>I'll be honest... I don't like almost anything from DC. About the only stuff I care about is Green Lantern, some Flash stuff, and a hint of Golden Age Captain Marvel. I don't really find other DC characters interesting or appealing, and I actively loathe Batman and his associated characters.
It's especially annoying because Batman is very much DC's favorite child and thus takes over anything he's involved in. I find it incredibly annoying how he always has to be the Most Specialest Boy and always right. He's always already dabbled in whatever new thing, been trained by whomever, no matter how much of a leap it would be. Even in events like Dark Nights: Metal, he's so special that an untrained teenage version of him can use a Green Lantern ring better than Hal and a speedster version of him is stronger and more in control of the Speed Force than Barry or Wally.
It doesn't help that the fandom also by and large spends all its time glazing him, usually by putting other characters down. One would think that a gazillionaire could do more to help a heavily-polluted and crime-ridden city than dressing up as his fursona and assaulting the mentally ill while carefully never doing anything that would actually change things for the better, like kill the fucking Joker already. (#JasonToddWasRight)
Other than Bruce, I'm about neutral on Dick, Jason, Cass, and Duke, but I find Tim and Damian hella annoying at best.
Green Lantern is definitely one of my personal favorite superhero(es). I personally recommend starting from Green Lantern: Rebirth as a jumping-on point- Kyle's run from Green Lantern Vol. 2 #50 on is okay, but honestly there's not a lot I couldn't live without reading from the beginning up through Hal's resurrection from being the Spectre.
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| Alan Scott | Harold "Hal" Jordan (1) | Guy Gardner (2) | John Stewart (3) | Kyle Rayner (4) | Simon Baz (5) | Jessica Cruz (6) | Sojourner "Jo" Mullein (7) | Keli Quintela | Carol Ferris |
| The original Golden Age Green Lantern. Not officially associated with the GLC. His powers come from the Starheart and are magic-based but similarly use the green light of Will. His power is weak to wood. Member of the JSA alongside OG Flash Jay Garrick. Nowadays is the elder statesman-type for younger heroes. His costume's color scheme is evidence there is no god. | The first modern, space-based Lantern and DC's Man Without Fear. Cocky former-Air Force test pilot who was recruited into the Corps by a dying Abin Sur. Was possessed by Parallax the Fear entity after the destruction of Coast City but is now free. The greatest Green Lantern, he has forged his own ring from his own willpower and has turned himself in to pure willpower among other feats. | Originally second choice for Abin Sur's ring. A former linebacker, special education PE teacher, and social worker |
Recruited as a reservist for Hal and Guy originally. An architect and later retconned to have also been a Marine after the popularity of his Justice League: Unlimited incarnation. He's pretty philosophical and a great leader for the Corps. He's also able to access the Source Lantern and has a sentient construct of his deceased little sister as a companion/assistant. | Given his ring by the last living Guardian, Ganthet, after a Parallax-possessed Hal killed the remaining Guardians and blew up the Central Power Battery on Oa. Was the sole Green Lantern until Hal was exorcised and John and Guy rejoined. An artist with bad luck with romance, he's also become the one and only White Lantern through mastery of all the colors of the Emotional Electromagnetic Spectrum. | Ended up getting Hal/Sinestro's fused ring while the two were temporarily dead. A Muslim who took up car theft to support his brother-in-law's medical bills, he had the horrible misfortune of stealing a van with explosives in it, being racially profiled, and was taken to Gitmo for torture before the ring chose him and aided his escape. Has the mysterious Emerald Sight and healing abilities. | Lived as a shut-in for four years after she witnessed the death of her friends at the hands of the mafia until she was possessed by Volthoom's power ring. She was able to overcome her fear and earn a proper ring after sacrificing herself to save Flash Barry Allen during the Darkseid War. Frequently partners with Simon. Briefly a Yellow Lantern after the Source Lantern was destroyed. Currently leads the GLC. | Recruited by a mysterious Guardian while at a bar to serve as the Lantern for the City Enduring of the unnumbered Far Sector for one year. A Princeton graduate and former soldier who joined the NYPD, she witnessed police brutality but was unable to stop it before she was fired for supporting Black Lives Matter. One of the best detectives in the Corps. Always absolutely slaying with all her fits. | A Bolivian orphan who uses a gauntlet that she reprogrammed to utilize the green light of Will just like a ring. Self-styled as 'Teen Lantern', but is only 11. Technically also a member of Young Justice, but treated like an afterthought by the writers. She currently resides on Oa in Simon's care and is close friends with Ellie, the sentient construct of John's sister. | Not actually a Green Lantern, but a Star Sapphire- one who wields the violet light of Love. Owner of Ferris Air, where Hal works as a test pilot. On-and-off love interest for Hal |
What is a Retcon?
First of all, some background. Retcon is a shortening of "Retroactive Continuity". A retcon is when, in a serialized or ongoing story, previous plot details are altered, removed, ignored, or otherwise changed. They are very common in comic books, but exist in most media forms. One example of a retcon is the death of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes died in the "The Final Problem", but reader demand for the character was so strong that author Arthur Conan Doyle eventually wrote "The Empty House", wherein Holmes' death was revealed to have been faked. Retcons can be good or bad- they're simply a tool an author can use to 'fix' prior canon to suit their needs.
Retcons are particularly common in comics, where long-lasting storylines and multiple authors being involved can mean that one author's vision interrupts another's planned story or cultural shift change how a character's arc comes across, necessitating change. There are retcons I like and retcons I hate- for example, I love the retcon of Kurt "Nightcrawler" Wagner's birth parents in "X-Men Blue: Origins" from the convoluted backstory where Kurt was the son of Mystique and Azazel to his being the son of Mystique and her wife, Irene "Destiny" Adler, which was what Chris Claremont originally intended but was unable to portray at the time of Nightcrawler's debut in the 80's. In contrast, I heavily dislike the retcons to Luke Skywalker's character in The Last Jedi, where his previous characterization is ignored, rendering the hand of the author heavily visible.
Emerald Twilight
In the original 1994 Emerald Twilight arc, Hal Jordan goes insane after seeing the destruction of his hometown of Coast City. He attempts to recreate the city, but is told by the Guardians that he is not allowed to use his ring for personal gain. He then travels to Oa, attacking fellow Lanterns along the way and stealing their rings for power. On Oa, the Guardians free Sinestro from where he has been imprisoned in the Central Power Battery to fight Hal. Hal kills Sinestro by breaking his neck, then kills his best friend Kilowog before entering the Central Battery and absorbing all the energy within. Hal then declares himself Parallax and becomes a recurring villain. All the Guardians are killed, save Ganthet, who travels to Earth and gives the last power ring to Kyle Rayner. Hal eventually sacrifices himself to reignite the sun, then serves as the host for the Spectre for a while.
There are plenty of things I don't really like about this arc. It in itself requires ignoring several parts of previous canon: Kilowog is able to recreate his home planet of Bolovax Vik with his ring after it was destroyed during Crisis on Infinite Earths and is praised for it. Similarly, the Guardians have been shown to be able to remotely shut down rings when they don't like what the user is doing with them. However, they do nothing to stop Hal's rampage even as he approaches Oa. Similarly, Hal is able to kill Kilowog with his ring, even though the rings were, at the time, explicitly programmed to not allow use of lethal force.
The Emerald Twilight arc was ordered by DC editorial to get rid of Hal Jordan in favor of a newer, younger Green Lantern. (Which is itself a reflection of an issue I have with DC in general, with its attempts to abandon a floating timeline and frequent universe reboots rewriting canon.) I love Kyle Rayner, but I do find it frustrating that Hal was given such an abrupt (the arc itself only occurs over 3 issues, 5 if you stretch) heel turn in order to get rid of him. It feels disrespectful to the character and requires breaking the established canon to even work. The hand of the author is very, very visible. It works somewhat with the prior ongoing themes of Hal's more contemporary arcs and the general state of the DC universe at the time, but I also am not particularly interested or intrigued by Silver Age DC. I find it difficult to get invested in or take seriously, so this also means that I don't really see the hasty writing out of Hal to be that coherent or interesting an arc. I mean, I won't lie, I like Parallax!Hal as a well-intentioned villain (to a degree) but I genuinely don't care about the Silver Age pre-Parallax Hal.
The Parallax Retcon
The Parallax retcon comes from Green Lantern: Rebirth (2004) written by Geoff Johns. This retcons Hal becoming Parallax as Hal giving into his grief and rage and becoming possessed by the insectoid Fear Entity, Parallax. Sinestro's prior death is explained to have been an illusion created by Parallax to break Hal, with Sinestro ultimately being the one who sicced Parallax on Hal in the first place. Hal is restored to life after being exorcised and Kyle finally gets out from his shadow. It also leads to John Stewart and Guy Gardner rejoining the Corps. Overall, I really find it to be an excellent addition to canon.
Why I Like the Parallax Retcon
Not all retcons are the same quality as the Parallax retcon. But the best ones are built on the previous canon in a creative way that allows it to blend and build on the previous canon. The Parallax retcon works well in this way.
For one, this retcon allowed Johns to expand on the Electromagnetic Emotional Spectrum, laying the groundwork for a great expansion on the Green Lantern Mythos- in this regard, one could compare Johns' run on Green Lantern to Claremont's run on the X-Men as laying the groundwork for elements and themes now integral to the series.
Another aspect that I really like is that it works very cleverly with elements that were already present in the original Emerald Twilight arc. For example, the narration. As this youtube commenter discusses under Linkara's own review of Emerald Twilight, the yellow Narrator text boxes are strangely egging Hal on.
Hal also becomes less and less coherent as he approaches the Central Battery, from grieving and (not entirely unfairly) upset at the Guardians' interference to attacking fellow Lanterns (including cutting off Boodikka's hand) to outright killing Sinestro. By the time he reaches the Central Power Battery, he can't even explain himself:
Likewise, Hal's construct of his father was able to argue with him and the construct of his father's plane crashing appeared despite Hal actively not wanting it to appear also work to deepen the retcon in hindsight.
The final aspect I like is the potential for further exploration and angst, so to speak. We get to see how the possession affected Hal, and how even after it's revealed that he was possessed and that the Guardians should have known he is still blamed by many of his fellow Lanterns. I find possession and brainwashing arcs in superhero comics very interesting when they are written well- the exploration of the violation of the character's autonomy and their reaction and the reactions of those around them.
Overall, this retcon works well to use elements from the original Emerald Twilight arc and use them to build a creative jumping-off point that was then used to continue canon in a new direction.
Conclusion I understand why some are attached to the original idea of Hal being a fallen hero- whether it's what you grew up with or you really like the Silver Age comics, you're free to dislike the Parallax retcon. However, I personally like it a great deal and prefer it over the original canon. Part of this likely comes from my own preference for Marvel, which is a lot more comfortable with the floating timeline than DC is. It doesn't bug me to have characters from the Golden or Silver Age of comics still active despite the passage of time as much as parts of the DC fandom. Overall, Halallax isn't the worst thing; I'm just not attached to the original arc and thus I like the retcon.
Admittedly, I'm not as into the Flash as I am Green Lantern, but I do like the four major Flashes (Jay Garrick, Barry Allen, Wally West, and Bart Allen) a lot and find the Speed Force stuff fascinating. Also HalBarryIris is my OT3.
>In contrast to my thoughts on Detective Comics Comics, I love just about all of Marvel's stuff. From the X-Men to the Fantastic Four to the Avengers, there's so many characters and teams I absolutely adore.
I've always been a particular fan of smaller, side-character teams, like Cloak and Dagger, the Power Pack, the Exiles, the Runaways, Damage Control, and the current iteration of the Avengers Academy.
https://www.tumblr.com/racefortheironthroneThe MCU had some high points, but overall I have not cared for most of it. In particular it does a huge disservice to Peter Parker/Spider-Man's character.
>This section is for my favorite comics from publishers other than the big 2 and newspaper comics.
Note: this does not cover the many manga series I've read and loved, those have their own pages.
In general, my tastes in non-superhero comics tends towards horror and/or mystery.
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