He is a junkie. Always was. From the adrenaline rush of being a test pilot to the bigger adrenaline rush of being a superhero, he was always defined by the risks he took, not the shallow hollow man he is. That's the reason Paralax made sense at all. That's the reason DC has developed so many other human GL to tell character driven stories about. Even his acts of extreme fearless will serve his habit before his mission. That New 52 reboot really has him expressing himself like a junkie. Hence, "cosign my lease".
After all the things Hal did/does it’s hard to remember him for the planes he flew. The soap, the yellow sign, the newspaper to the face, the telling a villain to go home, the threesome that never happened, the car lease, the sleeping with a 13 year old, Parallax, high on shrooms accidentally, it’s just so hard. No wonder he’s a Green Lantern. He has will to try to get people to remember him for the planes. Then again, he doesn’t know what will is.
@@akiraishin7141 tldr. There was this alien girl. She simped for Hal. But she had a weird age anime thing. I think it was that she was young for her planet. One day she used her ring to become older. And then they got together. Don't quote me. I could link a video about it.
The Guardians: "Of all the lantern corps, none have ever embodied Willpower and Courage like Lantern Jordan. Truly, he's the best of the best." Hal: "...I need a nickel for the bus."
Hal was given the Peter Parker treatment and failed to endure for even 1 issue what Spider-Man has always lived with. It is galling to see Hal's decades of heroism ignored by Carol on the flimsy premise that she wanted marriage.
shout out to the Brave and the Bold mini with Hal and Barry in the 00s that highlighted the constantly unstable life that is Hal. One issue he's a space trucker, the next he's a door to door toy salesman.
I have to admit I liked Hal punching Batman with Guy cheering him on. Not that Guy getting punched by Batman was not deserved years ago, but because I was really tired of Batman by the time that had happened.
The only part I hate about that scene is that Hal is in it, and Hal is the worst. Also, unless he used the ring, no way he gets Batman off guard (and I too was tired of Batman in that era, I am tired of Bats most of the time tbh). If it wa John though... Yeah, no complaints from me there.
I like the silver age issue where Hal gets turned into a caveman by... I think it was Dr. T.O.Morrow, maybe Hector Hammond. Anyway, the idea was to mentally regress him to the point where he couldn't use his ring anymore so they devolved him. Little did they know that neanderthal Hal Jordan is still extremely capable of using the ring for great violence and he summoned a big green club and rode on a flying at one point. It was great. Hal Jordan can unga bunga his way through any situation, no matter how developed his frontal lobe is.
I know such a thing happened in the early 90s, where Hal got cavemannified while Wally got futurized. I think they were fighting a team-up of Hector Hammond and Gorilla Grodd.
About Hal being a mess, the root of the problem is, nobody quite knew what to do with him for a very long time. He was created as quick-witted, fearless, resourceful, and really ideally suited to heroing. But that didn't leave writers a whole lot to do with Hal as a character, so writers decided to do things the Marvel way, and start heaping character flaws on him. That's why Hal became a dumping grounds for character failings. kingbeauregard sez, that's a clumsy way to fix a character. First thing is try to make the character make sense, as opposed to just sketching them out with broad adjectives like "fearless" and "resourceful". Once you've built them solidly enough that they are interesting in their own right, you don't need to inject flaws to make them interesting; the fact that they're human is enough. Now all of that said, I do like the sort of equilibrium they've achieved for Hal, which has ended up making him a solid character: he's good at heroic things but he's kind of out of step with ordinary life. He needs a mission and a purpose, because he has no idea what to do with himself if he is tasked with living an ordinary life.
Hal seems more feckless than fearless. I wonder if the rings can finally distinguish between these qualities? I half expected Carol to say "Why can't I quit you?!" Hal's development would be well served by becoming a bearer of the hope or love spectrum rings. He's pretty abrasive and clueless.
I love klutzy silver age Hal, especially when he'd do stuff unintentionally with the ring like turning Tom into a seagull or making that monster when he got knocked out by the toy plane. But I must defend him in one instance because everyone brings up that one panel of him slipping and knocking himself out (not the soap one), because that's not even Hal it was just a thief dressed like him.
I had forgotten the"You drove me!" moment! Which is good as I got a very welcome belly laugh when it came on screen. Thanks for that, it lifted what has been an otherwise fairly crappy day. All in all I think this is one of only a handful of instances where I can say that the New 52 version is the superior one.
I really love your analysis of Hal’s personality at the start of this. I like the idea that he is a weirdo in that he since he is fearless he is a bit careless and strange. I’d love to see an arc highlighting how different greens manifest fearlessness and indeed how they define willpower. Personally, I like to think the rings have a kind of “stress feedback” based on what you are trying to do. Like a literal visceral or emotional toll. “You want to lift a car? That requires the amount of emotional effort it requires to pick up a quarter. Death Star a planet? Read the book of Job.”
You know who's more of a hot mess than Hal Jordan? Carol Ferris. I'd love to see a retrospective on Carol. Here are her eras: (1) She's in love with Green Lantern but not Hal Jordan. (2) She becomes the evil Star Sapphire sometimes. (3) She and Hal have an on-again/off-again relationship. (4) She tells Hal that they can't be together unless Hal gives up being Green Lantern. So he does. He does this for her. (5) She is not just evil Star Sapphire but also evil Predator (6) She decides that even if Hal isn't Green Lantern, she still doesn't want to be with him. What a bitch. So, Hal tries to get his old job back. (7) As Star Sapphire, she's part of the Triumvirate of Evil who leave Hal for dead (no ring, no air) in outer space. (8) She kills John Stewart's wife, Katma Tui. (9) Eventually, she gets sort of lobotomized, so that she can never be Star Sapphire, thereby killing Star Sapphire but keeping Carol alive. (10) In the Geoff Johns era, she gets to be Star Sapphire again... but people treat her like she's a hero, not a villain? And yet, the death of Katma Tui is still in continuity. Does nobody remember WHO killed Katma Tui? Disgraceful! (11) She starts dating the baby Green Lantern... sorry, I mean, little tiny young kid Kyle Rayner. (This at the time when Kyle's true love was Soranik Natu who brought him back to life because of their unbreakable bond of love, but Kyle Rayner's horrible personality is a whole other topic.) (12) And... then I stopped reading DC comics, so I don't know what's happened since, but I'm guessing this evil murderer is still treated as a hero, but that's par for the course with modern DC (as heroes team up with murderers like Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, they let Lex Luthor and Captain Cold join the Justice League, and one of their toylines had an advertisement saying "Poison Ivy to the rescue!" When did murderers become honored as if they were heroes?
+1 on this. Her being evil then good, then evil again has always been interesting to look at and i will never forget when Sinestro roasted her about the relationship with Hal and how it will never work. Laughed out loud when i read that.
I had no idea her comic history was so... madame evil. I literally just know her as Hal's on again off again but true love GF and sometimes Stat Saphire (with the caveat that whenever she's evil she's under mind control from be ring). I see they worked hard to smooth her character over for the animated adaptions.
@@wdcain1 Yeah, Kyle's true love was Jade, after his true love was Donna Troy after his true love was, um, fridge girl. This boy gets around (preferring only to date superheroes, models, and superhero models.) Soranik Natu is a Korugarian, who happened to be the daughter of Sinestro. She was a doctor and a Green Lantern until she became a member of the Sinestro Corps. And her future son with Kyle came back in time and met her. But then Kyle's true love turned out to be Carol Ferris.
My favorite Hal Jordan makes a hot mess moment is in the 1973 JLA Christmas issue where he trips on a bar of soap, setting up Jon to be GL for the issue. I bought the issue as a kid in '73, so I was there for it--live! And I still have a copy of that issue.
Let's talk about the sketchy Guardians for a second. We know that all the Guardians except for Ganthet died in "Emerald Twilight" in the 90s. Then at some point, Kyle became Ion, and used the last of his power to reconstitute the Guardians. But, I hasten to point out, he brought them back as children, and dozens of them no less. The next time we see the Guardians is "Rebirth", in which they are all old, and there are fewer than a dozen of them. This leaves some questions that I don't think DC has actually ever given any thought to, like, even if the kid Guardians aged, where did half of them go? These newly old Guardians are the sketchy Guardians who later try to rule the universe, and allow me to toss out a theory: they aren't the original Guardians at all. They are a group of Maltusians who were long ago rejected from becoming Guardians, felt they were up to the job, and decided to just take over when they saw that the Guardians had come back as children. So they shoved the kids into a pocket dimension, where they are to this day. And these impostor Guardians eventually proved that they were indeed unsuited to becoming Guardians, given all their deranged behavior.
@@dallasgrey4247 I'm not sure how Ganthet fits into this though. Has there likewise been an impostor Ganthet, or did the impostors brainwash the real one? Part of me likes to imagine him in that pocket dimension, eternally playing Candyland with the kid Guardians and hating what his life has become. But there is real potential for those kid Guardians. Like, what if they're traveling around with various GLs, trying to learn about the universe?
... oh, I should mention that, to my knowledge, the only person who actually saw the kid Guardians was Kyle. So if you want to come up with a Kyle story, do a story where he realizes someone's tampered with his memories, so first he has to figure out what memories were screwed with, and it's only then that he realizes there's this set of kid Guardians who have gone missing. (People who remember the 80s and 90s: you could do a cover where there are cartons of space-milk with the kid Guardians' pictures on them.) Then Kyle has to rescue them. I admit that Kyle isn't my favorite GL, but I'm always game for a good story that a character is well-suited to. And this feels like a very Kyle story.
You'd think with all his rich friends and how many times he's saved the planet or the universe that somebody would be willing to give the guy a break. Why is society always so ungrateful to superheroes in the comic books? He could probably get dozens of commercial endorsements alone. He needs to talk to Booster Gold.
Kyle was my first Green Lantern, then John, and lastly Hal. It took me a while to learn that 'jerk ass' is a pretty common Green Lantern personality trait
A favorite Hal moment: this was in "The Road Back" in the early 90s, when a rogue Guardian had built the Mosaic world composed of cities from various species throughout the universe, and it was Hal and Guy trying to stop the Guardian. Guy was under attack in city after city (thanks to the Guardian), until the various god figures of each culture would show up in each city to tell them to stand down. It was Hal taking the forms of the various gods. Hal is clever. He's a doofus in a lot of ways, but he's clever.
Headcanon: after Hal dined and dashed, they called Bruce Wayne, because Bruce just randomly pays for Superheroes who forget to pay for things, or cause damages while saving the day or whatever... and he's just like, "*SIGH* I'll handle it."
These types of issues/problems works for Spiderman,but,he was a teen character then,so it was expected.Not so much with GL,I like the character for the space-adventures and crazy villians/foes,not mundane,everyday problems.
i really don't like how Hal Jordan's ressurection was handled, even if he's been back for basically my whole life. yeah, the worldbuilding Johns later added was almost essential, but it falls short when it comes at the cost of all of Hal's development. Parallax was meant to be Hal at his worst, now he's just a big god bug. Hal went through a beautiful redemption arc as the Spectre, but so many writers refuse to acknowledge any of it. even his neice who helped him, Helen, gets no love. i wonder why that is... (hint: it's because Geoff Johns values nostalgia over character.)
You won't find a bigger Hal fan than me, and I never liked him more than when he was the Spectre. But I think I can reconcile his redemption arc, even though it was Parallax who drove him bonkers: Parallax still leveraged some part of Hal, and Hal wanted to make amends for even that small part.
I feel like with the Hal's resurrection was it mostly down to get rid of as much blame of Hal as possible as for many will after the Omnicite in Zero Hours there be no way for them to ever see Hal redeemed unless the responsibility for it it pushed away from Hal. Its also why the Story antagonist Batman so much as in Final Night was it him that embodied the people that will never be able to see Hal as truly redeemed to matter what. On a personal level I'm just glad to finally have a story that actually acknowledges that the "Bat-God" nonsense makes no sense when applied to Green lanterns as there whole deal is that they can overcome great fear which is Batmans strongest weapon. But that might be in large parts because of the Batman over hyping that has been going on for years.
Because there is no redemption from what he did. He basically committed a genocide on OA. There is no redemption or moving on from that. It's also why writers have retconned Wally killing his friends in Sanctuary despite his "redemption" arc. It doesn't matter what redemption you give them and how self indulgently complex it seems. It ends up overshadowing everything if you don't erase it. Because nobody moves on from killing all their friends or a planets worth of people. No trauma or heroic act will redeem that. Having Superman or Batman murder someone and then having to redeem themselves is also an interesting concept but it breaks those characters. They will alway's be defined as that. Hank Pym has gone on so many redemption tours for a single slap to his wife and he still can't narratively escape that. If you have a friend and you learn they once punched their wife it redefines how you view them even if they never do it again. They are the guy that punched his wife. These things are just too big of a narrative burden for what are at the end cartoon characters that are supposed to last indefinitely.Writers can do that "complex" narrative with their own characters. It breaks Neil Adams fundamental rule that every writer should be mindful of. You can and should bend the characters but you can't break them. Johns with Hal and Adams with Wally just clued the parts back together.
Emerald Trashlight is a garbage "storyline" that doesn't even deserve to be canon. Johns' only mistake was that he didn't completely retcon it and the garbage self insert flop of a character that is Kyle Rayner
Why doesn't Green Arrow just set Hal up in a small apartment and maintain a small bank account for him since he is not on Earth enough to hold a real job and keep up with the mundane things in a normal life? You would think that Carol would at least let him use a guest house and borrow a company car. He's friends with millionaires and billionaires who know he is a intergalactic cop and the Guardians don't seem to pay anything. Why don't they help!?! Hell, just ask Firestorm to turn a rusted out abandoned car in the woods into ONE gold brick for him!
But you see, Hal gotta pull himself from his bootstraps! None of this a MAN getting help from his friends, not how an alpha would act, this is literally communism! /s
There were so many obvious reasons why Hal wouldn't propose in his current position at the start of the New52 run. He even starts the "proposal" conversation with "I never thought I'd be doing this..." Why would Carol still thin, this was a proposal and why would she want to be proposed to that way?!
I recently saw a GL collectable "Infinity Cube" that had John Stewart on the package, but Hal Jordan on the product, so even DC is confused by the GL branding...
Hal Jordan is my favorite and ironically I find myself in a similar boat as him: no job, broke, and whatever passes for a "love life" is laughable at best. Plus I'm more thinking on my feet than actually thinking it thru. New 52 was a mess and with the benefit of hindsight, can't help but feel that much like with every other reboot DC has done before/since, it was all "planned" that way. Least that's how I feel about it. Awesome video. And looking forward to checking out new GL comic. Hope it's good and it'll lead to a bigger franchise again. Feels like ever since Johns and co. left no one's had much of an idea what to do with it. Or at least something that's consistent/lasting. Tried reading Morrison's run, but gave up because they seemed like they were REALLY doing too much acid this time, and i only just started reading The Invisibles! The first Earth One graphic novel is awesome, tho I haven't read the 2nd.
Hal is always my Green Lantern. The Test Pilot without fear was more exciting than the others. However, I do respect the others. When John Stewart and Guy Gardner were first introduced as backup to Hal, they were simply John the architect and Guy the Physical Education Teacher. They had to change John's and Guy's origin to make them more interesting. In the beginning, John and Guy were never a Marine and Cop!
I'd love to see you do some 'casual histories' episodes/playlists of summaries to help new comics readers to be 'caught-up' enough to pick up ongoing characters. I know DC and Marvel etc… have these, but I really think the Sasha versions would be better! 😁
I am reminded of that Rick & Morty episode where Jerry's life is falling apart and a voice keeps getting carried by the wind "Looooossseeeeerrrr" Only this time it would be Sinestro hiding behind a bush saying it.
I was never a Hal Jordan fan in the past and didn't have a lot of background on him. Of the DC A-list characters, he always seemed to me like the most generic character - a guy who was basically a superhero even before he got his ring - and that was not something that was a draw for me. Also, I got into comics when Kyle Rayner was introduced, so he was the Green Lantern I was interested in. It wasn't until I subscribed to CC that I found out what a mess of a human being modern Hal really is, and I was intrigued by the new series and picked up GL #1 and plan to continue buying. I think you may have created a new Hal Jordan fan, Sasha. DC should pay you a commission.
Fave Hot Mess Hal moment: pre-Flashpoint, when he shows up to demand the Green Lantern ring from Guy Gardner and they get into an actual fistfight over it. (Guy’s reaction to first seeing him: “Hal Jordan? If I wanted to be bored, I’d watch the PGA Tournament.”) Fave nice Hal moment: in Emerald Knights #0, AKA Guy’s Green Lantern origin story, which involves him first meeting Hal. Hal removes his mask to introduce himself, and he and Guy tease each other, with Guy calling Hal “Harold,” and Hal calling Guy “Red.” They then grab Kilowog and all go out for drinks together. It’s honestly a refreshing change to see Hal and Guy getting along, but also Hal welcoming Guy to the Corps and demonstrating faith in him as a Green Lantern. (Also, Guy here was a motorcycle-riding, leather jacket-wearing rebel with long hair and daddy issues, because New 52, I guess?)
Another favorite Hal moment: this was in "The Brave and the Bold" back in the naughties, where Hal was teamed up with Dr Fate for an issue. Now the writer was trying to strike a contrast between Hal and Dr Fate, where Hal is all about free will while Dr Fate is about destiny, and I felt the contrast was a little forced (I've never known Dr Fate to practice quietism), but, let's go with it. When we first bump into Hal, he's on an alien world, dying from an alien poison during a fire fight, when Dr Fate shows up. Hal gets it in his head somehow that Dr Fate needs every scrap of magic to get himself safely back home, so he lies: he tells Dr Fate "look, I've got a plan to beat them", and he delivers it like he really is fine, even though he knows he's dead without Dr Fate's help. Well, Dr Fate helps him anyway AND gets himself back to earth safe and sound, so, no harm done. Here's my point: Hal was willing to accept death without hesitation to make sure his colleague would be okay, without even any of the angst you'd normally see in comics. Hal is genuinely brave.
Stuff like this kind of makes me wonder why dc did their characters like this. I'd say Hal could be considered to have gotten the worst of it but they've always just done odd stuff with their characters over the years. I wonder why
Ironically, the New 52 soured me on Hal since he was a failure from issue 1. Meanwhile, every other Earth GL was reaching new heights in the other books. It made me a Guy Gardner stan!!
You know, I'd kind of love if you did a rundown list of all the green lanterns and their idiosyncrasies that make them more human and loveable. That seems to be a fun thing about Greens. They're allowed to mess up without it being the literal end of the world, while it sometimes feels like it. Like, I know Stewart's kinda uptight and literal, Raynor's a starving artist with a fear of refrigerators and a 'finding your family' arc, and Jo is a weeb with survivor's guilt and a history of being discriminated against, but the only dedicated GL book I've finished was Far Sector sooooooo... yeah.
EVERYONE knows the best Hal moment was: "Everybody, stand back and peep the light show! GREEN LANTERN'S GOT THIS!" *immediately dissed by Darkseid and pummeled by parademons*
My favorite hot mess/Hal GL moment ends with him snarling at Carol: Send me a bill. IIRC Carol was in a wheelchair, the cover was infamous in that a environmentalist was being literally crucified on one of Carol's jets, and yes, Green Arrow was there. Hal and Ollie were there when the man died, and everyone just had a Meh, so he's dead, back to business as usual moment, and Hal used his ring to wipe out like five jumbo jets. Send me a bill. Or the bill. Whatever, it was wild, man: wild...
I know they have a long relationship but why do she think that he would propose to her when he doesn't have a job, money or a car who needs co-signing also I find it interesting that Hal has two personality types and John & Guy have one of those 2 mostly
From Newspapers to the face, or clumsy tripping, Through my hands opportunities ever slipping While heroic in flight, strained relationships come to light Let those who reboot to make it all right BEWARE MY CREDIT SCORE Hal Jordan’s plight!
Genuine question but do you sincerely like Hal? I hear the "hot mess" part and think you like him more as a joke than as a character if I explained that right. I hope you do like him sincerely. He needs the love.
It all puts me in mind of the period he was a travelling toy salesman and his friends in the JLA made sure to let him know it was a step down from his test pilot days.
I first started reading Green Lantern when he fell in love with Guy Gardner's girlfriend Kari Limbo and almost married her, so that's the "Oh Hal!" moment that sticks with me.
As badly recived as the Nolanverse Green Lantern movie was, the more I dive into Hal's character the more apparent it is that Ryan Renyolds was perfect casting! Ditto Mark Strong as Sinestro: Chap is so good at "sick of this shit" it hurts!
I unironically prefer Johns Hal and I disagree that he wasn't flawed and suffered any consequences, there were the Lost Lanterns that don't support him and he still was reckless. Tbh I find he has too many flaws as a character, he can't keep a job, doesn't plan his life, does NOT respect boundaries and is emotionally so unintelligent its actually creepy by real standards. As a Hal fan I can see why people don't like the character as his flaws don't really fall to the side for his strengths. I wouldn't mind these flaws if he was a young man, but he is like what 40? I have the same issues I have with Peter Parker, they don't allow the characters to grow. I feel like he is a caricature of an 80s cocky pilot from Top Gun that is kinda problematic in a modern sense. You can be cocky, confident etc while also respecting boundaries, having personal responsibility, and other aspects that are less creepy. I love Hal, but as much as people hate it I much prefer when he returned and felt like he was trying to mature as a character in GL Rebirth. My favourite Hot mess Hal moment doesn't exist, my favourite Hal moment personally was when he helped Sinestro in the New 52.
I...I can't let it go. I know you said it as a goof. But, I now want a One Shot or 3 to 4 Issue Mini of Hal doing pedestrian things outside of the being a Green Lantern, to kind of sort of keep his civilian life afloat....w/ Sinestro as his mentor. "Jordan for the last time, I don't care what the currency was in Sector 4729, You can NOT subsidize an IRA w/ NFT Monkeys!'" "No Jordan you can NOT sublet the apartment you're RENTING to other Corps Members!" "Jordan it is your Standard Earth Year of 2023 and you still don't have a shower mat OR a soap-dish. How many more concussions do you want to pay for?!?"
My favourite Hal is him in "The Flash and Green Lantern: the Brave and the Bold". Just a collection of adventures throughout Barry and Hal's friendship, showing Hal's bouncing from job to job and woman to woman, whilst Barry picks up the check. Barry pays for things as small as parking to something as large as Hal's bail. True friendship right there.
I am the Spectre Hal Jordan!! All powerful!! ....hey I was in space for 3 years fighting for vengance... can you sign my loan... *1 year later* "Yeah! Renegade Hal Jordan IS the Green Lantern Battery!!" *1 year later* Hey anyone wanna let me hold $30 for ab uber?"
Not the first time I've seen Hal Jordan in jail (Emerald dawn) My boi and perfect, In fact he's kind of a trouble-maker, and I like that about him. Green Lantern of any era has always been a fun read. I liked issue #3 of the 1990 Green Lantern ongoing series where Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner both take off they're rings to have a no-ring bar fight with each other, and 2 rednecks get ahold of they're rings and cause a bunch of mayhem and Hal and Guy have to get they're rings back from 'em. Hilarious.
Thanks for this vid, Sasha? Would you ever consider a video about Hal’s backstory throughout the decades and which elements stuck around vs. the ones that didn’t? I’d also be intrigued by a similar video for Guy Gardener, especially since the abusive drunk father got introduced into his backstory in the early 90s and then never left except for a brief period in the New 52 and then immediately returned in Rebirth. I’d love to see a big time Green Lantern fan’s take on why some parts of a backstory stick but others don’t.
I love you and hal uploads I always thought John Stewart was the boring green lantern but hal had the hothead klutz more realistic green lantern I still love that jla 110 he hit his head on the bath knocked out and John had to take over
Hot Mess Hal Jordan 🤔 ARISIA 🤨…now that that’s out of the Way OMG that JSA omnibus on the cabinet behind you is Enormous !!! Keep Up The Outstanding Work Sasha 🖖🏾
I'm curious where you find all your quotes. Do you just type in the "[creator] interview" or such and do you find it easier to find for newer or older series. I've been trying to find quotes and such for the older detective comics issues (which are a wild ride) and its almost like there is no info even for something like the first appearance of the batarang.
I remember reading Emerald Dawn II when it came out and was really confused as the DUI seemed to come out of left field. And then Guy Gardner was Hal's lawyer...which made it more confusing. I did like the idea that he ended up serving his time at the end of the series and it was a different thing to see for a hero in comics (at least for 12 year old me at the time). For all the different shades they throwing Hal under, I still have him as my top DC hero.
As someone who knows the Lanterns tangentially from the justice league animated series and this channel I think the dynamic between Hal and Senestro is the more interesting story. Senestro being forced into the hero role and trying to be fired while Hal is depressed and having to pick up his life with the help of Senestro… just sounds like the most hilarious buddy cop movie ever. Now I just really want a fanfic where Senestro goes full Karen and threatens people to let him sign Hal’s lease.
I just hope the issue 2 of the Dawn of DC run gives us a cool splash page like issue 2 of the New 52 run did with Hal's murder attempt as soon as he put on that Power Ring. "Adios Sinestro!"
Why would Hal Jordan do this?
Because when you don’t know what will is you just have to do something
Coast City probably has bad public transportation 😂
@@fumochabalala6284 considering it’s on the west coast, probabaly
writters
He is a junkie. Always was. From the adrenaline rush of being a test pilot to the bigger adrenaline rush of being a superhero, he was always defined by the risks he took, not the shallow hollow man he is. That's the reason Paralax made sense at all. That's the reason DC has developed so many other human GL to tell character driven stories about. Even his acts of extreme fearless will serve his habit before his mission. That New 52 reboot really has him expressing himself like a junkie. Hence, "cosign my lease".
Broke, single and homeless? Now THIS IS THE HAL JORDAN I KNOW AND LOVE!!!
AGREED.And making Hal a villian and killing the Lantern Corp was non-sense,giving Hal the Darth Vader treatment form the Star Wars prequels.
i never realized that he must’ve dine-and-dashed that restaurant, as if this scene couldn’t get any better 😭
"Sinestro! Thank God you're here! Co-sign my lease!" is the funniest thing I have heard today.
After all the things Hal did/does it’s hard to remember him for the planes he flew. The soap, the yellow sign, the newspaper to the face, the telling a villain to go home, the threesome that never happened, the car lease, the sleeping with a 13 year old, Parallax, high on shrooms accidentally, it’s just so hard. No wonder he’s a Green Lantern. He has will to try to get people to remember him for the planes. Then again, he doesn’t know what will is.
Remember when he helps Green Arrow fight racism and heroin.
I'm sorry, when did he sleep with a 13 year old? Wtf?
@@akiraishin7141 tldr. There was this alien girl. She simped for Hal. But she had a weird age anime thing. I think it was that she was young for her planet. One day she used her ring to become older. And then they got together. Don't quote me. I could link a video about it.
Hal messes up so much that I keep forgetting it was John Stewart who was defeated by a pot of yellow paint in "Cosmic Odyssey".
@something clever Apparently, that plot happened because of a writer switch. Before that he was strictly acting only as a mentor figure to her.
"He has a car..." C'mon now, Sasha. We all know that's not Hal's car. Must be his brother's or something.
The Guardians: "Of all the lantern corps, none have ever embodied Willpower and Courage like Lantern Jordan. Truly, he's the best of the best."
Hal: "...I need a nickel for the bus."
Hot mess Hal Jordan could be a playlist.
Hal was given the Peter Parker treatment and failed to endure for even 1 issue what Spider-Man has always lived with. It is galling to see Hal's decades of heroism ignored by Carol on the flimsy premise that she wanted marriage.
shout out to the Brave and the Bold mini with Hal and Barry in the 00s that highlighted the constantly unstable life that is Hal. One issue he's a space trucker, the next he's a door to door toy salesman.
I have to admit I liked Hal punching Batman with Guy cheering him on. Not that Guy getting punched by Batman was not deserved years ago, but because I was really tired of Batman by the time that had happened.
The only part I hate about that scene is that Hal is in it, and Hal is the worst. Also, unless he used the ring, no way he gets Batman off guard (and I too was tired of Batman in that era, I am tired of Bats most of the time tbh). If it wa John though... Yeah, no complaints from me there.
I like the silver age issue where Hal gets turned into a caveman by... I think it was Dr. T.O.Morrow, maybe Hector Hammond. Anyway, the idea was to mentally regress him to the point where he couldn't use his ring anymore so they devolved him. Little did they know that neanderthal Hal Jordan is still extremely capable of using the ring for great violence and he summoned a big green club and rode on a flying at one point. It was great. Hal Jordan can unga bunga his way through any situation, no matter how developed his frontal lobe is.
I know such a thing happened in the early 90s, where Hal got cavemannified while Wally got futurized. I think they were fighting a team-up of Hector Hammond and Gorilla Grodd.
Hal 'What is a wheel' Jordan sounds like an amazing what-if series
About Hal being a mess, the root of the problem is, nobody quite knew what to do with him for a very long time. He was created as quick-witted, fearless, resourceful, and really ideally suited to heroing. But that didn't leave writers a whole lot to do with Hal as a character, so writers decided to do things the Marvel way, and start heaping character flaws on him. That's why Hal became a dumping grounds for character failings.
kingbeauregard sez, that's a clumsy way to fix a character. First thing is try to make the character make sense, as opposed to just sketching them out with broad adjectives like "fearless" and "resourceful". Once you've built them solidly enough that they are interesting in their own right, you don't need to inject flaws to make them interesting; the fact that they're human is enough.
Now all of that said, I do like the sort of equilibrium they've achieved for Hal, which has ended up making him a solid character: he's good at heroic things but he's kind of out of step with ordinary life. He needs a mission and a purpose, because he has no idea what to do with himself if he is tasked with living an ordinary life.
The “Lonely Man” theme constantly plays in the background in Hal’s life.
Not necessarily a 'Hot-Mess Jordan' moment; but Hal arresting God in the Morrison run is in the top 10 for me
Hal seems more feckless than fearless. I wonder if the rings can finally distinguish between these qualities?
I half expected Carol to say "Why can't I quit you?!"
Hal's development would be well served by becoming a bearer of the hope or love spectrum rings. He's pretty abrasive and clueless.
My favorite "Oh Hal" moment is the "17.17.17" thought bubbles.
17!!
I love klutzy silver age Hal, especially when he'd do stuff unintentionally with the ring like turning Tom into a seagull or making that monster when he got knocked out by the toy plane. But I must defend him in one instance because everyone brings up that one panel of him slipping and knocking himself out (not the soap one), because that's not even Hal it was just a thief dressed like him.
@@JohnMinehan-lx9ts oh yeah, that was fun. Another fun panel, though not ring related, was when he got turned into an eagle and started firing a gun.
I had forgotten the"You drove me!" moment! Which is good as I got a very welcome belly laugh when it came on screen. Thanks for that, it lifted what has been an otherwise fairly crappy day. All in all I think this is one of only a handful of instances where I can say that the New 52 version is the superior one.
I really love your analysis of Hal’s personality at the start of this.
I like the idea that he is a weirdo in that he since he is fearless he is a bit careless and strange.
I’d love to see an arc highlighting how different greens manifest fearlessness and indeed how they define willpower.
Personally, I like to think the rings have a kind of “stress feedback” based on what you are trying to do. Like a literal visceral or emotional toll.
“You want to lift a car? That requires the amount of emotional effort it requires to pick up a quarter. Death Star a planet? Read the book of Job.”
You know who's more of a hot mess than Hal Jordan? Carol Ferris. I'd love to see a retrospective on Carol. Here are her eras:
(1) She's in love with Green Lantern but not Hal Jordan.
(2) She becomes the evil Star Sapphire sometimes.
(3) She and Hal have an on-again/off-again relationship.
(4) She tells Hal that they can't be together unless Hal gives up being Green Lantern. So he does. He does this for her.
(5) She is not just evil Star Sapphire but also evil Predator
(6) She decides that even if Hal isn't Green Lantern, she still doesn't want to be with him. What a bitch. So, Hal tries to get his old job back.
(7) As Star Sapphire, she's part of the Triumvirate of Evil who leave Hal for dead (no ring, no air) in outer space.
(8) She kills John Stewart's wife, Katma Tui.
(9) Eventually, she gets sort of lobotomized, so that she can never be Star Sapphire, thereby killing Star Sapphire but keeping Carol alive.
(10) In the Geoff Johns era, she gets to be Star Sapphire again... but people treat her like she's a hero, not a villain? And yet, the death of Katma Tui is still in continuity. Does nobody remember WHO killed Katma Tui? Disgraceful!
(11) She starts dating the baby Green Lantern... sorry, I mean, little tiny young kid Kyle Rayner. (This at the time when Kyle's true love was Soranik Natu who brought him back to life because of their unbreakable bond of love, but Kyle Rayner's horrible personality is a whole other topic.)
(12) And... then I stopped reading DC comics, so I don't know what's happened since, but I'm guessing this evil murderer is still treated as a hero, but that's par for the course with modern DC (as heroes team up with murderers like Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, they let Lex Luthor and Captain Cold join the Justice League, and one of their toylines had an advertisement saying "Poison Ivy to the rescue!" When did murderers become honored as if they were heroes?
+1 on this. Her being evil then good, then evil again has always been interesting to look at and i will never forget when Sinestro roasted her about the relationship with Hal and how it will never work. Laughed out loud when i read that.
I had no idea her comic history was so... madame evil. I literally just know her as Hal's on again off again but true love GF and sometimes Stat Saphire (with the caveat that whenever she's evil she's under mind control from be ring). I see they worked hard to smooth her character over for the animated adaptions.
I thought Kyle Rayner's true love was Jade. Who the heck is this Soranik woman?
@@wdcain1 Yeah, Kyle's true love was Jade, after his true love was Donna Troy after his true love was, um, fridge girl. This boy gets around (preferring only to date superheroes, models, and superhero models.) Soranik Natu is a Korugarian, who happened to be the daughter of Sinestro. She was a doctor and a Green Lantern until she became a member of the Sinestro Corps. And her future son with Kyle came back in time and met her. But then Kyle's true love turned out to be Carol Ferris.
Carol just seems to be Hal's main love interest due to Grandfather clause
My favorite Hal Jordan makes a hot mess moment is in the 1973 JLA Christmas issue where he trips on a bar of soap, setting up Jon to be GL for the issue. I bought the issue as a kid in '73, so I was there for it--live! And I still have a copy of that issue.
☠💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
Let's talk about the sketchy Guardians for a second. We know that all the Guardians except for Ganthet died in "Emerald Twilight" in the 90s. Then at some point, Kyle became Ion, and used the last of his power to reconstitute the Guardians. But, I hasten to point out, he brought them back as children, and dozens of them no less.
The next time we see the Guardians is "Rebirth", in which they are all old, and there are fewer than a dozen of them. This leaves some questions that I don't think DC has actually ever given any thought to, like, even if the kid Guardians aged, where did half of them go?
These newly old Guardians are the sketchy Guardians who later try to rule the universe, and allow me to toss out a theory: they aren't the original Guardians at all. They are a group of Maltusians who were long ago rejected from becoming Guardians, felt they were up to the job, and decided to just take over when they saw that the Guardians had come back as children. So they shoved the kids into a pocket dimension, where they are to this day. And these impostor Guardians eventually proved that they were indeed unsuited to becoming Guardians, given all their deranged behavior.
Damn that sounds like a great GL story line
@@dallasgrey4247 I'm not sure how Ganthet fits into this though. Has there likewise been an impostor Ganthet, or did the impostors brainwash the real one? Part of me likes to imagine him in that pocket dimension, eternally playing Candyland with the kid Guardians and hating what his life has become.
But there is real potential for those kid Guardians. Like, what if they're traveling around with various GLs, trying to learn about the universe?
I would love to see Ganthet come back in and explain exactly this and for this to be a GL story
99% of guardians are sketchy.
I do feel you on the kid plot hole.
... oh, I should mention that, to my knowledge, the only person who actually saw the kid Guardians was Kyle. So if you want to come up with a Kyle story, do a story where he realizes someone's tampered with his memories, so first he has to figure out what memories were screwed with, and it's only then that he realizes there's this set of kid Guardians who have gone missing. (People who remember the 80s and 90s: you could do a cover where there are cartons of space-milk with the kid Guardians' pictures on them.) Then Kyle has to rescue them.
I admit that Kyle isn't my favorite GL, but I'm always game for a good story that a character is well-suited to. And this feels like a very Kyle story.
There's something so great about a hero who's a legend in space but is a total loser on his home planet. Chef's kiss. I love it.
I remember a running gag of Hal hitting Barry up for money in Flash and Green Lantern the Brave and the Bold.
You'd think with all his rich friends and how many times he's saved the planet or the universe that somebody would be willing to give the guy a break. Why is society always so ungrateful to superheroes in the comic books? He could probably get dozens of commercial endorsements alone. He needs to talk to Booster Gold.
Helping him costs money, whilst giving words of encouragement is free.
Seriously, his old buddy Green Arrow is a billionaire. Unless this was during one of those periods when Ollie had lost his fortune.
Kyle was my first Green Lantern, then John, and lastly Hal. It took me a while to learn that 'jerk ass' is a pretty common Green Lantern personality trait
I miss Kyle.....
A lazy afternoon listening to Sasha talk about Hal "Hot Mess" Jordan. It's a good day. 🐼
A favorite Hal moment: this was in "The Road Back" in the early 90s, when a rogue Guardian had built the Mosaic world composed of cities from various species throughout the universe, and it was Hal and Guy trying to stop the Guardian. Guy was under attack in city after city (thanks to the Guardian), until the various god figures of each culture would show up in each city to tell them to stand down. It was Hal taking the forms of the various gods.
Hal is clever. He's a doofus in a lot of ways, but he's clever.
Headcanon: after Hal dined and dashed, they called Bruce Wayne, because Bruce just randomly pays for Superheroes who forget to pay for things, or cause damages while saving the day or whatever... and he's just like, "*SIGH* I'll handle it."
Hal hot mess Jordan that should absolutely be the name he is known by throughout the DC Universe
These types of issues/problems works for Spiderman,but,he was a teen character then,so it was expected.Not so much with GL,I like the character for the space-adventures and crazy villians/foes,not mundane,everyday problems.
I feel like the HalSpectre thing is generally overlooked and warrants some extra attention
i really don't like how Hal Jordan's ressurection was handled, even if he's been back for basically my whole life. yeah, the worldbuilding Johns later added was almost essential, but it falls short when it comes at the cost of all of Hal's development. Parallax was meant to be Hal at his worst, now he's just a big god bug. Hal went through a beautiful redemption arc as the Spectre, but so many writers refuse to acknowledge any of it. even his neice who helped him, Helen, gets no love. i wonder why that is... (hint: it's because Geoff Johns values nostalgia over character.)
You won't find a bigger Hal fan than me, and I never liked him more than when he was the Spectre. But I think I can reconcile his redemption arc, even though it was Parallax who drove him bonkers: Parallax still leveraged some part of Hal, and Hal wanted to make amends for even that small part.
I feel like with the Hal's resurrection was it mostly down to get rid of as much blame of Hal as possible as for many will after the Omnicite in Zero Hours there be no way for them to ever see Hal redeemed unless the responsibility for it it pushed away from Hal.
Its also why the Story antagonist Batman so much as in Final Night was it him that embodied the people that will never be able to see Hal as truly redeemed to matter what.
On a personal level I'm just glad to finally have a story that actually acknowledges that the "Bat-God" nonsense makes no sense when applied to Green lanterns as there whole deal is that they can overcome great fear which is Batmans strongest weapon.
But that might be in large parts because of the Batman over hyping that has been going on for years.
Because there is no redemption from what he did. He basically committed a genocide on OA. There is no redemption or moving on from that. It's also why writers have retconned Wally killing his friends in Sanctuary despite his "redemption" arc.
It doesn't matter what redemption you give them and how self indulgently complex it seems. It ends up overshadowing everything if you don't erase it. Because nobody moves on from killing all their friends or a planets worth of people. No trauma or heroic act will redeem that. Having Superman or Batman murder someone and then having to redeem themselves is also an interesting concept but it breaks those characters. They will alway's be defined as that.
Hank Pym has gone on so many redemption tours for a single slap to his wife and he still can't narratively escape that. If you have a friend and you learn they once punched their wife it redefines how you view them even if they never do it again. They are the guy that punched his wife.
These things are just too big of a narrative burden for what are at the end cartoon characters that are supposed to last indefinitely.Writers can do that "complex" narrative with their own characters. It breaks Neil Adams fundamental rule that every writer should be mindful of. You can and should bend the characters but you can't break them. Johns with Hal and Adams with Wally just clued the parts back together.
Emerald Trashlight is a garbage "storyline" that doesn't even deserve to be canon. Johns' only mistake was that he didn't completely retcon it and the garbage self insert flop of a character that is Kyle Rayner
Why doesn't Green Arrow just set Hal up in a small apartment and maintain a small bank account for him since he is not on Earth enough to hold a real job and keep up with the mundane things in a normal life? You would think that Carol would at least let him use a guest house and borrow a company car. He's friends with millionaires and billionaires who know he is a intergalactic cop and the Guardians don't seem to pay anything. Why don't they help!?! Hell, just ask Firestorm to turn a rusted out abandoned car in the woods into ONE gold brick for him!
But you see, Hal gotta pull himself from his bootstraps! None of this a MAN getting help from his friends, not how an alpha would act, this is literally communism! /s
@@louisvictor3473Voluntary help isn't Communism, man.
@@gabbar51nghEhh, Green Arrow's kinda ok with communism.
Probably my favorite "Hal's a putz" moment was in the New 52 movie where Hal went to attack Darkseid and got smacked down and pounded by Parademons.
It’s arguably the most iconic and memorable part of that movie 😂
There were so many obvious reasons why Hal wouldn't propose in his current position at the start of the New52 run. He even starts the "proposal" conversation with "I never thought I'd be doing this..." Why would Carol still thin, this was a proposal and why would she want to be proposed to that way?!
I honestly love this issue weirdly enough.
Same here
OMG - Carol DID throw her drink in his face! LOL 😂
I recently saw a GL collectable "Infinity Cube" that had John Stewart on the package, but Hal Jordan on the product, so even DC is confused by the GL branding...
I loved the running joke from Mark Waid's _Brave & the Bold_ mini that Hal was always broke. That gag needs to come back.
_"Here we have a curious case of Parker Luck being so strong that crossed over from Spider-Man book and infected Green Lantern with it...._
Hal Jordan is my favorite and ironically I find myself in a similar boat as him: no job, broke, and whatever passes for a "love life" is laughable at best. Plus I'm more thinking on my feet than actually thinking it thru.
New 52 was a mess and with the benefit of hindsight, can't help but feel that much like with every other reboot DC has done before/since, it was all "planned" that way. Least that's how I feel about it.
Awesome video. And looking forward to checking out new GL comic. Hope it's good and it'll lead to a bigger franchise again. Feels like ever since Johns and co. left no one's had much of an idea what to do with it. Or at least something that's consistent/lasting. Tried reading Morrison's run, but gave up because they seemed like they were REALLY doing too much acid this time, and i only just started reading The Invisibles! The first Earth One graphic novel is awesome, tho I haven't read the 2nd.
Hal is always my Green Lantern. The Test Pilot without fear was more exciting than the others. However, I do respect the others. When John Stewart and Guy Gardner were first introduced as backup to Hal, they were simply John the architect and Guy the Physical Education Teacher. They had to change John's and Guy's origin to make them more interesting. In the beginning, John and Guy were never a Marine and Cop!
Hal Jordon sure is… a green lantern of time
I'd love to see you do some 'casual histories' episodes/playlists of summaries to help new comics readers to be 'caught-up' enough to pick up ongoing characters.
I know DC and Marvel etc… have these, but I really think the Sasha versions would be better! 😁
I am reminded of that Rick & Morty episode where Jerry's life is falling apart and a voice keeps getting carried by the wind "Looooossseeeeerrrr"
Only this time it would be Sinestro hiding behind a bush saying it.
This has me thinking about the Green Lantern animated series for some reason. I wish that had gotten a 2nd season, it was pretty good.
As thirsty as the New52 Carol is for Hal, does make her seem like a adult version of her DC Superhero Girl’s adaptation 🖖🏾
I was never a Hal Jordan fan in the past and didn't have a lot of background on him. Of the DC A-list characters, he always seemed to me like the most generic character - a guy who was basically a superhero even before he got his ring - and that was not something that was a draw for me. Also, I got into comics when Kyle Rayner was introduced, so he was the Green Lantern I was interested in. It wasn't until I subscribed to CC that I found out what a mess of a human being modern Hal really is, and I was intrigued by the new series and picked up GL #1 and plan to continue buying. I think you may have created a new Hal Jordan fan, Sasha. DC should pay you a commission.
Kyle is my Green Lantern actually. I got into GL when Hal was gone and John was in a Wheelchair and had a blue wife.
The co-signing is kinda like a flashback to the old campy days of the 70s (AKA Batman Shark repellent Days)
At this point, Bruce, Ollie, Kord, etc. should set up some sort of JLA "In case Hero-ing is ruining your civilian life" fund
Fave Hot Mess Hal moment: pre-Flashpoint, when he shows up to demand the Green Lantern ring from Guy Gardner and they get into an actual fistfight over it. (Guy’s reaction to first seeing him: “Hal Jordan? If I wanted to be bored, I’d watch the PGA Tournament.”)
Fave nice Hal moment: in Emerald Knights #0, AKA Guy’s Green Lantern origin story, which involves him first meeting Hal. Hal removes his mask to introduce himself, and he and Guy tease each other, with Guy calling Hal “Harold,” and Hal calling Guy “Red.” They then grab Kilowog and all go out for drinks together. It’s honestly a refreshing change to see Hal and Guy getting along, but also Hal welcoming Guy to the Corps and demonstrating faith in him as a Green Lantern. (Also, Guy here was a motorcycle-riding, leather jacket-wearing rebel with long hair and daddy issues, because New 52, I guess?)
Another favorite Hal moment: this was in "The Brave and the Bold" back in the naughties, where Hal was teamed up with Dr Fate for an issue. Now the writer was trying to strike a contrast between Hal and Dr Fate, where Hal is all about free will while Dr Fate is about destiny, and I felt the contrast was a little forced (I've never known Dr Fate to practice quietism), but, let's go with it. When we first bump into Hal, he's on an alien world, dying from an alien poison during a fire fight, when Dr Fate shows up. Hal gets it in his head somehow that Dr Fate needs every scrap of magic to get himself safely back home, so he lies: he tells Dr Fate "look, I've got a plan to beat them", and he delivers it like he really is fine, even though he knows he's dead without Dr Fate's help. Well, Dr Fate helps him anyway AND gets himself back to earth safe and sound, so, no harm done. Here's my point: Hal was willing to accept death without hesitation to make sure his colleague would be okay, without even any of the angst you'd normally see in comics. Hal is genuinely brave.
I get to use this unironically: Why would Hal do that?
Stuff like this kind of makes me wonder why dc did their characters like this. I'd say Hal could be considered to have gotten the worst of it but they've always just done odd stuff with their characters over the years. I wonder why
Ironically, the New 52 soured me on Hal since he was a failure from issue 1. Meanwhile, every other Earth GL was reaching new heights in the other books. It made me a Guy Gardner stan!!
You know, I'd kind of love if you did a rundown list of all the green lanterns and their idiosyncrasies that make them more human and loveable. That seems to be a fun thing about Greens. They're allowed to mess up without it being the literal end of the world, while it sometimes feels like it. Like, I know Stewart's kinda uptight and literal, Raynor's a starving artist with a fear of refrigerators and a 'finding your family' arc, and Jo is a weeb with survivor's guilt and a history of being discriminated against, but the only dedicated GL book I've finished was Far Sector sooooooo... yeah.
I guess when you spend all your days as an intergalactic police officer, Earth finances are the last thing on your mind.
The Ain't-Got-No-Green Lantern
I love when Batman laughs at him in the New 52 Justice League.
EVERYONE knows the best Hal moment was:
"Everybody, stand back and peep the light show! GREEN LANTERN'S GOT THIS!" *immediately dissed by Darkseid and pummeled by parademons*
Worst Hal moment:relationship with Arisa, best...punching Batman...
My favorite hot mess/Hal GL moment ends with him snarling at Carol: Send me a bill. IIRC Carol was in a wheelchair, the cover was infamous in that a environmentalist was being literally crucified on one of Carol's jets, and yes, Green Arrow was there. Hal and Ollie were there when the man died, and everyone just had a Meh, so he's dead, back to business as usual moment, and Hal used his ring to wipe out like five jumbo jets. Send me a bill. Or the bill. Whatever, it was wild, man: wild...
I know they have a long relationship but why do she think that he would propose to her when he doesn't have a job, money or a car who needs co-signing also I find it interesting that Hal has two personality types and John & Guy have one of those 2 mostly
looking at Hal Jorden is like watching a round person fall down the stairs then be knocked down by oncoming stuff , its the gift that keeps giving
This version of Hal's too OP!
From Newspapers to the face, or clumsy tripping,
Through my hands opportunities ever slipping
While heroic in flight, strained relationships come to light
Let those who reboot to make it all right
BEWARE MY CREDIT SCORE
Hal Jordan’s plight!
Sasha your editing for this video had me the whole way through, applause all around
I love that scene at the diner is a callback to moments in older comics where Carol was expecting him to propose only for it to get interrupted.
Genuine question but do you sincerely like Hal? I hear the "hot mess" part and think you like him more as a joke than as a character if I explained that right.
I hope you do like him sincerely. He needs the love.
It all puts me in mind of the period he was a travelling toy salesman and his friends in the JLA made sure to let him know it was a step down from his test pilot days.
I first started reading Green Lantern when he fell in love with Guy Gardner's girlfriend Kari Limbo and almost married her, so that's the "Oh Hal!" moment that sticks with me.
Him being clumsy is kind of funny because that’s usually a “flaw” that female protagonist s are given to make them relatable
As badly recived as the Nolanverse Green Lantern movie was, the more I dive into Hal's character the more apparent it is that Ryan Renyolds was perfect casting! Ditto Mark Strong as Sinestro: Chap is so good at "sick of this shit" it hurts!
I unironically prefer Johns Hal and I disagree that he wasn't flawed and suffered any consequences, there were the Lost Lanterns that don't support him and he still was reckless. Tbh I find he has too many flaws as a character, he can't keep a job, doesn't plan his life, does NOT respect boundaries and is emotionally so unintelligent its actually creepy by real standards. As a Hal fan I can see why people don't like the character as his flaws don't really fall to the side for his strengths. I wouldn't mind these flaws if he was a young man, but he is like what 40? I have the same issues I have with Peter Parker, they don't allow the characters to grow. I feel like he is a caricature of an 80s cocky pilot from Top Gun that is kinda problematic in a modern sense. You can be cocky, confident etc while also respecting boundaries, having personal responsibility, and other aspects that are less creepy. I love Hal, but as much as people hate it I much prefer when he returned and felt like he was trying to mature as a character in GL Rebirth. My favourite Hot mess Hal moment doesn't exist, my favourite Hal moment personally was when he helped Sinestro in the New 52.
I...I can't let it go. I know you said it as a goof. But, I now want a One Shot or 3 to 4 Issue Mini of Hal doing pedestrian things outside of the being a Green Lantern, to kind of sort of keep his civilian life afloat....w/ Sinestro as his mentor. "Jordan for the last time, I don't care what the currency was in Sector 4729, You can NOT subsidize an IRA w/ NFT Monkeys!'" "No Jordan you can NOT sublet the apartment you're RENTING to other Corps Members!" "Jordan it is your Standard Earth Year of 2023 and you still don't have a shower mat OR a soap-dish. How many more concussions do you want to pay for?!?"
My favourite Hal is him in "The Flash and Green Lantern: the Brave and the Bold". Just a collection of adventures throughout Barry and Hal's friendship, showing Hal's bouncing from job to job and woman to woman, whilst Barry picks up the check.
Barry pays for things as small as parking to something as large as Hal's bail. True friendship right there.
I am the Spectre Hal Jordan!! All powerful!!
....hey I was in space for 3 years fighting for vengance... can you sign my loan...
*1 year later*
"Yeah! Renegade Hal Jordan IS the Green Lantern Battery!!"
*1 year later*
Hey anyone wanna let me hold $30 for ab uber?"
Not the first time I've seen Hal Jordan in jail (Emerald dawn) My boi and perfect, In fact he's kind of a trouble-maker, and I like that about him. Green Lantern of any era has always been a fun read. I liked issue #3 of the 1990 Green Lantern ongoing series where Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner both take off they're rings to have a no-ring bar fight with each other, and 2 rednecks get ahold of they're rings and cause a bunch of mayhem and Hal and Guy have to get they're rings back from 'em. Hilarious.
Thanks for this vid, Sasha? Would you ever consider a video about Hal’s backstory throughout the decades and which elements stuck around vs. the ones that didn’t? I’d also be intrigued by a similar video for Guy Gardener, especially since the abusive drunk father got introduced into his backstory in the early 90s and then never left except for a brief period in the New 52 and then immediately returned in Rebirth. I’d love to see a big time Green Lantern fan’s take on why some parts of a backstory stick but others don’t.
So, Lanterns still get no pay? Benefits? VayCay? Whatta job!🖖♾
I love you and hal uploads I always thought John Stewart was the boring green lantern but hal had the hothead klutz more realistic green lantern I still love that jla 110 he hit his head on the bath knocked out and John had to take over
"You drove me!" 😄😄😄
I'm glad that Sasha maxed out her Charisma, and became a Comics' Lore Bard.
Hot Mess Hal Jordan 🤔 ARISIA 🤨…now that that’s out of the Way OMG that JSA omnibus on the cabinet behind you is Enormous !!! Keep Up The Outstanding Work Sasha 🖖🏾
Always love your videos
My favorite version is the animated series. A good balance between all his most notable traits over the years
hal is the best
even with his messes, he is the best
I'm curious where you find all your quotes. Do you just type in the "[creator] interview" or such and do you find it easier to find for newer or older series. I've been trying to find quotes and such for the older detective comics issues (which are a wild ride) and its almost like there is no info even for something like the first appearance of the batarang.
Why would Hal do this?
Poor credit.
A superhero's true nemesis, rent and utility bills!.
And now, Hal doesn't know what will is. 😝
Would've been kind of cool if Hal first got Sinestro's fear ring to invert Sinestro having his will ring.
I thought vampire Hal was everyone's favorite version of him
Best Green Moment: When Hal and Ollie were camping and got high on Ollie's Psychedelic Mushroom Chili.
Absolutely love the panel of him slipping on the soap. The ring dropped the ball auto protecting him.
Johns run was my first Green Lantern comics and is one of my favourite runs ever. Such an amazing run.
I remember reading Emerald Dawn II when it came out and was really confused as the DUI seemed to come out of left field. And then Guy Gardner was Hal's lawyer...which made it more confusing. I did like the idea that he ended up serving his time at the end of the series and it was a different thing to see for a hero in comics (at least for 12 year old me at the time). For all the different shades they throwing Hal under, I still have him as my top DC hero.
Love the Green Lanterns especially my favorite Hal Jordan. Great video.
As someone who knows the Lanterns tangentially from the justice league animated series and this channel I think the dynamic between Hal and Senestro is the more interesting story. Senestro being forced into the hero role and trying to be fired while Hal is depressed and having to pick up his life with the help of Senestro… just sounds like the most hilarious buddy cop movie ever. Now I just really want a fanfic where Senestro goes full Karen and threatens people to let him sign Hal’s lease.
I just hope the issue 2 of the Dawn of DC run gives us a cool splash page like issue 2 of the New 52 run did with Hal's murder attempt as soon as he put on that Power Ring. "Adios Sinestro!"