I don’t think anyone can be a true comic book nerd until they debate who’s been the best Green Lantern.
Personally, Kyle is my favorite mainly because of his imaginitive uses of the power. Something about seeing a 10 ton gorilla beat up the villain strikes my fancy. Close in second is Alan, I guess because he’s got seniority, and plus, he’s still kickin’ it (as far as I know).
Now comes the part where the Hal Jordan fanboys come rip me apart for having no taste. 
Hal’s coming back this year, you know.
He is?
He was the first comic hero who gave me wet dreams. :eek: 
Yeah, Hal’s coming back. :rolleyes: I don’t know why, except I guess they couldn’t make him work as the Spectre. Of course, it would have helped if most of that series hadn’t SUCKED!!!
Ahem.
I grew up with Hal and I prefer Kyle myself. Plus, he’s been GL for at least 10 years RT now and probably 3-4 years CT. I just hope Kyle doesn’t disappear. I wouldn’t mind seeing them work together. For that matter, I wouldn’t mind seeing Hal have to live up to the rep Kyle’s developed.
Alan.
He is Earth’s true Green Lantern; not beholden to an alien overseer.
Alan Scott is the one true Green Lantern. Accept no substitutes.
OK, just to be contrary:
GUY GARDNER! He may have been a jerk, but darn it, he was a 100% all-American MAN jerk!
Is this strictly for earth GLs? So that giant banana guy is out of the running?
I’m not familiar with the origins of most of the GLs, but it seems to me that they are all people of the highest caliber, even if Hal has killed a few.
I hope this isn’t a hijack, but Hal Jordan was the first Green Lantern I knew. Until recently, I thought he was the original. And I can’t say I’ve read that many issues. I’ve read the Mosiac miniseries with Kyle in it. It was very surreal.
I just don’t think I have enough information to make an informed choice. If you were going to run the GLs head to head, which difinitive issues or story arcs would you have me read? If they’re available as paperbacks, I’ll buy them and then donate them to the library. If they’re only available as comics, maybe I’ll set them up as a display. They’ve displayed people’s rock collections; Green Lanterns through the years is at least more literary.
Also, do you think I should be reading the best stories or the most representative stories for each character? Feel free to just nominate your favorites and ignore the others. Thanks ahead of time. I’m not a true comic book nerd, but I would like to get a little closer.
Yllaria
Yllaria:
It would be pretty surreal if you read a “Mosaic” series with Kyle as the star.
Green Lantern: Mosaic was about John Stewart, and the series ended even before Kyle’s first appearance.
Hal was the first GL I encountered.
But that was on Superfriends so it doesn’t count.
Guy was the first that was in a normal comic. (Justice League.)
Hal was the first one I read regular solo stories. (The 70s issues, found after the fact, some in reprint.)
Hal is my favourite, but I really like Kyle and hope he sticks around after Hal comes back. And I have a soft spot for Guy.
I’ve got a question about the sensitivity to yellow (if that’s even still around, I have only the most basic knowledge of the GL). I understand that their powers will not work on yellow* - that whatever the GL does to someone wearing, say a yellow shirt will simply not work. Now, if the GL were to make a big crane and drop use it to pick up some rocks and have them fall on an enemy. Will it work if the target is wearing a yellow jumpsuit?
Argh. That is, will the rocks still crush the dude?
The yellow, IIRC, was an impurity in the ring deliberately placed by the Guardians (distributors of the ring) as sort of a fail-safe. It’s not just that their powers don’t effect yellow, it’s their weakness (like Superman’s kryptonite). Someone with a yellow painted bat could walk up to an old GL and whap them on the head a few times. (This isn’t as bad as Alan Scott’s weakness to wood). Anyway, Kyle’s (the new GL) ring doesn’t have that impurity so he can go on kicking the asses of bananas everywhere. Oh, and as for the crane question, I imagine as long as the crane wasn’t yellow, the device would work.
It has been said that the Yellow Factor is not an actual limitation, but a psychological one. In order to put a limit on the power of the Corps, the Guardians told every member during his/her/its/their/hets/shers/omt orientation that the ring doesn’t work on yellow. Since they are good little cops, they believed everything the Guardians told them.
Oh, and Alan Scott convinced himself that his ring is powerless against wood, as he was never brainwashed by those little blue fascists. The first time he used his Lantern, even before he fashoned a ring from some of its material, he was doing all right against some miscreants who were shooting at him, deflecting the bullets and all, but he didn’t see the thug sneaking up behind him with the billy. Having not yet developed the techniques to set up an automatic security cordon, and believing that his lantern would protect him even when not specifically instructed to do so, he presumed that it was the material used rather than his own inexperience. Once the mental block against effectiveness on wood was established, it persisted…
Kyle is an idiot.
Hal rules.
Hal’s a drunkard
Kyle rules.
I only have one word to say on this subject:
Gnort!
Sure, an Andrew Dicew Clay clone with a Moe Howard haircut. He was a one note joke, only funny when Batman knocked him out and Black Canary was distraught because she missed seeing it. If that is what being an American Man is, I’ll pretend I don’t have an XY chromeosome set.