If your first exposure to Hal Jordan is the current HBO Max (Greenless) Lanterns series, then you haven’t actually seen Hal Jordan. For a show about guys who turn solid light against criminals and villains, this show seems to be all about turning AWAY from the light and embracing darkness. From all the scene by scene reviews it looks like Hal, while still a jerk at times (please don’t confuse “cocky” and “arrogance” or “superiority” like this show does), may be the most heroic character there. He doesn’t believe in killing as the first option…though apparently he’ll let John burn in a car so what the hell? He actually tries to solve the mystery of the dead aliens despite everybody in the town fighting him against it and his trainee just wants to take his power due to his father’s weakness and his mother’s race-driven power trip. The Guardians want to kill him because these aren’t the Guardians Of Oa DC fans know and love…arrogant as the Guardians can be sometimes. And we know Hal will die by the end of the story because we see it in a flash forward at the end of the first episode.
My exposure to Hal was different.
I’m not happy with the presentation due to the added music drowning out the dialog, but there’s only so much I can show you off of YouTube from Superfriends. If I could, I’d just post Green Lantern: First Flight and let it show you what Hal should be like, made by people who weren’t taught to hate heroes and heroism, and had the imagination to make the Green Lantern Corp look awesome. Sadly, YouTube isn’t giving me that option, either. So instead I’m going to post some videos of Hal actually being Hal, the Hal Jordan I grew up watching, because this wasn’t the only version of Hal I got to see thanks to syndicated reruns.
The first time Hal and any Green Lantern left the comics was Filmation’s The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure included Green Lantern adventures on his own and as part of the Justice League Of America. For some reason, Hal was given a Venusian sidekick instead of the Alaskan one he had in the comics at the time, and Kairo is bluer than the Guardians. (At least they’re the right size.) The Justice League also included the Flash Barry Allen, the Atom Ray Palmer, and Hawkman, who sometimes got the single episodes in Hal’s place, with Superman continuing from The New Adventures Of Superman. Aquaman, who wasn’t added to the League for some reason, was given that watery ball trick that he didn’t have in the comics. Mera was the hydrokinetic until gay black Aqualad. Meanwhile, the original Aqualad joined Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Speedy, and not Robin because they didn’t have the Batman license yet as the Teen Titans. We’re limiting ourselves to Hal and his friends, though.
Tonight we’ll look at the three “Green Lantern” segments and a sample installment of “Justice League Of America”, in which he first joined other heroes to fight Saturday morning threats. Instead of his Alaskan sidekick, Hal was joined by a Venusian named Kairo, who for some reason was bluer than the Guardians. At least they were the right size. They also seem to think the oath transforms him into Green Lantern rather than being said while charging the battery, and you only get half the oath. Still, it’s a fun group of stories. Enjoy.
Episode 1: “Evil As Evil Does”, featuring Evil Star
Episode 2: “The Vanishing World”, with villains trying to free other villains and trap our heroes
Episode 3: “Sirena: Empress Of Evil” shows space women and birds have always been an issue for Hal
Justice League Of America sample: “Bad Day At Black Mountain” doesn’t stay there long before the League has to stop a villain trying to destroy Earth. One of those Saturdays.
Were these the best Hal Jordan stories? No, licensing means I couldn’t bring you that. What we do see is Hal and the other DC heroes sampled fighting evil, protecting the innocent, and being heroes, which is what most of us come to superhero stories for. Realistic? Depends on what you mean. These cartoons were neck deep in the Silver Age comics of the time. However, if you don’t believe people with superpowers would use them to make the world better and protect the innocent, you shouldn’t be writing superhero characters that became popular for doing exactly that. Also, I hope those people never get superpowers, because if they don’t believe in goodness, they clearly would become supervillains.
