Saturday, July 24, 2010

The Dude With The Ring Who's the King of Zing


And now for the comedy stylings of Mr. Hal Jordan. All selections are from issue #151, written by Marv Wolfman, perhaps the best dramatist comics have ever had, and whom I had the pleasure of meeting roughly 8 or so months ago. He signed my copy of The Judas Contract trade paperback, which was very nice of him, since I didn't buy anything from his table, though I suppose over the years I have indirectly benefitted him financially.

This 1982 issue looks like a transitional issue. It has a moody cover by Staton and Mitchell, and the title "Resolutions" (trans. ishes often have titles like "Explanations", "Whys and Wherefores", etc.) But for a trans-ish, it's actually quite action packed. This may have been one of the earlier transitional issues, that eighties animal, before such groundbreaking issues as Wolfman's New Teen Titans wedding issue in which no character wore a costume throughout the entire thing, or the issue of Uncanny X-Men that hooked me back in the day, #174, which was mostly dramatic developments and characters discussing their feelings, but in a un-girlie way. Though they did have Wolverine waving a samurai sword around just to hedge their bets.

This ish of GL has him spending 24 hours on earth, before a Guardians-imposed exile into space, during which time he is supposed to tie up loose ends, which he at least manages to do with Barry Allen and Carol Ferris. Unfortunately he doesn't get much time to talk with such supporting stars as Thom Kalmaku, the mechanic formerly known as Pie-Face, Green Arrow, or either of Hal's brothers, because Goldface and his Solid Gold Dancers make the scene. Fortunately, Hal does get a chance to leave the earth with a smile, by squeezing in as many one liners as possible. So without further Apu, here we gooooooo...



Not Hal's most sensitive line, to be sure. Trivia: Name two actors who have played the Elephant Man. Hint: Both are skinny English dudes.
That one particularly sounds like a Spidey line, but a little edgier, Hal's pissed they're wasting his dramatic transitional time.
Goldface does look a bit like a Foreman grill, come to think of it. Mmm, grease...

And you can just make out the blog title at the bottom there, so till next time, remember to always...and never...

Interior art is by Joe Staton and Frank McLaughlin.

2 comments:

LissBirds said...

Oh! Oh! Anthony Hopkins!! Oh, wait, he played the doctor. Darn it. I know the guy's name, but I just can't remember it. What I do remember is that it took 12 hours of makeup.

Lon Chaney probably played him at some time or another probably, too.

Aaron said...

John Hurt played him the movie, David Bowie played him in a 1980 Broadway production :)