Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) - Nova
In 1994, while I was barely paying attention, DC brass decided to introduce a new, young hepcat version of Green Lantern: in doing so, they turned Hal Jordan into a crazed bad guy…
And fandom screamed… my understanding is in the 14 years since, Rayner has gained some measure of fan acceptance as one of four Green Lantern corpsmen form Earth.
As for Nova: apparently Marv Wolfman thought that late ‘70s Marvel needed a series with the sense of wonder of early Spider-Man, with perhaps a soupcon of GL. Nova was the result: methinks the character has endured long past any expectations.
Here we see how I get around the fact that Tony Stark was never a space cop: when the shoe’s on the other foot, he’s a member of the Nova Corps who went nutso and was replaced by a younger guy. AKA cheat cheat cheat cheat…
Commonalities:
Both characters were conceived for the identification of the intended audience —young dudes. And both are representatives of an interstellar police force.
Differences:
Nova makes no hard light constructions via a “power ring.”
Alternate histories:
GL: High schooler Kyle Rayner is selected at random by a dying alien representative of the Green Lantern Corps to take his place. Rayner assumes the abilities incumbent to the interstellar police force’s power ring, and encounters many in the metahuman community before serving off world alongside the Corps for a year. Rayner abandons his duties and lives as a normal human for a time before he is pressed back into service with a team of superhumans. He has recently left Earth to take part in a galactic conflagration, in which he become the most powerful Green Lantern.
NO: When Iron Man, Earth’s representative of the Nova Corps, loses his mind and destroys the Corps, Richard Ryder is picked at random to be the last representative of the interstellar peacekeeping force. While Ryder learns on the job, he joins the Avengers. Eventually, Iron Man and the rest of the Nova Corps are revived, and Ryder journeys into space to serve in various galactic conflagrations.
Showing posts with label Nova. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nova. Show all posts
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The Capitalist and the Space-Cop
Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)- Iron Man
Big time cheating here…but to me Hal Jordan and Tony Stark are both products of the late ‘50 and early 60s Cold War/New Frontier/ Kennedy diaspora.
Stark has been occasionally written as an arrogant smoothie and a drunk, but always as Marvel’s premiere capitalist: often his early exploits (and certainly his origin) found him combating dirty commies. He’s now the key character in the MU; obviously, this is to set up the summer blockbuster that bears his code-name.
As for Jordan, he was written in the same rationalistic, personality-free manner of all DC characters in the 1960s. Denny O’Neil wrote him as the representation of “law and order” in his celebrated GL/GA run; I’m not entirely sure, but I believe Mark Waid introduced the characterization of Jordan as a cocky Californian.
So, while their specific heroic functions differ, it seems that their earthly preoccupations are hardly dissonant.
Commonalities:
As I said above, Jordan and Stark are confident Alpha dudes. Stark’s armor and gizmos aren’t as versatile as Jordan’s power ring, but both shoot laser beams and have sensory capabilities. And both have "died" and otherwise have seen their status(es) thrown hither and yon in ways tough for me to fathom.
Differences:
Stark is super-rich on a Bruce Wayne level and runs a multinational, whereas Jordan works for an aerospace corporation. Jordan is, essentially, a flyboy and one of millions of space cop answering to an Interstellar authority. Stark has no such “cosmic” orientation, so as you can see below, here be a BIG cheat…
Alternate histories:
GL: Ferris Aircraft chief executive/test pilot Hal Jordan is overseeing his company’s contracts in a war zone overseas, when he is wounded and captured by hostile forces. He’s only able to recover by collaborating with another captive on a hybrid mystical/technologically-derived “power ring” that creates solid light constructions and rays. He returns to the United States and continues his duties running Ferris while posing as Green Lantern, the company’s in-house extranormal operative. After founding the Justice League of America, Jordan struggles with alcoholism (at which time colleague John Stewart assumes his duties as GL), an apparent death and the collapse and then revival of Ferris before ascending to the post of U.S. Secretary of Defense. He recently has led the drive for superhuman registration against opposition from many former allies, and now leads a version of the JLA and has been appointed director of government agency Checkmate.
IM: Tony Stark is an inventor for a massive technology/munitions manufacturer/multinational corporation. He is spirited away to encounter an ailing member of the Nova Corps, an interstellar, inter-species police force supervised by the Watchers, an ancient, nearly omnipotent race. The being dies after appointing Stark to the Corps, upon which he is given a uniform he then modifies into an armor equipped with various weapons and devices. As Iron Man, he patrols Earth’s solar system and the Earth itself, founds the Avengers and works with other earthlings like Iron Men/Nova Corps representatives James Rhodes and Michael O’Brien. For a time, he travels around America with fellow Avenger Hawkeye, takes on a number of jobs and briefly renounces his Iron Man identity. The Nova Corps is eventually disbanded, and Stark loses his mind and goes rogue for a time: he is replaced by one Richard Rider. His spiritual essence becomes wedded to an omnipotent force before he returns to the earthly plane as Iron Man once more.
Big time cheating here…but to me Hal Jordan and Tony Stark are both products of the late ‘50 and early 60s Cold War/New Frontier/ Kennedy diaspora.
Stark has been occasionally written as an arrogant smoothie and a drunk, but always as Marvel’s premiere capitalist: often his early exploits (and certainly his origin) found him combating dirty commies. He’s now the key character in the MU; obviously, this is to set up the summer blockbuster that bears his code-name.
As for Jordan, he was written in the same rationalistic, personality-free manner of all DC characters in the 1960s. Denny O’Neil wrote him as the representation of “law and order” in his celebrated GL/GA run; I’m not entirely sure, but I believe Mark Waid introduced the characterization of Jordan as a cocky Californian.
So, while their specific heroic functions differ, it seems that their earthly preoccupations are hardly dissonant.
Commonalities:
As I said above, Jordan and Stark are confident Alpha dudes. Stark’s armor and gizmos aren’t as versatile as Jordan’s power ring, but both shoot laser beams and have sensory capabilities. And both have "died" and otherwise have seen their status(es) thrown hither and yon in ways tough for me to fathom.
Differences:
Stark is super-rich on a Bruce Wayne level and runs a multinational, whereas Jordan works for an aerospace corporation. Jordan is, essentially, a flyboy and one of millions of space cop answering to an Interstellar authority. Stark has no such “cosmic” orientation, so as you can see below, here be a BIG cheat…
Alternate histories:
GL: Ferris Aircraft chief executive/test pilot Hal Jordan is overseeing his company’s contracts in a war zone overseas, when he is wounded and captured by hostile forces. He’s only able to recover by collaborating with another captive on a hybrid mystical/technologically-derived “power ring” that creates solid light constructions and rays. He returns to the United States and continues his duties running Ferris while posing as Green Lantern, the company’s in-house extranormal operative. After founding the Justice League of America, Jordan struggles with alcoholism (at which time colleague John Stewart assumes his duties as GL), an apparent death and the collapse and then revival of Ferris before ascending to the post of U.S. Secretary of Defense. He recently has led the drive for superhuman registration against opposition from many former allies, and now leads a version of the JLA and has been appointed director of government agency Checkmate.
IM: Tony Stark is an inventor for a massive technology/munitions manufacturer/multinational corporation. He is spirited away to encounter an ailing member of the Nova Corps, an interstellar, inter-species police force supervised by the Watchers, an ancient, nearly omnipotent race. The being dies after appointing Stark to the Corps, upon which he is given a uniform he then modifies into an armor equipped with various weapons and devices. As Iron Man, he patrols Earth’s solar system and the Earth itself, founds the Avengers and works with other earthlings like Iron Men/Nova Corps representatives James Rhodes and Michael O’Brien. For a time, he travels around America with fellow Avenger Hawkeye, takes on a number of jobs and briefly renounces his Iron Man identity. The Nova Corps is eventually disbanded, and Stark loses his mind and goes rogue for a time: he is replaced by one Richard Rider. His spiritual essence becomes wedded to an omnipotent force before he returns to the earthly plane as Iron Man once more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)