Lanterns’ third episode delves into John Stewart’s origin story, which confirmed previous fan theories that his and Hal Jordan’s pasts were intertwined. After John Sr. loses the bid to become Earth’s first Green Lantern, he and his wife, Bernadette, initiate a tenuous course to ensure their son grasps the ring.
The episode starts this journey in the not-so-distant past, as John prepares for his interview with one of the Guardians (Laura Linney). John’s devout focus and respect for authority is on full display, impressing the Guardian. He was instilled with this level of comitment at the age of five, when John’s parents reveal his destiny. Through semi-abusive and staunch training, John was made to be fearless. A tremendously audacious feat for a Black American to achieve. Despite being an astute pupil, the training alienated him from his siblings, leaving him to find solace in isolation.
The nurtured soldier ventured into the Marine Corps, like his father, only to accept a dishonorable discharge after Jordan exposed his covert mission. Twice, the elder hero has foiled a Stewart man’s future. With his heroic ambitions paused, he detours to attend art school. It is here that we align with the present 2016 timeline as he meets the Guardian, and soon, begins training with an adversarial Jordan.
“OutKast” is a spectacular reimagining of Stewart’s vague beginnings, allowing the writers to explore race, privilege and fear through a comic book lens. As outsiders, the Guardians’ failure to recognize how race functions in America prevented John Sr. from passing their test, signifying how being Black in the United States is to operate in a state of fear. The notion to allow their son this privilege, usually reserved for white men, is a powerful concept that achieved two goals.
It clearly prepared John for the task at hand, enabling a stoic and damn-near perfect specimen to wield such great power. It also highlights the lengths in which Black Americans must strive to be seen, yet alone accepted. However, the trial also speaks to the danger in molding one self to replicate such white fearlessness. A fearlessness Hal has achieved at the cost of tremendous loneliness. A loneliness recently discussed in circles regarding white men and the manosphere with a lack of community, love and comfort.
Praise is rightfully deserved for writer Vanessa Baden Kelly for the nuanced perspective and commentary delivered. And Jasmine Cephas Jones is outstanding as John’s mother, Bernadette, who compliments J. Alphonse Nicholson’s John Sr., in a brute focus and self-determination to defy the odds and define their son’s fate.
And shoutout to the use of ATLiens, alluding to the cosmic foes, the innate othering of Blackness, and John’s own separation.
Rating: 10/10