![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcampbell1000 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
scans_daily
99b of 108. BIG CONTENT WARNING for sexual harassment (inappropriate touching) involving a teenager. I can’t spell it out any more clearly than that, and I can’t skip past it when so much revolves around it. So we’ll be talking about it.
From a writer’s perspective, the basic problem with Guy Gardner is making him just outrageous enough to entertain, but not quite so outrageous that the hero community…or the readers…would turn their backs on him forever. In one of his first appearances, he straight-up tried to murder Hal Jordan, which you’d think would confine him to the villains’ table (Green Lantern v2 #198).
But Steve Englehart found he loved the obnoxious little jackass, and readers did, too, so that didn’t happen. And Giffen and DeMatteis REALLY loved him. Among DC’s often predictable heroes, Guy could be a true wild card. Sometimes he tested audience sympathies, and sometimes he rewarded them, but his biggest accomplishment was the number of surprising moments he delivered in Giffen’s five-year tenure with the League.
He could be sleazy with Ice…
But as I said when we covered that, in those moments, he was not really hurting anyone but himself and had the excuse of being a self-deluding moron. For all the innocence Ice projected, all the patience she vested in Guy, and for all the worrying Fire did about Guy taking advantage of her, she never came off as a victim. She drew her lines in the sand, and Guy came to realize nothing good would happen for him if he crossed them.
Contrast with what’s coming up.
Giffen, DeMatteis, and Maguire all stopped working with Guy after Justice League America #60, in 1992…
…and picked him up in JLA Classified #4, 2005 (which invoked the last page of that prior story as well as a classic Stan Lee turn of phrase).
The intervening decade had been a…busy one for Guy. Like Beetle, he’d left a huge impression with an outsize personality in the JLI days, but he wasn’t really that person anymore (Guy Gardner: Warrior #34, 29).
He spent some of that intervening decade being dead (JLA: Our Worlds at War #1) and was brought back in a wildly confusing story (Action Comics #789-790) that implied he might've changed his powers, perceived role in life, taste in women...the works.
"I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League" doesn't follow up on the story above, nor does it follow up on Green Lantern: Rebirth, but the stories shown here seem to predate other 2004-published comics, so we can assume they predate Rebirth too. Giffen and DeMatteis also refuse to acknowledge Guy's Vuldarian nonsense (IYKYK), but otherwise, they work off a general impression of his bartender days.
In their hands, Guy seems to have no powers but is still a variable personality. He’s smarter than before, a little more seasoned. Sometimes that makes him easier to like. Sometimes it makes him grosser.
We learn via flashback that Guy’s response to meeting Mary Marvel was to play a little grabass. I’m pretty sure we’re meant to assume he thinks she’s a very young adult, even though he calls her “jailbait” and “kid,” but, like, that’s not a defense of his action so much as a clarification of what charges to bring him up on. (Blue Beetle and Fire know that Mary is sixteen IRL, Booster and Max don’t; I’m not sure about the Dibnys.)
The worst part is how he smirks at the camera when he does it, as if to say, “Heyyy, you would too, RIGHT, FELLAS?”
(Larger clip here.)
NO! I WOULD NOT! STOP IMPLICATING ME IN THIS!
Between this and a couple later moments with Power Girl, Guy’s lows during this six-issue stretch are as low as he’s gone in his 58-year history, unless you count his brief murdery phase or some looked-worse-than-they-were moments in the out-of-continuity Human Target. The Green Lantern: Rebirth series and follow-ups would sand down some of Guy’s rough edges, for better and for worse. He’d never again be quite as funny as he was in the Giffen days. He’d never be as “provocative” as he was here, either.
There's some disturbing horniness from Booster in this issue as well, even a little from Max and L-Ron.
But it’s not all lows, and the fallout from Guy’s action does tie in with this arc’s overall themes of change and maturity as choice. First, as Mary and Bea are painting their new apartment with the help of Ralph and Billy Batson, the sibling tension comes to a head. For Billy, Guy’s presence on the scene is just the last straw of many.
Mary has no idea what to do about her stepbrother, but she does know what to do about Guy, or so she thinks.
Note how Mary can’t even look at Guy as she throws him away: she’s forcing herself through even this modest act of violence. Despite her power, she’s too innocent to intimidate someone who can read people, and Guy is now such a someone. So Mary storms away, and Guy feels pretty good about that until he gets a second opinion.
Guy arrives back at Super Buddies HQ to give this “maturity” thing a whirl.
I can’t emphasize enough that I wish this story had a different inciting incident. There are lots of ways Guy could have shocked and outraged Mary to generate something close to this exact conversation. Even his “not even if I ask real nice” bit would be preferable.
On the other hand, I do see where Mary’s coming from with “It’s better than Billy will ever give.” Sometimes a self-appointed “voice of morality” can be more toxic than…yes, even someone who gets handsy once, if the latter apologizes, shows a desire to change, and sticks to it. The running joke is that Mary is oh so sheltered, but here she’s choosing to step away from those who’d shelter her, choosing growth over trying to stay “innocent” forever. That’s a choice I can respect.
On the other other hand…Mary, what is your face doing in that last panel…?
If Mary is forming any ill-advised thoughts about Guy with that face, let’s thank our lucky stars that events already in progress will prevent their development. Beetle and Booster are trying to recruit Power Girl into the Super Buddies. PG greets Ted with warmth, acknowledging his own growth, and soon, they’ve united against the regressive Booster.
Guy and Mary are not the only one who’ve recognized Mary’s innocence could be a serious weakness: Max has, too.
Monday: THEY GO TO HELL. Beetle and Guy did very stupid things in their days as Justice Leaguers, but Booster has somehow come up from third place to take the grand prize, here.
no subject
Date: 2026-05-24 06:18 am (UTC)Fortunately, DeMatteis and Giffen had the sense and taste not to have Guy do something that in real life would land him in a dedicated wing of a maximum security prison until he was old enough to collect Social Security. But then, DC had yet to sink into full grimdark with the JLA, and when they did, it wouldn't be the DeMatteis/Giffen team who was responsible. Thank goodness for that.
And though your warning last post did have me fear the worst, you did the right thing by not soft-pedalling it. Better safe than sorry when it comes to trigger warnings for such subject matter.
Anyway, since I did read ahead, I had exactly the same reaction you did to Mary's enigmatic facial expression as he walks away after apologizing to her. But as you say, it didn't end up being a "falling for her harasser against her better judgement" thing. Phew. I also agree that having Guy go even as far as he did was gratuitous and a rare lapse in taste for DeM and G.
no subject
Date: 2026-05-24 07:45 am (UTC)Just as long as Mary trying to step away from her innocence doesn't lead to her, say, becoming evil twice.
no subject
Date: 2026-05-24 08:14 am (UTC)unintentionally hilariousdreadful.