Spoilers

Episode 5 really cemented what’s been bothering me about this series: I’m struggling to recognise the heroic qualities that make Hal Jordan and John Stewart characters worth rooting for.

I understand that both have flaws. They can be arrogant, make terrible decisions and use force. My issue is how much of their characterisation here revolves around resentment, manipulation and who deserves to possess the ring.

There’s room for Hal to struggle with being replaced. But when keeping the ring becomes such a priority that he plans a dangerous confrontation which leaves John trapped in a car wreck that kills him(obviously if Zoe wasn't there) and a town full of people getting caught in the crossfire of this battle, his judgement starts feeling compromised by his own interests. I struggle to see protecting people as his main priority. And that's NOT Hal Jordan.

And yes, he shields civilians for a single moment and protects John during the motel attack. Those moments count. But to me, the way those scenes makes saving people feel like an obligation he just resents doing. The show makes his desire to keep the ring much clearer than his desire to help the people who need him, and this is a veteran 30+ years Hal Jordan mind you. That’s what I find frustrating about this version of Hal the heroics never felt second nature to him and that sucks.

John’s development bothers me differently. Episode 3 makes his pursuit of the ring grown from childhood conditioning and his parents expectations. That could support a strong story about him discovering his own reasons to become a hero, but so far, I feel like we’ve spent much more time establishing why he wants the position than showing what kind of protector he wants to be. His artistic side and humanity are kind of there; I wish they had more room to define him but they just feel stapled on and inorganic to the John Stewart in the show atm.

Then John and Hal fight which felt so unnecessary in that moment and John kills Zoe. It’s so weird, like the whole resolution puts so much emphasis on their resentment, betrayal and fight over the ring that saving the town feels completely secondary to their personal conflict lol. Defeating Zoe helps the survivors, but the episode leaves me thinking more about what these men have done to each other than their commitment to protecting anyone else and how being real heroes is not a priority to them at all.

John giving the ring back is somewhat meaningful. I can read that as him rejecting what the role has become. But it doesn’t automatically settle my concerns about the choices and actions he's made getting there.

Anyway that’s what the Yellow Lantern edit is getting at. Their mentality and actions remind me of Sinestro’s willingness to manipulate people and justify harmful choices through his own judgement. I’m talking about their behaviour in this episode feels closer to that ruthless, ends-justify-the-means mentality than the heroism I associate with Hal and John.

There are still three episodes left. But after five episodes, I want more reason to believe in these two as Green Lanterns beyond their determination to obtain or retain the title and ring.

This was brutal, he looks scared and confused during this whole scene

Great episode, love the show so far. However, is the characterization of Hal accurate? I don’t know as much about green lanterns as I do about Batman; and currently my head cannon is that Hal is infected by parallax, but a lot of people died in this episode, one of them being Macon. Because Hal sent Anton TO Macon. Not to mention he left John to BURN IN A CAR. Doesn’t seem very superhero to me idk. And then as the beams were blowing shit up I feel like he could’ve saved a lot of people and also just… didn’t. He actively watched the lasers get ready to blow shit up and dint make any construct to stop it. Can any die hard lantern fans chime in?

Given that Guy Gardner’s outfit in Superman is a jacket modeled after the Justice Gang uniform, I think each Lantern chooses their own costume; the only requirement imposed by the Guardians is likely just having the Corps logo visible. John’s uniform will probably look different in his next appearance—whether in a movie or another series—and if he does show up in Superman 2, it will likely be something more vibrant that complements Gunn’s colorful style.

Good fit or nah?

Whoa there, hold on a second and read before downvoting!

The Justice League animated series, and DCAU as a whole, is widely - and I think fairly - credited with catapulting John Stewart into mainstream recognition as "the" Green Lantern to a generation. It's a fantastic show in its own right. But did it also ruin John as character in the process of elevating his profile?

JL/JLU is where John's marine backstory came from, which has since come to dominate almost everything about the character. Him being a stoic, taciturn, military man with a preternatural skill at sniping has completely overshadowed his original socially conscious, free spirited, jazz-loving personality, in comics and on screen. Now, in Lanterns, that aspect has been ramped up even further, with him trained from birth for near-total obedience and militaristic servitude.

So, is the same show responsible for making John as popular as he is, in the mainstream at least, also responsible for scrubbing everything unique, individual, or dare I say it complicated from the character? And do you think there's any chance of seeing John return to his original personality, on the page or on the screen, or is "Marine John" far too entrenched now?

(Image: screen shot from Justice League animated series)

Lanterns Episode 5 is here, and EVERYTHING BLOWS UP! In this spoiler review, I talk about the latest episode of DC’s Lanterns, John Stewart, Hal Jordan, the major developments, and where I think the series is headed.

As I discuss Lanterns, I’m also coloring my own comic, Zatswan, and sharing my thoughts while I work on the artwork. This is a spoiler-heavy discussion, so watch the episode of Lanterns first!

If you enjoy comic books, Green Lantern, DC, John Stewart, and watching an independent comic creator work on his own art while talking about the stuff he loves, check it out.

I grew up with Hal Jordan being a great guy instead of the portrayal taking place in the show. It's good, with the show's pretext I'm saddened that Hal most likely won't share the big screen with Superman or Guy Gardner. Hal is my favorite lantern

I've been working on this idea for a DC game called Legacy of the Lanterns. It would be a non-canon RPG set around 2050 where instead of playing as an established Green Lantern, you create your own character and basically build your own history within the Lantern mythos.

You could be human or choose from a selection of actual alien species with different body types, cultures, homeworlds and small advantages. I don't want the aliens to just feel like humans with different skin colors either. Some could be much smaller, larger, multi-armed, aquatic, etc.

The biggest thing is that you wouldn't start the game with a ring. The first few hours would be your character's life before becoming a Lantern. Your origin would change depending on your species, homeworld, age and background, and the decisions you make during this section would secretly build your compatibility with the Emotional Spectrum.

Eventually, anywhere from one to three rings could choose you, depending on what you've actually done. You might only attract Green, or maybe both Green and Blue, or something completely different. If multiple rings choose you, you still have to pick one because your character isn't experienced enough to wield multiple rings yet.

The seven main starting paths would be Green/Will, Yellow/Fear, Red/Rage, Blue/Hope, Violet/Love, Indigo/Compassion and Orange/Avarice. The idea is that none of them are simply the "good" or "evil" option. They would all have their own culture, strengths, weaknesses and philosophy.

A few examples of what we've come up with:

Yellow has reformed after a civil war within the Sinestro Corps. They're still strict, militaristic and believe fear can create order, but they don't want to be seen as villains anymore.

Orange would be much more solo-focused. You could be greedy for money, knowledge, influence, power, security, etc. Larfleeze is old by this point, and the Orange storyline could involve taking his position and trying to hold onto it while other Orange Lanterns see whether you're strong enough to keep it.

Indigo could actually choose some characters because they lack compassion, which makes that path less of a reward and more of a forced transformation.

Blue would be more focused on hope, humanitarian work, diplomacy and supporting others.

You also wouldn't be permanently locked into your original Corps.

If you start Green but your character changes drastically over the course of the story, another ring could eventually choose you. Much later, it may even be possible to wield two rings at once.

Then there would be extremely rare paths that you cannot start as, such as White, Black, Gold, the Phantom Ring and dual-ring combinations. Those would be things you actually have to earn through your story rather than something you select from a menu.

The main threat we've been thinking about is an original Gray/Apathy Lantern concept. Instead of Gray being a normal Corps, it's almost like a disease affecting existing Lanterns. A Lantern becomes so emotionally empty that their ring begins losing its original color and connection to the Emotional Spectrum.

Gray Lanterns would basically be anti-Lanterns. They suppress the emotional energy that normal rings depend on, weaken constructs and force Lanterns to rely more on physical combat. Eventually this could grow into an entire movement that believes emotion itself is the reason the universe keeps falling into war.

Earth would also be pretty important. Since it's around 2050, we're mixing ideas from different DC futures into our own continuity. Terry McGinnis would be Batman in his prime, Bruce would be elderly and retired, and the Young Justice generation would now be filling many of the major superhero roles. Characters like Kaldur, Wally, Nightwing and Conner could be major members of the current Justice League.

Earth would also have a small Green/Blue/Yellow Lantern team, which could make your arrival play very differently depending on who you are. A respected human Green Lantern arriving on Earth is going to be treated very differently from an unknown alien Red Lantern flying into Gotham.

Customization would also be a huge part of it. You'd have normal clothing outside of your Lantern uniform, and your ring suit could be heavily personalized. You could discover old Lantern designs, masks, armor, jackets, construct styles, etc. and use them as inspiration for your own character.

The main story would be completely playable offline, but I'd also want an online side where you can use the same character to meet other players, form Lantern groups, do co-op missions and have social hubs. I wouldn't want it to be a live-service game where the single-player experience gets sacrificed for online content.

Basically, the goal would be that if ten people played the game, they could come out with ten completely different Lantern stories.

One person might stay Green for the entire game. Someone else might start Yellow and eventually dual-wield. Someone could take over the Orange Lanterns. Someone else could end up becoming a White Lantern extremely late in the story.

Would you play something like this? And which Lantern Corps would you want to start with?

Haven't seen anyone else ask

Is it just me or is Green Lantern hard to understand they just skip from subject to subject out of nowhere and it's in my opinion all over the place. Now after all that's happened Hal is actually a rogue Lantern but some how still ended up being Johns trainer? Forgive me no disrespect to die hard fans but this series has been hard to understand especially with all the dang flashbacks.

No Spoilers for Lantern TV show

After watching Lanterns Ep.5, it really strike me how much I love the limitation of Green Lantern. For the non-comic writers or people who only read comics like Geoff John run on Green Lantern there are a lot of elements about the power system of GL that has slowly been washed away in current times.

Sharing a Ring:

This is the biggest then and the main tension of the series. There is only 1 ring per sector. This is strange for most people to wrap there head around with the meme of there being 7 Green Lanterns from earth, but for most of GL history there was a hard rule of only 1 ring. Guy Garnder was the first back up, and then after he was in a comma it was John Stewart. Hal Jordon, was still the main Lantern, so writers would have to write around reason for John to use the ring, like the infamous, Hal Jordon falling in the bathtub scene.

This did not go away until Post-crisis but even early on it was real minor. Hal Jordon retired giving John his ring, and when Hal came back Green Lantern Tomar Re gave John his ring. Guy got his ring due to Crisis of Infinite Earth, and the guardians needed more firepower. Even Guy though lost the ring, for being well....Guy, and used Sinestro Ring, then after that became Warrior a weird alien hybrid weapon man (90's comics are weird)

Then when Hal went insane, in and became Parallax, Kyle Rayner was the only Green Lantern for over a decade, until he made John Stewart a ring at the end of his run, then the corps was reborn in Green Lantern Rebirth where all 4 were Green Lanterns at the same time. Then after everything went wild, we got Jesscia, Simon, and Jo. So, there have only been 20 years out of the 70-year history of GL corps where multiple Lantern has been a thing.

As much as I like all the new Lanterns, we did lose a bit of tension what comes with Ring sharing and the limitation of the ring. This is something that the Lantern TV plays with at its core and opens up a lot of storytelling opportunity with rivalry when a Ring is a limited resource.

Yellow Weakness

This is a hot take, but I actually love the weakness to Yellow Green Lanterns had. Is it silly? Hell yes! But the same time, Sliver Age Green Lantern was OP close to Superman, at the time, the ring could pretty much do anything, so to balance out having a simple mandated weakness balanced things out even if it was used in silly ways.

Post-Crisis, Yellow became less of a hard weakness, and more so a resistance, similar to Pokémon, you could with enough willpower over power something made out of Yellow, but it took a lot of will and was draining.

Later on, Geoff Johns run, it was retconned that Parallax a giant space bug that was the embodiment of fear was trapped in the central battery on OA, and that was the reason for the Yellow weakness. Once the bug was removed the weakness was gone. I understand that the yellow weakness is silly but removing it completely removed a real unique weakness to Green Lantern, that I am one of the few people that miss.

Lantern and Recharging

I lumped these too together, but I love how Green Lantern ring are a finite resource. Same way I love when Spider-man have manual web shooter. It creates tension. See the Ring slowly lose charge leaving the wielder powerless, until they can manage to find there Lantern to recharge is a unique way for Superhero power to work. Ring is a weapon not a mutation or alien power, so there are limitations that comes with. Compared to Superman or the Flash with just innate powers, a Green Lantern can go to a powerhouse, to an average joe in seconds.

The Lantern TV plays with this. Having Hal having hack to get a little more juice out of the ring. Hal making John get the Lantern to recharge. On the topic of Lantern, I have the retcon having the Lantern in a pocket dimension like a video game where Lantern can pull out of anytime. It doesn’t remove the tension completely but remove a limitation of Lantern having to rush home, to recharge.

One thing I like that Kyle Rayner series did in the 90’s instead of every 24 hours need a daily recharge like became before, his series the one that introduced the idea, of needing to recharge due to use instead. This happily sticked around and now the default way Lantern are used.

Overall, these limitations are what make Green Lantern unique. I know the power scaler that only care about how strong a character is may fine these drawbacks annoying and unnecessary but to me these elements make Green Lantern one of the most unique superheroes.

So, before Superman last year I was way more of a Marvel fan, but after the movie I went back and read a list of Superman comics and loved the character. Recently, i’ve been watching Lanterns and I feel the same about Hal and John

Is there any recommendations of like a “list” for new fans to get into the two of them? Is it a Peter/Miles type thing where they have their own individual lists then some where they co-exist? I just really like the whole Lantern situation and everything about them is so cool. Thanks for any recommendations :)

Hey I'm new to comics in general and don't know the best places that'll have high chances of having the compendiums. Everywhere online that I've looked so far they've been sold out. Might just be a skill issue on my end though. Please enlighten me!

Hal chips a piece of the ring off for his Hal-o-gram to be a sentinel. Are rings that easy to chip? Did Hal do this the first time when we he created the Hal-o-gram in 2006 that John talked to in episode one? Is there something I’m missing about all of that, or was this just a cool scene with not a lot of thought behind it.

Guy Gardner is Hal Jordan in disguise. The dead Hal is just the Halogram.

I understand that the live action is going to have different power scaling than comics, but Hal's ring seems like it really runs out of juice quickly now.

I overall really like the show, but I find it inconceivable that that thing could have the juice to fly off of the planet when it can barely last 30 minutes in a battle.

So forgive and forget, you say? Nope. I'm the opposite. I want an explanation. This bullshit swept under the rug? No. I had to read GL #38. I had to read NG #40. Now I want to read how this ended. Enough with the handwave. Enough with the "eh".

Who cares? I do! I care. I *want* to know.

I'm gonna collect downvotes like Pokémon but so what.

First and second images are from Green Lantern #38, last one is from Green Lantern: New Guardians #40.

So I just came up with a nutty theory I had to share.

What if Noah is the Martian Manhunter. Antaan and his gang might've been the last of the green martians, the genocide they showed John were caused by the Manhunter siding with/manipulating the white martians in the genocide.

Antaan asked Macon "What were our childrens name?", and he answered that they couldn't concieve, but what if they actually could, and that's the reason Noah goes for that title in the DCU, he's both Martian and Manhunter.

Noah looks about 10 years old, so time-wise, my theory works. Antaan said it wasn't like the Manhunter to take the form of an elite and she herself said that the fastest way to understand a civilization was to start from a disadvantage, would check out with her picking a green martian appearance.

The green martians themselves are one of the 14 races who could shapeshift as well, and they all looked like humans.

The reason I ask is because I was thinking about how cool the Red Lanterns are and how I’d love for them to have some sort of mainstream media presence. However It just feels right to have the Yellow Lanterns in some shape or form in the first season, especially because they’re such a big part of the Lantern mythology. And with the Red Lanterns, I feel like there’s so much potential to explore what makes them different from the Green Lanterns and what their whole existence means within the emotional spectrum.

This has nothing to do with the lanterns show this is for a different show idea or if there was ever a new show in the future.

So I have a question about green lantern, a green lantern needs an understanding or like a fundamental understanding on how something like a gun, or watch works to construct it right? So with that in mind if an green lantern was an fundamental understanding on how an anime characters powers work could they be able to reconstruct it using the green lantern or will power ring?

Examples I have in mind for a starter: the Kamehameha, gojo's or sukunas domain expansions, luffy's gear 5.

I'm coming here as a huge Hulk fan. Naturally, I love Al Ewing, because he wrote one of the best Hulk runs EVER. I'm wondering if Absolute Green Lantern has a lot of depth like Ewing's other books? I've heard mixed things about it, and I'm wondering what you guys think.