LanternCast Presents: Green Lantern: Pre-Birth #6 – The Spectre #5!
Hal Jordan gets an important lesson in the nature of duality as he and the Spectre confront the ultimate example of it: Two-Face! Can Harvey Dent live without Two-Face? And can Hal Jordan live without the Spectre? Take a listen and you might just find out! All that, plus Rebirth speculation, Toy talk and more!
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Download the episode HERE!
Great discussion and speculation on the post-Rebirth state of Green Lantern.
I gave up on DC just as FOREVER EVIL was beginning so I’ve never seen Green Ring or Power Ring or whatever her name is in anything and I always forget she exists until somebody on this podcast mentions her. Truth is, I forget Simon Baz exists, too.
John Stewart is the Green Lantern I want to love but really have no reason to. He is handicapped by the time he was created. His origin isn’t iconic or timeless. He was existed solely to be the black Green Lantern because DC wanted one. What made him special at the time was his righteous anger that most,y came off as irritation. And his fearlessness was his willingness to not hide behind the mask? It’s easy to not hide when you have a super weapon on your finger. Hal Jordan flew jets that could explode at any moment.
I think DC realized that and tried to course-correct in the 2000s by making him a Marine. But that’s boring and it traps him in a soldier-shaped box. Now that’s his whole life, his whole attitude, and it takes away any contrast or supporting cast he might have.
I would like DC to ironically go back to the character’s roots and embrace the social commentary of the character. Make it a relevant deal that he’s the black Green Lantern. He should be in Fergusson or Baltimore standing up against police forces that gun down unarmed black teenagers. #BlackGLsMatter That’s where you can see his willpower and fearlessness; that’s why he’s worthy of the ring.
Okay… Moving onto a different soapbox.
I love the Green Lanterns but I honestly don’t think the “franchise” should consist of any more than two books: one Green Lantern title starring the main GL of Earth, be it Hal or John or whoever, doing classic superhero stuff, and one Green Lantern Corps book that’s an ensemble starring one or two other human GLs plus a rotating crop of aliens doing space cop stories that blend Hillstreet Blues with the Clone Wars.
I generally have little-to-no interest in books starring villains because they always turn the protagonists into anti-heroes. I don’t want Sinestro in his own book. I don’t want the Red Lanterns to have their own book, or Larfleeze. In fact, after Rebirth I would like a two year moratorium on using the other corps. The only rings I want to see are the Green Lanterns. The other corps make the GLs less special, like when you have a city full of new Kryptonians land on Earth, or when every man and woman in Bruce Banner’s life becomes a new kind of Hulk. I enjoyed the War of Light ramping up to Blackest Night but it’s time to put those ideas away for a while.
Anyway, great episode, Mark. Sorry you fired Chad but I’m sure it’s for the best.