What if?
So...I've been thinking about the current state of the Green Lanterns. My beloved beloved Green Lanterns. I do believe they are in something of a rut. Hell, I think that the entire DC Line is in a rut. Now that they've thrown out all those years of precious continuity, the editors and writers, seem at something of a loss. Writers come and writers go, some of them before they've actually...written a single issue, which I find to be...peculiar. Writers are fired and then rehired. What the heck is going on?
I think that a lot of this has to be hard of Geoff Johns, which brings me back to my Lanterns. I am very fond of Geoff Johns, and I enjoy his writing...most of the time. Lately though, I believe his wheels to be spinning. And part of that can relate to the fact that there is no continuity for him to go spelunking through. If there is one thing that Geoff Johns is very good at, it is poking around the forgotten corners of DC history, and coming up with tiny wisps of stories, that can be caressed and cleaned off and spun into the finest threads of gold for new stories. He can't really do that sort of thing when all of that repository has been canned. And that is unfortunate.
Which brings me to Kyle. While it is true that young Kyle has had the worst of luck when it comes to girlfriends dying, heck just about everyone he knows dying, there is also something that he has been awfully good at...and that is resurrections. He brought back most of the Corps for Pete's sake, not to mention recreating the Guardians, Kilowog, and even his own Mother! So...let's have Kyle work his magic and bring back all of those nice dead Lanterns, and get rid of this current bunch of worthless Guardians, who have proved themselves to be completely unworthy of the duty placed upon them. Bring back Sayd, have Ganthet get his brains back, and bring back a whole fabulous host of really cool Green Lanterns. Like Katma! And Boodikka, and Kreon, and Ch'p!
And then, please God, let us have stories about the Green Lantern Corps again.
Oh, and Hal and Sinestro too. Why the heck not?
posted by SallyP @ 2:56 PM
10 Comments:
You think Johns is starting to run out of stories? He's been on Green Lantern as long as Bendis was on the Avengers' books. Maybe he needs to switch to a different character for awhile.
I think you have a point re: Johns and DC's lost past. And maybe Calvin has a point, too -- I don't read the GL books now, so I can't comment from experience -- but a change of pace can be a good idea.
I have been enjoying Johns on Green Lantern enormously...but what with his work on Justice League, and Aquaman, maybe he's being strung a little thinly?
And there are some things about the current story that I rather like, such as Hal and Sinestro stumbling around the Dead Zone or whatever, but the whole 52 experiment is starting to bore me, and this latest story is dragging more than it should. And Johns is just so good at mining continuity for delicious nuggets of story, and there isn't any more continuity to DO that to now.
And that's why I wish they'd just created a new universe that fit in with the other universes, so we could have stories in both. The multiverse is what made DC great. Why not have a universe with a new perspective on characters running parallel to the old ones.
Once again, Sally, I'm in awe of your perspicacity. Of COURSE Johns is hamstrung by the lack of continuity. But really, it's not just him. I think they all are laboring under the weight of forging new fictional territory, and few of them are up to the task. Continuity ... both curse and blessing.
That's a great idea, Shelly...and it certainly would have solved an entire plethora of problems, now wouldn't it?
Bryan, a blessing and a curse indeed...but more of a blessing in a lot of ways. If you are skillful at going into the past, as Johns is...there is a wealth of possibilities!
They didn't have to deal with absolutes. Flashpoint could have altered some issues. There was no need to raze nearly all the history. They could have picked and chosen parts they wanted erased or changed and kept other things.
Tabula rasa through the, mostly bad, #0 issues hurt the new universe a lot more than the actual "reboot" in my opinion.
Books that kept a lot of their history, recent or otherwise, like Batman, have a lot easier time than others that got all history wiped. Hawk & Dove anyone? Batgirl? Huntress? JSA?
Of course many comics just suffer from really bad pacing (way slow like Evil Guardians, Rotworld, Death of the Family) and lackluster storytelling (e.g. Green Arrow, GL:NG) right now. Not to mention trying to blow anything into earth shattering issues. Leave that to only a couple of books! What's wrong with small stories that saved "only" a couple of people?!?
I had high hopes when I read the excellent Court of Owls story arc or the initial Aquaman and Batwoman ones (before they blew it into the whole Medusa stuff) or the late lamented Resurrection Man.
Maybe they get their bearings again. Here's to hoping.
Here is to hoping indeed. And you're right of course, there was no reason for all the wholesale slaughter of the past. For what? Did it lead to better stories? I don't think anyone seems to feel that way.
Some of the books have been pretty decent, but I still think that practically ALL of the current storylines could have been told just as easily in the old DC.
It's easy to throw out the old and start over. It's hard and a creative challenge to make the old feel fresh and exciting. DC took the easy way out.
These capchas are getting ridiculous. It's taking me up to 4 tries to get one I can do and I used to be able to do them in one.
Absolutely Shelly. They did take the easy way out. Without actually thinking the whole thing through, which is why they are scrambling for new writers every other week, it seems.
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