Called to Serve – Some Thoughts on Hal Jordan

 

Barry Allen introduced me to Hal Jordan. I remember how it happened, in the Flash Blue Ribbon Special, one of those great old-school DC Blue Ribbon Digests that I've mentioned in the past.  I mean, I knew about Green Lantern: the ring, the lantern, this odd thing about yellow…but I didn't really know the character all that well until I started reading old Flash comics, and, of course, any friend of Barry's was a friend of mine!

 

Despite never being a huge Green Lantern collector, I appreciated the character and always felt closer to Hal Jordan than Kyle Rayner, who took the ring while I was off doing everything but reading comics. I have nothing against Kyle, mind you–he's just not my Green Lantern, you know? And it's Hal Jordan's story that I find so interesting, especially as I got older.

 

The way I see it, Hal didn't have a choice. The ring chose him. The Corps chose him. He was given the mantle of responsibility from out of the blue, and, for the most part, he lived up to the responsibility placed upon him.  I think that's what I appreciate the most about the story of Hal Jordan–that he grew up when he had to. His origin story is so unlike the other heroes that I keep up with. He's not avenging his parents' killing, he didn't get his powers by accident, he wasn't raised to be the best citizen of the planet that he could be.  He was chosen to serve, and serve he did.

 

 

 

The aspect of his new gig that really got me the most as a kid was that he was a part of a larger team, a corps, which taught me that sometimes "ps" sounds just like an "s" (really, you do learn a lot from comics).  Now, back in the day, like I said, I wasn't a regular reader, but I loved that Hal was part of a larger group of space cops, a larger group whose headquarters were nowhere near Earth.  

 

That was a biggie for me. Like, for what I guess are obvious reasons, I was pretty much an Earth-centric comic book reader. I was used to cities and the occasional jungle, and pretty much everything took place on Earth or some variant thereof.  The concept of the Green Lantern Corps was compelling because it implied that not only were there other places to keep safe other than Earth, it was the fact that, really, Earth wasn't all that important. We got our guy Hal and he was our protector, but even then, he was protecting the whole sector, not just our planet.  So, even as a young kid, it gave me a sense of perspective–yes, make-believe comic book perspective, but still, it got me thinking differently, you know? When I started reading comics, Superman was all about fighting for truth, justice and the American way–I mean, in order to his job well, this guy Green Lantern had to make sure he was not worrying about Earth all the time!  

 

The mystery of the Corps was something I valued until fairly recently. I am not sure about you, but I think I am on Corps overload and, as I commented awhile ago, it sure would be nice if Green Lantern were just doing his solo space cop thing for awhile.  Suffice to say, as I read more books, I realize that J.J. Abrams does know something: mystery is good. Unexplained means that readers can imagine something on their own.  It's nice to get a glimpse of the other members of the Corps once in awhile, but "all Corps all the time" in the main Green Lantern book was just overwhelming. (I won't go into whatever War is happening with this article, by the way–we'll have to save that for another time; I just wanted to talk about the character more than the current madness.)

 

As I get older and find myself in a variety of situations that my 11-year old self could only label as "grownup stuff," I realize just how much I respect the Hal Jordan character, and the book as a whole.  Growing up is not fun. Getting a new job is not always easy, and you are never "ready" for it. Being told you can't do something you love because of "duty" must be very difficult.  I think about Hal's entry into the Corps and I can't help but think of the soldiers and police (and fire fighters and pretty much everyone else who does their best to keep the world working) all around the world and, thanks to the struggles that Hal has, I feel like aspects of their personal struggles have a voice in Hal Jordan's story.

I also like how Hal's always seemed to be pretty flexible in terms of working with other heroes. Maybe that's part of his Corps training, to be good with teams, but it always seemed like that Hal Jordan was always hanging out with someone, whether it be Flash, or Green Arrow or Batman or pretty much anyone.  For my money, Hal's friendships with Oliver Queen and Barry Allen rank right up there with the friendships between Bruce and Clark, or Bruce and Dick. Even though it's a relatively small aspect of the Hal Jordan character, I think that his ability to work with other people taught me that I did not have to always do things on my own, that there was a real value in working with a friend.

 

Now, I admit it, I may have made a fool of myself when I whispered, "Oh, by the way, in case we don't talk later, best of luck with Green Lantern!" to Geoff Johns the other night. Look–he was sitting next to me, we were talking already, and if I know anything at all about Hollywood, the opening week jitters are pretty freaky, and absolutely anything can happen.  I just wanted to wish him good luck, because I think a lot of people are going to judging him by the performance of the upcoming film.  It's gotta be a really crazy time for him this week, you know?

 

The movie will please some folks and frustrate others, that's obvious. Given the marketing efforts, I think it is safe to say that the studio is basically courting the fanboys big time and hoping they all come on opening weekend–you look at the posters and the ads…it does not look like they are even trying to get different kinds of audiences excited about the film (I would think that with Ryan Reynolds a staple in romantic comedies, they would leverage that audience a bit).  I see the pictures and I have flashbacks to Blackest Night and, well, almost every issue of Green Lantern for the past few years: a lot of stuff going on, a lot of freaky aliens in funny outfits, and a lot of explosions.  

 

The movie is good, the movie is bad–honestly…I don't know. Who knows how it will do? I think that people are burned out on comic book movies now (almost every single one of my non-comic book friends has come up to me and said, "Now…I don't want to upset you, but…[I'm really $%(*#@ tired of comic book movies]."  No joke. The timing might be bad…the movie might do poorly…it does not matter to me. I hope it's a fun time, sure, but what I really hope happens is that the movie is good enough for kids to want to go over to the book store and get their mom or dad to buy a trade or two, because that's where the real story lies, you know?  

 

In many ways, Green Lantern helped me grow up–or, at least, made me think about growing up in a different way. Hal's stories taught me about duty, about responsibility…but most of all–and I mean it–friendship. Hal is a good friend. Reliable, honest….he's the guy you want at your back. I hope we get some of that in the upcoming movie. Yes, he's a hotshot pilot and good with the ladies, sure–but he's a lot more than that, and I hope we get a chance to enjoy that Hal this weekend.

 

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Mike Romo has been called to serve on jury duty twice and served admirably.  He's on twitter and facebook and you can reach him via email, too.