Should Have Beens: Guy Gardner

This is an interesting (and debatable) one as this “should have been” is really a has been and even an is (and that’s how you do an opening sentence).

Guy Gardner is headlining (or co-headlining) his own well-selling series, Green Lantern Corps, and for the past few years before that was doing the same either in its predecessor or Emerald Warriors. He was perhaps the most popular member of the late 80’s/early 90’s Keith Giffen/J.M. DeMatteis Justice League and is always at least a cult favorite when that group shuffles its line-up (he’s technically on Justice League International right now, I guess, but he hasn’t been on the main team since just after Doomsday though a vocal segment always wants to see him there; his last dalliance in being recruited by the big guns was as a bit of a running joke during Grant Morrison’s run over a decade ago).

He had a respectably long-running—and underrated—solo series in the 90’s, he crossed over to animation with Batman: Brave and the Bold, and is generally a character held in high regard. Save for a period right after his introduction—he was in a coma—and the first few years of this century—he was in a weird limbo after sort of dying during Our Worlds at War before coming back via Joe Kelly’s Action Comics and getting rebooted as a Green Lantern by Geoff Johns—Guy Gardner has always more or less been a high B-lister verging on the A-list of DC Comics heroes.

And yet it feels like he had the potential to be more.

Guy Gardner is the most interesting of the human Green Lanterns. Kyle Rayner is more relatable, but Guy has more to him. He’s got more range than golden boy Hal Jordan and more depth than the shifting tabula rasa that is John Stewart. Don’t get me wrong, all of those characters are great (except for Hal Jordan), but while Kyle is likable, John has potential and Hal is a douche bag, Guy’s got layers.

He’s a genuinely heroic man trapped in the façade of a jerk by circumstance. Guy overcame a difficult childhood to become a social worker and later a teacher, working to better the community and world around him even as he kept his own aggression in check. He was judged equally worthy to be Earth’s Green Lantern by Abin Sur, with Hal Jordan only getting the nod because he was geographically closer. Guy eventually became Jordan’s back-up and friend, but suffered one tragic setback after another, getting hit by a bus saving one of his students, getting trapped in the Phantom Zone, and eventually lapsing into a coma (also, Hal Jordan romanced his girlfriend when he was out of commission one time; yes they both thought Guy was dead, but come on!).

All this piled up to create the Guy Gardner the DC Universe—and readers—are most familiar with: an arrogant, brash, hot-tempered loose cannon who also happens to be a noble and dedicated champion for justice (even if it’s not always evident). Part of this persona is written off in-universe as the result of his brain damage and whatnot, but the more interesting story to me is that of a man who had the potential to be a hero or a jerk, did his best to be the former, got knocked on his ass at every junction, naturally fell toward his darker nature, and now struggles to balance the two; that’s a character whose life and adventures I want to follow.

Unfortunately, as has long been the problem with a lot of characters who came to prominence in the Giffen/DeMatteis JLI, more often than not the deeper complexities of Guy Gardner have been ignored in favor of just writing a loudmouth who is obnoxious because he’s an obnoxious loudmouth. Giffen and DeMatteis were (and are) geniuses when it comes to working in subtleties, so that their parody is strong but when they’re being serious and giving their characters deep moments, it has extra added value; a lot writers who followed them only got the surface level stuff.

One writer who understood how to make Guy Gardner more than a cliché was Beau Smith, who penned Guy Gardner: Warrior during the mid-90’s. Smith explored the character’s past, the roots of his insecurities and why he had such a desperate need to fly in the face of authority. But Warrior wasn’t just funny book psychology; it could be as funny as JLI and Guy remained the bare-knuckled bad ass Smith loves to write, but with stakes that made you care about him. Your mileage may vary on Guy’s altered look and powers during his Warrior days, but that series was a revealing glimpse at the character beneath the gimmicks and how much potential he truly had.

As with so many of these Should Have Beens, unfortunate timing has been Guy Gardner’s enemy. His popularity and visibility peaked while he was on a team, so while Giffen and DeMatteis did wonders with him, they still had a half dozen other characters to juggle. His solo series was launched at the height of 90’s excess and didn’t quite find its way under Smith until the market was a more volatile place that couldn’t sustain unproven commodities. By the time Guy became viable again, much of his development had been forgotten and his chief function was gag cameos. Even now, since being reborn under Geoff Johns and shepherded along by the talented Peter Tomasi—who obviously cares about what makes the character tick beyond the obvious—Guy has to tie for third fiddle at best in the Green Lantern franchise behind the resurgent Hal Jordan and tenacious Kyle Rayner.

Guy Gardner has never had a chance to truly shine. He’s been a replacement, a team player, a joke and a co-headliner, but never gotten that top spot. Again, Tomasi does a great job with him in GLC, and I have every confidence he’ll continue to do so, but honestly, wouldn’t you love to see a movie about a wise ass who’s quick to throw the first punch because he’s fighting back against the bum circumstances life has dealt a good man who happens to have the most powerful weapon in the universe on his ring finger?

I sure as hell would.

Should Have Beens: Darkhawk

In the early 90’s the race was on in comics to find the “new Spider-Man.” The old Spider-Man had grown into an at-his-youngest 20-something married to a super model, so the void for relatable teenage was gaping. There was an influx of “legacy” characters at DC like Superboy, The Ray, Damage, the third Robin and so on, but they tapped more into the general idea that young people like reading about other young people. At Marvel, many new characters were created and existing characters tweaked to fill the spot of Peter Parker as the average kid who happened upon extraordinary powers and could be you.

I’ve heard at least Robert Kirkman describe Sleepwalker as “his Spider-Man,” I suppose because his alter ego Rick Sheridan was semi-directionless young guy most comic fans could theoretically see themselves in, but since the “hero” himself was a whole other personality, I’ve never really bought that. Nova got a big push to the forefront, but Rich Rider had been around long enough as an established character that his differences from Peter Parker pushed back and made him his own man. Same deal with Speedball, Night Thrasher, etc. The Phil Urich incarnation of The Green Goblin was interesting, but a bit too much of a concentrated inversion of Spidey to fill his shoes.

I think the closest we got to a Spider-Man to call our own in the 90’s was Darkhawk, and even if he wasn’t the new Peter Parker, he presented a cool enough concept I’m surprised he hasn’t had more staying power.

I wasn’t a regular Darkhawk reader when he had his ongoing series. I bought one issue because it was an Infinity Crusade tie-in and way later (like, recently) read his first few appearances when they were reprinted, but mostly my exposure to the character was via New Warriors and guest spots. When he resurfaced a few years back as part of Runaways then Loners and ultimately War of Kings, I gained more familiarity. The idea of Darkhawk seems like a hit for me, but maybe the execution wasn’t up to snuff; again though, I read those early issues and even through 20 years later eyes I found them pretty compelling.

Anyhow.

Chris Powell was the teenage son of a policeman from Queens, New York who witnessed his dad taking a bribe from a crime boss and stumbled on a weird amulet while trying to avoid being seen. Said amulet allowed Chris to transform into the armored warrior Darkhawk, whose abilities he used to combat organized crime and super villains alike.

I know the few times I checked in on Darkhawk as a kid, much was made of the fact that his dad had gone missing and that he was dating (or at least romantically involved with) the daughter of the crime lord from his first appearance. That actually held a lot of appeal for me, as Chris’ supporting cast was different from the normal set of classmates and would-be mentors you usually got with teen heroes, instead extending to his suddenly single mother, underworld figures whom he maybe could or couldn’t trust, and of course that crime lord’s daughter (no, I don’t remember her name, I read like three issues). The old Romeo & Juliet love story is fairly tried, but there’s a reason it’s also true (I think that’s how you use that expression).

In the War of Kings: Ascension mini (I’ll get there in a sec), I didn’t see Chris’ dad around anywhere when they showed his home life, but I don’t know if he was found, if he died, etc. Regardless, mystery was another thing that I thought would make Darkhawk stand out. The question of his dad’s whereabouts was one thing, the true origin and nature of exactly where the Darkhawk armor came from was another. I remember there was a Marvel trading card set around 1993 or 1994 where a sub series was “Greatest Mysteries” and one was “The Face of Darkhawk,” because I guess one time he took the helmet off and what he saw in the mirror was hideous.

Eventually a lot of the Darkhawk mythology got unraveled, in Ascension (told you) and War of Kings, with the explanation of a sort of corps of cosmic bad asses linked to the Shi’ar (hence the bird motif) who kept armored bodies in a wormhole and pulled them out when needed; the amulet Chris found belonged to one of these guys, who turned out to be villains. I remember when editor Bill Rosemann was breaking this concept (I may have even contributed an idea or two, which I’m sure Rosemann will deny) and it sounded cool as heck to me; still does. It straddles the line between cosmic and corruption on a scale I feel the original Darkhawk series wanted to reach but never quite got to; certainly there’s untapped potential here (hence the post).

Chris Powell himself was a bit of a blank slate generic teen at first, which may be a reason he never quite took off, as everything around him from his family to his girlfriend to his origin was more interesting than him. However, again, I think in recent years guys like C.B. Cebulski, Brian K. Vaughan and Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have infused Chris with more personality, playing up the fact that he’s a kid who had to grow up fast once his dad left and matured fast in some ways but remains over his head in others. He’s definitely somebody I can relate to; whose boneheaded mistakes I roll my eyes at because I’ve made them and whose little victories I smile for.

Another thing Darkhawk had and has going for him is armor, which is intrinsically cool. Mike Manley did a cool initial design (I love his little bird claw) and more recent artists like Wellinton Alves and Brandon Peterson have brought it closer to its full potential.

One thing Darkhawk has against him is that his name is Darkhawk; there are few codenames that sound more dated and 90’s. It does have its charm though (and he is in fact a dark hawk…sort of).

Darkhawk could have a unique place in the Marvel Universe as a hero with roots set as far apart as outer space and the streets of New York. There are a lot of questions still to be answered for older readers and a lot of ground to mine to get new fans on board. If I were the sort to end posts on bad puns, I’d say I hope to see Darkhawk take flight again soon.

Crap.

Should Have Beens: The Ray

Probably (maybe?) hundreds of new characters are created in super hero comics each year, yet only a precious few (if that) catch enough to even become reserve Avengers or Justice League alternates, let alone headliners. A lot of times the most popular “new” characters are just old friends wearing new clothes or familiar names (though I’m not complaining, because I love me some Flash Thompson as Venom and Kaine as Scarlet Spider; thanks Steve “recycle, reduce, reuse and close the loop” Wacker). The true newbies are like so many little sperm struggling to reach the egg, with only one ultimately surviving (my wife is a labor and deliver nurse and I fear it’s beginning to affect my metaphors).

Take this situation and multiply by the fold of a hundred foil variants in the 90’s, where a larger market, more publishers and an exponentially wider swath of titles with new ones being launched seemingly every day (not just Wednesday) meant thousands upon thousands of characters we barely got 12 issues to meet before they faded off into obscurity.

In large part, the concepts that didn’t survive and haven’t experienced a renaissance since make sense in retrospect, as they had the feel of the assembly line, but in some cases, I remain somewhat baffled by the ones that got away.

The Ray was a legacy character before that was that big a thing at DC (you had the Silver Age successors and Wally West, but the concept didn’t full on explode until the JSA series). I was drawn to the character without knowing a thing about him because he had such a cool, striking look designed by current Marvel CCO Joe Quesada. During an era where most costumes were either more colorful than the set of Flashdance or simplified to a t-shirt and jeans, Ray bucked every trend. When he was powered down, he had the intriguing combination of mostly white with yellow plus a neat jacket and unique helmet, then while using his powers he went jet black offset by patches of white. He looked like nothing else out there and was expertly handled by Quesada, Howard Porter and others.

Ray also had a crazy origin wherein he grew up in his boarded up basement raised by his uncle and privately tutored because his father, the original Ray, didn’t want him exposed to sunlight which would activate his powers too early; moreover, he was told he was allergic to light, making his childhood lonely and downright freaky. He eventually meets his dad and refuses his request to succeed him as a hero—understandable given that this dude let him rot in a basement for the first 18 years of his life—but then eventually does it for the greater good.

It’s a very unusual genesis for a character with grim elements that weren’t gritty just for the sake of, but because they were story driven. It also set Ray apart personality-wise as he was leery and distrusting with good reason given his upbringing, but also genial and eager to experience the world; he could flip the switch from surly to naïve like your average teenager but there was story meat as to why.

Ray was put on the Justice League pretty quickly and became the centerpiece of Justice League Task Force not long after. I tend to think that was maybe too much too soon as he didn’t really have time to develop organically and become a true fan favorite before he was stacking up next to the (relative) big guns and instantly becoming less impressive by comparison. I remember a moment during the climax of Zero Hour where Ray is the grizzled “been there, done that” guy giving Damage a hard time and thinking how that seemed odd given that he’d only been in existence a couple years, but a lot of stuff was crammed into those years.

I daresay The Ray was a character a bit ahead of his time. The persona created by Jack C. Harris and later honed by Christopher Priest is one that could really have thrived in the more character/story-driven last decade as opposed to the flashy 90’s. If he debuted in the past 10 years, I believe The Ray could have caught on as a cult favorite with strong followings among the type of people who dig something like Invincible (story of a kid lied to by his hero father and forced to grow up too fast). I also think he was put on the Justice League too fast as it felt like a case of that brand name being used to foist a character upon us rather than it being awarded to him because we voiced our approval.

Every time Ray has shown up since his initial run, there’s usually a requisite nostalgia cheer, but more a stigma of coming from an era which wasn’t ready for him, which is a shame.