Drunken Comics Rage

At last year's Comicon, I bought me a Green Lantern t-shirt.  It seemed the right thing to do.

Now, the reality is that I'd never actually read a GL comic.  Sue me.

So promptly after returning home, I perused Amazon for a GL collection.  I settled on Rebirth, with the idea that I'd follow that up with the collections of the ongoing Hal Jordan series.  I mean, if you're gonna dive into GL, why not Hal, right?

I actually sorta liked Rebirth.  Until I got mocked by others…*ahem* EvilArtist *ahem*…for having the audacity to think anything by Geoff Johns might not be dumb.  How naive was I?

So I recently acquired the first year, essentially, of Green Lantern starring HAL JORDAN.  I'm through the first book, and halfway through the second.  My reaction: a definitive 'eh'.

They aren't bad, by any definition.  But…I'm left wishing for more.

And maybe my expectations are outta whack, ya know?  Its not like I have a long history of DC reading…I'm a damned Marvel zombie…but still.  They run some folks at Hal here…German speaking aliens who apparently are responsible for the dude with the giant brain, and some scary shark guy.  And a dude with a fake hand that, umm, touches people to death.  That's all alright.

But this is HAL fucking JORDAN.  I'm sorta expecting him to win a staring contest with Darkseid or something, right?  And yeah, maybe Darkseid is still dead, I dunno, but you get my point right?  HAL fucking JORDAN.

"I'm BACK!  And your yellow jammies no longer scare me!  YEEEEAAAAARRRGGGHHH!!"

I appreciate they rolled out Green Arrow for the start of the second set of six books.  They even made a point to have GA explicitly say GL's pure will power saved them from scary roses.  Great.

But…geez.

Is this one of those things where there is no right way?  I mean, this dude is the GREATEST Green Lantern ever.  EVER.  And, by the way, he's been some crazy bigger-than-the-universe thing, and he's been The Spectre or something…and now I'm supposed to buy that he's back, and human, and all well-adjusted and shit, and joined the AIr Force, and all is good.

I dunno.

In Rebirth, I sorta thought the whole Batman suspicion thing was overdone.  All a setup, to have Hal clock The Bat to remind us all of what a hard ass HAL fucking JORDAN was, right?

But now I look at the cover to the next issue in the collection, and The Bat and Hal duking it out…and I think, MAYBE this whole thing should have been more about Hal having to prove himself to Batman.  Maybe this whole thing should have been about "All of Coastal City died, and then I almost ate the sun, and became a god, and then the spirit of universal justice, and mebbe that all shouldn't be overlooked"…and a bit darker.

Maybe I'm on a redemption kick after seeing Spidey 3.

But maybe I WANTED to see Hal return to being that one dude, that dude that if you HAD to pick ONE guy to beat both Supes and Bats in a fight…and I WANTED to see him pay, somehow, to return to that.  But I WANTED to see him there.  But what I've seen is him beat scary roses, and that shark guy, and the German-speaking aliens, and also join the Air Force.  And, umm, get in touch with his family or something.

But you know what I want?

"Beware my power."

"Green Lantern's light."

Filed under: DC Comics, Monkey Rage