Hot nerd-on-nerd action since 2008

Hal Jordan is the star of Green Lantern again.  Barry Allen has returned.  The Justice League of America is operating out of their satellite headquarters once more.  It’s all but official: the Silver Age has returned.  For DC, at least.

Let me take a step back and explain something first.  One of the things that’s always appealed to me about the DC Universe is the legacy characters.

Wally West assumes the mantle of the Flash in the aftermath of the Crisis

Jay Garrick to Barry Allen to Wally West.

Alan Scott to Hal Jordan to John Stewart to Guy Gardner to Kyle Rayner.

Oliver Queen to Connor Hawke.

Dinah (or Diana, depending on when and who you ask) Drake Lance to Dinah Laurel Lance(-Queen?).

Dick Grayson to Jason Todd to Tim Drake.

Not to mention everyone who’s ever called themselves Starman.

I like that.  The idea that even when one hero falls, another will pick up and carry on the name.  It seems to me that it would be comforting for a hero to know that even though he or she may die, the mantle will be continue.

Now, in the nineties, DC had many of their major characters replaced with younger versions.  Hal Jordan went crazy was possessed by Parallax, Oliver Queen sacrificed himself to save Metropolis from a terrorist group’s bomb, Superman died, Batman was crippled by Bane and Wonder Woman fell in battle with Neron.  Obviously, the Trinity didn’t stay dead (or injured) for very long (indeed, Superman was the only one to not appear during his respective storyline– Bruce Wayne was still a focus and Diana became the Goddess of Truth), but for the others, the changes held.

For a time.

Kyle Rayner, the new Green Lantern, was particularly hated, given the way Hal Jordan was worshiped by many fans and even creators.  Alex Ross has famously sworn that he will never draw Kyle and made several derisive remarks about the character.  A group, H.E.A.T. (Hal’s Emerald Advancement Team), was a very vocal proponent of the Silver Age Lantern’s return.  Despite this, Kyle was the sole Green Lantern for ten years, joining the JLA and becoming a popular hero with at least some of the fans.

Connor Hawke, the illegitimate son of Oliver Queen, took his father’s name after his death.  He briefly joined the JLA because of his friendship with Kyle Rayner, but resigned, feeling inadequate against the threats the League faced.

When their predecessors returned from the dead, both Kyle and Connor remained.  Until recently, Connor was a supporting character in Green Arrow and Black Canary and Kyle is currently appearing in Green Lantern Corps alongside 7198 other Lanterns.

I’m nearly twenty seven years old.  When I started actively reading DC books, Kyle was Green Lantern, Wally West was the Flash.  I’d read stories with Hal and Barry prior to this, but I was mostly Marvel until twelve years ago.  I understand that older readers were used to those characters and didn’t want to see them replaced.  Just like I didn’t like seeing Kyle shuffled out of the way to make room for Hal’s return.  Just like I don’t want to see Wally pushed aside for Barry to headline the Flash.

(As an aside– I think people are more accepting of Wally because he was Barry’s sidekick and Barry was given what is quite possibly the finest heroic death in the seventy year history of superhero comics.)

But– and I realize this may be a controversial stance– those characters never really grew.  Barry was straitlaced and bland.  Hal was (and still is) cocky, arrogant and, to be honest, kind of a dick.  While the young men who assumed the costumes may not have been perfect, they did make for more well-rounded characters.

Think about it, many of the great Barry Allen stories were written after his death, tales of what the Silver Age was like post-Crisis.

And now, DC’s ignoring one of the strongest selling points of their universe.  I want the legacy characters back.  I like the possibility of change, not this reversion to what happened forty years ago, (but with a modern, darker twist!).

And therein lies the problem.  Between this and Marvel attempting to return Spider-Man to his Silver Age status quo (whether they succeeded is another post), it’s difficult for new readers to jump in.  Batman and Superman are safe, given their status as icons.  But with lesser known heroes (and Hal and Barry aren’t the most well-known to the non-comics fans– John and Wally are), you want someone a little younger.  Hal and Barry are both adults, settled in their lives.  I could be wrong, but I doubt a lot of kids want that.  I know that eventually Kyle and Wally will age and you’ll have the same problem.  But that’s where the legacy comes in.  DC’s forgotten that.