Throwback Thursday: John Stewart, Architect to Green Lantern
Dec 16, 2021
Green Lanterns have a long lineage of honorable, brave individuals who have protected planets all over the galaxy. John Stewart, an architect and U.S. Marine veteran from Boston, Massachusetts joined the team in 1971. The DC Comics hero was created by Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams 50 years ago, making his first appearance in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #87 (December 1971).
Stewart was chosen by the Guardians to be Hal Jordan’s backup Green Lantern after Guy Gardner, the previous backup, was seriously injured. Jordan was not a fan of the choice, siting that Stewart was belligerent, had a problem with authority, and had a chip on his shoulder. The Guardians disagreed with Jordan and stood by their choice.
Jordan thought that Stewart’s first mission started poorly when he was assigned to protect a racist politician. While stopping an accident from happening, Stewart embarrassed Jordan. An assassin tried to shoot the politician and Stewart did not intervene with Jordan, making him look suspicious. But, it turned out that Stewart was stopping a gunman from killing a cop in the parking lot as Jordan pursued a decoy. Jordan confronted Stewart, thinking the new Green Lantern had abandoned his duty, until Stewart explained that the politician had staged the attack to gain political advantage. Based on this, Jordan concluded that Stewart was in fact an excellent choice to be a Green Lantern.
For a while Stewart would fill in for Jordan as the Green Lantern, which included missions with the Justice League. Jordan retired as a Green Lantern in the 1980s so the Guardians promoted Stewart to be the full time Green Lantern. He also worked as an architect at Ferris Aircraft Company and fought Green Lantern villains and the Anti-Monitor in the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline.
Katma Tui, the Green Lantern from the planet Korugar, taught Stewart how to use the powerful ring. Together the pair went on many missions and fell in love. They got married and served in the Green Lantern Corps of Earth along with Jordan, Arisia, Kilowog, Salaak, as well as other alien Green Lanterns.
Sinestro attacked Stewart taking the power from his ring, then Star Sapphire was killed by Kat and his life spiraled out of control. He was falsely accused of killing Carol Ferris/Star Sapphire and falsely accused of theft by South Nambia. He was put in jail and tortured in South Nambia for weeks, but was able to free himself using his old ring, which was repowered by Hal Jordan.
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Art by PATRICK GLEASON, REBECCA BUCHMAN and others
Cover by RODOLFO MIGLIARI
Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner and John Stewart join the rest of the GL Corps in the struggle to preserve the Central Power Battery and Oa itself from being consumed by the Black Lanterns in stories from GREEN LANTERN CORPS #39-47.
On sale JULY 13 264 pg, FC, $19.99 US
Then, one day, Jonna's spotted out in the wild: filthy, but very much alive-and strong. Strong enough to knock back a towering monster with one punch. All this time, she's been surviving. On her own. Without Rainbow. Without anyone.
But there are more dangers in the world than monsters, and when the two sisters reunite, they'll discover the secrets of this new and terrifying world firsthand.
Art and cover by Patrick Gleason & Prentis Rollins
Collecting the first six issues of the new series re-establishing the legendary Green Lantern Corps! From the Guardians' citadel on the newly fortified planet Oa, Green Lantern Guy Gardner is assigned - against his will - to a feudal world of shadows and sudden death. And across the galaxy, new Lanterns discover what it truly means to wear the Corps insignia, as their courage and comradeship is tested to the limit.
Advance-solicited; on sale May 9 144 pg, FC, $12.99 US
This article originally appeared in Gemstone Publishing’s e-newsletter Scoop.
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Amanda Sheriff is Gemstone Publishing’s Associate Editor, serving as the writer/editor of the e-newsletter, Scoop. She is the author of The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Movie Posters, The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Concert Posters, and The Overstreet Guide to Collecting Horror, and co-author of The Overstreet Price Guide to Star Wars Collectibles and The Overstreet Price Guide to Batman.
