#its THE lantern though

[beetlebug---1]

Promptober day 10: lantern 🕯

[roseworth]

based on a convo with my brother

[silverorchideon]

"What Do You See, Red Dwarf,

Sailing In the Night Sky?"

Got inspired by Doc's newest episode.

(The original plan was to recreate the "Do You Love the Color of the Sky?" Post, but the size made Tumblr absolutely eviscerate the quality, so you get this instead)

[snikt111]

hi hi hi hi I found out about Hal Jordan TODAY and am going so autistic over him it’s insane can you please give me a rundown on what his deal is I think you’re the Tumblr Green Lantern guy

omg hi, insane compliment btw, tysm! i'm glad to give you a rundown!! also definitely check out @katmaatui for more hal info, red is SUPER knowledgable abt him. @rillette, @catboyollie, @halcarols, @starsapphire and @yellowcorps (along with so many others that i cant think to tag off the top of my head) have some great hal takes too! (edited the post just to tag more ppl)

apologies if this is a bit rushed/messy, i'm doing this while i smelt stone in minecraft LMAO

that being said... i think this will be a long one, so more below the cut :3

(cw for light mentions of pedophilia, abuse, canon typical violence)

okay, so hal jordan is the first human green lantern of the GREEN LANTERN CORPS. it's important to note that there was technically a human green lantern before him (alan scott, originally from earth two/the justice society, but integrated into main DC canon after crisis), but his power comes from a different source- which is a whole different ballpark that would take ages to explain, lol, so i'll move on from that.

hal was originally introduced in a showcase issue in 1959, but ended up getting a solo run in the mid 60s because of his showcase issues doing well. he's been a test pilot, middle brother, compassionate, rule follower (although being surprisingly liberal for the time) with an interesting relationship with star sapphire carol ferris since those first appearances. for the first 20 odd years of his appearances we had no information on his parents, but we got a lot from other family members, such as uncle titus, cousin hal jr (aka airwave), younger brother jim jordan and older brother jack jordan. through the 60s and 70s those members of his family were developed along with him; with the audience learning that jim's wife sue thought jim was green lantern, rather than hal, and hal himself training his cousin, hal jr.

the most known version of how hal got the ring in the first place is probably based off of geoff john's rewrite in the mid 00s, reiterating the original story of abin sur crashing onto earth and dying, leaving hal with his ring to be trained by sinestro and the rest of the glc, while also changing miniscule details that had been developed in emerald dawn 1 & 2 (which was released in the 90s, more on that later). the main premise of abin sur's crash has stayed the same, but the story around hal's current life, job, family and stability keep changing. for instance, the original comic with abin sur in showcase only showed hal getting the ring, the guardians choosing him. the first rewrite i can think of was emerald dawn volume 1, published in 1989 and continued in emerald dawn v2 (1991). here we get the classic hal watches his father die in a plane crash with carol ferris beside him as a pre adolescent, and some of the biggest implications of the mistreatment from his father. we also get introduced to hal, despite his stick to the rules, straight edge attitude, making some serious mistakes and putting people in danger and even death- with the implication of alcohol abuse. the audience HAS known hal used to be in the air force since sometime in the late 60s or early 70s (sorry, i don't remember the exact issue!), but emerald dawn shows us that hal's moved on from the air force and into test piloting, and that his mother keeps having to bail him out for making mistakes. emerald dawn vol 1 shows the abin sur moment, followed by fights that cost hal's friends life, and is followed up by sinestro training hal in emerald dawn vol 2, where we get to see the iconic scenes of hal finding out about sinestro and his... dictatorship.

along with that; how the guardians and rings are treated and hal and the glc's perception of them is vastly changed over time. in the early days of gl in the 60s, the guardians were really never to be seen. hal was repeatedly summoned to them and then had his memory almost fully wiped- only leaving a vague notion of his orders. the guardian's called hal to them at seemingly the worst times, ending up with him almost getting injured, getting in trouble at work, and even ending up jobless and homeless. the chaos of being a green lantern has been around the WHOLE time, but originally, the green lanterns didnt really... fight it. the guardian's were their masters (and even father figures, to hal) and not to be questioned. the rings in the 60s were also much more powerful, despite the yellow weakness (the yellow weakness is the notion that from about the 60s to the mid 90s the green lantern rings were completely unable to be used against anything yellow). time travel, phasing, teleporting, etc were all very viable and common things- as well as forceful shapeshifting, invisibility, mind control, mind reading, etc etc. these days, writers have dampened these powers down to mostly shooting light and constructs.

okay, it's parallax time. the emerald twilight arc from the mid 90s wasn't an arc that was as thoroughly planned out over a long period of time as it probably should have been. a lot of fans at the time (and even now) hated what happened there, and claimed it ruined hal's character entirely. i can understand why! but, at it's core, the parallax arc is a story about a broken man pushed to the limit, fully grieving his home and family (originally, he lost his brother jim in the destruction of coast city, along with a lot of other family members) and being goddamn fed up with how his "masters" treated him and the rest of the corps. the so called "perfect lantern" (no, he wasn't that much of a rebel, despite what johns wants you to think) snapped and essentially tried to gain as much power as he could to bring back coast city. when the guardians stripped him of his powers so he couldn't, hal became enraged and took down every lantern in his path, just to get to the guardians and that power. long story short, he kills the guardians and absorbs all the energy from the central power battery on oa, becoming parallax- essentially a god. this marks the start of zero hour, an event made by dc to restructure and reset; giving the comics a new generation of heroes. hal destroys the world and remakes it, but is ultimately taken down by kyle rayner, the new green lantern, with the help of the jla, jsa and associates. there are a few more run ins with parallax after this, before kyle convinces parallax/hal that he can make up for all of this by reigniting the sun after it went out- aka killing himself. hal does it, is stuck in limbo for awhile and then becomes the spectre to continue to make up for the horrible things he did as parallax. the spectre is the spirit of god's wrath and vengeance, a weapon used to drag sinners to their very own, self made hells, and scare the shit out of people. the spectre, from it's very first appearance, is a ghost like spirit that takes on a host, and is primarily described using christian terms and is used in a very... christian ideology. HOWEVER, the spectre 2001 confirms that hal is jewish (jewish mom, catholic dad) and that belief system, plus his personality as a whole, literally makes him change the spirit of vengeance into the spirit of redemption, for at least as long as they are bonded. the whole parallax to spectre arc is about grief, pain, cycles of abuse and terror, redemption and guilt. it is NOT about a fear bug that possess hal. (im so serious though, the spectre 2001 is one of the best comics ive ever read. amazing. changed my world view) but... geoff johns changed all of it, decanonized the spectre, and ruined the legacy of parallax and hal's growth as a person by releasing green lantern: rebirth in 2004/2005. this retcons hal's breakdown and journey through grief into him BEING POSSESSED BY AN ENTITY CONTROLLED BY SINESTRO THAT FULLY CHANGES PREVIOUS GREEN LANTERN CANON AND IMPLICATIONS. also, fucks up the importance of kyle becoming ion, but whatever. geoff johns writes hal (and even more so, carol) so very wrong, and change their stories so vastly in ways that go against the stories very meanings.

SIGH.

now... time to get started on some rougher stuff. hal jordan misconceptions. i'm saving that arc for last.

- hal jordan wasn't much of a rule breaker or rebel until the 70s/80s, where he BEGAN (very slowly, mind you) to be radicalized by oliver queen during denny o'neil's green lantern/green arrow. hal was painted as more of a conservative during this period (which, admittedly, kind of goes against previous canon... he's always been relatively central to liberal, not to any extremes like ollie though, lol) but gets more and more understanding of how power structures work and how lower classes are mistreated during this time- which ends up opening his eyes a bit to how shitty the guardians are. (this is helped by the guardians literally just. leaving. the green lanterns and kind of disbanding them so they can go fuck the zamarons, lmao). geoff johns tried to change this narrative into making hal a very... maverick-from-top-gun type of character, who punched his way out of the military (when, in reality, the original story during emerald knights in the late 90s was that hal had been framed for stealing a jet and was dishonorably discharged, which he took the punishment for because he knew someone had to) and hits on women constantly and gets ladies and allat (which, funnily enough hal was awful at getting carol to like him for a long time, since carol fell for green lantern rather than hal. not to mention the awkwardness of carol's proposals or hal's many, many failed relationships). hal has always been insecure and lowkey boyfailure, he is NOT a top gun maverick tom cruise sorta guy! fuck you jeremy adams!

- hes not that much of an idiot asshole. hal can be a real dick, he's had that going for him since the beginning, but he isn't what you read in batfam fics. he's not stupid and shouldn't be the laughingstock of the justice league. i assume this idea started from the obsession with batfam and the fact that the jla has quite the history of ignoring hal and his issues (as well as. all of their issues. theyre not so great at work life balance), but it's gone too far. hal isn't making fun of the robins and pissing bruce off bc of that. hal isnt fooling around on the job 24/7 (he takes being a gl and pilot VERY seriously, although he does enjoy some danger and high stakes) or slacking off to get girls. again. not top gun maverick.

- hal has not been a creep since the beginnings. hal was not weird with carol in the 60s. things were weird between them, yeah, but that's based off circumstance and the craziness of star sapphire and green lantern. he was NOT being horribly sleazy! i hate that i even need to say this, but i see this take too much not to

- going off of what was said above, lets discuss the arisia arc. if you want to be a real hal fan, this is unfortunately something you need to know about. in action comics, after crisis and the guardians left to go fuck the zamarons, most of the green lanterns fell apart and seperated. a small group went to earth- led by hal and consisting of hal, john stewart, katma tui, kilowog, salaakk, ch'p and arisia rrab. (also sometimes guy gardner, but that's complicated) previously to this arc, hal treated 14 year old arisia like a beloved little sister, welcoming her and leading her into the corps just like everyone else. things started to change once the timeline gets closer and closer to crisis, where arisia starts showing that she has a crush on hal (who is roughly 30s at this point). any advances made by arisia are shut down by hal at the beginning, because she's a child. now, it's unfortunately a common thing to just call hal a "pedophile" because of what happens in this arc- but it really isn't that simple. still weird and icky, but definitely not to the degree of which some fans like to act like it is- esp to attack hal fans for, which is... an odd choice regarding how many fucked up things every character (esp male characters) did back in the day. arisia ends up using her power ring to artifically age herself up, making her body AND MIND into that of a young adult (the comic makes this very clear). once this happens... hal stops rejecting her. they get together, they kiss. the only person in the group of green latnerns who actually has an issue with it is john (salaakk is meh about it, but he just doesn't like human-esque romance no matter what), and katma even directly encourages their relationship. kilowog ends up crushing on arisia as well, and guy gardner hits on her repeatedly throughout the whole period. eventually, hal and arisia break up, but this legacy (thank so much englehart, for wrtiting this. /sarc) is a big controversy among the comics crowd. "is hal jordan a predator?" personally, and i know a lot of friends/mutuals/other gl fans choose to erase the arisia arc entirely (versus how canon ended up retconning it to be 14 earth years is equal to that of an adult and she didn't really get super ages up, or whatever) and go with the familial relationship between hal and her. that's my preferred version! i know red (@katmaatui) has explored that version as well as an alternate version where the arisia arc did happen, and how it affects arisia in particular, which is really depressing but super interesting. anyway, it's complicated and weird and nuanced, but that whole occurence doesn't mean hal's a bad character or person (cause yk. retcons) and it's certainly not bad to like his character. (definitely ignore any guy gardner fans who try to bitch about this arc. cough cough. guy was ALSO into her and hit on her repeatedly. smfh) most people who bring this up to demonize fans didn't even read the arc, and don't know the nuance or the other weird shit that happens in it. (hal is not a horse, sigh)

OVERALL NOTES!

hal jordan is a super complicated character with an extensive history spanning from the 60s to his worse written appearances in modern age. it's okay to like any version of the character, but it is important to note the changes that have been made, the storylines butchered and lost, and more. he has quite the legacy, and he's particularly interesting as from a moral standpoint. hal's a real sweetie though, when it gets down to it! he's neurodivergent coded (imo at least.. his dad very much gets onto him for being disrtracted, hes kinda shit at social interaction (and then amazing at it the other half of the time) etc etc. "spacecase") and his dad is an abusive asshole, who he desperately doesnt want to be like but thinks he NEEDS to be like!

[lanternlightss]

,,, okay if i Did make a mutuals discord server, would any of you like to join it ??

you can like or reply to this if yeah :]

[themyscirah]

Ok game time which 3 series would you just DIE to get a run on ? I'm talking full creative control, can be as a writer or an artist + plotter if that suits your vibe best

My 3 are

Suicide Squad

Wonder Woman

Green Lantern Corps/Green Lanterns

(in that order)

[stormbreaker-290]

So do you ever just

💥

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

One day Bart will lock eyes with someone from across a room and sparks will fly. It will be an instant connection and Bart will know, right in that moment, that he's found the one. His partner in crime. His other half. His soulmate. It will truly be a sight to see. It's always a beautiful moment when a young speedster first finds their Green Lantern.

[angie-leena]

But what if Hal found Post Resurrection/Pre Pit Jason. Like fresh out of his grave Jason. Not to be strict with any timeliness, but maybe after coming back from the dead Hal makes it a point to visit the Graves of lost loved ones and he has someone in Gotham and it's the worst horror show he can think of when the grave across the way is suddenly bursting open and someone is crawling out of it.

This someone is crying and Hal us a sucker for tears so he eventually gets himself together and good thing he does cuz this someone is a kid, and this kid is hurt. God someone beat this kid and buried him alive. Fucking Gotham

Hal doesn't stick around. He grabs the kid and bundles him up in the passenger seat of his car and takes off. It's pretty clear on the car ride that the kid isn't really aware. There's blood on his knuckles and his fingers are torn to shreds, from breaking out of a coffin wtf. There are no words, just whimpering and crying.

He asks the kid what happened, who did this to him and the kid just keeps crying and curling up in the seat but he's pretty sure he hears a soft, broken Dad through the tears.

Hal leaves Gotham.

The place fucking sucks and he's not about to leave this kid with the goddamned Bat. Fuck that guy and his fucking city.

It's still dark and raining when he gets home so no one sees him drag some shrimpy kid in a filthy suit into his apartment. That's too many questions he couldn't answer so thank god.

Getting the suit off him is the worst thing Hal's ever done he's sure. The kid isn't crying anymore but the dead glassy eyed look is definitely worse. The jacket snags on his jagged, ruined fingertips making them bleed again but there's no reaction. He almost throws up when he opens the shirt. There's deep bruising and small jagged cuts, but that's nothing compared to the huge fucking Y incision that spans his entire torso. The cut looks deep. Thick dark thread keeps it closed but the skin around it is bright red and puffy.

Someone tortured and vivisected and buried this kid alive in the middle of Gotham.

A hospital wasn't gonna help him. Or they would but then whoever did this to him would eventually find out he was alive. And what if they couldn't. What if he died after being a fucking survivor. He wasn't responding anymore and really who could blame him. This shit was traumatic as fuck. No matter what Hal asked him all he got was a dead eyed stare. He washed himself just fine and he got dressed into the clothes Hal handed him, black sweats and a big red hoodie he never wore, but other than that there was nothing.

Hal was not equipped to handle this. Hal had his own trauma he wasn't equipped to handle, there was no way he could add someone else's. But the kid was there. Staring off into space, silent tears running down his face every once in a while. His broken fingers twitched and his steps were unsteady when he moved. There was a huge Harry Potter looking scar on his forehead that ran up into his hairline and the hair around it was pure, bright white.

Hal had no idea what to do with him.

His ring beeped.

[gloucester-carousel]

updated references for the guys :)

[jacereaall]

CAROL WIP

Been breaking my neck for her all day 💗

(Now finished!)

[tryblight]

Drew this in my sketchbook 🎃

[starrysharks]

brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm... i'm too tired to come up with anything else, but please let me know what you think!

[daisybell-on-a-carousel]

hiii I'm wondering, what issues do you have with Countdown, if you don't mind me asking?

Ooh i dont mind at all! I love talking! And potentially hearing more perspectives

Pleasee note that ive been reading all the Jason comics in order of release (started at flying todds jaybin currently at rhato), I've only read countdown once, my memory issues are a bitch, and everything is subject to change for forever 👍

I'm like, basing this whole ramble off my memory of events, and no rereading means no potential updating of feelings on it

To start on positives, I love many concepts and characters it brings to the table and all the different earths traveling they do, I think Donna, Jason, and Kyle are a fun trio as well, and their adventures are delightful. The different earths are all very interesting and i dearly wish we got to have more focus on them. I may not like it being so long but ehhh I've considered rereading it on occasion. The issues counting down are also a fun gimmick as well.

One of my problems is the like. Main story. It feels pretty messy just to like, read though. The extra issues onto the main 52 don't help. Not being familiar with that many dc characters in general doesn't help (was more of a marvel kid). Don't really remember how many character stories we were following in there anymore, it just felt like alot and I genuinely can't remember where half of them led

I ALSO. Skimmed it a bit. Especially later. That's on me. But to be fair to me it's 50 issues and I just don't think I'm big on long comic stories like that. in general. So it was always doomed to fail in the test of my personal opinion

(My favorite crossover comic so far has been legends, just to hammer that above point in)

I dont like the ending where they all hang out in a bunker on the good earth and the virus they have is spreading to just. kill that entire world. And they just go home after that. That's like, that felt weird. I'm just not big on heros accidentally slowly killing an entire universe. That just like. Hhhhng. Um. You know when the stakes get so big and bad they just kinda suck? If that's what I mean??

While I do like looking into Superboy Prime and Jason's resurrection. Don't like his dialogue here. Don't know if that's normal for him or not though

I felt a teensy bit validated when I looked it up after reading and saw many others not liking it I fear

But ignoring at all that. (Because while important to acknowledge when talking about my problems with it, most of what I just had to say is unfair to it)

My knowledge is on Jason. Let's focus on Jason

Jason just kinda. Sucks? He sucks in this. Do not get me wrong Jason is absolutely allowed to be an asshole, I won't ignore those edges. But he was more like,,, a generic asshole? He didn't feel like Jason to me, just more like, a template character or something. There are fun interactions and moments he has but just. Bwah. And it feels like a very strange turn too because for the first few issues I was actually really enjoying the Jason here. I'm not sure what happened

(Fun fact this is the first comic I felt showed Jason as angry. Actual "wow that guy is angry". the angry i was expecting when i started reading him. It was when Dick and Tim interrogated him, I actually think about this moment alot in some of my vague rambling thoughts on Jason, his anger, and how the controlled narrative after his death effects how people expect him to react and thus treat him. Its neat. I thought his interaction with Jimmy was fun and it's a neat contrast bc Jimmy and Dick n Tim were asking the same questions. I enjoyed the early issues of countdown alot, which I think made it have a harder fall for me)

But back to the bad. He's also. Consistently looking down on female heros? Excluding Donna but like. I can't remember it all exactly. but I do remember, that I felt very very very nervous when they said they were going to the genderswap dimension next (he didn't say anything here tho, actually)

Jason also just sorta,, very consistently gets beat up and knocked down? Felt very 'wow look at this guy he sucks don't you think he sucks. Do you want to see him get beat up constantly and not win any fight.' And there's no payoff to this at all. Nothing changes, nothing gets better, he immediately throws the red robin costume in the trash and we never talk about any of this ever again. He's just sorta an asshole punching bag the whole time and it's not something I enjoy. He gets into fights and gets put down and no one likes him. He doesn't even get to have fun while he's here, iirc he's basically just miserable and trying to get this over with the whole time. Kinda distantly wanted him to not leave the victorian era gotham, just a little bit, just a tad, to be real

And there's just a bit of whiplash to his whole character. We go from silly and carefully planning and competent to. Gestures vaguely. There is NO DOUBT very fun analysis about Jason you could do with this and the whiplash. But its not something I personally want to do with countdown

[orchideae]

With the end of of the event slowly approaching, I just need to say that... listen, Lantern Rite of 2024 was good, but I will hold the ending scene of Lantern Rite 2023 up to the skies like it's Simba into perpetuity and then some more. Not because it was my first Lantern Rite, but because it's everything that represents Liyue in every possible way. The goofiness of Hu Tao and Xinyan (listen, I know, it wasn't the greatest song, but even that has grown on me), the Qixing, Baizhu and the wonder on Qiqi's face that should be what everyone looks like when they first see the lanterns in the night sky, Xiao, the ascension of the lanterns into the skies, the crowd, Yaoyao's excitement (!!!!), Ganyu's little lantern, everyone, everyone. Ugh, 'May the year ahead be a blessed one - I believe it shall be' (the faith in his people, stop it), CLOUD RETAINER, the orchestra, Madame Ping's zither after the entire storyline, THE ORCHESTRA!! I'm fine about this game, I promise.

I just really love this game, and I really love Liyue.

P.S.: I'm still going to badger people for Lantern Rite threads.

[lanternlightss]

HELLO fish doodle again :] they is getting hair ruffles

!!!!! HAIR RUFFLESS

did you get a peek into my docs /j NO BUT OH MY GOD !!!!!!!! this is So So incredibly cute i am !!!!! yelling !!!!! love how absolutely content and blissed out venti looks, they are living the dream. right here is the best place, thank you very much, i will Not be moving <3

also love how excited bard looks to be doing this too aAAAAaaaAA oh my goodness. bard voice their hair is somft i must ruffle ,,, my gosh i can’t get over how he just looks happy seeing venti happy !!!! oaghhhh they are the darlings of all timeeee