John Stewart: Green Lantern Appreciation 2024

[The Frog Bros]

Took all my willpower not to look at those preview pages

I didn't realise that John was much of an engineer too, is that a new addition or am I misremembering? Either way, it's an aspect of him that I like a lot, something that PKJ has really denuded for me - John's desire to know and understand how things work (so I just realised that him being a physicist in the Earth One books is so cool). We've had some fantastic PKJ characterisation, and now I can't wait to see what he'd got cooked up for us in terms of worldbuilding.

In a previous job of mine I worked directly with a lot of architects and engineers. The mindset of each seemed pretty different so I find it quite interesting that John is a bit of both. Gotta love and appreciate the depth PKJ is bringing to the character and the book. One of the reasons why he’s a great writer, and his world building is second to none (The Last God and Warworld Saga are top notch in that regard). Exciting to see what else is in store for GL.

[Frontier]

Why is John always getting stuck in different dimensions?

I didn't know that Winnick wrote the story about his dead sister.

[Anthony Shaw]

I suspect that the ‘hidden origin of the Green Lanterns and Guardians’ is going to make everything even more Earth-centric than things already are, but I suppose I’m simply going to have to make peace with the fact that, since Earth is the center of all things in the DCU.

It feels like a sweaty justification for creators endlessly creating more and more human GLs, but it’s better than no explanation whatsoever.

That said, I trust PKJ to land this plane based upon the strength of his past work.

Oh, am I the only one who isn’t digging John’s thigh high boots?

He's John Stewart, not Rick James (or Peter Rasputin).

[Anthony Shaw]

While I had my issues with the Johns' era, I still enjoy Hal's summary of John.

[Refrax5]

Why is John always getting stuck in different dimensions?

I didn't know that Winnick wrote the story about his dead sister.

I actually liked a lot of that story, despite how maligned it was. It dealt with a lot of what motivated John's character over the years, his various mistakes and inner demons, his discipline and drive, and he ultimately faces some pretty difficult trauma and overcomes it which took a lot of courage and willpower; the hallmarks of a Lantern.

The thing with his dead sister was a rip-off of a MASH episode, but I always found it a pretty interesting character study of John.

I know people took issue with John saying he might have ended up in a gang if he hadn't straightened out, but it's a single line and it's a hypothetical because he went through a period of acting out as a teenager. I feel like some of the criticism was blown out of proportion. I was young-ish when it came out and I just remember liking John more as a character and sympathizing with him after that story.

[Refrax5]

While I had my issues with the Johns' era, I still enjoy Hal's summary of John.

There were a few good observations of John in there:

"The mask hides any tears. That's why John took his off."

"John wanted not just to save lives, but to make a difference in them."

"I'm the guy that's always trying to build it better. A bridge. A battleplan. Myself."

I also liked that John was the only one to turn down being an Alpha Lantern, too. Johns' take on John Stewart left a lot to be desired, but it had its moments.

[Sodam Yat]

Green Lantern: War Journal #10

The contentious team of Caolán Shepherd and Guy Gardner are about to test their strength against the entire United Planets blockade on a SUICIDE MISSION to rescue John Stewart from the oldest enemy of the Guardians…but John has been pulled into a nightmare dimension from which no living thing has ever returned! Can John Stewart’s legendary willpower measure up against the GODS OF THE FIRST WORLD?

[Sodam Yat]

I suspect that the ‘hidden origin of the Green Lanterns and Guardians’ is going to make everything even more Earth-centric than things already are, but I suppose I’m simply going to have to make peace with the fact that, since Earth is the center of all things in the DCU.

It feels like a sweaty justification for creators endlessly creating more and more human GLs, but it’s better than no explanation whatsoever.

That said, I trust PKJ to land this plane based upon the strength of his past work.

I agree. That seems to be the case.

Oh, am I the only one who isn’t digging John’s thigh high boots?

Nope, you're not the only one. There were some others in this thread that are critical towards John's thigh high boots lol. I'm one of them

[Vordan]

Seeing Byla show up made me smile, and also that looked like Olgrun’s Shade coming through the Dark Star. If you’ve read Action your enjoyment of this should greatly increase. Glad that PKJ recognizes how the Ellie thing is kinda messed up, but also it’s totally understandable and Ellie gives justification for it that is exactly how I and many other people handled relatives struggling with dementia.

[HsssH]

I never read Darkstar series from the 90s, I wonder if PKJ will actually use something from it or is it all new stuff?

[Sodam Yat]

This issue sort of remind me of Lost Army where John was stuck in a different world that's not his. And it looks like we're going to see Guy Gardner appearing, just like what happened in Lost Army. I'm wondering how the dynamic is going to be once they team up together. PKJ probably acknowledges that they're best friends since this was confirmed in Tomasi's New 52 run.

I really liked the scene with John's sister. I never seen a construct being so sentient like that.

[Holt]

By Coran Kizer Stone.


https://x.com/coranstone/status/1773...779616556?s=46

[Frontier]

I personally prefer John with hair myself.

[Anthony Shaw]

RIP Louis Gossett Jr. As many may know, his character, Emil Foley from An Officer and a Gentleman, was the template for USMC John Stewart.

[Refrax5]

RIP Louis Gossett Jr. As many may know, his character, Emil Foley from An Officer and a Gentleman, was the template for USMC John Stewart.

Ah, that's sad. He was great. I didn't realize that character inspired the JLU John. I also always wondered if they didn't take some inspiration from Ben Sisko from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as there were a number of similarities between the character's personalities and storylines, not to mention Ben and John getting identical makeovers partway through the show. I also remember an episode of the Justice League cartoon involving a submarine called the USS Defiant, which was the name of Sisko's ship. It seemed like there might have been some DS9 fans working on that show.