Spoilers ahead for Dark Crisis: World Without A Justice League-Green Lantern #1
DC Comics' Dark Crisis crossover is bringing Green Lantern John Stewart's initial origins as an architect to the forefront, merging it with his more prevalent background as a marine before he was chosen to help protect Earth alongside Hal Jordan. While John Stewart has recently ascended to godhood as the Emerald Knight, he's currently trapped in a fabricated reality as part of Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths. Even so, this new issue effectively merges John's strengths as a builder and protector together (which should have been done a while ago).
In John Stewart's first ever appearance back in 1971's Green Lantern #87, his original background was in architecture before he was initially tapped to a reserve Lantern for Hal Jordan, the primary Green Lantern of Earth and Sector 2814. However, various continuity reboots and retcons by DC have introduced and focused more on John's past career as a marine. To that end, many of Stewart's constructs have almost exclusively been a variety of guns and military equipment, calling back to his career as a soldier.
However, the new Dark Crisis: World Without A Justice League-Green Lantern #1 from writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson and artist Fernando Blanco puts an equal focus on both of John's backgrounds, speaking to his creativity as a builder whose ring allows him to no longer be hampered by an architect's typical limitations such as three-dimensional space, time, or materials. As such, the architectural background combined with his skills as a marine work very well in tandem, a new convention that DC's current Infinite Frontier era has been wise to take a greater advantage of.
Relying solely on the marine career no longer works for a hero as powerful as John Stewart, especially now that he's ascended to godhood in the main DC Universe. It makes his constructs particularly predictable (how many times can he really create a new kind of gun and still generate excitement from readers?) While his past as a soldier can still inform his leadership decisions and mind for strategy, Stewart's architect origins can now be given a much stronger spotlight going forward when it comes to his constructs, tapping into a greater creativity he could and should be using much more.
At any rate, it will likely be only a matter of time before John Stewart breaks out of this fantasy realm along with his fellow Justice Leaguers in the new Dark Crisis crossover (with each hero being in their own false reality prison). Once that happens, it's going to be very interesting to see how Green Lantern's reintegrated origins will inform his new godly powers as the Emerald Knight.
Dark Crisis: World Without A Justice League-Green Lantern #1 is on sale now.