Comments | thehefner: Why Hal Jordan Matters (To Me)

thehefner

Why Hal Jordan Matters (To Me)

Sep 09, 2008 19:16

Over the past few days, it seems there's been a sudden resurgence in Hal Jordan hatred on scans_daily. I'm not surprised, but I'm frankly disappointed. I don't wanna get all butthurt, but damn it, I'd thought we were beyond this bullcrap after all these years. Let me tell you, nothing stirs up passion of all extremes like the Green Lantern mythos.

Valerie D ( Read more... )

green lantern, for the three people who get it, comic book movies, harvey dent

Comments 33

suburbfabulous September 10 2008, 00:22:35 UTC

Yeah. You tell 'em, Hef.

thehefner September 10 2008, 00:29:06 UTC

Maybe I will, man. Someday, perhaps someday soon, maybe I will at that.

philippos42 September 10 2008, 00:57:18 UTC

Hm. I guess I always liked the alien GLs better. I didn't have a strong read on Hal until he was already frightfully old & way too lionized by the writers (mid-1980's). He wasn't too insufferable, but the, "Arisia ages herself to sleep with him," arc was a turnoff. Then there was the awful-awful Action Comics Weekly strip & the stripping away of the Corps, which just ended it for me.

thehefner September 10 2008, 00:59:15 UTC

Yeah, hardly the greatest eras for the character, and most definitely not the ones by which Hal should be judged. Especially not twenty years later.

radiumhead September 10 2008, 02:12:42 UTC

Guy is the best Green Lantern. Hal sucks.

The reason Hal is number #1 is they always let the boring guy win over the cool guy. Because it would make the boring people who read comics feel insecure.

The GL movie should be about Guy.

thehefner September 10 2008, 02:17:42 UTC

Welp, thanks for that insight.

radiumhead September 10 2008, 02:27:21 UTC

It's not personal.

But I havent read every GL book with Jordan in it. Maybe there's some cool ones. But Guy is better.

thehefner September 10 2008, 02:33:51 UTC

No, I know, and I can certainly understand preferring the awesomeness that is Mr. Guy Gardner. The dude's the balls of the GLC, gotta love 'im.

But you'll notice I did just make this whole post as a way of dealing with my frustrations with people who generally have little more to say than "Hal sucks."

Where, oh where.... american_arcane September 10 2008, 02:19:55 UTC

...were people like you when I was reading comics regularly? *sigh*

I had no one to have conversations like that with in my little hole in the wall town. (Where the comic book shop closed when I stopped buying comics... further reinforcing the idea that I must have been the only one buying $100 worth of books a month for a while...)

Anyway...

My only real Green Lantern exposure was to the Silver Age version of my father's cache of comics. Rarely the deepest stories there, in the early to mid 60s... but I did always like the character. Or, at least, the nifty powers... I really didn't have a lot to go on from those old books.

Re: Where, oh where.... thehefner September 10 2008, 02:25:27 UTC

Hell, pally, where were people like you when I actually was getting into comics? Hell, even today, I only have a tiny handful people with whom I can really discuss comics in person. God bless the internet in this respect, eh?

Have you read DC: THE NEW FRONTIER? Even without hearing that above description of your GL exposure, I'd strongly recommend that as a must-read all around.

Re: Where, oh where.... radiumhead September 10 2008, 02:30:55 UTC

New Frontier is what they call a "ret-con". (I think). They take a shitty character, and say "hey, he isn't shitty, he used to be cool, or always was cool".

I loved that comic though.

Oh, the other comment wasn't a swipe at you, it was a general thing-I've noticed in most stories the boring character is the lead, and the cool, non-boring character is always a supporting character. This was true until they introduced Wolverine, and started re-vamping Batman. My opinion is that I think writers thing "normal" people won't identify with a lead character who isn't boring.

Re: Where, oh where.... thehefner September 10 2008, 02:37:26 UTC

Not really a retcon, since it's out of continuity. It's just a stand-alone dealie. Is there even a term for that?

And again, I know. And also, adding to what I said above, said frustrations also stem from the fact that I can't really argue with such opinions, not in a way that'll really matter. So I'm just like, *throws hands in the air,* well, that's that then. Nowhere else I can go from here.

kali921 September 10 2008, 02:54:27 UTC

DAMN RIGHT. This is one of the better meta pieces I've seen on Hal, and I so agree with you. I actually warmed up to Johns new GL series a little sooner than you did, but god, did he get off to a rocky start for all of the right reasons. See, that's the thing: when Johns screws up with Hal, he does it for the right reasons. He still screws up a bit, but he does it with the kind of fanboy love for pretty much the ENTIRE CAST that makes me sympathize with him as a writer and want to forgive his faults. (Except on the JSA book, which is devolving into schmaltz after such a great start ( ... )

thehefner September 10 2008, 03:06:20 UTC

Awesome, glad you dug it! Means a lot, really. Glad to know it's not all just me imposing my personal feelings on a character which might or might not really be there. And you're totally right on Johns; like I said, there's this earnestness with his writing that even when he fails, you can tell it wasn't from lack of sincere love for the characters.

Yeah, JSA is increasingly "ehh." But I must admit, I'm mightily intrigued by Gog as a character. I kind of love how we're all clearly waiting for the other shoe to drop, and how the heroes are honestly not dumb enough to let their guard down, but Gog still hasn't really done anything outright evil yet. It's a nice tense twist on an old superhero trope.

I love that you have an Elektra motivational poster on your wall. Love it. Did you see back when they made officially licensed motivational posters with Frank and Magneto? Or are those the ones you mean ( ... )

kali921 September 10 2008, 04:08:24 UTC

At work I have Carter, Diana, She-Hulk, Elektra, Hal, Mitchell Hundred & Kremlin, and the entire main cast of Annihilation as painted by Dell'Otto staring at me from various walls. Elektra and Hal are for motivation for excellence and bravery. Diana's for compassion and bravery. Carter's for toughness and for allowing no bullshit. Jen is for joy and intellectual acumen and for physical and emotional strength, Mitchell and Kremlin are for perseverance, and Annihilation is just for flat out asskicking awesome. See? Superheroes are like homeopathic flower remedies!

I also have some Jamie McKelvie prints, but they're just for the pretty.

(And, truly, if you're talking about dedication to excellence at your craft, you can do no better than Elektra. That's what she lives and breathes for and that's ALL she has to live for. That's why she's such a pure character, even in her absolutely FUBARED life with no hope ever for happiness. She can only find happiness and satori in her craft, and her craft is KICKING ASS.)