flash. Geoff Johns done it for that very reason in the comics. The issue is that he defined John as a stoic character (as was mentioned in the comics). But at least other later writers added more to the character and try to blend both his backgrounds.

[Vordan]

[Will Evans]

And I would genuinely like to know what that person enjoyed about those moments and how it felt for John as a character. Maybe it will help me see a different point of view since it's only ever brought up as a counterpoint when some brings up their disappointment in Geoff Johns' John Stewart.

I remember the sniper moment he got in Sinestro Corps. The callback to Xanshi during Blackest Night. His new status with Fatality post-Star Sapphire. Blackest Night Katma Tui. His detailed ring constructs because he was an architect. Being the only one of the chosen to be an Alpha Lantern by the Guardians, that rejected it.
That’s it.

[Will Evans]

He was a pretty angry (and funny) character and was created by a pretty left-leaning writer, so turning him into this oo-ra military guy that specialized in killing people is just laughably stupid to me.

It doesn't help that the serious military guy is his personality now and the intellectual, rebellious, and sensitive character he used to be is completely gone. Few writers have even tried to reconcile or blend the two versions, so I don't really buy that it's still the same character and there's no inconsistencies. He's an entirely different character since they made the military guy thing his entire personality.

No different than Oliver Queen going from 1970s hard traveling heroes liberal former hippie to 1980s Longbow Hunters urban killer.

[Refrax5]

Before encountering John Stewart on JLU, I had no prior knowledge of him, so I don't feel cheated by his marine background being introduced. I can appreciate that others might feel differently based on their own preferences or how they first encountered him. The version I came to enjoy the most is a marine and his love interest is Hawkgirl. I've heard numerous times why that version is bad or wrong, yet it remains his most beloved and enduring version by a long mile.

I read the Denny O'Neill version and wasn't horribly enthused with his character or the story. He seemed like something straight out of a blaxploitation flick, and Hal was being set up as an unfortunate straw man over and over in that comic run. I got the feeling that Hal was supposed to (predictably) learn a lesson, yet John--who was angry and aggressive and called Hal a "whitey"--was just getting a pass for everything. It's worth noting that John only appeared like that in literally one comic in his history. It's not uncommon for characters to change quite a bit from their original versions before they get refined into what eventually catches on. For example, I'm sure we all know that Superman used to jump around instead of fly, and Green Goblin flew on a jet broomstick before his glider took hold.

The angry black man John never really took hold. The mentally ill philosopher John never really took hold. The marine John did. People often try different things until something works well. I believe the issues the marine John have faced were due to disinterested writers and editors, especially after seeing how liked he was on a show where the showrunners liked him and put effort into him. Though, obviously, it's perfectly fine for people to prefer other takes on the character.



If you comb through his history then all of that is explained. He joined the marines to pay for college tuition (Secret Origins #9) and he does speak up against authority when he feels it's necessary, like when he opposed a commanding officer in the Marines (Green Lantern Corps 2011 #25), which is why he left the marines.

Which would work better if that didn't become his entire personality going forward. Throwing away decades of character development for synergy with a cartoon is never going to sit right with me. And I don't find a guy who kills for the government nearly as noble or interesting as a guy standing up against shitty authority figures in his community. The "mentally ill philosopher" actually had depth and a personality, despite that reductive description. Now he's just a genetic military guy action movie character most of the time.

[Refrax5]

No different than Oliver Queen going from 1970s hard traveling heroes liberal former hippie to 1980s Longbow Hunters urban killer.

Except those were developments in his character, rather than complete retcons of his entire past and altering his personality beyond recognition at a foundational level.

[Frontier]

Except those were developments in his character, rather than complete retcons of his entire past and altering his personality beyond recognition at a foundational level.

But they've made attempts to reconcile the two together already.

[Refrax5]

But they've made attempts to reconcile the two together already.

They've made some fairly half-hearted attempts and the marine sniper guy is still the default in 95% of stories. And I just don't find that character especially interesting or consistent with the version I loved so much.

[Will Evans]

They've made some fairly half-hearted attempts and the marine sniper guy is still the default in 95% of stories. And I just don't find that character especially interesting or consistent with the version I loved so much.

Back in the day I used to hate his Cosmic Odyssey/Xanshi-go-boom personality compared to his Mosaic personality. But I learned to like the sum of John’s parts. Not just one aspect of his character.

[HsssH]

They've made some fairly half-hearted attempts and the marine sniper guy is still the default in 95% of stories. And I just don't find that character especially interesting or consistent with the version I loved so much.

With civilian supporting casts going away and characters like John rarely having solo stories it is difficult to showcase other aspects of the character. What we often get is moronic moment like Guardians sending John to dig a hole because he is an architect.

[Refrax5]

Back in the day I used to hate his Cosmic Odyssey/Xanshi-go-boom personality compared to his Mosaic personality. But I learned to like the sum of John’s parts. Not just one aspect of his character.

Well, me too. That's why I'm disappointed they rewrote all of that into a predominantly one-note military guy stereotype. He was once a multifaceted and noble character with decades of development, not a humorless triggerman in a government uniform.

[Sodam Yat]

With civilian supporting casts going away and characters like John rarely having solo stories it is difficult to showcase other aspects of the character. What we often get is moronic moment like Guardians sending John to dig a hole because he is an architect.

When a character doesn't have much solo stories, I think it makes it more harder for a writer to developer a character. So it would most likely require heavy investing. It kinda makes me wonder whether that's the reason why there was writers, who had disinterest with the character around the Johns' era.

[Frontier]

Well, me too. That's why I'm disappointed they rewrote all of that into a predominantly one-note military guy stereotype. He was once a multifaceted and noble character with decades of development, not a humorless triggerman in a government uniform.

I don't think he's really been written that way though.

I don't think Thorne, Venditti, PKJ, or even Van Jensen wrote him that way. Or the DCAU.

[Mantis-Ray]

I don't think he's really been written that way though.

I don't think Thorne, Venditti, PKJ, or even Van Jensen wrote him that way. Or the DCAU.

He's more just straightlaced. Sure he's a pretty point man kind of guy but he still has plenty moments of socializing and hanging out with others. Snyder's JL run had some pretty sweet friend moments with Flash.