" I read your whole blog, but I still don't agree with you. This is not an attack. I don't like Hal Jordan because other than courage and willpower (traits that pretty much every comic book hero have), he has no other exciting personality traits. If you stripped Hal Jordans GL powers away, and gave him some standard super power like super strength or a healing factor... would anyone give a crap about him? I think the answer is no. In that same situation, I would still read Spider-man. I would still read Wolverine. I would still read the Wally West stories. i would still read the Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner stories. I would still love Cyclops. I would still like Power Girl. Just look at Luke Cage--he doesn't need constructs to be interesting. Here are the reasons Hal's fans like him: 1. He's the greatest and strongest GL. That's not a personality. 2. He's the first human GL Corps member. That's not a personality. 3. Hal beat X and saved the world/galaxy. That's not a personality. In fact, pretty much every superhero does that. 4. He's fearless and has more willpower than anyother GL. The latter part is debateable, and every other hero is fearless. Wolverine, Batman, Flash, Superman, Cyclops, Spawn, Invincible, etc. aren't cowards either. How does Hal stand apart? I don't care that Hal turned evil, because that was Parallax. I don't care if he hit women--that was the mid 20th century. But I have no reason to like him other than he's a rather generic superhero. I don't see what makes him SPECIAL, other than his powers. I also don't understand why the most bland GL is the poster-boy for the franchise again. Amongst the GL's, he certainly seems to be the one with the least dimensions character despite his long history. Under Geoff Johns, he's a bland Mary Sue. Under everyone else, he's an a-hole wannabe Maverick from Top Gun. Obviously, people on this thread will hate me for my post, but I will not respond to any attacks. If you disagree with me, let me know what you disagree with, and we can have a discussion about it. "
Like Voltarie said (or at least I think it was him): "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend with my life your right to say it". To me, Hal is all kinds of cool but the reasons that you mention about why people like him are not the reasons I have. Like I said, he gives off this ol' rebel James Dean-Marlon Brando aura. He was a rebel way before Guy even existed, but he isn't the annoying type. He's the type that'll do what he knows is right, no matter who tells him not to, and if you get in his way, he'll punch you out and later on he'll buy you a drink and be best buds with you. Your drawing paralelisms with Maverick from Top Gun is not that far fetched, but try to keep in mind that Hal came before him, and he came before Bond or Han Solo, other two characters he reminds me of. And, Hal is not fearless. No believable hero should ever be fearless, not even Superman. He has the capacity of doing the right thing despite fear, which is true, most heroes have, but then again, none of them make such a point about it like Hal does. Anyway, thank you for your two cents, we can agree to disagree, we all know some people love Barry Allen to death and others prefer Wally West. BTW, Your awesome for digging Cyclops.
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