Action Comics #601 Aftermath

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

What did you think of the Malvolio storyline? I thought looking at his costume design, was like a modified Alan Scott uniform and he might be to Hal Jordan, what Venom (Eddie Brock) was to Spiderman. That being said I never read the issues and only know about them because it was mentioned as a reason out of the Emerald Twilight storyline.

That was the best arc in the run.

Action also killed John's poor wife.

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

What did you think of the Malvolio storyline? I thought looking at his costume design, was like a modified Alan Scott uniform and he might be to Hal Jordan, what Venom (Eddie Brock) was to Spiderman. That being said I never read the issues and only know about them because it was mentioned as a reason out of the Emerald Twilight storyline.

The Malvolio storyline was the best part of the run, but even that is kind of ruined by the fact that it seemed like it was obviously setting up for something further (as well as the obvious similarities to Alan Scott's costume strongly implying some kind of hidden backstory/connection there) that never materialized.

There WAS a novel that established a connection between Malvolio and Alan Scott. It was OK (probably the best of the trilogy it was part of), but nothing really special.

[Big Blue Lantern Corps Honor Guard Find all posts View Profile Close Big Blue Lantern]

Well, that run was not notable for its great GL stories. We had Hal go on Oprah and figure out that his ring had modified his brain to make him without fear. We also had one of my personal least favorites, the story where we learn that Clark Kent was the ring's first choice (he was only disqualified because the ring discovered he was not native to Sector 2814), and Hal was essentially tied with like 8 or 9 other guys for second choice, and only got the ring because Clark chose him.

That was right up there with the ring choosing someone whose will was so "indomitable" that he drown his sorrows in booze and drove drunk. I'm wondering exactly what the ring's criteria was for selection at that time?

[G'nortDoggie88 Major Force's Dinner Date Find all posts View Profile Close G'nortDoggie88]

I remember one story from that run where John Stewart got arrested in the DCU version of Apartheid South Africa because Hal Jordan took some diamonds from an abandoned mine. The story already didn't make sense and it just got more ridiculous from that part on. The worst part I remember was Stewart a man who was shown to be pretty socially conscious from time to time basically helping Hal restore power to the Apartheid regime. I couldn't believe that this story was written by Christopher Priest, the same guy who went on to write Black Panther.

[Star-Lantern Weaponer of Qward Find all posts View Profile Close Star-Lantern]

I remember one story from that run where John Stewart got arrested in the DCU version of Apartheid South Africa because Hal Jordan took some diamonds from an abandoned mine. The story already didn't make sense and it just got more ridiculous from that part on. The worst part I remember was Stewart a man who was shown to be pretty socially conscious from time to time basically helping Hal restore power to the Apartheid regime. I couldn't believe that this story was written by Christopher Priest, the same guy who went on to write Black Panther.

Ahh. That story began in Action Comics and culminated in Green Lantern Special #1. All of that junk was Priest trying to 'mature' Green Lantern in a post-Watchmen world. In my opinion, it just resulted in a bunch of terrible stories. I am also very surprised Christopher Priest wrote all that.

John Stewart had it really bad in the late '80s. First, there was losing his powers at the end of the GLC book. Then, there was all that stuff Chrisopher Priest put him through, from his wife dying, to suggesting that Hal Jordan steal diamonds, to getting arrested for a crime he didn't commit, to getting whipped in an African jail. Then, Cosmic Odyssey was right around the corner.

... Well, now that I think about it, the '90s weren't particularly great to him, either, with being put in a wheelchair twice by Ron Marz. At least we got Green Lantern: Mosaic. I believe that if it wasn't for the Justice League cartoon show, which arrived in 2001, and the totally surprising, near miraculous turn John Stewart had on it, the character very well may be dead right now with no plans of returning. He may have wound up just like Charlie Vicker.

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

I need to pull my Special #1. I forgot about that stuff.

[KilowogsDisciple Green Lantern Find all posts View Profile Close KilowogsDisciple]

Ahh. That story began in Action Comics and culminated in Green Lantern Special #1. All of that junk was Priest trying to 'mature' Green Lantern in a post-Watchmen world. In my opinion, it just resulted in a bunch of terrible stories. I am also very surprised Christopher Priest wrote all that.

John Stewart had it really bad in the late '80s. First, there was losing his powers at the end of the GLC book. Then, there was all that stuff Chrisopher Priest put him through, from his wife dying, to suggesting that Hal Jordan steal diamonds, to getting arrested for a crime he didn't commit, to getting whipped in an African jail. Then, Cosmic Odyssey was right around the corner.

... Well, now that I think about it, the '90s weren't particularly great to him, either, with being put in a wheelchair twice by Ron Marz. At least we got Green Lantern: Mosaic. I believe that if it wasn't for the Justice League cartoon show, which arrived in 2001, and the totally surprising, near miraculous turn John Stewart had on it, the character very well may be dead right now with no plans of returning. He may have wound up just like Charlie Vicker.

Priest totally dicked up Captain America and the Falcon as well. I have to give credit where credit is due though, his Black Panther is the STANDARD imo.

[Evergreen City Corps Den Mother Find all posts View Profile Close Evergreen City]

You'd better pull Special #2 and Secret Origins 26? 36? (I forget) to get the scoop on the Gremlins. Some of the later Action Comics stories make no sense at all without knowing how and why fanboy Chip fits in. Also, there are a few stray guest appearances from this era (there's one in Superman? that shows Jordan out in Wyoming somewhere), and an elusive Prestige book containing an unpublished serial intended for the Action arc.

Katma did show up as a Black Lantern. It was never pursued well. Carol faked her own murder, by Stewart of course. How Katma's body got from an Earth grave to the GL burial vault on Oa was never explained. How both Carol and Hal came back to life literally and legally was never explained. Ah, but throw in Flicker and almost anything is possible.

Favorite scenes in the Action arc: Hal on a ledge. Hal locked inside a vault that has yellow paint on the inside. Hal squirming on Oprah. Hal and Arisia in a famous Chicago hotel room; he's sacked out, she's snacking and watching junk television. Oh, the Action arcs had their moments!

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

...Hal and Arisia in a famous Chicago hotel room; he's sacked out, she's snacking and watching junk television. Oh, the Action arcs had their moments!

My favorite part of The GL Action run is the Hal-Arisia relationship. That just barely got started in GLC, but the 'ship itself was in Action and I always liked them as a couple. Maybe it's the Trekkie in me dreaming of a girl with pointed ears. [For my own mental health, I'll go ahead and assume it's not the wonky age angle.]

[EmeraldGladiator Manhunter Repairman Find all posts View Profile Close EmeraldGladiator]

My favorite part of The GL Action run is the Hal-Arisia relationship. That just barely got started in GLC, but the 'ship itself was in Action and I always liked them as a couple. Maybe it's the Trekkie in me dreaming of a girl with pointed ears. [For my own mental health, I'll go ahead and assume it's not the wonky age angle.]

wow that might be enough to prompt me to pick it up after all these years. I love the Arisia/Hal relationship but wasn't really motivated to get those Action comics.

[G'nortDoggie88 Major Force's Dinner Date Find all posts View Profile Close G'nortDoggie88]

One thing I never understood about Jones's take on Hal is why he had him act like Arisia never existed when she was an amnesiac. It made him look like an asshole.

[Star-Lantern Weaponer of Qward Find all posts View Profile Close Star-Lantern]

Well, that relationship was rife with problems, from my perspective. Even in the Action Comics run, there were incidents that made Hal Jordan look less than great:

Him questioning whether he's actually in love with her:


Him blowing up at her:


I think the reason the creators/editors barely have the characters interact these days is because they don't want to remind people about that relationship. If memory serves, the last worthwhile interaction... heck maybe even the last interaction... the two had was that issue way back early into Geoff Johns' run when Johns brought Arisia back from the dead. And I believe the reason Johns even had all of that go on was so he could try his hand at exonerating Hal Jordan from whatever perceived foul play may have gone on in the Steve Englehart run.

I do generally like Steve Englehart's Green Lantern stuff A LOT, but there were very weird things about it, in my opinion. The premature Arisia aging, relationship, and the way all of that was handled, and Ch'p being dressed up like a funny animal were probably the most awkward things to me.

[Mister.Weirdo Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Mister.Weirdo]

I do remember how silly the Arisia / Hal relationship ended in Action Comics. It was done in a pretty contrived way too, like Peter David or somebody didn't want them to be together, and just decided on the best possible thing they could think up at the time, to end their relationship.

Really, it was probably for the better though.

[G'nortDoggie88 Major Force's Dinner Date Find all posts View Profile Close G'nortDoggie88]

Was there anything good about this run? I thought Priest was okay and the stories with Captain Atom and Superman (the one by Gaiman) were alright but that's it. It just seems weird that Vol. 2 was still doing well according to Englehart and yet it got replaced with Action Comics Weekly.

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

I heard that the fact that was doing well is precisely WHY it ended up in ACW. My understanding is that they were going to be doing ACW, and they wanted a fairly popular character to be a draw, and GL got the nod (and they canned his regular series so people fans would HAVE to get ACW to see the character). I guess they figured that a weekly makes more money than a monthly if they can pull it off.