Didn't Sharp reference Castlvania in The Green Lantern? Geez, the fact that Morrison's entire first half of The Green Lantern was pitting him against a vampire also should have tipped me off that Hal was going to be a vampire, too.
Yeah, my surprise at that "twist" is looking more and more silly on my part...
Well, Aquaman and GA currently have a team-up mini. And it seems like Arthur and Jackson might get an Aquamen series together.
As for Hal, it's not even just that he's not as prominent as he once was but the quality of his appearance in Elseworld comics within close proximity of each other. Like people complaining about all the evil versions of Superman.
Well, Bored, with due respect, and I can't speak for everyone, of course, but I had almost no complaints about Hal's lack of appearances elsewhere during the Morrison run and I don't think I was even on this board during the HJGLC run. I've also made it clear multiple times that there's a fine line between being disappointed or sad at the way a character is portrayed and acting like an entitled fan. I think there's additional pressure on Hal fans in this regard because of the past history with H.E.A.T. and what not but it's not like I'm losing sleep over this or even that I'm particularly angry, I'm just sharing my feelings that I don't think these (especially Vampires, or DCeased, unlike Last Ride which I like quite a bit) are instances of particularly strong or good writing with respect to the character. In my very first post regarding this, I made it clear that it's not a matter of Hal being expendable in an event like this or not even that he needs to have a super prominent role, it's just that you can still turn him into a vampire or kill him off in ways that feel truer to the character.
I don't need Hal to be popular, not at all (I think we've had better Hal Jordan stories since 2008 actually in the form of King's Darkseid War one-shot and the Morrison run). I just want him in good stories where he's portrayed well, even if it's in a team book where he's not the lead (I don't think Venditti's HJGLC was very good in this regard either in spite of having Hal front and center).
As a young whipper-snapper, I think we are well within our bounds to express our disappointment with an instance of writing unless we are being super obnoxious about it (and like I said, I'm not losing sleep over it or anything, I'll probably forget about it by the end of this week but it is somewhat disappointing).
P.S.: Regarding my comment about us not even knowing what's up with Hal at the moment, I meant that we'll probably know about what's up with Carol once we know what Hal himself has actually been up to. On a more positive note, I really liked Hal's appearance in the Waid WW 80th anniversary story.
Last edited by Mutatis_Mutandis; 10-27-2021 at 10:35 PM.
For when my rants on the forums just aren’t enough: https://thevindicativevordan.tumblr.com/
Avatar: Here's to the late, great Steve Dillon. Best. Punisher. Artist. EVER!
Given the season we're at, I wonder how a horror-themed GL title starring Hal would turn out. I know there were some horror-based issues in the Morrison/Sharp run, but what if they did an actual horror-based GL miniseries. Would Hal even be the right Lantern to use in a book like that given his "nothing can phase me" shtick. Maybe that would be the intriguing part.
I think it is a double edged sword. Would many people care if, for example, Simon was turned into a vampire? Probably not, but Hal being turned did generate some buzz (be it negative or positive) so in a way it shows that DC and fans care about Hal. You know kinda how every new super powerful villain has to kick Superman's ass to show that he really is a threat. Many Superman fans hate this trope and I feel like Hal is moving into "we need GL to fail to show that this is serious business? Hal, because he matters". Tricky part is to keep it balanced.
So you know, if we get good showing to counter balance these "Hal taken out" stories then I'm good.
I think that's one of the reasons why I'm so intrigued by Hal's role in DC vs. Vampires. We've already seen him face an entire planet of vampires and come out on top during Morrison & Sharp's run. To see him do it again would kind of feel like a "Been there, done that" for Hal.
But having him secretly be a vampire working within the League has a lot of potential. And Otto Shmidt's art certainly helps
I'm of the same mind. If there's a third story in the next few months in which Hal is possessed by an evil entity, then I'll be right there with you guys complaining about them returning to that same well again, but, right now, it seems a little premature, particularly since Last Ride feels like it's going to give Hal a pretty cool comeback arc. And it helps that my favorite Hal Jordan is a Hal Jordan without powers. That's where we really get to see why Hal's so cool. He's always been more than the ring.
I dunno about that. One of the best twists of DCeased was turning Batman into a zombie right away. They obviously can't pull that trick twice, but I wouldn't be surprised if this comes down to Ollie and the Big Bad who killed his best friend and used his body to betray his friends.
Shmidt loves Ollie...
Yes, I get that, just thought I'd clarify so that there's no unnecessary hostility (tone can be difficult to read on the internet sometimes). You're definitely one of my favourite posters so I hope there hasn't been any miscommunication. I think most of us are very aware when fan behaviour can dip into toxicity so while I try my best to not enter that territory, I'm always glad you're around to offset the negativity and keep us on the right track.
Agreed with everything you've said here.
Last edited by Mutatis_Mutandis; 10-28-2021 at 03:49 AM.
I'd definitely be down for Hal stories where he's put in some really out there settings. A space western, space noir, space horror—these could all work imo with an interesting writer and we got glimpses of all of these in Morrison's run. Maybe just have Hal be a space drifter/adventurer drifting from planets to planets with very different settings, kind of like Doctor Who.
For a horror book to really work with Hal as a character, I think you'd have to make the horror more existential in a way that highlights what makes the character tick (what really makes him a man without fear or what overcoming great fear really means). But that's not going to work for a DCU spanning event like DC vs. Vampires, so I don't really have any complaints of Hal not taking up a protagonist role in this kind of a story. It would work better imo in the context of a Hal/GL-centric story.
Last edited by Mutatis_Mutandis; 10-28-2021 at 03:55 AM.