The Green Lantern by Grant Morrison and Liam Sharp

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

Really, as being a Green Lantern has become more of a full-time job over the years, where the Guardians kind of expect you to be handling stuff throughout your sector all the time, it becomes somewhat absurd that the Guardians don't seem to provide for GL's necessities of living. Somebody like Superman or the Flash, they got their powers through some freak occurrence or accident of birth, and took up heroing on their own initiative, so it makes some sense that they might need another job to make ends meet since nobody HIRED them to be a hero.

But Green Lanterns aren't like that. An organization basically offers them a job (a very demanding job, I might add), and it seems somewhat ludicrous under those circumstances that they are not being compensated, at least sufficiently to allow them to avoid having to hold down another job just to get funds to live on. Frankly, if GL has a "day job" it should be something he does because he loves it, and can somehow manage to fit it in alongside his main responsibilities. He shouldn't have to have the job to make ends meet, and he shouldn't be ABLE to have any job that doesn't allow him to put his GL job first. (Unless the writers want to change the nature of the GLC such that the Guardians actually assign on-duty shifts to various GLs, and their time outside that is entirely their own. Then a GL could have any job that fit the schedule.)

It isn't that GL shouldn't have to earn a living, it is that being a GL increasingly seems like a full-time job the way it is written, and he should either be able to earn his living doing THAT, or it needs to be written to be less of a full-time job.

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

^It seems to be (at least in Johns' run) implied that they can eat and lodge on Oa gratis, but, yeah, you can't expect someone to essentially be on call 24-7 including calls that might take days to finish and not somehow take care of their needs.

I would prefer they did get somehow paid or taken care of. I remember getting annoyed in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer show that they specified her watcher is paid with benefits, but not the one that actually spends every night killing vampires and solving supernatural mysteries.

If they are space cops (which is how they're usually described now) or even some kind of universal peace keepers, they should be full time. That's not being perfect or some kind of Mary Sue; it's just the job as it's shown nowadays.

[Hypo Lil' Leaguer Find all posts View Profile Close Hypo]

What's Next for The Green Lantern?

Den of Geek: How are you approaching season 2 differently from how you came at season 1?

Liam Sharp: Season 2 ended up having to be shorter than the first season so Grant and I have responded by going all-out nuts with it, and basically having as much fun as it’s possible to have on a monthly! The season opener is about as epic as I’ve ever been, and I pushed myself incredibly hard on that one - I wanted it to be special. Issue 2 is strange and spooky and retro and spiky - kind of a horror-style Doctor Who vibe art-wise, with Grant providing a post-modern head-scratcher of a script. And issue 3 is all smoke and cloud and fog mixed with Top Gun, so I did that one in full color - it’s unlike anything else in the run so far. So yes, we’re freeing ourselves up to bring you the most creative and wild and, hopefully, fun book we can!

What’s the hardest part of effectively representing the free will vs control conflict visually? And will that continue to be the focus of season 2?

I think Hal has always been an agent for free will, even as he acts on behalf of the Guardians - mostly! When it comes down to the wire he puts freedom very high on the agenda, unless of course all existence is imperilled, at which point he seems to find the unlikely long-shot compromise... I always shoot for controlled chaos in my art!

How much space are you getting on character design for the Young Guardians? Will they still be these tiny Maltusians, or will they be drawn from the wider and largely bananas dc space mythology?

I get a ton of freedom to extrapolate from Grant’s suggestions, but I try to stay consistent to the the historical DNA of the Green Lantern mythos. That’s as true for the Young Guardians as it is for anything else across the run so far...

What have you seen if anything from Xermanico on Blackstars that’s adjusted what you’re doing on season 2? Anything he did that you said “oh shit, I’m taking that”?

I adored that series, but I’m sticking to the universe as we created it! That’s the nice thing about [EDITED FOR SPOILERS] but it’s subtle stuff!

Similarly, is there anything you’ve put into these books that you can’t wait to see someone else pick up and play with?

I loved seeing My version of Cheetah get used so prominently throughout the DC universe after my Wonder Woman run, so yes, it’s always fun to see what - if anything - survives beyond your run. We took the aliens back to looks that largely referenced their first appearances, and not bulked-up 90s versions, so it’ll be fun to see if that aesthetic continues. But honestly, as a comic creator I know that every new team hopes to bring their own look and feel to a book, just as we did, so I’m very circumspect around that kind of thing.

How do you top arresting god?

You’d have to round up and incarcerate ALL the gods and get them to decide on a fair set of rules that are mutually compatible across all life forms, at which point we might have an end to holy conflict. Wouldn’t that be nice?

[Michael Heide Heide Finition Find all posts View Profile Close Michael Heide]

DC has cut the second half of the Morrison/Sharp GL run down to 8 issues:

I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner, but this probably has nothing to do with sales at all. DC wants this book to be wrapped up in time for their next big Crisis. If Batman keeps double-shipping, it will hit #100 around the time GL is done.

[jhpace1 Green Lantern Initiate Find all posts View Profile Close jhpace1]

I can't believe I didn't think of it sooner, but this probably has nothing to do with sales at all. DC wants this book to be wrapped up in time for their next big Crisis. If Batman keeps double-shipping, it will hit #100 around the time GL is done.

That's probably it. I would hope after the fifteenth or sixteenth time, DC would learn their lesson and coordinate the comic books into a reboot or a Crisis, not just tear into them like the Kool-Aid man.

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

^That makes sense. If it was just sales, I would expect it to be cut altogether or at least no longer than the issues that are in the pipeline already.

[jhpace1 Green Lantern Initiate Find all posts View Profile Close jhpace1]

Really, as being a Green Lantern has become more of a full-time job over the years, where the Guardians kind of expect you to be handling stuff throughout your sector all the time, it becomes somewhat absurd that the Guardians don't seem to provide for GL's necessities of living. Somebody like Superman or the Flash, they got their powers through some freak occurrence or accident of birth, and took up heroing on their own initiative, so it makes some sense that they might need another job to make ends meet since nobody HIRED them to be a hero.

But Green Lanterns aren't like that. An organization basically offers them a job (a very demanding job, I might add), and it seems somewhat ludicrous under those circumstances that they are not being compensated, at least sufficiently to allow them to avoid having to hold down another job just to get funds to live on. Frankly, if GL has a "day job" it should be something he does because he loves it, and can somehow manage to fit it in alongside his main responsibilities. He shouldn't have to have the job to make ends meet, and he shouldn't be ABLE to have any job that doesn't allow him to put his GL job first. (Unless the writers want to change the nature of the GLC such that the Guardians actually assign on-duty shifts to various GLs, and their time outside that is entirely their own. Then a GL could have any job that fit the schedule.)

It isn't that GL shouldn't have to earn a living, it is that being a GL increasingly seems like a full-time job the way it is written, and he should either be able to earn his living doing THAT, or it needs to be written to be less of a full-time job.

It should be noted that in both the old 1970s GLC and the more recent animated versions of the GLC, most GLs are treated as being in a "known" para-galactic space cop organization with rules and obligations. Each GL is known as being from its' sector, doesn't have a secret identity, and serves the Guardians' will for as long as physically possible.

Hal Jordan was the first GL to come along and "mask" his identity on his home planet. It was (at first) a fairly Human idea of secret identity, not only to protect himself, but family members, friends, possible loved ones, etc from evildoers trying to strike back at a Green Lantern, blackmail them, or just cause fear and terror (as seen with https://greenlantern.fandom.com/wiki/Kryb and other Sinestro Corps members). As seen with Arisa and Tomar-Tu, certain races or families were even "favored" by the GLC.

This whole business of "selfless service" comes from the Guardians' rule of not using a GL power ring "for personal gain". But there have been several GLC stories, Sinestro included, of GLs becoming virtual dictators on their planets, and the Guardians looking the other way, for a portion of time at least, as long as order was kept. We've also seen cases were a GL power ring can provide all necessary life support for a wearer, to the point of not needing to eat or sleep (as in the case of Guy Gardner being given "Superboy monitoring duty" for 30? days). So the "personal gain" appears to be a fine line.

I, for one, don't want a Booster Gold-type argument, but each superhero spends a long more time in the cape than not, and that's not conductive to a normal life, let alone a job with a boss. They should be able to earn money doing something, even just using their JLA card at a local ATM. If Superman can make diamonds out of coal, Green Lantern can transmute matter from dirt into gold coins, or just dig up a sizable boulder of rare earth minerals the way Power Girl did. A local Sector House should store commodities for local trade within itself.

So let Hal stay a 1960s test pilot (or whatever the 2000 retcon was), and he doesn't need a job.

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

To claim that a comics character is so great that he can't make a living by entertaining people is absurd. Because, folks, that's exactly what comics characters are. They're entertainment. And their creators are entertainers.

Now, do I recommend shitting on your company's protagonists? No, I do not. DC has shat copiously on John, Guy, Jenny, Wally and many more of its properties, which is sheer idiocy. It's only hurt their company, which is an obvious lesson that they never seem to learn.

But is Hal Jordan really so "great" that he can't make a living in the way I've described? For reals? Who says so?

A fictional character is someone who you make up. He's not a graven image that you fashion yourself, then fall down and worship. Frankly, that's childish. It's for people who want Daddy.

Hal ain't your Daddy. Stop it.

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

^I don't mean to argue since we're obviously never going to see eye to eye, but you keep saying he shouldn't be treated like he's too perfect. Who's arguing that? No one is saying that Hal is too good or too cool to have a day job. For those of us saying he doesn't need it, the point is he is already doing full-time work. It's not about image or perfection. It's practicality. Cops, peace officers, even ambassadors are regular paid jobs. The closest equivalent I can think of to the Silver-Age concept where GL is only part-time is volunteer firemen, but I don't know any volunteer firemen who are literally on call all the time and have to leave their paying job at a moment's notice. But that's exactly what the GLC requires.

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

"You know how much a personal power battery costs?" - Salaak

^^^^ That was from the beginning of the issue of volume 4 where the newer Tattooed Man was introduced. It seems like there could be some sort of currency being given to the GL's, especially when you consider places like Warriors Bar [or was it just the Big W on Oa?] within the inner city around the Central Battery. I'm sure Guy wasn't taking currency from 3600 different worlds, but he did mention making money with the place.

For me the problem isn't with the general concept, or the Lanterns having time off enough to have lives and other jobs, its that there's still so much untapped potential DC doesn't even try to tap into! When you look at how big the GLC itself could be and not just as a bigger piece in the cosmic side of the broader DCU, there are tons of things that could be explored or reimagined without making another [insert gimmick] Lantern or Lantern Corps. We know all the Lanterns have the option of personal quarters on Oa, and some are even stationed there.... but they never go into the why or how. Writers always just scratch the surface. What makes up the rest of that city around the Central Battery, are refugees from doomed planets offered places on Oa semi-regularly sort of like MOSAIC? Were the aliens who worked at Guy's Oan restaurant/bar living on the planet or were they somehow being granted access and coming from off-world?! DO the Lanterns get some sort of pay/currency, and if so are there broader currencies in the different space sectors we've never been introduced to? How many sectors use Interlac? Is Mogo the only sentient planet in space or is he one of many?

The last writer on GLC before it was retitled with Hal taking center stage touched on stuff like this as well as Geoff Johns I think introducing us to the Foundry and other concepts like the the Lantern Crypt and it's keeper Morrow. But still... there's so much looking us right in the face they haven't explored like the rest of the city around the Central Battery and the difference between Honor Guard Lanterns and standard recruits or superior officers! There's so much stuff there that needs to be defined. The concept isn't broken and doesn't need to keep introducing gimmicky shit that's more of the same old same old. DC just needs to break the mold and either bring back the Secret Files books/annuals or spend a couple issues of a new series redefining the GLC properly and not just introducing us to a couple more GL's we'll just see from time to time in the background.

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

So is this series being timed to end with that G5 reboot of the DC line I keep reading about? I feel like this is going to be yet another perfect jumping off point for me in terms of buying Green Lantern on a regular basis. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

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

To send a love letter to a fictional character who you depict is a form of masturbation.

Don't shit on a property, but don't fall in love with it either.

[IonFan Forum Member Find all posts View Profile Close IonFan]

WTF IS UP WITH HAL'S NEW LOOK......................... he looks like an @$$ clown

[Hypo Lil' Leaguer Find all posts View Profile Close Hypo]

THE GREEN LANTERN SEASON TWO #4
written by GRANT MORRISON
art and cover by LIAM SHARP
variant cover by MATTEO SCALERA

Guest-starring the Flash, as the Emerald Warrior and Fastest Man Alive put their friendship on the line to fight for their lives on a world changed beyond all recognition! Is the world ready for an attack by ptechnodactyls and the ancient super-beings known as “the Golden Giants of Neo-Pangaea”?

ON SALE 05.13.20
$3.99 US | 4 OF 12 | 32 PAGES
FC | DC
This issue will ship with two covers.
Please see the order form for details.

[Hypo Lil' Leaguer Find all posts View Profile Close Hypo]

Seems DC has changed their minds and Season Two of TGL will be 12 issues once again.