Ungoliantschilde

Beyond his art, Neal Adams is rightfully remembered as an eternal champion of creators’ rights and for the part he & his work played in the Comics Code revision of ‘71 but his contribution to John Stewart’s creation is – I think –  a rather underrated aspect of his career, especially as it’s such a great reminder of the kind of person he was. Taken from an interview conducted and transcribed by Allen W. Wright over at the Green Arrow: Bold Archer fansite, here’s Neal discussing John’s beginnings (x).

My first introduction to the Green Lantern character was Morrison’s JLA. And, from the get-go, Kyle Rahner’s defining character quality was that the other members of the team had to constantly support him emotionally.

He’s the kind of early 90s character that an early 90s artist would dream up. He’s a green lantern that is a comic book artist as a day job. So, it’s like free reign to draw all kinds of crazy manga robots and stuff that an early 90s comic book artist would love to draw in glowing green. But his personality, um, sucks.

The defining quality of all Green Lanterns is being without fear. Confident. Guy Gardner is the cocksure “Stifler” of the corps. John Stewart is the former Marine turned Architect, consummate professional and soldier. Supremely confident in his abilities.

And Hal. Well, Hal is Maverick from Top Gun with a Power Ring. He’s the guy that you hate at first but wind up routing for. He’s a fighter jet test pilot.

And then, there’s Kyle. The guy who can draw but has all kinds of confidence issues. Why the heck did Kyle get a ring.

my casting for a JLI Movie/SitCom:

Will Arnett as Booster Gold. A Janitor from the far future that stole a supersuit and went back in time “to rule the stupid past-people as a King”. His plans on ruling the world got scrapped, and now he tries to be a hero. He can fly short distances with his jet-boots -according to the suit’s manual- and he has some freaking sweet laser beams too (he calls them his “Booster Blasters”). Also, after the last time they went on a mission -Operation: Refill the Propane Tank- Booster is no longer allowed to use his “Booster Blasters” unless the whole team agrees he needs to do so.

James Roday as Blue Beetle/Ted Kord. Ted is Booster’s best friend, and he’s a genius inventor/crime fighter. Ted’s also a little bit lazy kind of a lovable douche, and he enjoys busting Booster’s chops, which is always a good thing. Ted has a variety of interesting and inventive gadgets, all based on a beetle necklace that’s really important to him.

Anna Farris as Ice. Ice has had her powers since birth, and she kinda knows the score with who’s worth fighting for and who’s needs a good smack. She’s the street-smarts of the team, and also a heavy hitter in the powers department. For some reason, she is in love with Guy Gardner. She also helps keep Ted and Booster on task.

Sean William Scott as Guy Gardner (Green Lantern). Just imagine Stifler with a power ring, and a heart of Gold that is buried under thousands of layers of asshole. Oh, and Ice loves him to bits. She once froze his balls to chair, but he definitely deserved it and she promised not to do that again because it was seriously not cool.

Jon Hamm as Maxwell Lord. He’s the money behind this thing, and he pays for the office that they use, and they should do what he says, right? He gave these super types a place to work from. So, they work for him… Right? Well, he thinks so anyways. Except when he wants them to endorse stupid crap, or possibly break a couple laws…

Ellie Kemper as Mary Marvel. She is the sweetest, most innocent, most good hearted person in the group. And she is very, very naive about things she might want to learn more about before going out for dinner with friends. Like when Guy Gardner is being Guy Gardner, versus when he needs a good punch. She can also juggle tanks, fly faster than Supergirl, and even though the Wizard is a Wizard, he’s not like a you know, BAD Wizard. And she’s doing good stuff, so it is totally a good thing and Superman and Batman said so. And Batman said to watch Maxwell Lord.

Bonus:

Gina Carano as Big Barda - she’s a warrior that will absolutely destroy you. she will hurt you so bad, your inner-voice will have a permanent speech impediment. But, she fell in love with this guy that gets out of EVERYTHING, and she doesn’t have to fight so much anymore. She wants to fight. She likes to fight. But... bubble baths are also fun.

my casting for a JLI Movie/SitCom:

Will Arnett as Booster Gold. A Janitor from the far future that stole a supersuit and went back in time “to rule the stupid past-people as a King”. His plans on ruling the world got scrapped, and now he tries to be a hero. He can fly short distances with his jet-boots -according to the suit’s manual- and he has some freaking sweet laser beams too (he calls them his “Booster Blasters”). Also, after the last time they went on a mission -Operation: Refill the Propane Tank- Booster is no longer allowed to use his “Booster Blasters” unless the whole team agrees he needs to do so.

James Roday as Blue Beetle/Ted Kord. Ted is Booster’s best friend, and he’s a genius inventor/crime fighter. Ted’s also a little bit lazy kind of a lovable douche, and he enjoys busting Booster’s chops, which is always a good thing. Ted has a variety of interesting and inventive gadgets, all based on a beetle necklace that’s really important to him.

Anna Farris as Ice. Ice has had her powers since birth, and she kinda knows the score with who’s worth fighting for and who’s needs a good smack. She’s the street-smarts of the team, and also a heavy hitter in the powers department. For some reason, she is in love with Guy Gardner. She also helps keep Ted and Booster on task.

Sean William Scott as Guy Gardner (Green Lantern). Just imagine Stifler with a power ring, and a heart of Gold that is buried under thousands of layers of asshole. Oh, and Ice loves him to bits. She once froze his balls to chair, but he definitely deserved it and she promised not to do that again because it was seriously not cool.

Jon Hamm as Maxwell Lord. He’s the money behind this thing, and he pays for the office that they use, and they should do what he says, right? He gave these super types a place to work from. So, they work for him… Right? Well, he thinks so anyways. Except when he wants them to endorse stupid crap, or possibly break a couple laws…

Ellie Kemper as Mary Marvel. She is the sweetest, most innocent, most good hearted person in the group. And she is very, very naive about things she might want to learn more about before going out for dinner with friends. Like when Guy Gardner is being Guy Gardner, versus when he needs a good punch. She can also juggle tanks, fly faster than Supergirl, and even though the Wizard is a Wizard, he’s not like a you know, BAD Wizard. And she’s doing good stuff, so it is totally a good thing and Superman and Batman said so. And Batman said to watch Maxwell Lord.

page 1 from Justice League (1987) #4 by Kevin Maguire, Al Gordon, Gene D’Angelo, Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis and Bob Lappan