#hal jordan analysis

[snikt111]

hi hi hi hi I found out about Hal Jordan TODAY and am going so autistic over him it’s insane can you please give me a rundown on what his deal is I think you’re the Tumblr Green Lantern guy

omg hi, insane compliment btw, tysm! i'm glad to give you a rundown!! also definitely check out @katmaatui for more hal info, red is SUPER knowledgable abt him. @rillette, @catboyollie, @halcarols, @starsapphire and @yellowcorps (along with so many others that i cant think to tag off the top of my head) have some great hal takes too! (edited the post just to tag more ppl)

apologies if this is a bit rushed/messy, i'm doing this while i smelt stone in minecraft LMAO

that being said... i think this will be a long one, so more below the cut :3

(cw for light mentions of pedophilia, abuse, canon typical violence)

okay, so hal jordan is the first human green lantern of the GREEN LANTERN CORPS. it's important to note that there was technically a human green lantern before him (alan scott, originally from earth two/the justice society, but integrated into main DC canon after crisis), but his power comes from a different source- which is a whole different ballpark that would take ages to explain, lol, so i'll move on from that.

hal was originally introduced in a showcase issue in 1959, but ended up getting a solo run in the mid 60s because of his showcase issues doing well. he's been a test pilot, middle brother, compassionate, rule follower (although being surprisingly liberal for the time) with an interesting relationship with star sapphire carol ferris since those first appearances. for the first 20 odd years of his appearances we had no information on his parents, but we got a lot from other family members, such as uncle titus, cousin hal jr (aka airwave), younger brother jim jordan and older brother jack jordan. through the 60s and 70s those members of his family were developed along with him; with the audience learning that jim's wife sue thought jim was green lantern, rather than hal, and hal himself training his cousin, hal jr.

the most known version of how hal got the ring in the first place is probably based off of geoff john's rewrite in the mid 00s, reiterating the original story of abin sur crashing onto earth and dying, leaving hal with his ring to be trained by sinestro and the rest of the glc, while also changing miniscule details that had been developed in emerald dawn 1 & 2 (which was released in the 90s, more on that later). the main premise of abin sur's crash has stayed the same, but the story around hal's current life, job, family and stability keep changing. for instance, the original comic with abin sur in showcase only showed hal getting the ring, the guardians choosing him. the first rewrite i can think of was emerald dawn volume 1, published in 1989 and continued in emerald dawn v2 (1991). here we get the classic hal watches his father die in a plane crash with carol ferris beside him as a pre adolescent, and some of the biggest implications of the mistreatment from his father. we also get introduced to hal, despite his stick to the rules, straight edge attitude, making some serious mistakes and putting people in danger and even death- with the implication of alcohol abuse. the audience HAS known hal used to be in the air force since sometime in the late 60s or early 70s (sorry, i don't remember the exact issue!), but emerald dawn shows us that hal's moved on from the air force and into test piloting, and that his mother keeps having to bail him out for making mistakes. emerald dawn vol 1 shows the abin sur moment, followed by fights that cost hal's friends life, and is followed up by sinestro training hal in emerald dawn vol 2, where we get to see the iconic scenes of hal finding out about sinestro and his... dictatorship.

along with that; how the guardians and rings are treated and hal and the glc's perception of them is vastly changed over time. in the early days of gl in the 60s, the guardians were really never to be seen. hal was repeatedly summoned to them and then had his memory almost fully wiped- only leaving a vague notion of his orders. the guardian's called hal to them at seemingly the worst times, ending up with him almost getting injured, getting in trouble at work, and even ending up jobless and homeless. the chaos of being a green lantern has been around the WHOLE time, but originally, the green lanterns didnt really... fight it. the guardian's were their masters (and even father figures, to hal) and not to be questioned. the rings in the 60s were also much more powerful, despite the yellow weakness (the yellow weakness is the notion that from about the 60s to the mid 90s the green lantern rings were completely unable to be used against anything yellow). time travel, phasing, teleporting, etc were all very viable and common things- as well as forceful shapeshifting, invisibility, mind control, mind reading, etc etc. these days, writers have dampened these powers down to mostly shooting light and constructs.

okay, it's parallax time. the emerald twilight arc from the mid 90s wasn't an arc that was as thoroughly planned out over a long period of time as it probably should have been. a lot of fans at the time (and even now) hated what happened there, and claimed it ruined hal's character entirely. i can understand why! but, at it's core, the parallax arc is a story about a broken man pushed to the limit, fully grieving his home and family (originally, he lost his brother jim in the destruction of coast city, along with a lot of other family members) and being goddamn fed up with how his "masters" treated him and the rest of the corps. the so called "perfect lantern" (no, he wasn't that much of a rebel, despite what johns wants you to think) snapped and essentially tried to gain as much power as he could to bring back coast city. when the guardians stripped him of his powers so he couldn't, hal became enraged and took down every lantern in his path, just to get to the guardians and that power. long story short, he kills the guardians and absorbs all the energy from the central power battery on oa, becoming parallax- essentially a god. this marks the start of zero hour, an event made by dc to restructure and reset; giving the comics a new generation of heroes. hal destroys the world and remakes it, but is ultimately taken down by kyle rayner, the new green lantern, with the help of the jla, jsa and associates. there are a few more run ins with parallax after this, before kyle convinces parallax/hal that he can make up for all of this by reigniting the sun after it went out- aka killing himself. hal does it, is stuck in limbo for awhile and then becomes the spectre to continue to make up for the horrible things he did as parallax. the spectre is the spirit of god's wrath and vengeance, a weapon used to drag sinners to their very own, self made hells, and scare the shit out of people. the spectre, from it's very first appearance, is a ghost like spirit that takes on a host, and is primarily described using christian terms and is used in a very... christian ideology. HOWEVER, the spectre 2001 confirms that hal is jewish (jewish mom, catholic dad) and that belief system, plus his personality as a whole, literally makes him change the spirit of vengeance into the spirit of redemption, for at least as long as they are bonded. the whole parallax to spectre arc is about grief, pain, cycles of abuse and terror, redemption and guilt. it is NOT about a fear bug that possess hal. (im so serious though, the spectre 2001 is one of the best comics ive ever read. amazing. changed my world view) but... geoff johns changed all of it, decanonized the spectre, and ruined the legacy of parallax and hal's growth as a person by releasing green lantern: rebirth in 2004/2005. this retcons hal's breakdown and journey through grief into him BEING POSSESSED BY AN ENTITY CONTROLLED BY SINESTRO THAT FULLY CHANGES PREVIOUS GREEN LANTERN CANON AND IMPLICATIONS. also, fucks up the importance of kyle becoming ion, but whatever. geoff johns writes hal (and even more so, carol) so very wrong, and change their stories so vastly in ways that go against the stories very meanings.

SIGH.

now... time to get started on some rougher stuff. hal jordan misconceptions. i'm saving that arc for last.

- hal jordan wasn't much of a rule breaker or rebel until the 70s/80s, where he BEGAN (very slowly, mind you) to be radicalized by oliver queen during denny o'neil's green lantern/green arrow. hal was painted as more of a conservative during this period (which, admittedly, kind of goes against previous canon... he's always been relatively central to liberal, not to any extremes like ollie though, lol) but gets more and more understanding of how power structures work and how lower classes are mistreated during this time- which ends up opening his eyes a bit to how shitty the guardians are. (this is helped by the guardians literally just. leaving. the green lanterns and kind of disbanding them so they can go fuck the zamarons, lmao). geoff johns tried to change this narrative into making hal a very... maverick-from-top-gun type of character, who punched his way out of the military (when, in reality, the original story during emerald knights in the late 90s was that hal had been framed for stealing a jet and was dishonorably discharged, which he took the punishment for because he knew someone had to) and hits on women constantly and gets ladies and allat (which, funnily enough hal was awful at getting carol to like him for a long time, since carol fell for green lantern rather than hal. not to mention the awkwardness of carol's proposals or hal's many, many failed relationships). hal has always been insecure and lowkey boyfailure, he is NOT a top gun maverick tom cruise sorta guy! fuck you jeremy adams!

- hes not that much of an idiot asshole. hal can be a real dick, he's had that going for him since the beginning, but he isn't what you read in batfam fics. he's not stupid and shouldn't be the laughingstock of the justice league. i assume this idea started from the obsession with batfam and the fact that the jla has quite the history of ignoring hal and his issues (as well as. all of their issues. theyre not so great at work life balance), but it's gone too far. hal isn't making fun of the robins and pissing bruce off bc of that. hal isnt fooling around on the job 24/7 (he takes being a gl and pilot VERY seriously, although he does enjoy some danger and high stakes) or slacking off to get girls. again. not top gun maverick.

- hal has not been a creep since the beginnings. hal was not weird with carol in the 60s. things were weird between them, yeah, but that's based off circumstance and the craziness of star sapphire and green lantern. he was NOT being horribly sleazy! i hate that i even need to say this, but i see this take too much not to

- going off of what was said above, lets discuss the arisia arc. if you want to be a real hal fan, this is unfortunately something you need to know about. in action comics, after crisis and the guardians left to go fuck the zamarons, most of the green lanterns fell apart and seperated. a small group went to earth- led by hal and consisting of hal, john stewart, katma tui, kilowog, salaakk, ch'p and arisia rrab. (also sometimes guy gardner, but that's complicated) previously to this arc, hal treated 14 year old arisia like a beloved little sister, welcoming her and leading her into the corps just like everyone else. things started to change once the timeline gets closer and closer to crisis, where arisia starts showing that she has a crush on hal (who is roughly 30s at this point). any advances made by arisia are shut down by hal at the beginning, because she's a child. now, it's unfortunately a common thing to just call hal a "pedophile" because of what happens in this arc- but it really isn't that simple. still weird and icky, but definitely not to the degree of which some fans like to act like it is- esp to attack hal fans for, which is... an odd choice regarding how many fucked up things every character (esp male characters) did back in the day. arisia ends up using her power ring to artifically age herself up, making her body AND MIND into that of a young adult (the comic makes this very clear). once this happens... hal stops rejecting her. they get together, they kiss. the only person in the group of green latnerns who actually has an issue with it is john (salaakk is meh about it, but he just doesn't like human-esque romance no matter what), and katma even directly encourages their relationship. kilowog ends up crushing on arisia as well, and guy gardner hits on her repeatedly throughout the whole period. eventually, hal and arisia break up, but this legacy (thank so much englehart, for wrtiting this. /sarc) is a big controversy among the comics crowd. "is hal jordan a predator?" personally, and i know a lot of friends/mutuals/other gl fans choose to erase the arisia arc entirely (versus how canon ended up retconning it to be 14 earth years is equal to that of an adult and she didn't really get super ages up, or whatever) and go with the familial relationship between hal and her. that's my preferred version! i know red (@katmaatui) has explored that version as well as an alternate version where the arisia arc did happen, and how it affects arisia in particular, which is really depressing but super interesting. anyway, it's complicated and weird and nuanced, but that whole occurence doesn't mean hal's a bad character or person (cause yk. retcons) and it's certainly not bad to like his character. (definitely ignore any guy gardner fans who try to bitch about this arc. cough cough. guy was ALSO into her and hit on her repeatedly. smfh) most people who bring this up to demonize fans didn't even read the arc, and don't know the nuance or the other weird shit that happens in it. (hal is not a horse, sigh)

OVERALL NOTES!

hal jordan is a super complicated character with an extensive history spanning from the 60s to his worse written appearances in modern age. it's okay to like any version of the character, but it is important to note the changes that have been made, the storylines butchered and lost, and more. he has quite the legacy, and he's particularly interesting as from a moral standpoint. hal's a real sweetie though, when it gets down to it! he's neurodivergent coded (imo at least.. his dad very much gets onto him for being disrtracted, hes kinda shit at social interaction (and then amazing at it the other half of the time) etc etc. "spacecase") and his dad is an abusive asshole, who he desperately doesnt want to be like but thinks he NEEDS to be like!

[danothan]

Just reading some comics and saw a panel I thought you might like. :)

ah fuck, characters reminiscing always get to me ;__;

but i will never ever get over that fond way these two talk to and abt each other. especially when they’re poking fun, you can just hear the love in their voice it’s SICK.

the halbarry love language is annoying each other, but even more than that, it’s being each other’s exceptions

[innocentartery]

green lantern (1960) #30/#150

[graysonist]

hal jordan's word choice analysis post because oh my god why would he say that

for context: in this page he 100% believes he's going to lose power in his ring (which he thinks is the only thing giving him the ability to breathe) so he's like completely sure he's going to die.

let me just get this out of the way too!! that's a construct of carol he's talking to, meaning entirely made from his head so he's literally just talking to himself here. notice the star sapphire symbol on her hat, a jacket that mimics his dads, and the ferris air buckle ☹️❤️

'I love life with you'

NOT even just that he loves her, but that he feels like

1. she's the most important thing in his life

and

2. she makes his life worth living

which if you know anything about hal is CRAZY like i'd marry him on the spot if i knew he said that about me...

'you made me burn brighter. you made me want to be better.'

now if we're talking rings here (cus they rarely arent) this can be taken both as a person and that she's part of what makes his will so strong i'm LITERALLY going insane!! + he said he wants to be a better person because of her, which i don't have much to say on that, it's just an all time favorite thing of mine romance-wise.

'i remember when we met... i love you, and the only thing i've ever *really* been afraid of was losing you.'

HOLY SHIT!! we all know he's not afraid of a lot of instinctual fears like dying but there's been times where he's been shown to be afraid of not living up to who his father would want him to be and other things like that, but man?? fear being his one weakness and that's a metaphor for carol? i love them so dearly goodbye i can't do this...

'don't stop living. find someone else. be happy. be fearless.'

this part fucking GETS me in the bones because he doesn't even care if he dies as long as she's happy and able to live without him. we already talked about fear and 'be fearless' is such a green lantern thing to say but he also doesn't want her to be afraid of losing him because he knows it's about to happen. he's dealt with so much loss in his family and his city that when it comes to his final words, he picks carefully based on his own experiences with mourning and grief.

last thing, i'm pretty sure his 'I- I-' is supposed to be an 'i love you' again until he realizes he can breathe but ohhhh i hate everything i love halcarol can you tell !!!!!

[flashdoesahundredyarddash]

I probably asked this before but can you do a full analysis of halbarry, idk it's like i rarely see some analysis of their dynamic or as a ship

I recently saw this and thought to myself that there haven't exactly been any FULL analysis of these two together as both a dynamic or a ship. I mean I've seen people talk about these two in specific issues or mentions/team-ups but not in all of the things they've appeared in together as an item or mentioned of one another altogether. How their dynamic changes from the connection they had to earlier comics vs between and vs now.

So I WILL write a FULL analysis that will be posted (soon). And in this document we will be seeing both Hal Jordan/Barry Allen AND Green Lantern/The Flash; Basically the way the act around/with each other will for sure be different out there fighting rather than personal situations that come between them.

It won't be a full analysis but, I'll be starting where they appeared together through a JLA team-up back in 1960 within the crescent of the Silver Age, and going on from then to now (2023). This is quite a lot but I will explain things and talk about how things they come across change their dynamic or in general stuff such as deaths or rebirths, or even different writing.

(Also I will mention you once this comes out since you asked for it... But I also wanted to write about their dynamic.. they are dear to me.)

( + Additional information, yes, I will be labeling every issue I talk about)

SO STAY TUNED!!!

I got really excited once I saw this ask, and I quickly went to work with it and started to list off some of the things I talked about here but it will be posted when it's done.

[smallandangry24]

Bruce Wayne would verbally cause Hal Jordan irreparable emotional, mental, and psychological damage after brutally revealing an analysis of his personal life and quite frankly every decision he’s ever made, including those he isn’t aware of, so invasive it would shake him to his core and leave him catatonic for weeks and unstable for the further duration of his life if Hal happened to cross a line in the sand.

Battinson would bite him.

[blade-liger-4ever]

Comic Analysis: Toxic and Healthy Relationships, Part 2 - Green Lantern

Hello, faithful readers! Well, it’s certainly been a while since I last made an analytical post. As you may recall, I made a previous analysis delving into Moon Knight’s two most well-known love interests, where I hinted at another post analyzing relationships. Well, after watching two different animated Wonder Woman films with a friend the other day, said friend sent me an article analyzing Wonder Woman, where Green Lantern/Hal Jordan - who also so happens to be my favorite GL - was mentioned in passing.

That reminded me of my desire/need to write a post detailing the toxicity of Hal’s longest running romance (as well as his driest), and the healthiness of, quite possibly, his most overlooked romance. Once more, I do not have a diehard’s knowledge of the OG comics, nor the experience of reading them firsthand. I do, however, have my own opinions and thoughts on what I’ve read/watched/researched. So, please take this post as that: my personal take on Hal Jordan’s romantic life, which you are free to accept or reject.

Now, without further ado, let’s get into the thick of it.

The Toxic Relationship with Carol Ferris

Carol Ferris, for those not in the know, is the owner of Ferris Aircraft in the DC Universe. Taking over her father’s company, Carol was, arguably, one of the few women to head her own company, even if it was handed down from her beloved father. Because she was in charge of her father’s company, Carol was often curt, to the point, and business-like, rarely being more open than necessary. Despite this, she struck up an odd, rocky relationship with one of her employees - an excellent pilot by the name of Hal Jordan. However, while they were enamored by each other, it was for the wrong reasons.

Now, to understand why this relationship is toxic, I need to explain a bit about Hal and Carol as people. To begin with, Hal is the self-assured pilot; he’s the best of the best, adventurous, daring, and selfless. However, Hal’s most notable trait is his love of flying. The man cannot get enough of it, as his backstory shows in heartbreaking detail how the sky called to him and his father, Martin Jordan. This shared interest brought Hal and Martin together in a way that the rest of their family couldn’t understand, and so when Martin died in a test accident, Hal was left completely alone. Driven by a need to learn who his father had been, Hal desperately grabbed anything relating to the air, causing a severe rift between him, his older brother, and his mother, who was terrified of losing her son as she had his father.

The reason I bring up this part of Hal’s backstory, readers, is because it offers an insight to his personal life and secret wish. For, despite being freed from the chains of the earth, Hal is always looking for someone who he can come back to, who will be a stable and loving tether in an otherwise hectic and pained life. And so Hal, acting on that subconscious need - as well as a childhood crush - pursued Carol. After having such a tumultuous life from at least the age of ten, Hal was searching for a sense of stability. He needs someone who he could rely on and know would be there for him, and he thought Carol could provide that.

Carol, despite her contentment in owning Ferris Aircraft, felt bound by the desk and paperwork she dealt with twenty-four/seven. She longed for a release from the dull, monotonous routine she inherited, although she wouldn’t let it go for love of her father. But seeing Hal Jordan/Green Lantern’s complete and utter freedom attracted Carol more than anything. Carol craved that same liberty of worry and boredom, desiring a life of excitement over remaining trapped inside an office day in and day out. And so, falling for the freedom he offered, Carol chased the dream she wanted to live.

Needless to say, this is not a healthy relationship. It’s more of an infatuation than anything else. There are two additional facets to their romance that makes it unattainable, although I will share some pieces from the original comics before I expand upon that.

Now, it’s not explicitly stated here, but for any big company/celebrity from 1900 on up until at least the 80s, marrying someone of a more blue-collar background was considered...unseemly, shall we say. Marrying, or even dating, someone such as a secretary or employee when you were - oh I don’t know, a billionaire or CEO - was seen as lowering yourself to a standard below what you were raised to/worked to get above. And since Hal was literally Carol’s employee, not only would that have been an affront to possible investors and an insult to her family, but Carol would have also been accused of favoritism, while Hal likely would have suffered extreme ridicule for daring to chase someone of a "higher” walk of life.

In essence, Hal and Carol fell in love not with each other, but with the idea that the other represented.

The Healthy Relationship with Kari Limbo

Now, Kari is a lesser-known love interest of Hal’s from his infamous run with Green Arrow from the early 70s. A psychic Romani woman, Kari had previously dated Guy Gardner (yes, you read that correctly, but believe it or not, Guy wasn’t always a pill. That came later, and I’d rather not get into the muddiness of that particular sliver of trivia.) After Hal met with Kari to inform her of Guy’s apparent death, the two spent time together before falling in love. Kari loved him so much, in fact, that she accompanied not only Green Lantern on his adventures, but also Green Arrow and Black Canary. Heck, she even got to be on nigh sisterly terms with Black Canary, casually calling the superheroine Dinah when the ladies’ men were away on some mission.

Kari is shown to be a patient and understanding woman. She is supportive of Hal, encourages him in his moments of uncertainty, and remains with him through many stories. Kari never abandons Hal, instead choosing to be present for him and help him through whatever is troubling him. She loves Hal for his sacrificing nature, his strength of character, and his protective concern for her. In a way, I believe Hal gives Kari a sense of belonging; I do not recall if we ever saw people from her past, but Hal allows her to feel at home with him. He provides her with the necessary qualities to begin a shared life with him, something she longs for - just as Hal longs for a woman who he can come back to every day. Hal and Kari have the same goals for eternal love and companionship, and that is why, near the end of the run, Kari proposes marriage to Hal (hot dog, Hal, you were moving too slow for her!)

Unfortunately, comic writers feel compelled to keep their heroes single, and so Hal and Kari’s wedding was cut short. It’s truly a shame, as Hal deserves to get married and live a happy life, just as Kari deserves to be a loving wife to him. I dearly wish she and Hal were together in the modern day, as their dynamic borders a fairytale romance in its beauty. They are truly underrated, and I believe they should be married, especially since the writers of today focus on the stale and toxic relationship with Carol.

Well, I believe I’ve said my piece on the matter. I don’t know if there will be a third installment to this series of mine. Perhaps there will be, but it will have to be one riveting romance to catch my attention. Then again, I can feel the gears in my head turning...

Farewell, fellow Lanterns! I hope you enjoyed my article!

[blue-lantern]

1, 11, 15, and 16! :D

!!! I'm just seeing this now, guessing this is for the 20 questions to hate ask game. Glad that you've been un-shadowbanned!

1. You have to make one Robin (Dick, Jason, Tim, Stephanie, Damian) not exist permanently and never have existed. Choose which. Probably Tim, honestly. This would be an easier question to answer if I had stronger feelings on the Robins but I've suddenly come to realize that I don't. Tim is the one that I've read the least of, and the one I think about the absolute least in terms of analysis so it's gonna have to be him. 11. Kill one person permanently. (not the joker) It's gotta Hal Jordan for me. I just feel like there were richer stories going on when he was gone. Hal's villain arc and subsequent death both set the stage for Kyle, and afforded him a huge amount of depth in his feelings about Hal's ability for redemption, and not to mention Hal's becoming The Spectre, which is one of my favorite runs that expanded Hal's characterization and his inner life I miss it so bad. Second runner up is Ted Kord, Jaime was in a better position when he had to come to terms with being in the shadow of his deceased predecessor, Booster Gold had a lot of interesting character development in his grief, and Ted hasn't even really been given the proper respect since his revival so what was the point.

15. Favorite jason todd version. Under the Red Hood Jason. He's not super fleshed out since we only had the characterization for about three minutes but, I love tragic villains, I love both his genuine grievances with how Batman opposes crimes and immoralities in how he himself does it, I love that there's still genuine love between father and son that can never be rekindled because the pain runs too deep and the difference in morality is too great. Everything after that is just kind of meh, Morrison writes Jason as the most generic crazy evil bad guy possible, and the post-52 anti-hero Jason never appealed to me, especially since it feels like editorial wants to have their cake and eat it too with Jason being the brooding black sheep, but also being deeply involved with the batfam. Doesn't work for me.

16. Which character do you think is better in the new 52 than outside the new 52. Okay I have a confession to make, I am not qualified enough to answer this. I've read so few New 52 comics I can't make a judgement call. I mostly read comics that were released in the last ~3 years, or comics from the 80s-00s, I missed N52 completely. I had a couple examples that I thought maybe fit the bill and then I realized they were from Rebirth era, not N52, so I guess none.

[leyenarsinterests]

Crazy Injustice Theory

what if...

Alright, now the reason why I thought like this is simple. There's no possible way Hal still could have been green during his time in the Regime, because his transition to yellow happened before his joining of the Regime.

So I could get out of this only one logical conclusion—The Ur-Forge Injustice Annual Story is set in Clark's dreamworld.

Y'know, the one where he has Lois and the baby, and the whole High Councilor Superman business never happened.

Also when we look into all the subtext in the Ur-Forge Story...

When connecting this to my dick analysis, it can only mean one thing:Clark knew, and deep down, he was an avid Sinhal supporter and the Ur-Forge doesn't really exist, it's a made-up excuse which happened to be just what was needed to get them back together.

@gallifreytreeflower

[pulsar-1919]

Bringing up 'The List' on @rainbow820 's post reminded me of a sort-of follow up to it called 'Legend of the Green Flame' written by Neil Gaiman, in which Hal goes to Clark for some advice, and actually gets the chance to talk about his problems!

Unfortunately, due to some continuity issues the story couldn't be published at the time it was originally supposed to in the late 80s. There was some continuity thing where Clark's ID was retconned to be a secret again, and the story hinged on Hal knowing who he was and them being friends. Because of this, Hal missed out on this opportunity to have a friend to confide in.

The story was finally published in 2000, separate from canon (though I desperately wish it was) so we did eventually get to see this fine work that Neil wrote in a week.

I'd recommend reading the whole thing because it's pretty good, but here are some of the main Hal-and-Clark-being-friends bits.

Clark notices Hal has lost weight (little creepy maybe but it shows he cares), which says a lot about the kind of shit hal was going through at the time.

Lois ropes Clark into covering a museum thing, which results in some batshit hell shenanigans that I won't go into in this post. Also can we appreciate how handsome Hal looks in a turtleneck? Absolutely dashing, wow. I have a lot of feelings about Hal in turtlenecks.

And here's the callback to The List. I've posted the panels already, but here they are again for reference:

Clark wasn't able to give Hal much help that day, but out of everyone Hal reached out to he was still the nicest.

They take a stroll through the park, and Hal gets the sorely needed chance to vent ('I'm lonely, Clark' gets me every time). Clark tries to listen but ultimately gets a little distracted. And some poor fuckers try to mug them.

They go to the museum, shenanigans ensue involving other Action Comics characters like Deadman, but at the end they get the chance to talk again, albeit brief.

Hal feels a bit better about his life after the whole hell and magic lantern flame debacle, and Clark tells him that he is up to talking whenever Hal needs it. If only they were allowed to have this kind of relationship back in the day. Maybe Hal mightn't have felt so abandoned and hopeless when Coast City was blown up. Instead we had everyone, including Clark, turning their back on him, or not taking his issues and grief seriously.

[danothan]

can someone make sense of this panel to me bc the servers and i are looking for what comic this came from, and until i get an answer, my only context is that barry is an affectionate drunk. and apparently can get drunk

i thought speedsters metabolized their alcohol too quickly for it to affect them, either he’s lying abt having a ‘few’ or he’s lying abt being drunk in general. or maybe he’s got that special speedster-inclusive alien liqueur, someone give me the context PLEASE

[urbaneturtle]

The Final Night and the Forgotten Legacy of the DC Universe

The Final Night and the Forgotten Legacy of the DC Universe. #Comics #DCComics #Stuart Immonen #Superman #Batman #GreenLantern

One thing my recent Nightwing project accomplished was reigniting my love for DC Comics–particularly the stories and universe of the 90s, which, ironically, I have ready very little of. While I initially planned to cancel my DCU Infinite subscription once I finished that Nightwing read, I instead decided to dive into the stories I was always intrigued by but never had the opportunity to read. As…

[mildlyrebelliousmint]

GLs from lowest to highest dumb bitch energy

John Stewart, 0% dumb bitch energy

Jessica Cruz, flustered > dumb

Simon Baz, has thought this halfway through

Guy Gardner, dumb bitch energy overshadowed by rude dick energy but would fist fight god

Hal Jordan, og dumb bitch, fell upwards into a tree

Kyle Rayner, dumb bitch space jesus, not aware that emotions and thoughts are separate

[justiceleaque]

some of you come to me all "you pretend to only know about batman comics and give the impression you've never touched a single other superhero but then you bring out a detailed, deep, complex character analysis of hal jordan or something and you bring me to my knees!!!! how!!!" okay first of all there's nothing deep or complex about hal jordan

[big-bat-bitch]

BBB’s Tag Guide

I use a lot of acronyms or specific tags in my posts. They are for my convenience when searching through my blog so that I can more quickly find specific information, specifically character interactions - NOTE: these are not ship tags. 

The tags should follow the this format: #character1.character2. The order of the characters is usually by age (oldest to youngest), but sometimes by the prevalence of the character within the post, or by their general popularity. If a character is interacting with a group as a whole, the tag format will be #character.groupabbreviation. 

Below is a list of abbreviations that I use for specific characters/groups. Their corresponding hero names and alter-egos are what they will most commonly be found in my tags. This is not a comprehensive list of all characters that are mentioned on this blog, for specific characters, search them by their full name.

B - Batman (Bruce Wayne)

NW - Nightwing (Dick Grayson)

RH - Red Hood (Jason Todd)

RR - Red Robin (Tim Drake)

R - Robin (Damian Wayne)

Sp - Spoiler (Stephanie Brown)

BB - Black Bat (Cassandra Cain)

Si - Signal (Duke Thomas)

BWi - Batwing (Luke Fox)

BWo - Batwoman (Kate Kane)

BG - Batgirl

this may refer to Stephanie, Cass, or Babs - if you are looking for specific batgirl content, check out my characterfirstname!batgirl tag

O - Oracle (Barbara Gordon)

SM - Superman (Clark Kent)

SB - Superboy

this may refer to Connor or Jon - if you are looking for specific superbly content, search them by their names (Connor Kent/Kon El and Jon Kent)

WW - Wonder Woman (Diana Prince)

GL - Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

AM - Aquaman (Arthur Curry)

F - Flash (Barry Allen)

GA - Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)

MM - Martian Manhunter (John Jones)

CM/S - Captain Marvel/Shazam (Billy Batson)

JL - Justice League

BF - Batfam

TT - Teen Titans

FF - Flashfam

HQ - Harley Quinn

JG - Jim Gordon

As - Arsenal (Roy Harper)

SG - Supergirl (Kara Zor-El)

PI - Poison Ivy (Pamela Isely)

LL - Lois Lane

CW - Catwoman (Selina Kyle)

TAG - Talia al Ghul

RAG - Ra’s al Ghul

HG - Hawkgirl (Shiera Hall)

Tr - Troia (Donna Troy)

KF - Kid Flash (Wally West)

AA - Agent A (Alfred Pennyworth)

WG - Wonder Girl (Cassandra Sandsmark)

Im - Impulse (Bart Allen)

SF - Starfire (Koriand’r)

JC - John Constantine

At - Arowette (Cissie King Jones)

For characters that have had multiple hero names:

the format of their posts as them as a specific character follows this format: #characterfirstname!title. For example, if you are looking for posts specifically of Dick Grayson as Robin instead of Nightwing you would use the tag #dick!robin.

For character description posts:

the description of the character comes before their full name. Example - #bi!tim drake, #emo!bruce Wayne

Some other fun, random tags I use often for specific types of content: 

harassing bruce wayne is a valid pastime - people making bruce’s life hard on purpose

dc means disregard canon - DC slander posts

batdad - all posts of batman being a dad

the batman 2022 - specifically content pertaining to The Batman 2022 by Mark Reeves

battinson - specifically content pertaining to batman as portrayed by Robert Pattinson

batbros - male bat siblings interacting

batman rogues or batman villains - posts containing batman baddies

young justice 1998

core four - group interactions of Tim, Bart, Connor, and Cassie

redesign - fan art of character redesigns

analysis - breakdowns of characters' personalities, story arcs, and motivations

WLW - lesbian :)

DC pride - all things LGBT+ and DC

Timber - tim drake x bernard down

Timkon - tim drake x connor kent

Dickory - dick grayson x koriand’r

Dickbabs - dick grayson x barbara gordon

Batcat - bruce wayne x selina Kyle

Superbat - bruce wayne x clark kent

Superwonderbat - bruce Wayne x clark kent x diana prince

Trinity - superwonderbat but platonic

Stephcass - stephanie brown x cassandra cain

Fake Twitter

batblob - batman when he is shaped

under the cape - bruce keeps his children under his batman cape

Comic recs or Comic guide

jason todd is a little shit

jason todd is a bad influence

18+ only and nsfm - mature content not suitable for younger audiences (not safe for minors)

Superbros - interactions between Kon and Jon

[ufonaut]

you may have already answered this kind of question so i apologize if you have, but i’m wondering what you think a majority of comic fans miss with understanding subtext and characters? like outside of what you’ve already spoken about (personal headcanons and feelings) is it just that a lot of fans don’t have the media literacy they think they do? or just newer fans that have only read the most popular series. i only ask bc sometimes i worry i don’t know if i’m reading between the lines correctly and if you’d share like.. ig your process for drawing conclusions ab characters? i feel like i may have answered my own question here LOL

ah, no, i've never spoken about this at length and i'm honestly flattered you reached out, thank you! i don't have a process per se, i think my interest in engaging with comics the way i do comes from doing film studies at uni and seeing the two mediums as having more common ground than with literature per se due to the visual doing the heavy lifting but i do sincerely believe that anyone can read the text as it's meant to be understood if they only apply themselves -- and the fact of the matter is that many people don't.

i'd say you got it in one, it's a case of both overestimating and underestimating their media literacy and i think a lot of the time particularly fandom-y blogs see things that simply aren't there and try to write meta that serves their purposes rather than shed some light on the text they're talking about. the way i see it, there's three fundamental questions to ask yourself before getting started on any comics analysis worth its salt

1) what's the objective reality of this?

2) is this a common trope/phrase? is it evocative of or a homage to a certain piece of media that has entered the basic pop culture lexicon?

3) how much of the author spilled into this?

and to elaborate on that:

1) before you get to the subtext, it's only natural to build up on a foundation of facts. i mean, the really basic stuff -- who, what, when, why.

for example, looking at my recent posts regarding hal jordan's timeline, take his stories in the flash (1959) backups running throughout #220 - 246. he's coming off a year-long road trip with ollie queen and he's been unemployed the entire time, he's not only broke but living in poverty, he's depressed. none of this is a great feat of analysis, these are all facts verbally stated by the character with the sole exception of the last one -- but how do we know that? several stories have hal's will faltering, several others see him having difficulties scrounging up enough money for food let alone a roof over his head. logic dictates that his circumstances affect his mental health.

sometimes it really is purely about recognising what's right in front of you and putting it in context, you can't talk about these backups without talking about what preceded them (the hard travelling heroes era) because they do not exist in a vacuum. unless you're talking about an elseworlds/one-shot/limited series/complete run from start to finish it's absolutely impossible to properly engage without context, that's also where the common misconception that comic book timelines are confusing comes from.

2) i don't expect people to just be naturally born with this knowledge but i think it's pretty easy to get a sense of what's a reference (even if it's not one you recognise) and what's not and making an effort to research that, even if it's just a quick google search. this is a common complaint i've seen in attempted meta of tom king's work on here so let me bring up some examples from his recent mature books

(the human target 2021 #3)

"booster is booster is booster" isn't merely repetition for the sake of repetition but very obviously a play on the common "a rose is a rose is a rose" phrase, which has been used in all media for decades now and yet was brought up in at least five different posts on here as an example of 'bad writing' (regarding the literal structure of it) rather than just owning up to their lack of knowledge.

and this also applies to shot-for-shot recreations such as mr terrific's scene with alanna strange's dad

and how it's an acknowledged reference/homage to sidney poitier in in the heat of the night (1967)

and all that says about the role mr terrific plays within strange adventures' narrative. again, this is knowledge better researched if not immediately recognised and you'll often find it mentioned in issue reviews if necessary.

3) as we all know, comics are a collaborative effort like nearly no other piece of art. the finished product is not only the work of the writer, artist, inker, colorist & letterer (all of which play vital roles in the process) but that of the editor as well and this is another instance where 'doesn't take place in a vacuum' applies. i'm all for death of the author but the direction a character is heading is definitely informed by the entire creative team's experiences and expectations, i think it's worth investigating what the people in question have had to say about it -- especially regarding an older comic -- after you've formed your own opinions.

there's cases where the writers make conscious decisions to disguise their opinions or where they're coming from and their success varies (take chuck dixon's work on connor hawke vs gerard jones' horrific depiction of arisia rrab) but there's also comics that are infinitely made better because the writer in question relates deeply to the characters they're writing (look at tom king's very personal depictions of mental health or keith giffen's insistence on giving an air of genuine reality to any working class character), that's even setting aside cases of gay characters being written by straight writers and so on. here, i'd sincerely recommend drawing a line between what's just another job for somebody and what's mattered to them intensely and if you want to take your engagement this far then it's definitely vital to check interviews, comic magazines, etc etc.

so yeah, here's a little look into my line of thinking! i hope it helps some and i'm sure you're doing just great if you're concerned about this to begin with :)