This is the beginning of Green Lantern as you know and love him. Yes, the Alan Scott Green Lantern is awesome in his own right, even if they made him gay for no good reason (For the record, I have no problem with gay superheroes. Northstar is one of the more prominent gay heroes and he's in Alpha Flight. I love Alpha Flight. Anyway, I just think it's lame to make someone gay for gay's sake. Northstar was depicted as constantly being surrounded by adoring female fans, and yet he never had a girlfriend. His coming out was a big deal, but it wasn't surprising. Alan Scott, on the other hand, had 70+ years of heterosexuality under his belt before DC made him gay. Go back and look at the Golden Age Green Lantern comics. Alan Scott's inner dialogue is filled with thoughts about which girl he'd like to take out. I wouldn't have a problem if DC had just come up with a new gay character. They could have even added a gay Green Lantern. There's a Muslim Green Lantern now, so it's clear that DC is willing to add a little diversity with their new characters. It's just that turning a straight character gay feels wrong continuity-wise, and it also feels like pandering. If you create a new gay character, his or her homosexuality is just a part of who they are, and you don't really have to explain it. When you take a formerly heterosexual character and make him gay, it feels like you're laying a sacrificial lamb on the gay altar, as if you have to appease an angry mob. I'll go on believing that Alan Scott isn't gay, because he's not. If some new Green Lantern is, that's fine) but the mythos of the Green Lanterns was really established early on in the Hal Jordan years.
The first 10 issues of Silver Age Green Lantern cover a lot of the same material as that Green Lantern movie starring National Lampoon's Van Wilder. There's really one major difference: the first 10 issues of Green Lantern don't suck. And now I feel like I've tapped out my tangent reserves. Let's stick to the topic at hand from now on.
Hal Jordan is a compelling Green Lantern because he lived an interesting enough life before he received his ring from Abin Sur. He is definitely a product of the era which gave us the space race. It's as if Chuck Yeager became a superhero, which is actually not a half bad idea. I had also read
Emerald Twilight before diving into this series, so I know what becomes of Hal Jordan. It only serves to make his humble beginning all the more interesting. This is definitely a must-read series, so it should go pretty high in the first 10 standings. Speaking of which, here they are:
- Batman
- Amazing Spider-Man
- Fantastic Four
- Silver Age Green Lantern
- Deadpool
- Booster Gold
- Daredevil
- The Punisher
- Golden Age Green Lantern
- The Avengers
- Ghost Rider
- The Defenders
- Captain America
- Excalibur
- Golden Age Captain America
- Golden Age Blue Beetle
- Doctor Strange
- Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics)
- Aquaman
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