older blog (2006)

Are you a Hal Guy or a Guy Gal?

I know, Gentle Reader. It's been Some Time since I've graced your monitors with my presence. But the past few weeks have been, shall we say, less conducive to internet blogging than I would like. There was that Halloween party, I've been writing again (huzzah!), and speaking of huzzahs, I attended my first Renaissance Festival just yesterday. Yes, it's true, Friends. I held a turkey leg aloft with the best of them, and while I did not dress up-—my dressing up for outdoor festival days have long since gone the way of my black eyeliner and fishnet shirts—-I did admire the clothing of several of the attendees around me.

Well, let me clarify: I adored the children in costume, because they were adorable. I adored the Ren Faire workers in costume, because they were elegant. But mostly, I enjoyed seeing the variety of fan-shirts on my fellow attendees.

I myself wore a shirt with a skull and crossbones on it, in honor of my pirate Halloween costume, perhaps, or just because I find pirates in popular culture delightful. I saw a Serenity shirt, a Batman shirt, a Spider-Man shirt, an X-Men shirt, and 4, yes, count them, Friends, Four Green Lantern shirts.

Four, you ask? I know, Gentle Reader. I am wondering the same thing myself. At a festival with an attendance of at least 16,000 just yesterday, I was surprised to only see one Spider-Man shirt, or one Batman shirt. But to see four Green Lantern shirts on four different individuals-—three male, one female—-seems to defy the very odds.

That's not to say that Green Lanterns are unpopular. They certainly are not, particularly among my fellow fangirls. Now while This Humble Author is quite above pointing fingers-—she finds it vulgar and common and philistine-—she isn't above bowing in deference to her Sister Feminists who are Loud and Proud of their Love Of The GLs. Yes, Sisters. You Know Who You Are.

I, however, am not Gaga Over Green Lanterns. I swoon for Batman (how I love my dark, broody, Byronically broken men), and I adore The Wally West Flash (funny and charming and awkward weakens my knees), and sometimes—-just sometimes, Dear Reader!—-I have been known to find the growling, hulking Wolverine or the snotty, self-absorbed Daredevil deliciously delightful. But a Guy Gardner or a Hal Jordan? Not in a million years. Kyle Rayner? I don't feel I know him at all. John Stewart I know A Bit More, but that, I must admit, is entirely dependent on my Justice League/Unlimited knowledge.

But. But, and here's the rub, Dear Friends, I feel as if I *should*. One *should* have a favorite Green Lantern, no? And for someone as Devoted to the DC Universe as This Humble Author, to be as unacquainted with the Green Lantern Corps seems a horrifying tragedy. Oh, sure, I could spout Amazon Mythology until blue in the face, or recite the Origins of Linda Danvers or Kara until you yawn with boredom, and yes, even detail the tiniest moments between Wally West and Linda Park-West, but when asked who came first in this sector's Green Lantern lineage? I would guess Hal Jordan, until I remembered (and Wikied) Alan Scott.

But what this all really boils down to is this: I know enough to say that Green Lanterns, any of them, are not as mainstream-popular as Batman, or Superman, or Spider-Man. There is no Green Lantern movie (although This Humble Author is to understand that there is one in the works!). There is no mainstream Green Lantern marketing (which will come, inevitably, with the movie). So to see more Green Lantern shirts than, say, Superman or Batman shirts is to Say Something About Fandom Indeed. It is to say that these fans are vocal; they demonstrate to DC, to the Ren Faire, to the world, that they want to see more GLs. That they know the ring-—like Amazon fans know the lasso, or Flash fans the lightning bolts-—and they hold it dear.

Hal guy or Guy gal? Not sure. But My Fellow Ren Faire Attendees, you in your Green Lantern shirts, you've made your point. I don't know my Green Lanterns. But thanks to you, that's a problem that I shortly will remedy. Until then, I bid you fare-thee-well, or perhaps faire-thee-well (!!!), and return, once more, to my Dissertation Cave.

posted by Amy Reads @ 6:33 PM