Beware My Power

Previously on Place, I said that I'd read a lot of Iron Man comics but wasn't a great fan of the character. I understand why Stark's important in the Marvel Universe but honestly, I've never warmed to him (or his moustache; villains have moustaches: c.f. Universo, Diablo, the Swordsman, the Mandarin, etc.). The same principle holds true for Green Lantern.

This is probably the earliest GL comic I ever read: part of my cousin Jim's collection, handed on to me in the very early 70s, with Mark Merlin, Eclipso and those weirdies; art by the great Gil Kane.

Of course, I already knew Hal from JLA, and the green platforms or bubbles he created to transport his team-mates. But round about 1970,  I had been immediately captivated by the Earth-2 Lantern (on the far left of this assembly) in all his polychromatic glory:

 Even today, Alan Scott has presence:

 and his villains are better: Vandal Savage, the Icicle and his "loving enemy", the Harlequin. His kids, Jade and Obsidian have created conflict and drama; even comedy sidekick Doiby Dickles, the cab driver, is more appealing than misplaced Eskimo cariacture, Pieface.
I've also written before about my first hospital stay as a kid and the comics my parents brought me- including, with some degree of irony, this one:

Comics reading in the very early 70s was full of these kind of juxtapositions for me: one minute, it's Evil Star and the Starlings. The next, a hippie is fatally overdosing on the page. No wonder I preferred Alan Scott in "The Icicle Goes South" ( a reflection of FDR's "Good Neighbor" policy?).
In any case, I only got GL comics on very rare occasions. Hal's many careers- pilot, toy salesman, trucker- never struck any chords with me. Maybe, if he had gone down the "Kosmic" route, like Mar-Vell, I would have been more enthusiastic:

Things changed, however, in the early 80s. With the Marvel Diaspora that marked the early years of Jim Shooter's editorial tenure, DC had a new lease of life and I began to pick up GL, in this early example of the "miniseries" and particularly the issues that introduced the Inhumans- er, the Omega Men.

  A couple of years later, I  followed Steve Englehart's work from Coyote, to the West Coast Avengers to the premiere of the Green Lantern Corps.

My personal preference is for the Aladdin elements of the Green Lantern. One of my dream-JLA rosters included the pulpish Gotham by Gaslight incarnation- a cross between Doctor Who and Rod Taylor's two-fisted Victorian adventurer in The Time Machine; an immortal empowered by a baleful Oriental artefact to defend Gotham City even into the present day.

 In the last couple of decades, I observed the rise and fall in popularity of the hawkish, Reagan-era Guy Gardener and I was aware of the Parallax storyline and the disgrace of Hal Jordan. I was equally aware of his convoluted and much-heralded return. It is a beautiful cover, after all:

But, after all this time, I still haven't warmed to Hal Jordan. DC Comics seems to have published a half-decade's worth of war stories of corps in variegated colours, all with magic wishing rings. Obviously, that's what drives this summer's third super-hero movie release:

I went to see it, just under two weeks ago, as a belated birthday treat .My first gripe wasn't with the movie, it was the ticket price. It cost £3.00 more in Glasgow than it would in Elgin and in a smaller cinema. My second problem- and tihs is a big stumbling block- is with Ryan Reynolds. I don't find his on-screen persona engaging at all. I see why others- particularly the younger generation- might: he's blandly handsome (like Hal Jordan) but his smirking, snarky humour seems adolescent to me. Like the equally-unappealing Chris Evans, my impression is of a narcissistic and immature slacker. Jordan's daddy issues didn't help either. At- what? nearly thirty-five?-he seemed far too old to still be trying to step out of his father's shadow.
Thirdly, Parallax, the gaseous cloud with the goblin head, was a dreadful villain. The creature looked ridiculous and seemed to be included as a concession to the fanmen. Sinestro should have been revealed to be a direct menace to the Guardians, and in saving them Hal could resolve his father issues. Hector Hammond was creepy and quite effective, however, as an initial threat: the id to Jordan's ego. But in the end, it's like a Batman movie where the Mad Hatter and Clayface are the villains and the Joker shows up in the end credits.
 What did work? The Oa sequences and the CGI characters, most obviously. As superhero movies go, Green Lantern wasn't terrible but I can't imagine anyone's in a hurry to make a sequel. Compared to Thor and X-Men: First Class, it seemed a bit goofy and campy, especially Jordan's whimsical ring-constructs.
 I think the biggest obstacle is that Hal Jordan is a very New Frontier, Camelot-era character but not nearly as iconic as DC believe. This is symptomatic of Geoff Johns's concerted but slavish efforts to recreate the DCU of his childhood. He, of all people, should recall what Hawkman once said about traditions growing out of inertia. If Alan Scott has been written out of the DCNU, Kyle Rayner should be the modern GL:

Or John Stewart, well-known thanks to his role in the Justice League animated series and for my money, the coolest Lantern.

Incredibly,  it's just over 35 years since I first saw Moon Knight. It was just at the end of S1 at Strathaven Academy and at this minute, I can picture the red sandstone to my left and the huts to my right!

 Two things I particularly like about the Moench/ Perlin version: the crescent glider-cape and the moon-phase superstrength. I next saw the character in the Giffen/Kraft Defenders, where he duplicated Nighthawk (one of the best costume designs ever!) and (near the Deli counter in Lewis's in Argyle Street) bought exactly one issue of his relaunch as Marvel's schizoid Batman:

MK had a brief stint in the mid-to-late 80s West Coast Avengers , where he was the mortal incarnation of his Egyptian god, then went on to a brief period of collectability in the Image Age of Comics.

 As a C-list Marvel character from the Bronze Age, it wasn't surprising that Brain Bendis included him in Ultimate Spider-Man. I really like this Bagley design since it incorporates some of the Perlin elements and suggests Ancient Egyptian priest:

I am somewhat surprised by how much I enjoyed the first two issues of Bendis's new Moon Knight series, in which the Crescent Crusader hunts down the Kingpin of California. Alex Maleev is mimicking Sienkiewicz's strikingly impressionistic style and Bendis has audaciously folded Cap, Spidey and Logan into Spector's multiple personalities.

 Amusingly, Echo appears in the second issue, griping about how she was an Avenger "for all of 44 seconds". Was it around the time of The Initiative that she fell off the radar? I'm guessing the mystery villain is Count Nefaria but I'm hoping it's Baron Brimstone.
In the regular Avengers titles, the ongoing plot about Ultron has been postponed for this year's summer crossover and the Oral History segments have stopped. A great pity- I was looking forward to Bendis's take on Gyrich, Marcus Immortus and Egghead. However,at least Mockingbird isn't dead again.

 Earlier this week, BBC Scotland broadcast a kitschy documentary on "Scotland's Amazing Comic Book Heroes": Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely and Mark Millar ( who obviously wants to be a Hollywood mogul- I hope he gets his wish and stops destroying Stan and Jack's infinitely superior work). Rightly touted as the king of psychedelia and the occult, Morrison has produced a modern-day relevancy comic; Batman Inc. 7 is surprisingly politicised, compared to his usual torture-porn conspiracy thrillers. The deprivation and conflict experienced by Man-of-Bats and his rebellious son Raven Red reminded me of Gerard Jones's superhero of the American south-west, El Diablo. I would be interested to see what Morrison could do with Sagonawahna (Super-Chief)- with a tough editor to rein in his indulgences and excesses.

No, no, no- in triplicate. It's Duo Damsel!

Finally, the LSV story continues to meander through the two Legion titles. I hope that it does write out Earth-Man, who has no place in a Levitz LSH; that the remaining Academy trainees also join Dragonwing and Chemical Kid in the new title; and that Comet Queen isn't killed off. I was amused to see that the relationship between Gravity Kid and Power Boy didn't make the headlines the way Lesbian Batwoman did;but I was disappointed that after over thirty years, Jed Rikane still didn't deserve membership. That's the longest and toughest curriculum ever.

Next: Man of Bronze

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