Green Lantern John Stewart Appreciation Thread

[Desh]

Why remove one of the fewer POC leads and replace him with the white one?

Based upon what Ethan Van Sciver said above, I don't think DC thinks ANYTHING about that or what effects it may cause. It seems the people behind the scenes just don't feel like doing John Stewart stories, or DC doesn't feel like accepting John Stewart pitches, or both, which is why we get comparatively few stories about John. This isn't really anything we didn't already know, but just saying.

[Sodam Yat]

Based upon what Ethan Van Sciver said above, I don't think DC thinks ANYTHING about that or what effects it may cause. It seems the people behind the scenes just don't feel like doing John Stewart stories, or DC doesn't feel like accepting John Stewart pitches, or both, which is why we get comparatively few stories about John. This isn't really anything we didn't already know, but just saying.

I'm glad and appreciate that Ethan taking the time to give us clarification on the matter. With that said, it sums up why John always became a background character, compared to the other Earth GL's other than Van Jensen and Cullen Bunn's run. This really gives me bad confidence that whoever the next writer is, where John is going to appear in, he's going to be diminished. And as you said a long time ago, DC (writers) are fans like we are, which they aren't some automated non-sentient bots. But if DC removed a high profile character like Hal Jordan from the Green Lantern title (I'm only using Hal as an example here, nothing more) and placed him in a GLC book, I can't see editorial/high-ups just easily allow Tom to put most of the focus on his favorite, Guy Gardner while Hal is in the same position that John currently is in. Well in a situation like that of course. Which probably explains why the GLC is renamed with Hal's name attached to the brand. I know I'm very ignorant on how things work in DC though.

The knowledge that Ethan gave us is really interesting. And I'm glad he clarified it.

Ethan you're awesome. Thank you again for taking the time to respond here.

Ethan is an awesome guy! I always said how I feel like a lesser fan, compared to other fans of characters, because of John's treatment, but when I see creative teams communicating with us, I feel like a more valuable fan. I really mean that, too

Us John Stewart fans really like Ethan.

[Flabbergaster]

Based upon what Ethan Van Sciver said above, I don't think DC thinks ANYTHING about that or what effects it may cause. It seems the people behind the scenes just don't feel like doing John Stewart stories, or DC doesn't feel like accepting John Stewart pitches, or both, which is why we get comparatively few stories about John. This isn't really anything we didn't already know, but just saying.

It's frustrating to me that you took THAT from what I wrote, Desh. You seem argumentative and negative for no reason.

"The people behind the scenes" have no agenda regarding John Stewart. Cullen wanted to write a story focused on John, so he did. Tom wanted to write a story more focused on Guy, so he did. I would have been happy to draw either, because I like GREEN LANTERN more than I like any one particular character. I just love the concept.

I think DC would publish a John Stewart Green Lantern title if a good enough pitch crossed their desk. He's as popular as Guy, nearly as popular as Hal.

So I put it to you, Desh. Pitch a fantastic GREEN LANTERN story featuring John Stewart to the Green Lantern editors. Or ask a writer you admire to do it.

Best,
Ethan V.

[Flabbergaster]

Sodam Yat, thanks for those nice comments! I'm definitely the #1 Green Lantern fan in DC's creative community. I advocate for more and better Green Lantern books. And I'm here if you have any questions. Don't just speculate and create conspiracy theories with Desh. I'll answer your questions.

Best,
Ethan V.

I'm glad and appreciate that Ethan taking the time to give us clarification on the matter. With that said, it sums up why John always became a background character, compared to the other Earth GL's other than Van Jensen and Cullen Bunn's run. This really gives me bad confidence that whoever the next writer is, where John is going to appear in, he's going to be diminished. And as you said a long time ago, DC (writers) are fans like we are, which they aren't some automated non-sentient bots. But if DC removed a high profile character like Hal Jordan from the Green Lantern title (I'm only using Hal as an example here, nothing more) and placed him in a GLC book, I can't see editorial/high-ups just easily allow Tom to put most of the focus on his favorite, Guy Gardner while Hal is in the same position that John currently is in. Well in a situation like that of course. Which probably explains why the GLC is renamed with Hal's name attached to the brand. I know I'm very ignorant on how things work in DC though.

The knowledge that Ethan gave us is really interesting. And I'm glad he clarified it.



Ethan is an awesome guy! I always said how I feel like a lesser fan, compared to other fans of characters, because of John's treatment, but when I see creative teams communicating with us, I feel like a more valuable fan. I really mean that, too

Us John Stewart fans really like Ethan.

[Desh]

It's frustrating to me that you took THAT from what I wrote, Desh. You seem argumentative and negative for no reason.

"The people behind the scenes" have no agenda regarding John Stewart. Cullen wanted to write a story focused on John, so he did. Tom wanted to write a story more focused on Guy, so he did. I would have been happy to draw either, because I like GREEN LANTERN more than I like any one particular character. I just love the concept.

I think DC would publish a John Stewart Green Lantern title if a good enough pitch crossed their desk. He's as popular as Guy, nearly as popular as Hal.

So I put it to you, Desh. Pitch a fantastic GREEN LANTERN story featuring John Stewart to the Green Lantern editors. Or ask a writer you admire to do it.

Best,
Ethan V.

I'm not sure why you are focusing on me in particular when several other people are saying pretty much the same things I am, or in some cases, stating even harsher opinions. I'm not the only one who is disappointed by Edge of Oblivion and John being sidelined yet again. For example, and this isn't even a criticism towards him, but just out of convenience, Sodam seems to have an even more negative view of DC and the situation involving John Stewart and Edge of Oblivion than I do. And, just for clarification, I wasn't saying there is a conscious agenda among some against John Stewart (although there may be), but apparently some just don't care to do stories about him. Which would explain why we often don't see stories about him. He went years and years and years without any solo focus, after all, while all the other Earth Lanterns had some. The people charged with writing the stories must be partial to other characters.

Also, with all due respect, I'm just a fan. I don't think it should really have to fall upon me for John Stewart to get some stories. But anyway, I heard that DC doesn't take pitches from fans from 'joe-blow', as it were, so I'd be really surprised if me pitching something to them would do any good. But I'm sure you would know better than I would. Also, I'm not sure how to contact them.

[Götterdämmerung]

I'm not sure why you are focusing on me in particular when several other people are saying pretty much the same things I am, or in some cases, stating even harsher opinions.

I get the feeling Ethan might be doing that because you have strong but smart opinions; you never mindlessly lash out, you usually have solid ground to base your assertions on and thus are worth responding to.

You do seem to take the Edge of Oblivion mess a tad bit personally...please note the "seem". I personally can't blame you if that's true, because EoO is a big step down in quality from Lost Army in terms of story (while the art is a big, maddening step up, as if compensation for the suck was taken into account somewhere during the creative process).

The Lantern Corps are my favorite characters, and I tried to defend EoO for the first issue (some of it had to do with B'dg, who was the hero of Lost Army, freeking out...which I loved). But after the second issue the whole thing just seemed messy and at best tired from a story-perspective (and that's not even taking into account the fact that the tether was bizarrely lost from Lost Army).

I keep up with EoO now just for Sciver's art alone, which I've done in the case of other artists' work as well (Jim Lee's awesome work on the overall meh "Batman:Hush" and Sciver's amazing work on the unnecessarily convoluted "Flash: Rebirth" come to mind).

[Sodam Yat]

Sodam Yat, thanks for those nice comments! I'm definitely the #1 Green Lantern fan in DC's creative community. I advocate for more and better Green Lantern books. And I'm here if you have any questions. Don't just speculate and create conspiracy theories with Desh. I'll answer your questions.

Best,
Ethan V.

Hi Ethan,

Again, thanks for having the time to communicate with us John Stewart fans and clarifying things that we said in the past. To clean things up, a lot of us here (including myself) are very ignorant on how DC works "behind the scene's" and lots of us here haven't been this close to DC creative users (which I'm hugely excited for of course), so we lack perception on how DC works. So all in all, excuse our ignorance.

I would have to admit that I am very upset with DC, even probably more so than some users here, including Desh. A lot of it was because I was like the only one who doubted anyone that John is going to get lesser focus in EoO. I, and others felt like whenever John gets the focus, it just feels like interruptions comes his way, which his story just gets cut short. And writers, who's willing to focus on the John Stewart character, don't get the chance to tell the story that they wanted to tell. So we came up with these speculation and conspiracies, since we didn't know how DC works. Sorry about that

Since myself and others are dissatisfied with John's lack of focus, I've been distancing myself from DC and moved onto where I would rather read fan fic comics that features John Stewart, where Desh is taking the time on working on that particular project. It may not sound like a big deal, but it is for myself and others, who rooted him for it. Why? Because Desh knows what we want, since he's a fan like all of us are. I would rather read that than to read a character, who lots of us are passionate about gets diminished for another GL at DC.

And yes, I totally agree with you about pitching some ideas towards the DC Green Lantern editors. I believe Desh is the best candidate here that can do it and we'll be rooting for him

[Desh]

I get the feeling Ethan might be doing that because you have strong but smart opinions; you never mindlessly lash out, you usually have solid ground to base your assertions on and thus are worth responding to.

You do seem to take the Edge of Oblivion mess a tad bit personally...please note the "seem". I personally can't blame you if that's true, because EoO is a big step down in quality from Lost Army in terms of story (while the art is a big, maddening step up, as if compensation for the suck was taken into account somewhere during the creative process)

Oh. Well, just to clear that up, I don't really care all that much. I've said before that DC will do what DC will do, and all I can do in response to that is either buy the product they put out or not. I don't have any say in their decisions, so there's no point to me about getting worked up about them, so if that's how I appear, that's not my intention. Also, I don't suspect sending an unsolicited pitch to whoever will change any of that, and it shouldn't even be my responsibility to do that. My position in this relationship (for lack of a better term) is to consume the products, not make them, since that's what we depend on the professionals to do. Like many other fans, however, I do have opinions on the products, so I will chime in on whether I like what the professionals are doing or not. In this instance, I don't like what they're doing. Sure, my views on Edge of Oblivion are negative... but just by looking around here, so are a bunch of other peoples', so I'm still not too sure why I'm special in that regard.

[Sodam Yat]

but just by looking around here, so are a bunch of other peoples', so I'm still not too sure why I'm special in that regard.

I think a lot of it is because you connect with other John fans. When other users think about John Stewart, they always think about you (as was said many times in other threads). You also have a website that seems to communicate with other users there, including users that's fans of other GL characters. I even see your website link on random Youtube comments.

[Desh]

Since myself and others are dissatisfied with John's lack of focus, I've been distancing myself from DC and moved onto where I would rather read fan fic comics that features John Stewart, where Desh is taking the time on working on that particular project. It may not sound like a big deal, but it is for myself and others, who rooted him for it. Why? Because Desh knows what we want, since he's a fan like all of us are. I would rather read that than to read a character, who lots of us are passionate about gets diminished for another GL at DC.

Thanks a lot! Yeah, I ultimately started doing that because I wasn't satisfied with what DC was doing with Green Lantern or John Stewart, and I'm still not satisfied. After reading a bunch of their comics and seeing how they treat John Stewart editorially, I knew I couldn't depend on them to bring out the character's potential, like how Bruce Timm did in the Justice League cartoons (note that wasn't from DC Comics). John would continually suffer under the weight of the 'Green Lantern as a concept' idea where he would just be a background cog while a bunch of other characters I'm not all that interested in would be the heroes of events and such, and there's no good character development, and apparently we're supposed to be okay with all of that, but it doesn't really work for me.

I think it's cool but also little upsetting if it's up to the fans to actually deliver stories that will satisfy fans, because it kinda' shows DC is REALLY out of touch with a lot of John's fans and doesn't really seem interested in getting in touch with them. But oh well.

Also, Sodam, your inbox is full.

[Sodam Yat]

Thanks a lot! Yeah, I ultimately started doing that because I wasn't satisfied with what DC was doing with Green Lantern or John Stewart, and I'm still not satisfied. After reading a bunch of their comics and seeing how they treat John Stewart editorially, I knew I couldn't depend on them to bring out the character's potential, like how Bruce Timm did in the Justice League cartoons (note that wasn't from DC Comics). John would continually suffer under the weight of the 'Green Lantern as a concept' idea where he would just be a background cog while a bunch of other characters I'm not all that interested in would be the heroes of events and such, and there's no good character development, and apparently we're supposed to be okay with all of that, but it doesn't really work for me.

Van Jensen and Cullen Bun were of course the only writers recently that we can all agree on that we were satisfied with their handling on John Stewart. He wasn't background with a lesser presence. I really wanted to see a real strong John Stewart story that's more character driven (that lacks in Green Lantern Corps at the moment), so if DC can't deliver that, I would just look somewhere else, where someone seems to appreciate the character.

I think it's cool but also little upsetting if it's up to the fans to actually deliver stories that will satisfy fans, because it kinda' shows DC is REALLY out of touch with a lot of John's fans and doesn't really seem interested in getting in touch with them. But oh well.

Also, Sodam, your inbox is full.

Although I definitely understand what you're saying on how it's a little upsetting for fans to deliver stories to DC editors, but I would just say do whatever it takes now. Yes it's not what we expect or anything, but that's probably the best way to go or only the only way to go. Hal Jordan is where he's at right now, because of his fanbase, H.E.A.T. And that group of fans did something about it like what we need to do.

Oh, and I cleared the inbox. Thanks.

[Desh]

Although I definitely understand what you're saying on how it's a little upsetting for fans to deliver stories to DC editors, but I would just say do whatever it takes now. Yes it's not what we expect or anything, but that's probably the best way to go or only the only way to go. Hal Jordan is where he's at right now, because of his fanbase, H.E.A.T. And that group of fans did something about it like what we need to do.

Oh, what I meant is that it's upsetting that fans have to resort to fanfic because the official stories with John are unsatisfying, but at the same time, it's cool to see all the support for fan projects.

[Sodam Yat]

Oh, what I meant is that it's upsetting that fans have to resort to fanfic because the official stories with John are unsatisfying, but at the same time, it's cool to see all the support for fan projects.

Ah ok. Sorry about that haha. That also makes sense, too.

[4sake Baned]

It's frustrating to me that you took THAT from what I wrote, Desh. You seem argumentative and negative for no reason.

"The people behind the scenes" have no agenda regarding John Stewart. Cullen wanted to write a story focused on John, so he did. Tom wanted to write a story more focused on Guy, so he did. I would have been happy to draw either, because I like GREEN LANTERN more than I like any one particular character. I just love the concept.

I think DC would publish a John Stewart Green Lantern title if a good enough pitch crossed their desk. He's as popular as Guy, nearly as popular as Hal.

So I put it to you, Desh. Pitch a fantastic GREEN LANTERN story featuring John Stewart to the Green Lantern editors. Or ask a writer you admire to do it.

Best,
Ethan V.

Their ether were/are ppl behind-the-scenes who wanted to kill John S yet theirs no agenda against him yet I'm willing bet a paycheck many of ppl who wanted him killed a few yrs back more likely than not still work at said company... You don't have agenda against doesn't mean other don't or once did..

To be blunt no here is being argumentative and negative for no reason, and especially not Desh (I say that some one disagree about good half his opinions on average), but to apply DC (it's self) handling (not Urs personal work on said character) of John S hasn't manufactured untrustworthy and negative from actual fans of his character ( not those happy to see very limited or cameo role) is disingenuous at best.. That on the company not the fans, we ( fans) respond to what DC decided what to be done/ not to be done with said character not the other way around..

[Captain13]

Thanks a lot! Yeah, I ultimately started doing that because I wasn't satisfied with what DC was doing with Green Lantern or John Stewart, and I'm still not satisfied. After reading a bunch of their comics and seeing how they treat John Stewart editorially, I knew I couldn't depend on them to bring out the character's potential, like how Bruce Timm did in the Justice League cartoons (note that wasn't from DC Comics). John would continually suffer under the weight of the 'Green Lantern as a concept' idea where he would just be a background cog while a bunch of other characters I'm not all that interested in would be the heroes of events and such, and there's no good character development, and apparently we're supposed to be okay with all of that, but it doesn't really work for me.

I think it's cool but also little upsetting if it's up to the fans to actually deliver stories that will satisfy fans, because it kinda' shows DC is REALLY out of touch with a lot of John's fans and doesn't really seem interested in getting in touch with them. But oh well.

Very well put. I've given up on the comics-side. I'm waiting for news on the movie side, but I'm already pretty set to go. All I wanted as a fan was for John to be treated the same way he was in the DCAU--as the face of the franchise, 3-dimensional, and idyllic. Unfortunately that's never happened despite his prominence in the public, and the only reason for 'why' I can think of is his race. Right now DC seems content with throwing John in the background, so I'll go retain my discontent of the movers-and-shakers at DC. Sure, the people behind the scenes may have diverse views, but the only view we've seen represented in 16+ years is that John is a background character, not even one who deserves consistent spotlight. And the view that's represented is the only one that matters. In addition, with all of the misleading promotion, editorial plans to kill the character after giving him no attention, and poor characterization over the years, I don't see why we shouldn't say anything about it. The only writer whose really shown that he's in John's corner isn't even going to be writing for the company during their 'Rebirth' period, which is bringing us 'Green Lanterns' (likely centered on Baz and Jessica) and 'Hal Jordan and [friends].' If DC wanted pitches on John, they could easily email writers to send pitches on John.