A Resolution Worth Keeping
I am not much of one for New Year's Resolutions. I know perfectly well, that I'm not going to go to the gym, or eat less chocolate. In fact I just might go out and eat MORE chocolate...because I have a contrary streak.
Nevertheless, I have resolved to go to my trusty long boxes, and start reading them all over again, beginning with my Green Lanterns, because it has been a while since I poked through them. I'm starting with the Steve Englehart books, back when Guy was reintroduced, with the first Crisis, freshly awoken from his coma and crazy as a loon. Hal is in civvies because he begged and pleaded to quit, and then started begging and pleading to come back. Katma Tui is alive, and she and John are making googoo eyes at each other. Arisia is still jailbait. Kilowog still has his Popeye-style arms. Salaak and Ch'p are bestest buddies.
Joe Staton is doing the art, and doing it very very well. The coloring isn't all computerized, and the paper isn't slick, and they sure as hell don't cost almost three dollars. I'm so happy that I could plotz.
And man, there are some really pertinent nuggets of information all hidden away in these four-color gems. Guy was in a coma for THREE years, not SEVEN. Which is still a pretty long time. The Guardians were still idiots in a lot of ways. The Green Lanterns used to call them "Masters" which is something that they've dropped. I've always wondered how John Stewart felt about that. Salaak is a mean drunk. Kari Limbo is still damned annoying. Hal is still a Lothario.
But boy, do they hold up well.
posted by SallyP @ 2:48 PM
9 Comments:
Hal is in civvies because he begged and pleaded to quit, and then started begging and pleading to come back.
You know, my first real exposure to Hal Jordan was Denny O'Neil's Total Tool of the Hard travelin' Heroes era. Follow that with Hal's complete lack of direction in the '70s and '80s, and then the Englehart years ...
... Emerald Twilight was entirely in character, and I said so at the time.
Ah, I lost a lot of the post-200 GLC issues, and I've been wanting to read them lately, too. There were a couple issues where you're like, wow, took seven GL's to do that? But mostly, they weren't bad.
I enjoyed the stories but I have to admit, I was never that enamoured of Staton's art.
It is actually quite interesting to see what a complete jackass Hal is in these old books. An unrepentant jackass.
And yes, you'd think with seven GL's running around, that there wouldn't be anything they couldn't do...but you would be wrong! Of course, they had the yellow thing then, and the rings had to be recharged every 24 hours. You can't have them be TOO powerful. And Hal was in full Boxing-glove mode as well.
I'm actually very fond of Joe Staton, but I will admit that for some, his art is a bit cartoony. But he's the one who created Guy Gardner's uniform, which I think hands down, is the best one that there is.
Ah yes. The yellow issue. Back when you could defeat a green lantern with a bottle of mustard.:)
Good Times.
I really like that GL era. Interesting characters, good stories, what's not to love!
It does hold up remarkably well, all things considered.
Bottom left of the image--is that Ch'p, in uniform, wearing a bowtie? If so, more superheroes need to do that. :-)
It IS Ch'p! He was just so adorable.
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