John Stewart Saved: DC Backtracks on Killing Green Lantern

“I’ve told this story before, but I will tell it again,” said DC Women Kicking Ass’ Sue regarding the sudden death of famed comic book writer, Dwayne McDuffie. “When the Hostess cupcakes promotion happened last fall featuring Batman, Superman, Flash and Green Lantern, my friend showed her son the box. He took one look at it and said, “That’s not the Green Lantern, the Green Lantern is black.” Yes, despite test pilot Hal Jordan being continuously pushed by DC Comics as the definitive Green Lantern, the mainstream audience sees U.S. Marine veteran John Stewart as THE Green Lantern. While the Stewart’s rise to fame is attributed to the talented writers he had over the years like his creator, Dennis O’Neil, it was McDuffie who solidified his role as Green Lantern for the public through the animated Justice League series and its follow-up, Justice League Unlimited. The fact that a cartoon aimed at young audience succeeded in establishing Stewart as Green Lantern for so many, where as the Hollywood blockbuster failed to do so for Jordan speaks volumes of Stewart’s appeal and McDuffie’s strength as a writer.

The Death of John Stewart?

With Stewart overtaking Jordan as the image of Green Lantern, the thought of DC killing their most popular African-American superhero seems unbelievable. Yet, that was the supposed idea the editors at DC were pursuing, according to Bleeding Cool and Comic Book Resources. The controversial decision was apparently the creative difference that made Joshua Hale Fialkov, who was assigned writing duties on Green Lantern Corps and Red Lanterns, walk away from both titles. Naturally, once the story leaked, comic book fans and creators expressed outrage at DC for even thinking about killing Stewart. So much so, that DC has now backed away from the move altogether.

Editorial Differences

While Stewart survives to see another day thanks to his tremendous fanbase, this ugly incident has given DC another black eye over the editorial mandate placed on their writers. Unlike Grant Morrison’s decision to kill off his contribution to the Batman mythos as originally planed, Fialkov was ordered by his editor to kill off a character he never intended on killing and left because of it. This certainly isn’t the first case of DC editors getting in the way of their storytellers, as shown by their constant creative team shakeups and departures, particularly in the case of Gail Simon’s removal and later rehiring on Batgirl. With this latest news and Andy Diggle’s mysterious departure from Action Comics, the creative shakeups has reached self-parodying levels.

More Bad Publicity and an Empty Promise

The news of DC planing to kill off a famously diverse character like Stewart is especially damaging, considering the negative reaction the company received from the LGBT community when they hired anti-gay author, Orson Scott Card, on Adventures of Superman. Even though DC has avoided a potentially devastating backlash from minority readers by withdrawing their execution on Stewart, the proposed move has already done some damage. Thanks to DC’s editorial misguidance, readers will never experience Fialkov’s full take on the Green Lantern universe. If the higher ups at DC wishes to create a friendlier environment for their writers and artists, as they promised back at their recent retreat, then they need to trust their creators to do what they do best: create. And most importantly, they need to stop undermining characters like John Stewart and the legacy they have in favor of short sales bump.

Where do you stand? Does DC have the right to eliminate John Stewart? Did they make the right call in cancelling the move? Let us know in the comments below.