Green Lantern pitch (Patreon)

So as some of you know, I've been thinking long and hard about a 'Superman: Year One' kinda project which would in part encompass Superman's meetings with the rest of the Big Seven (or, if not that, then him brushing past them as Clark Kent or even Lois investigating them). It seems to me the natural endpoint of the story if the formation of the JLA, because it doesn't get any bigger than that and besides, after that it's a JLA story anyway (every story: why doesn't Superman call in X for help? Are they all too busy to run in and take care of Metallo, The Man With The Kryptonite Heart, for him?).

For that to work, I have to develop a take on 'legacy-founders' like the Hal Jordan GL and Barry Allen Flash, even if I'm disinterested in those characters to the point of animosity. (I suppose if I were really an asshole, I'd have Jay Garrick and Alan Scott show up. "Hal who? Barry what? We're the originals!") For no other reason than that they're important to the development of (superior) legacy characters like Wally West and Guy Gardner.

Now, I'm not overly familiar with those guys and it's a pet peeve when people who've never read a comic describe how to fix it, but A. it's my passion project/hallucination, I'll do what I want, B. people do it to Wonder Woman all the time, so, equality.

ANYWAY, there's nothing overly wrong with Barry Allen besides him overstaying his welcome like the King of All Baby Boomers. Except that I've noticed a lot of stories trying to turn him into Wally West 2.0 (Wally West 0.5?) instead of just using Wally. They play up his youth and 'adorkableness' until you're left with a guy who really has nothing to do with the old Barry Allen, even in looks (anyone remember that Barry is blond and wears a bowtie?). Also, there's the TV show saying that he can't tie his shoelaces without a loved one getting on the radio to say "Barry, I believe in you!", but that's a separate issue.

Anyway, I'd just age him up, let him be a bit of a stiff, and go full wish fulfillment with him. He's a geek who gets superpowers and gets to use his scientific knowledge to best utilize those powers. Why overthink that? Also, his dad really did kill his mom, but that's another story for another time.

With Hal, I feel there's more rot in the bedrock (ed's note: un-mix metaphor?). It's like there's this vicious cycle where he's written as literally Ryan Reynolds, doing pratfalls and having his pants fall down to show that he's not a Mary Sue, (he is), then the writers write him as ludicrously awesome to show that he really is da best. So he'll be portrayed as a dumbass, but then he had a threesome with Lady Blackhawk and Huntress. The endresult is that he's such a Mary Sue that he can be a complete idiot, yet be praised to the high heavens and have all his plans work out and get everything he wants. Obviously, this makes for someone that's insufferable. This is a characterization I like to call Less Interesting And Unsatirical Guy Gardner. 

My take on him would be that he's competent, even ubercompetent, but not the be-all and end-all. Less smarmy, less smirky, more of a rascal like Harrison Ford or Dennis Quaid. He's boyish, not childish. There's a big difference. He flew in the war (and please, let's get rid of the self-righteous bit of him never shooting an enemy plane down, just tricking them into his squadmates' fire. It's war. People die. Plus, if he's a space cop like Captain America is a super soldier, then wouldn't it stand to reason that the metaphor continues to him using lethal force, even if only ever as a last resort because he's an idealized, superheroic policeman?)

Now he's a test pilot at Ferris. He's put in to pilot their private space flight program (other note: Carol Ferris as a female Elon Musk/Tony Stark. Think about it) but they think he's too irresponsible. And he is, to a degree--part of his arc is accepting his place in the team, whether it be the GLC or the JLA. And he may be a rapscallion, drinking hard, getting into trouble with women, clearing out a bar, but at the end of the day he's a stone-cold professional, a steely-eyed missile man. Those NASA astronauts? They are not dummies. Even to be a runner-up, Hal has to be whip-smart. So a bit of a jock and a cowboy, but not a lout, not a heel, not Tony Stark.

I'd also say he's about the oldest of the (mortal) members of the JLA, along with Barry, since he'll be getting those white hairs sooner than later. Think The Right Stuff, Chuck Yeager, Space Age optimism--a guy who grew up wanting to walk on the moon, got told it was never going to happen, then suddenly got the job of being Captain Kirk. 

Also, I might make it that Alan Scott was the one who got it from Abin Sur, and he got it after Alan went missing, because if it's an AU, we might as well simplify it to Hal being the second human GL. And I am a bit of an asshole, so...