Comic books have never gotten respect as a legitimate form of creative expression, and understandably so. Batman may be metaphor for man's desire to make a crooked world straight, but it's kind of difficult to take a metaphor seriously when he wears a hokey costume and stalks around the city streets with a fairy named Bat-Mite.
Some comics, like "Preacher" or "100 Bullets," make a real effort to shed the stereotypes and use the graphic novel format to tell a legitimate story. Their efforts are futile however, because these stereotypes will always prevail so long as we have to put up with one hero's existence: The Green Lantern.
I should first explain that I am a "Marvel person." I grew up on Marvel comics and I feel they are superior to DC Comics in every way - Vertigo titles excluded. In fact, other than Batman, I can't think of a DC Universe character I enjoy. I find DC's characters to be shallow, rainbow-colored packages of unrealistic ideals. How boring. Marvel characters, such as Dazzler, tend to have much more depth.
In all seriousness, DC characters (and especially the Green Lantern) aren't very original or interesting. What grants the Green Lantern his powers? A ring. No hero in the history of man has ever been granted powers from a ring before! My money says that The Guardians of the Universe (more DC comics ingenuity) find their Power Rings in a gumball machine and their Power Batteries at a grocery store check-out line. The Guardians of the Universe go shopping with Frodo and the Energizer Bunny every Tuesday.
Superman, Wonder Woman, the Green Lantern... they're all just so... so invincible. I love the fact that Spider-Man is constantly having his ribs broken and that Jean Grey seems to faint in every single issue. Every Marvel character has a tragic flaw and a dangerous weakness; they're so much more human.
The Green Lantern is the epitome of anti-reality. All he has to do is think something up, and he can do it. In fact, we all know he is actually more powerful than Super-Man, but marketing prevails and Green Lantern is stuck playing second fiddle. Good.
The most annoying part of the Green Lantern is the sheer number of Green Lanterns. It is more embarrassing than Dr. Who. Every Green Lantern writer wants to leave his own little mark and creates his own addition to the Green Lantern Corps. Like McDonald's in American small towns, there is at least one Green Lantern for every sector of the universe.
Because of this phenomena, we have over two hundred different Green Lanterns! They come with stupid names like Sinestro, Rot Lop Fan, The Puffball Collective and yes, even The Green Lambkin. I don't know about you, but I don't want the fate of the universe, let alone the fate of anything, resting in the hands of something called The Puffball Collective.
This has got to stop. There are too many Green Lanterns, and they are making comic books seem silly. Somebody needs to play Mother of the Universe and tell the Guardians of the Universe that they have had too many cookies before dinner. Their Green Lantern allowance is spent. If we don't act soon, they may even recruit Bat-Mite. That could be catastrophic.
Write to Ben at bbmcshane@bsu.edu
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