A would-be opinionator makes the mistake of calling John Stewart expendable
I can't believe what some op-ed writer on the Green Lantern Corps fansite is doing: giving 5 reasons why John Stewart should die, as though it's all his fault for the mistakes written into his history. The main reason the writer thinks justifies obliterating John? It's because:
It's shameful how someone can act as though the characters are real, living and breathing entities entirely at fault for their actions yet can't write up a legitimate critique of past material and specify whether they think it was done in poor faith. No wonder many people outside the comics audience could think those inside are mindless: they act as though even a bad story is pure fait accompli and must be respected as canon no matter what. Crisis on Infinite Earths may not have been a great idea to begin with, but if it could be used to clear away bad story ideas, surely that in itself is something to appreciate (and that it respected its heroes as they were is a definite plus). If there's something bad clogging up the arteries of continuity, then for heaven's sake, why shouldn't it be expunged? There's probably even a few bad storylines in the Marvel universe that were subsequently discarded from official canon (and one day, the disaster that is Brand New Day will be too), and disavowing bad storylines is not a crime. How is it that Hans Christian Andersen's famous tale of The Emperor's New Clothes failed to make an impact?
Any so-called op-ed writer for a fansite who makes childish arguments about killing off supporting characters along with heroes who've been tarnished instead of trying to fix them don't register to me as real fans. I guess if a terrible writer came along and turned Robert McCloskey's Homer Price into a child psycho, he'd have to be wiped out instead of simply disavowing the terrible story. And if Isaac Asimov's Norby were turned into a murderous villain, that too would justify destroying the robot, computer chips and all, instead of discarding even that as the grave mistake it would be. How anyone can maintain such defeatist mindsets is stupefying.
1. John Stewart is a MURDERERFor heaven's sake, whose fault is it if John is really what he claims? The writers, to say nothing of the editors, for crying out loud! From what I found when I tried to research the first example given within this part, it appears John wasn't the true guilty party, since the plot involved a colossal bomb made of yellow material he could not influence with his power ring. The rest appear to be examples that sprung up since the time Geoff Johns took over the series (and its spinoffs), and that I understand: it's the fallout from pure irresponsibility and lack of true respect for the cast of characters, and as such should be looked upon in disgust. I abhor any and all abuse DC's allowed to be heaped upon John Stewart just as much as with any other hero/supporting cast member whom they've thrown to the wolves as expendable.
John Stewart has murdered. That only is a big deal. Maybe less so now that “lethal force” has been active since the Sinestro Corps War, but it should still be the last resort move of the lanterns. John Stewart isn’t that kinda guy. He’s the murderous kind. Even worse, he’s the friendly fire kind of murderer. He’s out there killing his own people! Xanshi, the home planet of Fatality, was destroyed by John. Sure he was sorry for it. Really really sorry, but he got over that. He’s gone on to kill another planet, Mogo which is even worse because this one was ALIVE. He’s also snapped the neck of a fellow lantern because he was about to tell Oa’s secrets. He snapped the man’s neck because the man couldn’t stand the torture. The man was already dying John, if you didn’t think he could have survived, you could have just punch him unconscious. Or wait until the bad guys killed him anyway. Why would you just snap his neck? Because John’s not that nice. Don’t worry though, he doesn’t stop killing there. Oh no, he goes on to kill some Alpha Lanterns because they are trying to stop him from escaping…AFTER he’s broken out of custody and destroyed a good 3 blocks of Oa. John Stewart isn’t even sorry about that. He’s not a good guy. Did I say that already? He’s pretty much deserving of death at this point. Just don’t have Guy Gardner anywhere near the trial or it’ll end up with more deaths.
It's shameful how someone can act as though the characters are real, living and breathing entities entirely at fault for their actions yet can't write up a legitimate critique of past material and specify whether they think it was done in poor faith. No wonder many people outside the comics audience could think those inside are mindless: they act as though even a bad story is pure fait accompli and must be respected as canon no matter what. Crisis on Infinite Earths may not have been a great idea to begin with, but if it could be used to clear away bad story ideas, surely that in itself is something to appreciate (and that it respected its heroes as they were is a definite plus). If there's something bad clogging up the arteries of continuity, then for heaven's sake, why shouldn't it be expunged? There's probably even a few bad storylines in the Marvel universe that were subsequently discarded from official canon (and one day, the disaster that is Brand New Day will be too), and disavowing bad storylines is not a crime. How is it that Hans Christian Andersen's famous tale of The Emperor's New Clothes failed to make an impact?
Any so-called op-ed writer for a fansite who makes childish arguments about killing off supporting characters along with heroes who've been tarnished instead of trying to fix them don't register to me as real fans. I guess if a terrible writer came along and turned Robert McCloskey's Homer Price into a child psycho, he'd have to be wiped out instead of simply disavowing the terrible story. And if Isaac Asimov's Norby were turned into a murderous villain, that too would justify destroying the robot, computer chips and all, instead of discarding even that as the grave mistake it would be. How anyone can maintain such defeatist mindsets is stupefying.
Labels: dc comics, golden calf of death, Green Lantern
I agree. He should criticize the writers, NOT the characters. The whole irony of that guy's article is that he's black, and he's calling for the death of a black superhero. You'd think that he'd want to keep them around; otherwise, wouldn't they be losing "diversity?"
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