Changes to the original concept

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

To continue this discussion from elsewhere, these are charges to the original concept that would help in a reboot.

-- Make Sinestro the murderer of Abin Sur and thief of his ring, the Weaponers of Qward having recruited him to assassinate Abin and infiltrate the GLC. He should not be depicted as "badass" or "cool," and certainly not proclaimed as the greatest Green Lantern. And he doesn't need to lead a Corps.

-- Have all four Earth Lanterns get their rings at the same time, and depict them as equals.

-- The CBP should run the Corps and the Guardians should stay out of sight.

-- Software is about to make test pilots obsolete, so Hal needs a new profession. I'd make him a race car driver.

-- The Xudarians should look fierce and imposing, not flimsy.

-- Carol shouldn't be a Star Sapphire. That's corny. You can keep the Star Sapphires though.

-- Try the GLC without ring constructs. They're corny. If Alan doesn't join the Corps, then he can keep his. I bet they won't be missed, especially in terms of special effects for the movies, but if they are, then you can bring them back.

That's about all in terms of the original concept, I think. There's other stuff to lose, but it was introduced in the past 25 years. I wouldn't keep much of anything that was added after Kyle was.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

These are the other two things I've advocated in a reboot, but they don't involve changing the original concept.

-- Having two A titles, not an A title and a B title, with one based on Earth and the other in space, and putting the other two Lanterns on teams. (Also with Alan in JSA, of course.) Not coordinating the two titles but letting them tell their own stories.

-- Retiring the emotional spectrum or putting it in a recurring mini.

That's it.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

GLs should somehow be compensated in their home-planet currency. A day job distracts too much from their duties. Heck, if you were the cop just for America that would be a full-time job, let alone for a sector composing multiple solar systems.

[Ωmega Man Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Ωmega Man]

GLs should somehow be compensated in their home-planet currency. A day job distracts too much from their duties. Heck, if you were the cop just for America that would be a full-time job, let alone for a sector composing multiple solar systems.

I remember an issue somewhere that suggested they DO get compensated with some sort of currency as well as R&R. Otherwise how would Guy have run another Warriors Bard and Grill on Oa? Couldn't take currency from 3600 space sectors.

~//V\\~

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

If anyone is going to reboot Green Lantern, I don't want him to add anything, because any of that will probably end up sucking in the long run.

I want to hear about what he's going to eliminate, because that's where any improvement is going to occur.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

I think that Hal could still be a test pilot, and part of the initial storyline could be about him becoming obsolete and wondering what he'll do when that happens. Then he gets a ring and a new life opens up for him...and then we don't have to deal with him trying to juggle a career on Earth and interstellar responsibilities.

I mean, if he's going to be hanging around Earth plenty, I'd like him to have a supporting cast, but they don't have to be co-workers, really. Heck, they could be FORMER co-workers, since Tom and Carol's roles at Ferris Air wouldn't have to be obsolete I would think, especially if they are modified a bit. He could have people on Earth that he is close to, that he would interact with when he was on-planet, without having to be employed with them.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

Yeah, a job that's rare doesn't bother me. If he were a bomb shelter maker, I'd be fine with that because it technically still exists. Now, if he were an alchemist or castle-moat digger, that might be pushing it.

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

When a comic has been around for as long as Green Lantern has without a reboot, a lot of detritus has gotten attached to it. Most of it is stuff that different writers have added to it but that has become clutter.

The ring constructs Carol as a Star Sapphire are a different matter, since they were there all along. Anyone is entitled to think they're cool, but there's no evidence that they sell the product to anyone but old timers, who shouldn't be a concern anyway.

Get rid of them, and if by some chance that hurts the comic, in particular its sales, then bring them back.

I bet you it wouldn't though.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

Yeah, a job that's rare doesn't bother me. If he were a bomb shelter maker, I'd be fine with that because it technically still exists. Now, if he were an alchemist or castle-moat digger, that might be pushing it.

I guess my idea was to let the impending obsolescence of his job allow us to still have him be a test-pilot kind of guy, but then free him up from actually having to do any test-piloting in short order. I can't say I've ever been impressed with any of the machinations they've gone through to allow Hal to have a job and still be able to run off at a moment's notice for uncertain periods of time to do GL stuff. Some of the professions he's had might have been more conducive to that, but just seemed like poor fits with Hal's personality, while other times they just asked us to suspend our disbelief REALLY HARD, so he could hold down a REGULAR job somehow. I'd just as soon leave that behind. I may have missed Hal interacting with an Earthly supporting cast, but I don't particularly miss him having to try to make a job work.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

I doubt losing Carol as Star Sapphire would be a big deal, as there were HUGE periods of GL history where that was pretty much ignored or irrelevant. (Heck, I can't even say for sure if she's still Star Sapphire NOW. I haven't seen her in a while.)

Obviously I think getting rid of the constructs is a mistake, but I've learned the hard way that engaging on that point is futile at best, so I'll just let it go, secure in my belief that DC will never actually get rid of them (not while they are still trying to publish a GL comic, anyway).

[Deadpool Fight like a man: with your words, not your fists. Find all posts View Profile Close Deadpool]

I'll contradict Trey Strain's idea of having the four Earth Lanterns getting their rings at the same time, by suggesting the precise opposite; have them many, many years apart. Have Hal a middle aged, well seasoned Lantern and training the newest recruit (either Rayner or Baz, my vote goes towards a teenage Baz).

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

A few more Silver Age concepts that need to go: the 24-hour charge, the weakness to yellow, and the whole damned willpower thing, with its bullshit of this character's willpower is greater than that one's.

I'd keep the individual power batteries though, because I like the oath.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

Willpower?!? You want to get rid of willpower being needed to operate a Green Lantern ring?!?

That's one of the cornerstones for how the power works for the reader! If you had your way, any idiot could use one of the rings. Thank God you AREN'T writing GL!

[Trey Strain Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Trey Strain]

There should be no hierarchy among the Lanterns, based on will power or anything else. Let the readers decide which ones they like. Don't make the decision for them.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

Does it bother you that much that Hal Jordan is considered a bigger name than Guy Gardner?