In Space, No One Can Hear You Poop.

I've always liked Green Lantern as a superhero and character.  Unfortunately, I've never been able to really get into reading about his adventures on a regular basis.  I think I attribute it to his storylines always being too "out of this world."  He's not grounded enough.  We never get to see him as Hal Jordan except in origin stories.  He's always just Green Lantern.  It's almost like he's not human, and that's a shame.  I really like Hal Jordan.  I do.  We just never get to see him.   


I decided to give the monthly Green Lantern series a try again when I began reading comics again and discovered (and loved) Geoff Johns' previous writing on Teen Titans and Justice Society of America.  I thought that here was someone who could do Hal Jordan justice.  Then with Green Lantern being a central focus of the Blackest Night event, picking up Green Lantern was a no-brainer.  

I started with the Secret Origin storyline that ran through issues #29-35.  I was happy to see Hal Jordan, the person.  However, as I stated before, this was an origin story; the only time we ever get to see the "real" Hal Jordan.  As the series jumped forward to present-day, it was the same old, same old.  The Hal Jordan persona is lost to all things Green Lantern.

Another disappointment I have with the monthly Green Lantern series is the title.  It's Green Lantern, not Green Lanterns. So why does it feel that this series is nothing more than an extension of the Green Lantern Corps series?  We're not just seeing a storyline involving Hal Jordan Green Lantern.  Every issue involves at least a handful of Green/Orange/Blue/Red/Indigo/Yellow Lanterns.  That's why I don't pick up Green Lantern Corps.  There are just too many characters that I don't care about.  With such a large cast, do we ever really get to know them individually?  Is it too much to ask that we get to learn about Hal Jordan as a person?  Does he have any sort of personal/private life?  When does he eat?  Shower?  Does he have friends or family that don't wear colorful rings on their fingers?  Does he date?  Does he have sex?  

Lastly, am I the only one who considers Larfleeze to be the Jar Jar Binks of the Green Lantern world?  Does anyone besides the creators really like him?  (And, just for the record, he does not resemble the Muppet Gonzo as he's consistently referred to in the comics; he resembles the Muppet Uncle Deadly.)

Sadly, after continuously reading 30 issues of the current Green Lantern series, I've been underwhelmed, for many of the same reasons I couldn't get into his series back in the 1980s.  It's time for me to move on...