Green Lantern John Stewart Appreciation Thread

[Desh]

I wonder if Relic is actually human sized or the Lanterns are huge (being in his universe) and just don't know it yet?

I've thought about that myself. I think the most likely explanation for that is Relic being remade when he went beyond the Source Wall when his universe was collapsing. The experience changed him, and I think it may have turned him into a giant. He also doesn't need anything to sustain him while he's in space after that event, whereas before it, he clearly does:

[4sake Baned]

I've thought about that myself. I think the most likely explanation for that is Relic being remade when he went beyond the Source Wall when his universe was collapsing. The experience changed him, and I think it may have turned him into a giant. He also doesn't need anything to sustain him while he's in space after that event, whereas before it, he clearly does:

You are more then likely right

[Black_Adam]

I've thought about that myself. I think the most likely explanation for that is Relic being remade when he went beyond the Source Wall when his universe was collapsing. The experience changed him, and I think it may have turned him into a giant. He also doesn't need anything to sustain him while he's in space after that event, whereas before it, he clearly does:

Hmmm yes I think your correct, nice find. Though I will admit I am slightly disappointed at the fact we won't see giant versions of John and Kilowog returning to the main DCU.

Solicit for issue #6 is out:

GREEN LANTERN: THE LOST ARMY #6
Written by CULLEN BUNN
Art by JESUS SAIZ
Cover by GUILLEM MARCH
On sale NOVEMBER 18 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
This may be the last chance for John Stewart and the rest of the lost Lanterns to return home…but there are still plenty of obstacles in their way!

Looks like all the Lightsmiths are after the corps.

[Desh]

I wasn't a fan of Guillem March's previous Lost Army covers, but this one I like. I'm especially fond of his Arisia. I'm still disappointed at the lack of variant covers for Lost Army past the third issue. I'm certainly not in support for publishers whoring out gimmicks like loads of variants, but a single one for each issue isn't overkill, and the variants we have gotten for Lost Army have given us some incredible artwork.

[Sodam Yat]

Yeah. I suspect that partially since Geoff Johns created Kendra, DC has been focusing on her as Hawkgirl instead of the better known version, Shayera, who continues to waste away in limbo. It really surprises me. Geoff Johns manages to get in John Stewart's way at just about every turn and in the oddest of ways. I'm not saying he always purposefully means to do that (although there are times I think he does or has) but it is something that seems to happen. If you're a John Stewart fan, it's a really good chance Geoff Johns seems to promote the exact opposite of what you will like. At least, that's been my experience

I do think some things were done intentionally to diminish the John Stewart character. But honestly, I don't think Geoff Johns wanted the Green Lantern franchise to have such a divided fanbase. I think his goal was for everyone to be a fan of the same character he showcased so much in the Green Lantern mythology and everyone else to be #2. Sometimes I wonder since he created Kendra, was his goal to undo things on what made John Stewart so popular. He didn't even explored his relationship with Fatality (and that shipping didn't make any sense). Since Green Lanterns have a more divided fanbase, I guess it backfired on Geoff Johns' intentions.

I'm personally still hoping for Arisia. She's been growing on me more and more recently, and Bunn did say that the Lanterns will see each other in different ways now that they're in this bizarre circumstance. Again, I'm primarily a Green Lantern/Hawkgirl guy, but I just don't see that happening any time soon, and I actually kind of expect the Arisia thing to happen, especially since, based on the latest solicits, she is one of the Lanterns who sticks with John. I called Sinestro/Lyssa Drak over a year ago, like when Sinestro #1 came out, and what do you know, in the latest issue of Sinestro, it happened!

I remembered when you mentioned about the Sinestro/Lyssa Drak relationship a while ago. Hopefully John Stewart gets in a relationship in the series!

I am loving Jesus Saiz's work. I think his John Stewart is the best I've seen. Same for his Arisia.

He's a wonderful artist, but I can't see why he do more covers. He's only done two so far, since the series been released in June.

That was inevitable when the book debuted in the low 40k's. I think the best Lost Army can do right now is keep a small margin between it and the Green Lantern title, which it has been doing well at so far. However, with the lack of variant covers for issues 4 and 5, expect another drop in sales. I think we will see more variants for Lost Army in the future. I think DC is experimenting to see how much a GLC book will sell without variants and when not propped up by a star creator in the GL franchise, and when its comfortably found its readership.

I think it's impressive so far, considering the book isn't no longer involved in crossovers and being a dependent on the Green Lantern book. The lantern comics so far is completely separated. I just don't understand why they're not giving the title more variants, while Green Lantern and Sinestro are receiving different variants. Just doesn't make any sense in a business sense. Maybe you're right about DC is experimenting on how far GL:Lost Army will go without variant covers. If the series still have impressive sales without marketing, variants, promotions etc. they may take the title to another level I guess.

As for the Green Lantern title, honestly, I'm personally not invested in it (I don't read it), so I don't really care much how well that does, either in sales or quality, but I really don't think its sales are surprising. Green Lantern just fell back to its usual place in the charts now that Geoff Johns is long gone. It's selling about relative to when Kyle Rayner was the primary character years and years back. Don't get me wrong, though, that's not a bad place, but the real difference maker was clearly Geoff Johns.

I kind of think it's a little surprising, because Geoff Johns was behind that book for nearly a decade and had very high sale numbers and after he left the title, it just dropped tremendously. It's one of the reasons that other lantern books had good sales in the first place.

Anyway, I think most of the DC line didn't perform that great in July, so I don't think it's something exclusive to the Lantern titles.

After all of the All New/Different titles, crossovers etc from Marvel, I'm expecting DC titles to have a better month down the line.

About the latest solicit, I'm interested to see how John Stewart and the lost army are going to engage against the Lightsmiths. Guillem March's artwork is better than his previous covers, but I would rather to see Jesus Saiz do the covers from now on. I always like Bernard Chang's cover artwork when Van Jensen was on the title. Can't wait for tomorrow.

[Desh]

I do think some things were done intentionally to diminish the John Stewart character. But honestly, I don't think Geoff Johns wanted the Green Lantern franchise to have such a divided fanbase. I think his goal was for everyone to be a fan of the same character he showcased so much in the Green Lantern mythology and everyone else to be #2. Sometimes I wonder since he created Kendra, was his goal to undo things on what made John Stewart so popular. He didn't even explored his relationship with Fatality (and that shipping didn't make any sense). Since Green Lanterns have a more divided fanbase, I guess it backfired on Geoff Johns' intentions.

Yes, I think you're spot on with that. No one would want a fanbase as divided as Green Lantern's is, but people will try to unify it under their vision. Where Johns, DiDio, et al went wrong was that they couldn't successfully push their vision when there is a more beloved vision out there that is circulated way more; that being Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Geoff Johns' Green Lantern comics weren't being read by millions and millions like those cartoons were being watched. Johns did have a shot with the 2011 film and cartoon, but we saw how those went.

I've seen interviews with Geoff Johns where he says things along the lines of, "I don't believe that we should have just ONE Green Lantern. All these characters have value and we should have them all." The part he would always leave out is that, to him (going by his work), it's okay to have those 'other' guys around so long as they are firmly behind Hal Jordan.

That's why when I see a certain type of Hal Jordan fan who says they like John Stewart, most of the time I don't really believe them. I think they're okay with John Stewart so long as he is holding Hal Jordan's bag. If John gets "out of place" and gets promoted over Jordan in some way, then they'll have a problem with him, or be near completely uninterested. I've seen some people who are like, "I used to like John Stewart, but now I don't because his fans aren't satisfied with him being secondary to Hal Jordan." Those people were never fans of John Stewart to begin with, so they aren't any loss, in my view. All this said, there are folks who like the Lanterns equally, or like some better than others, but don't really care if the powers that be go with another one. The people I'm referring to who only like John Stewart if he's in an ancillary role are not those people.

He's a wonderful artist, but I can't see why he do more covers. He's only done two so far, since the series been released in June.

Saiz is both drawing and coloring the book. That's a big job. He probably doesn't have the time for covers.

I kind of think it's a little surprising, because Geoff Johns was behind that book for nearly a decade and had very high sale numbers and after he left the title, it just dropped tremendously. It's one of the reasons that other lantern books had good sales in the first place.

Johns supporters and Venditti's dissenters would likely blame the entire thing on Robert Venditti. We can't really say what things would be like "if this" and "if that," but I think what we're seeing with the sales is the natural progression of things. I believe the way to keep Green Lantern's sales close to the level they were at during the Johns era would be to put a creator on the title that's as big or close to being as big as Johns. Or to just get really, really lucky, which happens sometimes in business.

After all of the All New/Different titles, crossovers etc from Marvel, I'm expecting DC titles to have a better month down the line.

I have a feeling sales will go up, too, or stabilize at a comfortable level for some of the books, like Lost Army, Starfire, and Black Canary. Maaaaaybe Martian Manhunter. Unfortunately for some other DC You books, I don't think there is any saving them, but at least they'll be granted a full twelve issues to finish up their stories. There's also the hope that they may be hits with the trade market, like hows some Image books are.

About the latest solicit, I'm interested to see how John Stewart and the lost army are going to engage against the Lightsmiths. Guillem March's artwork is better than his previous covers, but I would rather to see Jesus Saiz do the covers from now on. I always like Bernard Chang's cover artwork when Van Jensen was on the title. Can't wait for tomorrow.

Yeah, I am so pumped for issue 3. This series has me really excited!

[Desh]

I do think some things were done intentionally to diminish the John Stewart character. But honestly, I don't think Geoff Johns wanted the Green Lantern franchise to have such a divided fanbase. I think his goal was for everyone to be a fan of the same character he showcased so much in the Green Lantern mythology and everyone else to be #2. Sometimes I wonder since he created Kendra, was his goal to undo things on what made John Stewart so popular. He didn't even explored his relationship with Fatality (and that shipping didn't make any sense). Since Green Lanterns have a more divided fanbase, I guess it backfired on Geoff Johns' intentions.

Oh, I just wanted to bring out something I missed before. Kendra was created in 1999, before Green Lantern/Hawkgirl became a thing, so events just played out the way they played out. Had Kendra not been made so soon before Justice League's airing, and also used in a successful JSA run in the comics, then perhaps DC would have brought Shayera off the bench due to her popularity on the cartoon, the way they did for John. As things stood, though, I imagine DC felt they had a perfectly fine Hawkgirl who was already active. Synergy across different media wasn't as great a factor back then as it is now.

It was just one of those twists of fate where Geoff Johns touched some franchise or character that has some significance to John Stewart in some way, and managed to do practically everything perfectly to where John Stewart wouldn't benefit. Sometimes that type of thing is pretty clearly intentional, and sometimes it isn't. Seeing as how he conceived Kendra before Hawkgirl became Green Lantern's love interest, this instance couldn't have been intentional. Just bad luck for HG/GL fans. That said, there can always be more than one Hawkgirl, especially since the one that is active is in a completely other universe now.

[Black_Adam]

That was inevitable when the book debuted in the low 40k's. I think the best Lost Army can do right now is keep a small margin between it and the Green Lantern title, which it has been doing well at so far. However, with the lack of variant covers for issues 4 and 5, expect another drop in sales. I think we will see more variants for Lost Army in the future. I think DC is experimenting to see how much a GLC book will sell without variants and when not propped up by a star creator in the GL franchise, and when its comfortably found its readership.

Yes it actually astounds me when you consider the amount of promotion and advertising which went into the Green Lantern book: Hal got a new costume which was reported on by major websites, lots of ads for him with DC You, Lost Army got barely any of that, in fact for a long time we had zero clue what this book was even about! I remember reading the subtitle Lost Army and kinda scratching my head at first. And yet the disparity between them is not that great, and Lost Army seems to be winning in terms of critical and fan reception.

Makes you wonder IF DC ever decided to go all in with John, make him the star of the "main" Green Lantern book, promote the hell out of it, what the sales could be like. I think John has one of the most dedicated fanbases in DC, 40-50k monthly would definitely be doable IMO.

[Starchild]

Just read GL: Lost Army and something doesn't add up. The Light Pirates stole Arisia's light, now she's losing oxygen since the ring is supposed to protect you from that. BUT, she's an alien. Aliens usually come from space so......

[Desh]

Just read GL: Lost Army and something doesn't add up. The Light Pirates stole Arisia's light, now she's losing oxygen since the ring is supposed to protect you from that. BUT, she's an alien. Aliens usually come from space so......

Not to sound disrespectful, but... aliens usually come from planets... like Earth... that have... atmospheres

EDIT:
Also, I'm sure Arisia will be okay. I actually figured Bunn would 'kill' her somewhere in this storyline, perhaps banking on people not knowing or forgetting that she has innate regenerative powers,

[Black_Adam]

Hmmm mixed feelings on this issue, thought John was written a bit out of character, IMO he came across to cold in this issue lying to Relic, and I hate to say this but I actually found myself agreeing with Guy Gardner for once, even if John did make an interesting point about Relic's universe having to die for theirs to exist. I think John would still make an effort to save both universes (which eventually I think the Lanterns will try do anyway).

[Sodam Yat]

Hmmm mixed feelings on this issue, thought John was written a bit out of character, IMO he came across to cold in this issue lying to Relic, and I hate to say this but I actually found myself agreeing with Guy Gardner for once, even if John did make an interesting point about Relic's universe having to die for theirs to exist. I think John would still make an effort to save both universes (which eventually I think the Lanterns will try do anyway).

I think John and Guy arguing with each other was actually my favorite part of this issue. The more I see this, the more I'm digging their dynamic. Peter Tomasi done a poor job on handling their dynamic imo. Cullen Bunn is much better at it. It's my belief that Cullen Bunn intentionally written John out of character, which is the reason John mentioned he did it out of Guy's playbook. When I first read it, I noticed that it's obvious that John is lying and doesn't sound like him at all. The way I see it is that he is more concerned about his Corps than being stuck in a different universe that's in a timeline that seemed like it's the inevitable for the universe to be destroyed on exhausting the emotional spectrum, otherwise John and co would probably be non existent.

There's an interesting article that recently talks about GL:Lost Army on comicvine.

[Desh]

Issue #3 is great. It presents a moral dilemma that isn't easily solved. I actually agree with John. Saving the universe they are in would doom their own. It sounds cold, but I think the Lanterns should just concentrate on getting home and not interrupting the progression of events in history. Also, I actually really liked the fill in artist Cliff Richards. He draws an excellent Arisia, and the space battle looked great.

Really enjoying this book, and though I know Arisia will come out okay, I'm still a concerned for her some : p

I am getting more of a feeling that Guy Gardner might not make it out of this, though. I think that he will do something to contrary to John's plans that, while heroic and noble, may actually lead to his demise some way. Just a weird hunch, especially after reading this issue.

[Desh]

Yes it actually astounds me when you consider the amount of promotion and advertising which went into the Green Lantern book: Hal got a new costume which was reported on by major websites, lots of ads for him with DC You, Lost Army got barely any of that, in fact for a long time we had zero clue what this book was even about! I remember reading the subtitle Lost Army and kinda scratching my head at first. And yet the disparity between them is not that great, and Lost Army seems to be winning in terms of critical and fan reception.

Makes you wonder IF DC ever decided to go all in with John, make him the star of the "main" Green Lantern book, promote the hell out of it, what the sales could be like. I think John has one of the most dedicated fanbases in DC, 40-50k monthly would definitely be doable IMO.

I think John would do well if he was starring in Green Lantern. For one thing, it would get people's attention, and another thing, I think many people will buy that title regardless. I think many of Green Lantern's buyers are just in the habit of buying Green Lantern.

The lack of promotion for Lost Army was/is noticeable and upsetting. At least the comic is really good, though!

[Sodam Yat]

I've seen interviews with Geoff Johns where he says things along the lines of, "I don't believe that we should have just ONE Green Lantern. All these characters have value and we should have them all." The part he would always leave out is that, to him (going by his work), it's okay to have those 'other' guys around so long as they are firmly behind Hal Jordan.

I read that statement from IGN. I think it was just a statement for him to cover himself.

That's why when I see a certain type of Hal Jordan fan who says they like John Stewart, most of the time I don't really believe them. I think they're okay with John Stewart so long as he is holding Hal Jordan's bag. If John gets "out of place" and gets promoted over Jordan in some way, then they'll have a problem with him, or be near completely uninterested. I've seen some people who are like, "I used to like John Stewart, but now I don't because his fans aren't satisfied with him being secondary to Hal Jordan." Those people were never fans of John Stewart to begin with, so they aren't any loss, in my view. All this said, there are folks who like the Lanterns equally, or like some better than others, but don't really care if the powers that be go with another one. The people I'm referring to who only like John Stewart if he's in an ancillary role are not those people.

I actually seen this recently. I notice they would blame fans as an excuse for them not to purchase John Stewart's book, but at the same time, they say that they like the character and consider themselves a fan. I believe they may like him, just so he won't get as much of a praise with his competitor. If it was the other way around, such statements wouldn't have been made. So yea, they're not considered a true fan of John. Oh well, I guess

Johns supporters and Venditti's dissenters would likely blame the entire thing on Robert Venditti. We can't really say what things would be like "if this" and "if that," but I think what we're seeing with the sales is the natural progression of things. I believe the way to keep Green Lantern's sales close to the level they were at during the Johns era would be to put a creator on the title that's as big or close to being as big as Johns. Or to just get really, really lucky, which happens sometimes in business.

I don't read Green Lantern book either currently, but I say it's shocking because the book was not just selling well, but it matched other popular characters like Batman in sales. It's sales has been very high for years, so you would think that it's sales would sustain at least close to around the Johns' era. But with popular characters, you can put a different writer for a popular brand and it still sells well. But I agree, they would need a high profile writer to try to match close to the sales when Geoff Johns was headlining the series.

Yes it actually astounds me when you consider the amount of promotion and advertising which went into the Green Lantern book: Hal got a new costume which was reported on by major websites, lots of ads for him with DC You, Lost Army got barely any of that, in fact for a long time we had zero clue what this book was even about! I remember reading the subtitle Lost Army and kinda scratching my head at first. And yet the disparity between them is not that great, and Lost Army seems to be winning in terms of critical and fan reception.

At least Lost Army is receiving some promotion from 3rd party websites such as IGN:

Top Comics to Buy This Week: August 19, 2015

Speaking of incredible art, have you taken a look at what Jesus Saiz can do with everyone’s favorite space cops? He blew our collective minds with his detailed, wondrous work on Swamp Thing, but his work on this title is something else. Each Lantern is sleek and emotive, their constructs appear with satisfying impact, and the coloring is out of this world.

That’s not even mentioning Cullen Bunn’s engrossing mystery about how a group as prominent and powerful as the GLs could be stranded in space with no way home. With John Stewart in charge and some flashbacks to his time as a U.S. Marine, there’s also the strong, deep hope that we will finally get the essential John Stewart story all of us Justice League cartoon lovers have been waiting for. Bunn has done a great job so far, so we can’t wait to see where he takes it.

With that said, it's even more saddening the fact that John Stewart is technically the only active human Green Lantern at the moment compared to the other lantern titles. But yet he can't receive as much promotion like other titles!!? You would expect for the series to be given more hype before it's released, especially for a minority character. DC is somewhat promoting the title, but they can obviously pull better effort. So DC still has some form of bias. Since the series is not being relied on in crossovers to the main title, it's really impressive that the sales are in good shape.

Makes you wonder IF DC ever decided to go all in with John, make him the star of the "main" Green Lantern book, promote the hell out of it, what the sales could be like. I think John has one of the most dedicated fanbases in DC, 40-50k monthly would definitely be doable IMO.

John does have one of the most dedicated fanbases out there. And his fanbase is very diverse as well. I think DC probably suspects that if he was the star of the main Green Lantern book he would have good sale numbers.

I would rather for John to stick with the Lost Army series. It's been very good so far.