Who's This? A RELEVANT space cop.
The facts: Officially, DC's third Green Lantern (sorry, Guy) John Stewart was created by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams, and first appeared in Green Lantern #87 (December 1971), apparently based in design on Sidney Poitier, and was one of the first African-American superheroes to appear in DC Comics. John wasn't meant to be a replacement GL for long, but subbed in once in a while during the 70s and early 80s, taking on the role for a longer term between issues 182 and 200 of the title. The book was then retitled Green Lantern Corps and he was a member of that then-small team. A key part of the characters in those days was his love affair with GL Katma Tui, who would tragically die in Cosmic Odyssey, something often referenced beyond that point. Action Comics Weekly gave him a berth after GLC's cancellation in 1988, but the success of the next Green Lantern series (which, at first, rotated between Earth's GLs) landed him his first solo series, the wild and weird Green Lantern: Mosaic (18 issues). After the GLC's collapse, he becomes a Darkstar. In 2001, he was made TV's Green Lantern thanks to the Justice League animated series, which increased his cred substantially, but also retconned him in the comics from architect to former marine. When Green Lantern would once again become popular with the "War of Lights" storyline in the 2010s, John would headline the Green Lantern Corps series, and on through the New52 and Rebirth, and through a change of title, Green Lantern: The Lost Army.
How you could have heard of him: There's a generation of cartoon watchers who never thought of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern (and were mystified by the failed movie) because John was THE Green Lantern in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. He currently has his own series as part of the All-In initiative.
Example story: Green Lantern #165 (June 1983) "The Curse of Krystayl" by Mike W. Barr, Keith Pollard and Dan Adkins
So if you've been following along, I really wanted to do a Golden Age story for Alan Scott and a Silver Age story for Hal Jordan, even if their stories continued into the present day, and that's because I wanted the Bronze Age GL story to be John Stewart's. #165 is one of those "occasional subs", and interestingly, it pairs him with Green Arrow, who was Hal's partner when John was first introduced. Let's first see how a reservist is called into action:
The answer is: Dramatically, while you're in bed with your lady, who doesn't even know you're Green Lantern, though, of course, John made the bold decision to forego the mask. But he's not the USUAL Green Lantern and I don't know how serious his relationship with Beverly is. (I don't think she has any other appearances, though the DC Wiki insists this is Beverly BLANDING from GL #10, who was your typical white girl daughter of a mad scientist). We won't come back to her anyway. Important to note: We're in Star City, which means John is set to save Green Arrow's bacon. Or blinding him with his green glow at the worst possible time.
But the Guardians of the Universe didn't take John out of bed for THIS. Rather, it's to have the old/new GL/GA team stop Marvel's Martinex of the Guardians of the Galaxy... or Krystayl, a giant Absorbaloff made of crystal:
Let me spare you the long-form exposition: Krystayl is really the name of the planet the giant was made on as a weapon of war against organics. The Corps destroyed it millennia ago, but a shard found its way to Earth where a kid who hates school resurrected it. I really do like Mike Barr's detective stories, but on superheroes... I'm getting big Outsiders vibes here, if you know what I mean. Whatever, let's just get to the action and some energy constructs.
Already a little more interesting than Hal's usual flight platforms or bubbles. The Justice League animated series trained us to think John was all about very simple shapes, but comics readers know him as an architect, and I think that should be represented. Is it always? I don't think so. Do artists just do what they like and not really try to give different GLs a different feel in this era? Possibly. While the open gondola above isn't very "Hal", saving everyone in a picnic basket perhaps is.
Maybe he's just hungry. We know he hasn't had breakfast. In fact, he's feeling weak and drops all those people into Krystayl where they are absorbed. According to the Guardians' lore, when you destroy the giant, it unfortunately means everyone it's eaten is destroyed too. Let's see if our heroes can wring out a different outcome. Green Arrow gets his arm turned into crystal too, but he isn't absorbed. Not yet, because...
Olie wasn't TURNED into crystal, as it turns out, only COVERED in crystal. Time for John to start thinking like he's on a construction site!
Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the best. On the basis of this small success, the heroes figure the giant must have a stress point too, which GL finds with a ring scan, below the thing's right shoulder blade. Except it shifts every time it absorbs more people! The ploy: Find the new stress point - the chin! - and mark it with a green target, allowing Green Arrow to send an arrow right into it. The giant explodes, everyone falls out of him, safe and sound (because they hadn't been digested yet?).
And FINALLY, we're going to put some food into John Stewart. That's what this story was REALLY about. Hope Bev got up and took care of her own needs, because it looks like it's going to be a long wait.
Who's Next? A space police force.
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