The Big Picture: Going Green, Part II

[[Esoteric Reference]]

It really bothers me that they just reset the Green Lantern after such a huge amount of character development. What's the point of telling a story where the Protagonist isn't allowed to grow at all? Sure they did the reset in an interesting and compelling way, but nothing was really changed was it? We didn't learn anything did we?

This is why I'd like to see an episode on why Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore are awesome, I mean come on: MORPHEUS! CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! COMPLEX THEMES AND MYTHOLOGY! THE MOTHERFUCKING ENDLESS! PROMETHEA!

So far you've barely even touched on these guy's work.

Do it Bob! The world needs to know! And don't tell me to do it cause no one listens to me... ever.

 

[messy]

That whole Necron thing sounds freaking awesome.

It is, seriously Blackest Night is one of the best comics I've ever read. I mean I am quite the fan of Hal Jordon (HEAT was before my time). Now don't get me wrong I love the modern batman and xmen comics but it is nice to have comic that doesn't have to be dark and edgy all the time. Some time its cool to watch someone fly through the air and shoot off a laser beam or two.

All said and done, I'm not surprised that John Stewart was the Green Lantern they chose for the Justice League cartoon. Much more straight forward.

The problem with John Stewart in the Justice League was that he was so uncreative. Fire lasers, surround himself with energy so he can fly, push stuff around, pick stuff up, maybe make a WALL if he's feeling really creative.

They also sorta forgot about the crazy weakness, until the episode where they found some parallel superheroes, and Green Lantern's counterpart, the Green Guardsman, couldn't handle aluminum

Yeah see in the Comics John has some of the coolest constructs (what with being an architect and stuff). Also there's one where, and I think it is John, he makes a sniper rifle. Its awesome.

 

[Frozengale]

Wait... on the whole Necron thing, wouldn't it have been easier to just keep them dead instead of resurrecting them as such... and not having a good guy counter part to them as well? I mean unless you get multiple versions for every death variant... it seems needlessly complicated. I might have to go look this up on some sort of comic wiki.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

I found that genuinly interesting!
A rather fitting reason for why Superheroes just won't DIE. I suppose the problem with having a fanbase of geeks is that they refuse to let things change, but also refuse to let it go without explanation.

Though like all superhero continuities, things will inevitably get silly.
Then again if it wasn't- Bob wouldn't have a show!

 

[nekroskoma]

thank you bob for the slow clap pause, cause i used it to laugh my ass off

 

[tenochtitlan]

Yep, slow clap pause was genius - Bob, you are now officially a potato battery

 

[duck-man]

Have people yet mentioned that if you're Really familiar with the light spectrum, there should be infrared, Ultraviolet, Radio frequency, Microwave...... And a host of alternating good and bad emotions to go with!
Which are probably still technically colours....

 

[ZeroAE]

Thank you Bob.
This knowledge will be useful....someday....somehow.

 

[Revolutionary]

I love batman..what an empirical badass.

 

[Sabrestar]

Y'know, part of the reason I like history lessons like this (and yes, I consider even fictional-universe histories to be valuable) is that they're rich sources of ideas for my own amateur writing projects. Being all fascinated with how to put complex storylines together, without necessarily planning every last detail out beforehand, well, that's how I roll.

Agreed, the explanation for all the death and rebirth actually is quite brilliant. Makes a stunning amount of sense, especially in seat-of-the-pants comics continuity. (Also interesting that even DC fell victim to Necron Syndrome around the same time Final Fantasy did...)

I knew nothing about GL before these last two weeks (well, apart from green is good, yellow is bad, and there's a green hottie named Jade in there somewhere) so this was really informative, and I think gave me some ideas of my own. Thanks!

 

[SpaceMedarotterX]

All said and done, I'm not surprised that John Stewart was the Green Lantern they chose for the Justice League cartoon. Much more straight forward.

Well... again their is a little more too it that that.

See it was always going to either be Kyle or John, Kyle had previously been introduced into the DCU via Superman the Animated Series. However his origin was Hals and he looked like Hal, though he was still an artist.

Dwayne McDuffie who was one of the key people on the Justice League Cartoon and who had previously owned and operated Milestone Comics (better known as those guys who made Static) and he realized that the league needed a black representative. The problem with using John Stewert was... well he was boring. John had always been 'Angry Black Guy who got less angry' or 'AAAAANGST I BLEW UP A PLANET BY ACCIDENT IN MY ARROGANCE!'

Hence when instead of just being an architech John was given the millitary persona, and later THAT was retconned into the comics.

In a way the move worked, Kyle was said to be on Oa undergoing his training (while in the comicverse no GL were left to help him train) and the events that lead to him getting the ring in the Comics had changed for the animated universe. And John did help bring some much needed diversity to the team. Yes Hawkgirl, J'onn and Superman were aliens
yes Wonder Woman is actually a golem made of clay. It doesn't change the fact that there wasn't one black person on the team.

So now you know, and knowing makes you realize that not even cartoons BASED on comics are any less confusing when you get into the nitty gritty

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

That whole Necron thing sounds freaking awesome.

I KNOW. Add my off-key echos into that slow clap Bob. That WAS pretty epic. Less for us, than the fans, for whom it must've been a "H.O.L.Y. .S.H.I.T" moment two decades (or whatever) in the making.

Can you even imagine being a part of that? That would be pretty fucking cool....

 

[SpaceMedarotterX]

Was the Batman not forgiving him the scene where Batman and co paint the entire room yellow, including Batman himself, so that Green Lantern has to basically just sit and listen to what Batman has to say? I saw that around the interwebs somewhere.

No that's from All-Star Batman and Robin, a comic written by WHORESWHORESWHORESWHORESWHORESWHORES Frank WHORES Miller.

Batman not forgiving Hal is in Rebirth, Parallax is affecting the planet and Hal (who has just come back to life) is telling everyone to trust him despite ya know... trying to say "I wasn't actually evil the giant yellow fear bug was possesing me"

Batman, rightfully, thinks that Hal is full of crap and doesn't trust him leading to John Stewert being an idiot so Geoff Johns can stroke his Hal boner some more and then Hal one-punching Batman.

To understand Batman you have to understand he really likes the other 3 lanterns in his own ways.

Guy Gardner is a jerk but Batman understands that he's also loyal and faithful, something he can admire in someone.

John Stewert is disciplined and Batman can connect with him on that level.

Kyle Rayner was honest to a fault, Batman was a father to him when he joined the league, as well as showing displeasure when Kyle used his methods of interrogation.

Hal was... well Hal was a jerk, even before he turned evil Hal was a fucking toad to everyone, I'm reminded of issue #25 in GL Volume 3 where he flys down to earth and demands that Guy (assigned to the sector) piss off because he wants it back. Keep in mind that John Stewert has been assigned to OA and thus doesn't get to go home. He acts like a child all the way through the issue and it really isn't his first or last instance of dickitude. Hell when Batman DIED in Final Crisis (Became Time displaced whatever) Hal in Cry for Justice said he didn't care because "[He] didn't like Bruce"

Then again Cry for Justice was terrible so lets ignore that bullshit. The short of it is that Batman mistrusted Hal because he was him try to reset the timeline and he's by nature not going to trust you.

 

[goliath6711]

Okay, so what about the destruction of Coastal City (the reason for Hal's psychotic breakdown/possession)? Did that still happen or was it some sort of hallucination?

 

[SpaceMedarotterX]

Okay, so what about the destruction of Coastal City (the reason for Hal's psychotic breakdown/possession)? Did that still happen or was it some sort of hallucination?

Oh no still happened. but Hal was never responsible for it's destruction, it literally happened in the blink of an eye

 

[SpaceMedarotterX]

I don't know if this has been ask but aren't green lanterns banned in the future. If they can someone tell me why.

By the 30th century the Guardians are gone and so are the Green Lanterns, the only one who's left is Sodam Yat, a Daxamite (Read: Kryptonian with a weakness to Lead) who was the most recent Ion (There have only been two, Kyle and Sodam)

As I remember it Sodam just became discouraged when Mogo died (that's BEFORE Mogo was killed off in War of the Green Lanterns mind you) and never bothered to send rings out again.

Originally the explanation was that since Kyle had the only ring keyed to his genetic structure no more lanterns exist because he never passed the ring on

Spoiler: unrelated but still intresting plot

The idea presented by Ron Marz was despite being a hero who did great things, Kyle would never be remembered as such. He wanted to evoke the feelings of the Anonymous hero who never got recorded despite their great deads (Which is hilarious when you remember that Kyle sucks at keeping his identity a secret) Instead he would be remembered as an artist, his life outside superheroing basically.

Of course, that all changed with the rebirth of the corp. Also keep in mind DC's policy on the 'future'

You can never fuck with the present, but fucking around IN the present to change the future is A.OK.

Seriously the Legion of Superheroes are a Continuity KATAMARI BALL

 

[vonseux]

I've stoped reading comics some time ago, and I'm glad I did - this is the biggest pile of bull***t I've ever heard... do kids buy this crap?

 

[oathblade]

Bob your never a waste of time.

You managed to clear up some of the things that always confused me with one of my favorite characters.

Great double episode!

 

[Relaver]

I hope he talks about Pizza Cats next.