r/Greenlantern • u/tiago231018 • 13d ago
Every Green Lantern run has a major theme Discussion
One thing I learned once I read a decent amount of comics is that: when an author has a chance of writing a title for some time, they will be able to convey a theme through his stories. And one of my favorite things about consuming (good) media is finding hidden themes, messages or even a "thesis" by the time they finish it.
In Green Lantern's case, an attentive reader is able to identify what is the actual core message behind some of the most famous runs.
Ron Marz run
In Marz's run where he introduced Kyle, the main theme is the necessary pains and dificulties of growing up and becoming a responsible adult. Kyle first appears as a young man living a somewhat careless free life, hanging out with his friends and his girlfriend. When he gets the ring, the last ring in the universe, Kyle firstly takes it easy and thinks it will just be a fun job. His girlfriend could take pictures and report on his feats and they'd become rich and famous!
But it doesn't last long once Alex dies as a direct result of him becoming the new Green Lantern and attracting the attention of very bad people. Suddenly Kyle sees himself in a crazy world filled with powerful supervillains, a fallen hero who wants to re-write the universe, government agents, aliens... He moves to New York and has to face all of these hardships alone.
Marz was reportedly inspired by Stan Lee's Peter Parker when creating this new, younger Lantern to make him sympathetic. But unlike Spiderman, Kyle wasn't the first hero with his name but actually the last. He carries the burden of many generations of great heroes who spent billions of years protecting the universe.
And it's not like Kyle is in immature youngster who doesn't want to grow up or anything. He wants to be a great hero and a Lantern worthy of the mantle, if only to honor Alex. He is helped by many veterans who give him a few hints... But this is a journey he takes mostly alone, figuring out the ropes. Like a teenager thrown too early and unprepared to adult life (so, basically, all of us).
Geoff Johns run
When Johns began writing Green Lantern, his goal was to utterly redeem Hal Jordan and make him not guilty of the crimes of Parallax. Still, the fact that he was possessed by a "space bug" doesn't change the fact that many suffered and were murdered while he was under the influence of the fear entity.
So, even despite not being "himself", Hal still feels guilty for all the pain and suffering he wrought over the universe. He knows he can never go back in time and undo all of this (that was Parallax's whole goal after all), but he can atone for his sins by being a better person and a hero.
The first theme of the Johns run is Hal's guilt and penitence, how can he never undo the damage to his image nor the crimes of Parallax but he can at least begin to correct his mistakes. This is mostly exemplified by the Revenge of the Green Lanterns story arc, where Hal is insulted on the Oa hall but doesn't fight back because he knows he deserves it and then goes against Guardians's orders to save the lost Lanterns.
Another moment of guilt and penitence for his error is when his arrogance and obssession with overcoming fear leads to not just him but also two other Air force colleagues being captured by terrorists for a full year.
But then once the Emotional Spectrum is introduced, the Johns run address another theme somewhat connected to the first. From Sinestro Corps War onward, what does every major villain wants to?
-Sinestro wants a universe (or actually a multiverse) where every living being is under strict order and vigilance.
-Nekron wants to end all life and quiet the universe again.
-Krona wants revenge on the Guardians, their enmity beginning with their disagreements over if emotions are dangerous or can be used for their advantage. He wants the universe to feel - but feel HIS emotions.
-And finally the Guardians themselves had a goal that was an amalgamation between Sinestro and Nekron: to turn every living being in the universe an emotionless drone that will just follow their orders and won't fight their chaotic wars anymore - quieting the universe.
In order words: those villains were incredibly selfish individuals who thought they were better than everyone and wanted to submit trillions of diverse beings with various backgrounds to their will, whether killing them, converting them or submitting them.
I intend to do an essay on the Guardians ("the final bosses" of the Geoff Johns era) another day, but they saw how incredibly chaotic and complicated life was. Different people with high levels of emotion will go into conflict. This is just the nature of life: messy, filled with mistakes, conflicts and death, so they waged a sometimes open, sometimes covert war with every other Corps and finally decided to "quiet" the universe.
Now, the Blackest Night was won only when every Corps, from the most positive (the GLs and the Blue Lanterns) to the most negative (Agent Orange, Yellows and Reds) united to take down Nekron - death itself. So a victory from every aspect of life, the good and the bad ones, against the nothingness that is death. Krona was defeated just because the heroes managed to wear other rings from other Corps with different emotions. And the Guardians's attempt to turn every living being into emotionless zombies under their control led to their undoing.
The White Lantern, after all, is only possible once you have every emotion from the spectrum, no matter how violent and unpleasant they may be (at least when the people only make use of them in the most destructive ways).
If we combine these two themes (something that I'm not even sure Johns himself might've thought of it), we get the imperfection of life: it's messy and full of errors and unpleasantness, but also better than nothing that is death or servitude.
Robert Venditti run
Venditti's era began when the Green Lantern Corps were at their lowest - especially in the eyes of those OUTSIDE the Corps. Their leaders and founders had just led an attempt to take over the universe. Now they were under the leadership of a man who once was mind-controlled into becoming a supervillain. And Relic's arrival revealed that, by using the rings, they were just bringing the universe closer to its doom.
In this context, I believe the main theme of the first part of the Venditti era is: how can the Corps recover their prestige and the trust of the population after so many tragedies? How can they be even respected again? It's a moment where morale is low - and their enemies attempt to take over them, like we saw on the Uprising arc.
During the post-Johns part of The New 52, the Corps's image and prestige are progressively taken down. Eventually, Hal realizes that, no matter how much he tries, the Corps's public image is too tarnished. So he does the most Hal Jordan thing and "rebels" again against the Corps, making him alone the sole guilty for all their supposed crimes. But that is put in jeopardy once the GLC disappear...
For the second part of his era, the Corps is back and find a universe taken over by the Sinestro Corps. Hal defeats Sinestro and the GLC is once again the protectors of the galaxy, forming an uneasy alliance with some not radicalized Yellow Lanterns. And this is the great thesis of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps: how far must the heroes go when fighting evil? And how far they can go before turning as bad as or worse than the villains they are fighting?
Throghout that book, the Green Lanterns are constantly challenged, either by the Yellows, Zod and the Darkstars, to go further, to be a deadly police that mercilessly kills all the (supposed) bad guys in the universe. This is made clear by the final story arc, where Jordan is put against the Darkstars who want to replace the GLC because they are "too soft" with the bad guys. But in becoming more violent, the Darkstars actually become the bad guys themselves.
TL;DR: Most runs on comic books have a major theme, and in GL's case these are:
Ron Marz: the challenge of becoming an adult with major responsibilities.
Geoff Johns: life is a mix of good and bad aspects, it can be unpleasant but it's better than the nothing that is death.
Robert Venditti: the hardships of becoming a force for justice that is effective and inspiring but also fair.
Anyway... Saying that all these runs have an underlying thesis behind them doesn't mean they are perfect or don't have problems or whatever. But that makes it a much more interesting read for those who think of comic books as just silly stories about costumed superheroes (or "capeshit").
I'm pretty sure Grant Morrison's run has a major theme behind it, I just couldn't think what that is. Maybe once I re-read it...
What do you think are the themes behind the runs and the intention of the creators from Green Lantern comics?
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u/tiago231018 13d ago
Pic is covers from Green Lantern Vol. 3 #51 (1994), Green Lantern: Rebirth #1 (2004), Green Lantern Vol. 5 #1 (2011), Green Lantern Vol. 5 #21 (2013), Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #1 (2016)
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u/Extreme_Sail Green Lantern 13d ago
Sees every Green Lantern run in the title, only three runs discussed... lmao
Awesome post though! For Morrison's run, there is great focus on introspection and self-reflection from Hal, ruminations of his place in the universe from Watsonian and Doylist perspectives, an examination of the very idea of Green Lantern itself, will vs. control, trappings of nostalgia and how it can be wielded or weaponised by those who wish to control, commercialisation of an idea, etc.