#THANK U FOR THIS IVE BEEN DYING AND DYING FOR A CHANCE AT ANOTHER ALAN ESSAY

[ufonaut]

whatre your thoughts on Alan when he was written by Greg Rucka (the 52 weekly series and Checkmate back in the early 2000s)

i like him a lot! i think greg rucka's alan is one of the most interesting takes on alan in the modern era, and that's no backhanded compliment -- he actually touches on alan's grey morality in ways we haven't seen since sentinel (which by 2006 definitely felt very far away) and i personally believe that's one of the most compelling aspects of alan in the grand scheme of superheroics. i don't generally like rucka's writing, i simply don't think he's a very exciting author, but both 52 and checkmate do a very good job with a character that's been largely ruined by geoff johns' jsa 1999 (a good series as a whole and as an introduction to the jsa but certainly at the cost of sanitizing much of what made alan himself)

there's a panel from 52 #9 that gets brought up every now and again on here & often misquoted as the sole manifesto of abominable mental health care in comics but i've never agreed with that sentiment because what rucka writes here is perfectly in line with alan's sixty-something (at that point in time) year long history

(52 2006 #9)

this is a man whose suffered mental breakdowns every couple of years for most of his adult life (all star squadron 1981 #20, all star comics 1976 #65, young all stars 1987 #9, infinity inc 1984 #9, green lantern 1990 #110) and who's infamously terrified of being institutionalized (ggw 1992 #31), alan would not accept even the notion of mental health care and he's certainly barely accepting the physical trauma he's suffered. while i'll be the first to admit there's times when rucka still tends towards the elder statesman status johns had thrust upon alan, i think there's enough precedent (see: the aforementioned issues) to give flavour & subtext to this kind of dialogue -- alan can claim he's setting an example, and an objectively abysmal one at that, while staying well within his comfort zone

now on to that sweet sweet grey morality, checkmate started out as a division of task force x and keeps well within those boundaries despite eventually becoming associated with us national security & meant to operate on a covert international basis. it often employs people like the thinker or count vertigo led by amanda waller, all well known to be outright villains or anti-heroes at best. what alan's meant to do as white king is provide the group with a legitimate air by coasting on his reputation as a somewhat respected public figure & one of the world's earliest heroes. after all, the white king of checkmate is, by definition, something of a figurehead. what alan does do is not remotely stand for that -- he outright threatens his colleagues and associates, he regularly walks into field ops at the cost of a job he's never wanted and generally does not fill the position as intended by waller & co

(checkmate 2006 #4)

i think, contrasting with the ways alan-as-sentinel was visibly unhinged, this is one of his angriest periods in a delightfully understated way. he's still mourning jennie's death, the loss of his eye and the trauma suffered -- none of which is said but rather felt in his very action. the implication throughout is that of alan being blackmailed into joining checkmate and often waller aims to hold him back with questions of his supposed patriotism (and other things. if you count recent revelations), the climax of which is reached when alan gets himself unceremoniously kicked out of checkmate after violating just about any & every rule of engagement put in place by the agency. there's lots of parallels to be drawn between alan & waller as well but the most pertinent one is certainly alan's complete and utter refusal to play her game and how that's framed as a taste of her own medicine

like i said, rucka definitely gives us some of the most compelling alan appearances in the modern era! there's a real understanding of the character here