If it's the new set of Guardians, probably Kyle. He's got more of a thing with Ganthet and Sayd, and traveled with the Templar Guardians. Kyle's also had enough power a couple of times (Ion and the Life Equation) to be on a god-like level and had to make tough decisions about his interests vs the best interests of the universe.
The Templar Guardians were fresh out of their chamber and not very up to date or experienced with the current Corps roster in general. They could have seen Hal's role in the final battle against the First Lantern and decided on that to promote Hal. John had just been tried and convicted for murder, even if it was a frame up by the previous Guardians to get him out of the way for the Third Army. The Templar Guardians were relatively naive (their absence from Corps operations was because they were doing a tour of the cosmos with Kyle to keep them out of trouble), and both they and the Corps were forced to pay for the sins of the Guardians of the Universe (the Durlans, the Psions etc).
John became leader after he led the Corps in the absence of any other willing leader, and led them through the events of Lost Army and Edge of Oblivion. He'd demonstrated his ability to lead, which was why he was the de facto leader once the Corps returned to normal space.
So you think if John didn’t kill his colleague he would have been the leader since the Guardians were gone, and Hal was just the Templar Guardians’ naive choice? … Thank you for giving me a laugh. I don’t have much to say then. Venditti did a good job defaming Hal.
BTW, John was just the leading character of Lost Army, not the actual leader of the Corps, and he wasn’t even that in Edge of Oblivion, it was Guy.
Last edited by HAN9000; 07-12-2018 at 04:33 AM.
I’m saying as far as character references go, being convicted for murder doesn’t help. The Templar Guardians had no experience in the kinds of politics or skills needed to run the Corps (they left that to the Guardians of the Universe) and weren’t in the best position to judge who could best lead the Corps. Hal had a major role in the fight against the First Lantern and almost immediately after the Sinestro Corps, while John didn’t have as flashy a role. Any issues with the writing aside, it is possible to read logic in the decision to have Hal lead the Corps.
don't know where this is from, but if only hal made a construct much earlier, there would have been less collateral damage.