The powers-that-be at DC Comics have tried to make modern Hal Jordan out to be a legendary but ultimately human hero; unfortunately, they’ve given us nothing but evidence to the contrary.
Before you angrily comment that I’m just bashing Hal here, slow down a second. Need I remind you that I grew up reading Hal’s adventures, and he remains my favorite Green Lantern? My problems with Green Lantern: Rebirth and the following stories weren’t only due to their denigration of Kyle Rayner. I also had a serious problem with the way all of Hal’s problems and quirks were written off as a result of Parallax’s influence. The Infinite Crisis series wrote off even more of them by explaining that as a result of Superboy Prime punching the walls of reality, many of Hal’s low points (and Kyle’s high points) never happened in the first place! (Of course, who knows where that stands now, since Dan DiDio has stated that post-Flashpoint, none of the Crisis events occurred. Make of that mess what you will.)
Hal in decades past was a much more richly developed character. To be fair, we’ll skip everything up until about 1970, as the number of Silver Age characters who were written well ranges from few to none. Hal had a power ring at his disposal, and he regularly faced down cosmic threats…but he also had his home life to deal with, as well as friends and loved ones he had to interact with both in and out of uniform. The relationships depicted here were well crafted, especially when the disparity between what he could get away with as Green Lantern compared to plain ol’ Hal was explored.
I know I bring up Green Lantern (Vol. 2) #76 a lot, but it’s with good reason. That story kicked off a long series of great tales that equally featured Hal’s superhero and human sides, showing that even one of the greatest Green Lanterns in history was far from perfect. (I was really pissed that Hal’s feelings of doubt and confusion during the “Hard Traveling Heroes” era were blamed on Parallax during Rebirth.)
Even Hal as Parallax (the original, superior version, not the stupid space bug) was interesting to read. He genuinely saw himself as an antihero who was doing the right thing, not some mustache-twirling villain. He agonized over his decisions, feeling regret and anger even when he was trying to fix the universe’s problems.
Post-Rebirth, everything just felt bleached. Hal started out back as an Air Force pilot, and he did have some interesting interactions with other officers and pilots (namely Cowgirl), but that was quickly abandoned in favor of event after event, all based on the emotional spectrum. (Which continues to this day.) Hal’s humanity was left by the wayside in favor of him having no lasting problems whatsoever. Worse yet, Hal hasn’t even been the star of his own damned book since 2007; after “The Sinestro Corps War” the other color Lanterns took center stage, with Hal remaining in the background. Except for a few fleeting moments here and there, Hal was just a supporting character, and that’s bullshit.
This is all rather bleak, but things might be turning around a bit. Green Lantern (Vol. 5) #1 shows Hal down in the dumps, facing unemployment and all sorts of other problems on Earth without his ring; in other words, he’s having to deal with real-world issues like the rest of us normal folks. If we can keep up that portrayal, even after Hal inevitably gets his ring back, then we’ll be golden.
It just begs the question of why reversing those decades of human storytelling were even necessary in the first place. Flawless heroes are boring as shit; bringing them down to Earth makes them much more compelling to read. (That’s why the Kyle era was so great.) Hal Jordan’s always worked well as a fearless but human character; it’s high time that creators bring that back for good.
As someone who’s read a huge portion of the comics from the 60s, 70s, 80s on up, I have to say – your summation of the stories and characterizations attributed to each era strikes me as being **way** off the mark. For example, the 60s and 70s:
1. 60s – this is actually the most rounded, balanced portrayal of Hal there is. There’s not a *lot* of stories centered on personality flaws, though several of the ones Geoff Johns gets credited for first appeared then – egotism, callousness, brashness, etc.
But the humanity, character bits, supporting cast and dialogue are all top notch – Hal, Carol, Tom, Tegra, Barry Allen, the Jordan brothers (and Suan Jordan), Tomar Re and of course the snivelling Sinestro. And what the creative team won accolades for was making GL’s motivations, reactions and actions fairly realistic, at least compared to the sometimes insane world around him.
But – paraphrasing Grant Morrison from his novel Supergods, they eventually had Hal re-examine his Earthbound life in the mid-60s, which totally makes sense – leaving the Earth, meeting aliens, being chosen for an awesome responsibility – Hal had seen so much, experienced so much. And for someone who was already an adrenaline junkie, what else in the world could ever match having a power ring, fighting Sinestro, being peers with Superman and Flash, etc? Hence Hal losing focus on his personal life until it cost him Carol, his job and his life in Coast City. He hit the road for a memorable run where he tried to remake his life, figure himself out. (Interspersed with fights with Evil Star, Sinestro and random bank robbers.)
Key point being – this was all well before the GL/GA issues ever hit. Few mainstream comics today explore those kinds of long-form character arcs. But over 40 years ago? It was remarkably adult material – arguably too much so for the audience.
2. 70s – Going back to Grant Morrison’s Supergods, he reviewed the Denny O’Neil GL/GA stories, and how well they fit the turbulent late 60s ethos. The notion of self-doubt and questioning authority were great themes to hit on. But ultimately O’Neil reduced Hal’s character to a cop who needed to learn a lesson. He also made Green Arrow the leading man and life of the party, pitted against Hal as an old-fashioned authority figure. And while the Baby Boomer / middle age self-doubt bit was an interesting twist, it virtually erased the character who existed prior – the daredevil pilot, the head-first adventure character, the confident ladies man – basically Captain Kirk before Captain Kirk existed. Worse, at least 2 generations of comic professionals grew up revering those stories, and thinking it was the template for how to write GL – when it was really the template for Green Arrow.
Geoff Johns, while not a great writer, deserves credit for correcting this. He went back to the core fo the character, as derived from those 60s stories, and rebuilt from there. And it’s no accident that it worked out so well. If Johns had been around and done his wacky Sinestro Corps / Blackest Night stories in the 80s, there would have been a GL movie and/or cartoon 20 years ago.
In that sense, it’s amazing how long it took someone at DC to “get it”.
Cripes, your comment’s longer than many of my posts! Well done, sir.
Glad to hear your thoughts on Hal through the ages. I’ve read all of his adventures from the very beginning to the present day; hey, I’ve had decades to do so! I agree with most of your points, but there’s still a few sticklers. For example, the core of Hal’s character in the ’60s was also extremely sexist and racist. I know it was a product of the times, but the fact remains that Hal was neither a progressive nor tolerant fellow back then. That’s something most of us would rather forget.
In that sense, Hal did need a lesson. Green Arrow was the perfect teacher archetype. (And the boost in sales didn’t hurt either, I’m sure…)
Also, bear in mind that Hal’s job-jumping and road trips in the ’60s and ’70s were retconned via Rebirth and later stories as to have been the fault of Parallax’s influence. That’s what I’ve got a big problem with; the trials he went through were superheroic, sure, but also still very human. Blaming them all on a giant space bug covertly influencing his mind was sloppy and insulting. Geoff Johns wasn’t going back to the true core of the character; instead, he went back to what he thought was the “real” Hal. It was one big nostalgia trip, for better or for worse. We all know things often seem a lot better in our memories than they truly are. If Johns accurately wanted to return Hal to his Silver Age roots, then his reborn Hal would be a hardcore sexist and racist again, and that sure as hell wouldn’t last very long on modern shelves!
I strongly disagree that Johns “corrected” anything. He’s run rampant with retcons in almost every single issue, and he even constantly rewrites his own work! That’s not “correcting,” that’s throwing out long-term storytelling for the sake of short-term sales. (DC’s not complaining; it worked!) This has been a problem since Rebirth, and it’s only within the past year or so that even his apologists are starting to wake up to it. The only reason Johns’ Green Lantern relaunch was so popular is a) there was a bitter divide between hardcore Hal fans and Kyle fans ever since “Emerald Twilight” (which was ridiculous; can’t we all just get along?), and b) he brought Hal back while downplaying Kyle. Simple as that; even Alex Ross exclaimed “We won!” when Hal returned as GL, and Johns continued to dismantle Kyle’s history and accomplishments over the next few years (with a little help from Dan DiDio, of course). It’s only in the past year or two that they’ve wised up and realized that all of the Earth Lanterns can easily coexist and have their unique strong points.
At any rate, the main point of my original post still stands: Hal’s been written terribly lately, especially in Green Lantern (Vol. 5) #2, and it really has to stop.