I have a completely different take on the first appearance of John Stewart. One, his "anger"--in consideration of the era--was more than justified; he's no criminal, yet law enforcement (or one cop in particular) treats him like one, so Stewart responded as anyone with even a modicum of self-respect would, since he knows the passive route would not reduce the tone or intent of the cop's reaction to his mere presence.

The racial integration of the American super-hero comic is--among a few things--a study in the creators as much as the characters introduced, providing a window into the view of black characters and their social status in the almost 100% white world of superheroes of that era. Take the following examples--



A: The Black Panther's debut in Fantastic Four #52 (July, 1966).
A Lee & Kirby creation, some saw T'Challa, his alter-ego and his kingdom/nation as a major first step in the depiction of black, concealed identity / heroic characters in non-stereotypical, non-humor comics, although he was preceded by Best Comics (Better Publications, c.1939) with the first masked, black hero in the form of the Red Mask.

Despite the numerous pages written about the positive impact of Black Panther, to some 1966 readers--obviously including some African Americans, Black Panther brought to mind not a representation mirroring the African American and their identity/struggles of mid-late 60s America in any relevant sense, but instead, generated a very unfortunate reminder of the derogatory, eternally offensive sociological & literary stereotype of the Noble Savage, though not to the extremes of Hobbes, et al. It might read as harsh, but from observations I've heard over the years, its understandable, as his first appearance had an eyebrow-raising treatment of Black Panther as the age-old, stoically-speaking racial minority character--dignified not in a realistic sense, but in that too-pure treatment from creators with kid gloves firmly pulled over their creative / ideological hands (sensibilities).

In one broad move, it appeared to sell the world on this idealized character from an untouched, fantastically advanced realm (a common fantasy fiction device), while shaking off the company's own Golden Age history (as Timely) of unforgivably racist characters such as Whitewash Jones. Whatever the combination of ingredients, Black Panther's debut ultimately presented a smiling, friendly trickster (the latter being another pre-20th century literary stereotype) which was not necessarily needed in comics at the time.

Regarding T'Challa's heritage, in 1966, there had been a burgeoning second major U.S. revival movement among some African Americans (in academia and among the general population) to study/embrace what would be commonly known as African Studies, or programs designed to unearth and celebrate often lost or purposely removed/destroyed history/culture, so to that end, the creation of Black Panther (and his realm) would seem to be timely (no pun intended), but that (still) did not speak to the larger black American experience--the kind of issues which were an irrevocably, painfully linked part of daily African American life...

...enter the Falcon in Captain America #117 (September, 1969).

B: One would have thought the introduction of Sam Wilson (center, top row) a black social worker from Harlem would have been the perfect vehicle for Marvel to explore that aforementioned African American experience, but Wilson's debut was not exactly the domestic version of a black superhero some were seeking.
While this period of the Captain America title were among its greatest overall, subsequent (early) character arcs for Wilson/Falcon (all by Stan Lee) stepped up to the plate, but struck out more than it hit, with Wilson being both level headed in his (apparently) pleasing, progressive social worker role, then having a rather sudden crisis of conscience, doubting all he stood for (as he put it), brought on by some external force. Those forces turned out to be his romantic interest / surrogate for most "revolutionary" dialogue in the book (the racial-epithet-spewing Leila) and the Red Skull-controlled People's Militia group (#143 - November, 1971).

During this next chapter of Wilson's development, it was as though Lee decided he had to make Wilson less "safe" / more relevant in a way he was not in his early appearances, as one could assume it was believed he would be irrelevant as a black character in the post-American Civil Rights Movement era. Whether this was the actual motivation for Wilson's course shift is up for debate, but the overall point is that for John Stewart, there were no "growing pains" or sudden character shifts to keep him up with the times.

Some might argue that any advantages Stewart had as a character were due to industry evolution--trial and error with those who came before him, but I would argue that at least one of his creators--Neal Adams, was undoubtedly of a more progressive mind where race was concerned long before it became fashionable--

From The Titans Companion, where Adams talked about his sociopolitical goals working at late 60s DC:

TTC: "Did you ever change your approach to a book based upon who you thought the audience might be?"

Neal Adams: "Sure. I suppose I had ulterior motives lots of times when I did what I was doing, I certainly felt that bringing the audience into the Twentieth Century with us was a good idea. Introducing black characters was--and continues to be--a good idea, and I'm not convinced that it's been done well yet. And forget black characters--Oriental characters, and Hispanic characters--I see hardly any of that. I am personally offended by that. It just galls the crap out of me. I don't see women handled all that well in comics, although Marvel is making an attempt to do it, and I applaud their attempts there. We need a broader base to our comic books, and we mustn't forget, in my opinion, [that we're] telling stories to people. That's what we're supposed to do."

Adams being on a mission of sorts, along with any political views shared with O'Neil, was the right mix in the formation of Stewart's personality--organic, rather than taking any cues from Marvel's output, or making character changes almost as a recognition of errors / second thoughts. In the GL/GA panel row (above), Stewart's characterization/dialogue seemed to fit not only the character, but that period of history in a natural way, with Stewart (as noted earlier) having self-respect, but knowing soft-selling a specific confrontation with the police would not change a thing (or eliminate the clear danger posed by the officer).

From comments I've heard about this issue over the years, Stewart's arguments with Jordan forcefully and believably expressed the frustration of being an educated black man still carrying the weight of personal responsibility against a society that assumed the worst about him, and was ready to act on said assumption at any moment.

Right out of the gates, Stewart had every reason to bear a less-than-happy personality, when the world around him, along with those who are supposed to be above knee-jerk reactions to him (e.g., superheroes) gave him nothing except undeserved judgements and threats. That was the lesson Jordan (and many readers) had to learn in this issue, one that make this not only one of the best issues of the original Green Lantern run, but the most significant, artistically/intellectually successful introductions of all African American superheroes.

Flash #217-219: The Killing of an Archer By O'Neil, Adams & Giordano.

Lured into a trap, Green Arrow accidentally kills one of the thugs. He calls Dinah to say good-bye. Dinah is worried about GA and asks Green Lantern to find Ollie. GL arrives at GA's apartment and finds the same thugs who attacked GA have now planted a bomb in his building.

Green Lantern tries to stop the bomb placed in Green Arrow's building. Black Canary arrives to help GL look for Ollie. Meanwhile Green Arrow goes to a monastery to seek forgiveness for accidently killing a man. He crashes his Arrow-Plane to "kill" his GA ID.

Later Black Canary is hit by a car and needs a transfusion. She has a rare blood type and Ollie is a match. Green Lantern's search for Green Arrow is successful. He finds GA at the ashram and gets him back in time to save BC.





After the canceling of GL with #89, this was the next appearance of the GL/GA/BC team and would be the last for awhile. Adams' art was beautiful as usual. O'Neil made this story a bit more personal as GA has to deal with inner demons after he accidently kills a criminal. The ashram GA ends up at would come up again in the 90's as Ollie's son Connor Hawke also studies at the same monastery.

After this story GL would continue as a solo back up series in Flash and GA was a solo back up feature over in Action Comics. GL/GA would be revived in 1976 with #90 by O'Neil and Mike Grell.

Thanks to all who added comments to this thread as I examined this classic run.

tarkintino thanks for your comments and adding context so these stories made more sense to me. Also thanks again to Prince Hal and everyone else that added details about that time period that added so much to this thread and made me re-examine each story after my initial posts. It enhanced my enjoyment of this series and further convinced me that many of the issues that were dealt with are still relevant today.

Grant Morrison lampooned this era's self-righteous Green Arrow in a scene in Final Crisis as well:

You are welcome. Because of the sensitive nature of creating African American characters to comics in the period in question, the motives and approaches creators used had to be analyzed beyond it being a "first" or "significant". In Black Panther's case, Lee and Kirby would've never come close to admitting it, but there was a stereotypical approach to his creation (as mentioned in the post examining him). While the Falcon was a move in the right direction, even that course correction was not a part of the character from the start (again, it took external forces to bring him to a crisis of conscience).
That's why John Stewart was the most relevant and above all else--realistic African American character created for superhero comics up to that time, and his presentation has not aged as being cartoonish or overflowing with stereotypes as seen in others to follow--especially at Marvel. Yes, Marvel seemingly took most of their notions of "cultural appeal" by looking hard through the lens of the usually offensive, horrid Blaxploitation movie genre, instead of using real world personality traits/beliefs as the foundation of their characters.

ITs all just another reason why the Adams/O'Neil run on Green Lantern / Green Arrow was and remains a creative and thought-provoking priceless jewel among far too many candy machine rings AKA standard comic books.

You should keep reviewing the Green Lantern back-up stories. They're not as historically important but they have Itty in them. Itty is the best.