Well here's a biggy I've been waiting to tackle. I'll review the original Gaiman script next:
Action Comics Weekly #642 (final issue as Action Comics Weekly)
"Where There is a Will...!"
writer: Elliot S. Maggin
pencils: Gil Kane (pages 1-4); Steve Ditko (pages 5-12), Curt Swan (pages 13, 17, 18, 20, top half of pages 28 and 29; bottom half of pages 33 and 37; page 38); Jim Aparo (pages 14-16, 21; page 31; top half of page 32; bottom half of page 36); Jim Mooney (pages 19, 22-27; bottom half of page 34); Carmine Infantino (bottom half of pages 28, 29, 30, and 32; top half of pages 33, 34, 36, and 37; page 35).
inks: Gil Kane (pages 1-4), Art Thibert (pages 5-12), Ty Templeton (pages 13, 17, 18, 20; top half of pages 28 and 29; bottom half of pages 33 and 37; page 38); John Nyberg (pages 14-16, 21, page 31; top half of page 32; bottom half of page 36); Ian Akin (pages19, 22-27, bottom half of page 34); Brian Garvey (pages19, 22-27, bottom half of page 34); Kevin Nowlan (bottom of pages 28, 29, 30, and 32; top half of pages 33, 34, 36, and 37; page 35)
colors: Glenn Whitmore
letters: John E. Workman, Jr.
Editors: Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn
For those that don't know the story, the plan was to give ACW a final send-off with a double-length full issue story utilizing heroes from the ACW cast of characters (an experiment tried once before in
ACW #635). The job was originally given to Neil Gaiman, but his script was rejected when it was determined that Hal Jordan and Clark Kent should not know each other's secret identities (I explain the history of that decision
here), an idea central to Gaiman's script. So Elliot S. Maggin was brought in at the zero hour to write a replacement story with which to conclude ACW. It's a big story, and not one that's easy to dismiss as simply being "good" or "bad", so I will break it down as follows:
The Plot: A+
Central to this story is the question of what a hero is. Why did Abin Sur's ring pick Hal Jordan all those years ago, who else did it pass up, and what does it really mean to not have fear? The ring's choices are fascinating in these respects, selecting the following potential candidates, all meeting the requirements of being good people with strong morals, strong wills, and no self-doubt:
Clark Kent, Boston Brand (Deadman, inhabiting a terrorist's body at the time), A Native American, Dick Grayson (Nightwing), Guy Gardner (Green Lantern), John Stewart (off planet, and, thus, mentioned but not present in the story), and characters who either are, or are strongly based upon, non-super heroes
Terry Waite,
Lech Walesa, and
Desmond Tutu.
The last three are the most fascinating part -- real world "heroes" who fought to accomplish larger scale change without ever resorting to physical combat. And before you chuckle, asking yourself what Bishop Desmond Tutu would do with a Green Lantern ring, you should know that we get an answer to that very question. Each of the assembled heroes gets an opportunity to (briefly) use Green Lantern energy in resolving a conflict they face in the story. Of course, I've never heard of a Green Lantern ring being able to control/influence the minds of others before, but perhaps that's just because previous candidates' wills have never leaned towards persuading people to change their attitudes/beliefs.
Of course the one disturbing omission here is that absolutely no women are chosen. Clark Kent did briefly point this out in the flashback at the beginning but, years later, the ring makes the same choices again, and nothing more is said about it; not even by Clark.
This really is an excellent concept that could/should have been explored further. Even just the idea that Dick Grayson was picked over Bruce Wayne (really, the fear aspect makes sense though), would have made for a great page or two. Were this same story to be tried in 2015, it would be a major summer event in which eight new limited series titles would be launched, each exploring a candidate's adventures with a Green Lantern ring. Unfortunately, page limitations and time were not this story's friends, and so the idea ends up rushed and not explored as well as it should have been.
The Continuity: F
So the entire reason for rejecting Neil Gaiman's story was that someone felt that Hal Jordan shouldn't know Superman's secret identity (even though
Action Comics #606 already established that he did), yet the story that was then green-lighted now retcons Clark Kent as Abin-Sur's first choice as a successor, also clearly indicating that Hal wasn't even in the original running to be a Green Lantern, and that it was Clark's recommendation that got him chosen. Given the choice, it seems to me that Gaiman's script was far less disruptive of existing continuity than what Maggins turned in.
If that's not bad enough, consider that
Superman has been active for, at most, 5 years now, and that Clark has only worn the glasses as a disguise for that length of time as well, yet he meets Abin-Sur "many years ago" wearing those glasses. I suspect the intention was for this to take place during that period (1977-1984) when Clark was anonymously saving people before assuming an identity, as he bursts into Abin Sur's cabin, looking to help while adorned in civilian clothing. Maggin's concept is more amusing in that light -- what if Clark had become Green Lantern instead of (not in addition to) being Superman -- but then drawing him like present-day Clark, with the dress shirt, tie, and (most importantly) glasses, was a significant continuity error.
For what it's worth, we already know Hal Jordan is active as of
Superman (vol. 2) #1, three years after Clark assumed his dual identity, but less than two years prior to this story in terms of continuity.
Finally, while this story acknowledges the major issues Hal Jordan had gone through during the Peter David Green Lantern stories in ACW, it completely ignores the later James Owsley stories, which were abandoned mid-stream and, in my mind, were far more interesting. While I don't believe Gaiman's script outright acknowledges Owsley's stories either, entitling it "Legend of the Green Flame" was at least a nod to Owsley's run, in which the villain Malvolio referred to the Green Lantern energy as "The Green Flame".
The Writing B-
Maggin has excellent prose style here that I would quote if I thought you cared and if this review wasn't already getting long-winded, but the pacing of this story is an utter train-wreck. it takes half the story (a full length comic book issue) to even assemble the candidates for the ring, none of them gets to actually say or do anything when they meet other than Deadman and Superman, Hal makes the decision to go on living pretty darn quickly when his own self-doubt was supposed to be central to this entire story, and we get that
weird, overly comedic coda on the last two pages in which Deadman harasses Clark Kent about wanting to be alive. What the heck?
Great concept, lousy execution, and all in place of a superior story that was blocked for reasons that even Mike Carlin and Mark Waid would later admit were foolish.
plot synopsis in one sentence:
Hal Jordan has lost his "umph" in the wake of the death of Katma Tui and the loss of Carol Ferris, finding himself in a situation in which he takes lethal damage and simply loses the will to live, allowing his ring to summon the original candidates that it chose when Abin-Sur died, but Clark Kent (one of the candidates) convinces Hal to go on living, at which point all candidates are returned to their lives with a brief supply of residual Green Lantern energy with which to resolve their conflicts; Deadman then follows Clark Kent home to harass him about loving life so much more than death.
