Comments on: Retroactive Continuity http://www.4thletter.net/2009/01/retroactive-continuity/ we like talking about comics, and hopefully you like reading us talking about comics. Sat, 31 Jul 2010 00:04:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Paul Wilson http://www.4thletter.net/2009/01/retroactive-continuity/comment-page-1/#comment-21837 Paul Wilson Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:39:32 +0000 http://www.4thletter.net/?p=2166#comment-21837 @<a href="#comment-21762">draco</a>: Emerald Twilight was garbage, no question. They rushed it out of nowhere practically to tie in with GL #50. If they'd spent a year building it up it might have made more sense. Then again, it took Hal's greatest trait, his inability to give up and turned it into a flaw. He was determined he could fix all the horrible stuff that had happened and the Guardians were just holding him back. He was Anakin 10 years before Revenge of the Sith! ;) Hal was one of my favorite heroes when I started reading comics. I didn't like him becoming Parallax, but Kyle grew on me and Final Night gave Hal a semi-decent send-off. Ultimately Twilight left the character unusable as a Hero. No matter how much Johns tried to sugarcoat it he killed/maimed a lot of guys. I hate it whenever I see him these days because of the concerted effort DC has made to sweep the bad editorial decision under the carpet whilst saying it still happened. @draco: Emerald Twilight was garbage, no question. They rushed it out of nowhere practically to tie in with GL #50. If they’d spent a year building it up it might have made more sense.

Then again, it took Hal’s greatest trait, his inability to give up and turned it into a flaw. He was determined he could fix all the horrible stuff that had happened and the Guardians were just holding him back. He was Anakin 10 years before Revenge of the Sith! ;)

Hal was one of my favorite heroes when I started reading comics. I didn’t like him becoming Parallax, but Kyle grew on me and Final Night gave Hal a semi-decent send-off.

Ultimately Twilight left the character unusable as a Hero. No matter how much Johns tried to sugarcoat it he killed/maimed a lot of guys. I hate it whenever I see him these days because of the concerted effort DC has made to sweep the bad editorial decision under the carpet whilst saying it still happened.

]]> By: blah http://www.4thletter.net/2009/01/retroactive-continuity/comment-page-1/#comment-21831 blah Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:42:09 +0000 http://www.4thletter.net/?p=2166#comment-21831 Dear DC editorial, we've finally met your new villain, Prometheus. This one gave us quite a run for our money, that's NOT what we agreed. We had to 'imprison' his mind and we don't want to hear about him ever again. You'd better send Killer Moth next time. Remember, if you keep pissing us off, we'll go to Marvel. Batman has Joe Quesada on speed-dial already. Yours heroically, Justice League of America Dear DC editorial, we’ve finally met your new villain, Prometheus. This one gave us quite a run for our money, that’s NOT what we agreed. We had to ‘imprison’ his mind and we don’t want to hear about him ever again. You’d better send Killer Moth next time. Remember, if you keep pissing us off, we’ll go to Marvel. Batman has Joe Quesada on speed-dial already.

Yours heroically,
Justice League of America

]]> By: david brothers http://www.4thletter.net/2009/01/retroactive-continuity/comment-page-1/#comment-21768 david brothers Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:48:07 +0000 http://www.4thletter.net/?p=2166#comment-21768 Both stories are dumb, and I don't like Hal Jordan enough to spend the time to even talk about it. Both stories are dumb, and I don’t like Hal Jordan enough to spend the time to even talk about it.

]]> By: draco http://www.4thletter.net/2009/01/retroactive-continuity/comment-page-1/#comment-21762 draco Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:50:33 +0000 http://www.4thletter.net/?p=2166#comment-21762 I don't have an opinion on the Prometheus thing as yet but I will wait to see how things turn out before passing judgement. I disagree with what was said about Hal Jordan though. I thought it was necessary to bring him back because DC bastardized him by making him into a mass murderer for no plausible reason. To me, turning him into a messianic stone cold killer during zero hour was very out of character. It is understandable that he would be pissed off about Coast City being destroyed but to go from wanting to resurrect it to rewriting reality was not very plausible. Ask yourself a few questions: How was one Green Lantern like Hal able to easily take down several other Lanterns just as good or experienced as himself to get to the Central Battery? Why didn't the Guardians stop Hal themselves before he got there if he tore through some of the Green Lanterns? Did they all undersestimate him or something? where were the rest of the Corps while this was happening, such as John or G'Nort? Were they on vacation or something? Why would the Guardians send Sinestro to stop him and give him a green ring, given the fact that he betrayed them and turned into a villain? Why could't they have sent someone more trustworthy like John Stewart to stop Hal's rampage? To me, the idea that Hal was possessed by a demonic force seems more plausible as there was no way that one green lantern could have easily brought down the Corps and wipe them out before being taken down via lethal force-plus there was no real buildup to Hal going crazy. If Hal had shown signs of going bad before the Coast City incident, then it would have been more believable but it was a jump-the shark moment for dc because the sales on the Green Lantern book was suffering. As much flak as the Green Lantern Rebirth storyline is getting from the bloggers, the Emerald Twilight storyline deserves even more flak. If they hadn't bastardized Hal and had given him a proper sendoff like Barry Allen, there would have been no need to resurrect him. I don’t have an opinion on the Prometheus thing as yet but I will wait to see how things turn out before passing judgement.
I disagree with what was said about Hal Jordan though. I thought it was necessary to bring him back because DC bastardized him by making him into a mass murderer for no plausible reason. To me, turning him into a messianic stone cold killer during zero hour was very out of character. It is understandable that he would be pissed off about Coast City being destroyed but to go from wanting to resurrect it to rewriting reality was not very plausible.
Ask yourself a few questions:

How was one Green Lantern like Hal able to easily take down several other Lanterns just as good or experienced as himself to get to the Central Battery?

Why didn’t the Guardians stop Hal themselves before he got there if he tore through some of the Green Lanterns? Did they all undersestimate him or something?

where were the rest of the Corps while this was happening, such as John or G’Nort? Were they on vacation or something?

Why would the Guardians send Sinestro to stop him and give him a green ring, given the fact that he betrayed them and turned into a villain? Why could’t they have sent someone more trustworthy like John Stewart to stop Hal’s rampage?

To me, the idea that Hal was possessed by a demonic force seems more plausible as there was no way that one green lantern could have easily brought down the Corps and wipe them out before being taken down via lethal force-plus there was no real buildup to Hal going crazy. If Hal had shown signs of going bad before the Coast City incident, then it would have been more believable but it was a jump-the shark moment for dc because the sales on the Green Lantern book was suffering.

As much flak as the Green Lantern Rebirth storyline is getting from the bloggers, the Emerald Twilight storyline deserves even more flak. If they hadn’t bastardized Hal and had given him a proper sendoff like Barry Allen, there would have been no need to resurrect him.

]]> By: Justin http://www.4thletter.net/2009/01/retroactive-continuity/comment-page-1/#comment-21724 Justin Wed, 14 Jan 2009 01:53:48 +0000 http://www.4thletter.net/?p=2166#comment-21724 I don't even think you'd need a whole issue to rehab the character. I would really respect a writer with the yarbles to brush it all away with "I had a bad year; I did some things I am not proud of. But I'd like to see how well-adjusted *you'd* be if Batman gave you a motor neuron disease and then punched you in the face." And then on with Prometheus getting on with being a cool villain. That would be genuine class. If everybody agrees his appearances over the last few years were awful, can't we just ignore them instead of spending all this time on explaining them away? I don’t even think you’d need a whole issue to rehab the character. I would really respect a writer with the yarbles to brush it all away with “I had a bad year; I did some things I am not proud of. But I’d like to see how well-adjusted *you’d* be if Batman gave you a motor neuron disease and then punched you in the face.” And then on with Prometheus getting on with being a cool villain.

That would be genuine class. If everybody agrees his appearances over the last few years were awful, can’t we just ignore them instead of spending all this time on explaining them away?

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