John Stewart has been a favorite of DC fans for decades now and Lanterns is sharing the character with a new generation. Stewart has had multimedia fame before, back when he was made the Green Lantern of the Justice League in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, becoming a favorite of fans of those classic shows. He was first introduced in 1972, during the Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams run on Green Lantern and Green Arrow, starting the cavalcade of black characters who were introduced in the ’70s. He would end up taking Hal Jordan’s place in the ’80s, fighting as the Green Lantern during Crisis on Infinite Earths. Stewart would continue to play an important role in the Corps in the years to come, leading to a moment that has come to define him in the years since.
John Stewart in the comics and John in Lanterns are different in many ways – show John has an explicit origin in a way comic John doesn’t – but both of them are examples of characters who started out thinking they were the new hotness but had their whole world shaken by a terrible event. For show John, it was Rushville. In the comics, it was in one of DC’s most underrated event comics, from the man who created Thanos and Infinity Gauntlet: Cosmic Odyssey, by Jim Starlin and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola. This story saw John’s arrogance engineer his downfall but would also be the turning point of the character. While their circumstances were different, the two Johns both were able to overcome their own demons to become better people.
Cosmic Odyssey was a story that brought heroes and villains together to save the universe from forces unleashed by the machinations of Darkseid. The Anti-Life Equation came to life because of his experimentation and became a force of destruction, forcing Darkseid to team up with a group of heroes and New Gods to stop the destruction of four planets, preventing this new being from gaining the power to destroy everything. John Stewart was one of these heroes and he was teamed with Martian Manhunter, sent to the planet Xanshi.
Looking at their powers, that’s a grouping that could basically handle everything, but there was a problem – John’s arrogance. Stewart believed completely in himself and the power of the Green Lantern ring to solve any problem and he was pretty casually disdainful of being teamed with anyone at all. Instead of helping J’onn, he zipped ahead to get the glory of the victory for himself, finding a massive yellow bomb. This was during the days when Green Lantern rings didn’t work against anything yellow; he was completely unable to defuse the bomb and it ended up exploding.
Now, if he would have been a bit more humble, acknowledged that his powers were great but not perfect, and helped J’onn when he was being rocked by debris, they could have arrived at the same time and had the Martian’s powers as well. Instead, John’s hubris caused the destruction of an entire world. He almost committed suicide after this and dedicated himself to making up for the destruction of Xanshi, stewarding the planet Mosiac until the destruction of the Corps. He ended up joining the Darkstars in the interim before getting a new Lantern ring from Kyle Rayner, rejoining the Justice League and later the returned Green Lantern Corps. He’s become one of the most important members of the Corps since then.
Comic John and show John had one thing in common at the beginning of Cosmic Odyssey and Lanterns – arrogance. Show John was trained from childhood to master his fear, to become the perfect Green Lantern. He felt like he could handle anything thrown at him. Just look at him when he speaks to Lianna; when she asks why he should be chosen, he has no problem claiming that he was the best and ready for everything she could throw at him. However, he couldn’t even handle Hal Jordan’s attitude – a burnt out, cynical Hal Jordan, but Hal nonetheless. He was completely out of his depth the whole time he was in Rushville.
John Stewart’s arc in Lanterns is learning to let go of the past and part of the way he does that is by dropping the arrogance. Over the show’s run, he realizes that the one thing he didn’t have were the answers to everything and that’s something all the ability in the world can’t make up for. Show John’s arrogance was much more subtle than that of comic John, but it definitely played a role in his failures in the show. His combative attitude with Hal was echoed in the comics; as bad as Hal could be in the show, John wasn’t really much better and had his own issues with Jordan. Meanwhile, comic John was just mean to Martian Manhunter because he could be, which is a really big difference between the two Johns.
Both Johns learned their lessons and both of them grew as people. In the comics, John would be haunted by the destruction of Xanshi and it changed him completely. He was more somber and dedicated in its aftermath, which allowed him to become a better hero. He realized that he couldn’t solve every problem on his own and was better for it. John has since become a leader, able to not only work well with others, but able to manage a group dynamic with aplomb.
Meanwhile, show John was able to let go of the pains of his past and finally truly embrace being the kind of Green Lantern he wanted to be. John was raised for one purpose and he realized that he could make his own purpose instead. He takes the power of the ring, but he takes it on his terms for his reasons. Stewart’s brand new Green Lantern Corps oath proves this. He wants to fight the fight, but he’s not going to slavishly follow the words of his elders, he’s going to make a path of his own. Both Johns were presented with a painful lesson, finding the right answers in different ways, but arriving at the same end – being heroes worthy of the ring they wear.
John Stewart is one of those characters who has long been more beloved than his place in the DC Universe would lead you to believe. John has connected with generations of fans over the decades of existence, with every fan loving him for a different reason. Whether you fell in love with him because of the comics or because of multimedia adaptations, John just appeals to people. His journeys have made him a better character, with the events of Lanterns strangely echoing those of Cosmic Odyssey in subtle ways.
Both stories started out with an arrogant John in over their heads, but believing that they had all of the answers. Both of them faced things that they couldn’t overcome and both of them were beaten down by circumstance. However, they both took the lessons of their losses to heart and became better people in the process. The two Johns have a lot of differences on the outside, but on the inside, they are the same character. That’s the strength of Lanterns – it’s a show that doesn’t ape the comics while still staying true to their characters and events.
What do you think John Stewart from Lanterns? Did his ending do it for you or do you think it should have gone another way? Leave a comment in the comment section below.
