"Yellow Is A Dirty Little Cover"

A few random thoughts on the Green Lantern story in The Flash #224 (1973)...

The scene:

The dilemma:

A) The thought of a founding member of the Justice League running around Indiana, looking for a liquor store to cash his unemployment check, may be the greatest thing I have ever seen. No wonder the DC powers that be insisted on resurrecting Hal Jordan!

Broke, sleeping outside...could we have a Hobo Namor/Unemployed Hal Jordan team-up? Please?

B) Dude, you have a power ring--you can whip up anything from a pup tent to a mansion!! You can fly to the JLA Satellite and bunk there. You can fly to any planet in your sector. And, most importantly, you have a station wagon--there's no way you're "sleeping under the sky" unless you want to.

Meanwhile, someone tries to rob that same liquor store, so...

C) "Sworn to stop any crime, regardless of size"?!?! Man, that sure hasn't been the rule since Geoff Johns revived the franchise, has it? When was the last time the Green Lanterns stopped a crime, even a minor one, instead of continual, internecine conflict between color corps and/or major threats the Guardians forgot to tell anyone about?? They're a space paramilitary force now, not space policemen.

Stopping crime? How quaint.

And...

D) Hal, considering you're the one on unemployment, you seem spectacularly ill-positioned to advise anyone on "better ways to make a living," right? Maybe you should be taking tips from him!

Meanwhile, Hal does "sleep under the sky," because he isn't very smart...and he's having a bit of an existential crisis:

E) Seriously, with your experience and qualifications, you can't find a job? Test pilot, insurance investigator, truck driver, toy salesman...plus--no fear!! And c'mon, you can list at least two CEOs as references!!

But, I'm sorry, Hal Jordan never "counted." Sorry.

F) Before yellow as "the color of fear," it was a "dirty little color." I'm not sure Sinestro would appreciate that.

But at least you finally realize the "self-pitying fool" part!

G) In case you weren't clear...

H) Except, of course, when it isn't a dirty little color:

Geez, make up your mind, Hal!!