Green Lantern: The Cracker Jack Super Hero

Now before I begin, let me just say that I am a huge fan of the character of Green Lantern. I really got into the character during Ron Marz’s run on the book and have been a fan ever since. That being said, I have a lot of beef with the way Green Lanterns are used in the comics, especially in recent years.

First off, let me give every one a crash course in ring slinging (the term used fondly by GLs for using their power rings). The Green Lanterns are an intergalactic police force that patrol the Universe with the aid of magic rings that have been bestowed upon them by The Guardians, the oldest race in the Universe. Green Lanterns are selected from thousands of different worlds, and each Green Lantern is picked by their individual ring. This is an important fact that will factor into my argument. The Green Lanterns are able to harness the green power of will to fly, project energy form their rings, and create solid light constructs. In essence, if the bearer can will it into being then the ring can create it.

Original GL

Now while there was a character called Green Lantern in the 1940s, DC Comics mostly seems to focus on the adventures of Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of space sector 2814 (which happens to contain Earth and a number of other planets) who was introduced in the 1960s. While initially Hal was the only Green Lantern operating on Earth, over the years he has been burdened with a number of additional Lanterns. Guy Gardner, John Stewart (no, not the host of the Daily Show) and Kyle Rayner are three other Green Lanterns that all call Earth their home. This is a bit of an embarrassment for Hal Jordan.

There are no backup Supermen, auxiliary Aquamen, or spare Flashes. There is a Batman Incorporated, but that’s a recent invention of the comics. Essentially what I am trying to say is that there are not extra versions of other super heroes. The other heroes of the DC Universe do not need replacements to help them do their job. Occasionally these heroes will join together in the Justice League to take on threats they cannot handle alone, but that’s more a case of each hero enhancing the group in ways the other heroes can’t, augmenting each other if you will. Each Green Lantern however has the same powers and abilities of the other Lanterns. Having more than one Green Lantern is redundant.

Also, as shown in the recent Earth-2 #1 and Green Lantern #0, it seems like the writers at DC Comics are using GL as a way to explore social issues. The Green Lantern of Earth-2 is the original Green Lantern from the 1940s who has been reinvented as a gay man. Something I find ironic since this removed him from classic DC history and eliminated his son, Obsidian, who had already been established as a gay super hero. Essentially they eliminated one gay character to create another. And now in Green Lantern #0 [SPOILERS] they have passed Hal Jordan’s ring on to a Muslim-American man, though they have hinted that Hal may still be alive. [END SPOILERS]

Bat-Lantern!

The above two examples are by no means rare. Green Lantern rings have been given to nearly every character in the DC Universe, both in and out of continuity. Superman had one, Batman had one, there was even a brief story where Jimmy Olsen had a GL ring. If everyone has a thing it soon ceases to be special, as any good collector will tell you. Even the addition of Green Lantern John Stewart in 1971 was an attempt to add an African American super hero into the DC Universe.

The X-Men's Dust

I am certainly not arguing that there should not be gay super heroes. Or Muslim super heroes. I simply think it would be better if such characters were brand new original creations, and not simply repurposed powers and identities of other characters. Characters that have new and interesting stories to tell. As much as I like Green Lantern(s), they have the least interesting origins of any hero. A magic ring flies up to them and slips on their finger. While I’m sure many fans wish such a thing would happen to them (guilty), it’s hardly compelling storytelling.

It seems appropriate that it is the character of Green Lantern that is used to explore these important social issues because in reality that is what the publishers care about. Green. As in profits. While it is all well and good that minorities are being represented in comics, it is the hope of publishers that publishing such stories will entice readers. In many ways it is like what I explored in my previous entry about death in comics (see here). In this case, instead of the death of a character it is the rebranding of the character that is the event. I would not be surprised if we saw a massive rebranding of multiple heroes over the next several years, changing the race, religion, orientation and even gender of many of our favorite heroes.