Random Happenstance

If you read old Ostrander Suicide Squad comics now, if you weren't around when they were coming out, the politics might be somewhat opaque now; but it's to their credit that they're still readable at all even if some of the commentary sails right past you. Today's comic...I wasn't confident that it had aged well, and the second page confirmed that for me. From 1987, Green Lantern Corps #209, "Red Alert!" Written by Steve Englehart, pencils by Joe Staton, inks by Mark Farmer. ("Red Dawn" on the cover, because subtlety? Phooey on that!)

At the time, to prepare for a colossal misfire some upcoming big cosmic thing (not that one, although maybe it should've been!) there were seven (or eight!) Green Lanterns on earth; but they had just had a bit of a split: Kilowog had been talked into working with the Soviet Union, and Katma Tui and John Stewart had gone with him. (I don't think John had been retconned as a U.S. Marine at that point, or if that had been established, it wasn't brought up much.) President Reagan meets with the GL's staying on the "American" side--Hal, Arisia, Ch'p, and Salaak; although Hal's ID was still secret--to discuss their fears; that the Soviet-siding GL's could attack. While they agree they were there to protect the whole earth, not just America, the four don't present a unified front: the alien Lanterns defer to Hal (or John) in matters of earth politics, but they consider them "silly," as Ch'p puts it, which has to be somewhat devastating coming from a cartoony squirrel.

Meanwhile, in Moscow, Gorbechev meets with Kilowog and the others, and the first Rocket Red, Josef Denisovich. This was like maybe Kilowog's ninth appearance, total: he's a little more squat and slouchy than he would usually appear. He seems to have bought in entirely, helping the Soviets with their armored super-suits and some genetic modification; but John doesn't believe the hype of a "workers' paradise." He argues with Gorbechev, who seems reasonable, but also wants John and Katma killed without Kilowog or Josef knowing...John and Kilowog argue, with some punctuation from their power rings, but Kilowog says he believes in socialism, and can do what he wants.

Back in America, Hal isn't thrilled with how their meeting had gone, and then they return to their headquarters to find Guy Gardner waiting for them. Guy hadn't taken his Justice League spot yet, and offers to take the fight to the commie Lanterns; before getting distracted by the recently aged-up Arisia and leering. Hal slugs him, but the fight is interrupted by the arrival of Guy's old flame, the psychic Kari Limbo. Guy had seen her kissing Hal, when they thought he was dead; and as they all argue, the dour pessimist Salaak watches almost noddingly: of course everything is going off the rails...

Seven Rocket Reds jump Katma and John in the street, and Kilowog apparently spilled a lot of beans about how their rings and their fail-safe feature worked: they get knocked out, and the Rockets just have to wait for their rings' charge to expire before they can kill them. There's a ton of witnesses to this fight, but the Rockets are confident no one will talk. Kari argues with Guy, trying to convince him not to attack Russia: Guy acts like he's not going to, just to prove Kari's prediction wrong, but refuses to be reverse-psychologied out of it, and heads to Moscow, laughing. Kilowog and Josef look for Katma and John, as Soviet officals try to cover their tracks; but Guy's attack sidetracks them. The Soviets give Guy too much credit, assuming he somehow knew Katma and John were in trouble; but go to orange alert; which is quickly escalated by red by the Americans. A final showdown was coming up...

A fun thing you can do--for certain values of 'fun'--is if you pick at any current problem in American society, you can pretty consistently find where Reagan made it worse; if he didn't outright cause the problem in the first place. I'm sure he would've handled a crisis like this with patience and diplomacy--no, his only saving grace was he was too senile to move quick. Still, Reagan comes off better here, than the other comic I remember him in, which we might have to dig up.