Hal Jordan / Green Lantern: ESTJ

Hal Jordan / Green Lantern II debuted in 1959. The first Green Lantern (Alan Scott) had been around since 1940 and had suffered the same fate as many Golden Age characters after WWII (such as Captain America): lack of interest from a younger generation of comic book readers. So DC decided to relaunch the Green Lantern character for a post-war audience just as they did for the Flash. A younger Green Lantern took the place of the original, was given a sleek new costume and a superpowered weapon which was scientific in origin (as opposed to magical).

The new Green Lantern was suited to the times - and to the tastes of boy comic book readers. He worked as a test pilot, and was a sober, conscientious and hard-working man - and perhaps a little bland. The Green Lantern series up until the 1970s really shines because of the artwork by the consistently great Gil Kane, but will strike today's comic book audience as being somewhat dull. I find most of the DC books of the Silver Age dull - especially Justice League of America, which I can't stand reading. As to why, I suspect that it's because most of the DC characters strike as SJs or TJs (in Keirsey's language, Guardians or Rationals). We look at the Justice League line-up and find Superman (ESFJ), Batman (INTJ), Wonder Woman (ENFJ), Green Lantern (ESTJ), the Flash (ISFJ)... A few Artisans (SPs) and Idealists (NFs) would have livened things up a bit. As it stands, the Green Lantern series, like the Justice League-, serves as a premier example of Guardian fiction.

As students of comic book history know, the Green Lantern series changed dramatically after Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams took the series over. Green Lantern teamed up with an Artisan character (Green Arrow), Neal Adams broke ground with his spectacular artwork and Denny O'Neil wrote stories on topical themes - the Manson Family murders, consumerism, overpopulation, environmentalism, feminism, native American rights, slums and most notoriously, drugs. The Green Lantern series featured the first, and perhaps the last, death by heroin overdose in a mainstream comic book.

Despite all the changes the series has gone through, Hal Jordan remains the same type - an ESTJ. Originally, when I picked up my Showcase Presents collection (which goes until the late 1970s), I found him difficult to type him straight away. I speculated that he was either an TJ or SJ, possibly an ESFJ or an ISTJ or ESTJ - I couldn't be sure. But I came to the conclusion that he wasn't an ISTJ for a number of reasons. The first of these was that a number of ISTJs appear in the Green Lantern series (especially in the O'Neil era) who are clear contrasts with Hal Jordan - that is, they are usually the bad guy. The second reason was that ISTJs in the series seem cold and unpleasant people. For all his faults, Hal Jordan comes across as a warm, pleasant, open, friendly and generous man. Related to this is the fact that the difference between the ESTJ and ISTJ lies in introversion and extraversion. When assessing the type of a character, you have to ask yourself: does he exude energy or does he draw it in? The ISTJ and ESTJ share extraverted thinking and introverted sensing. In the case of the ISTJ, the introverted sensing makes up the primary function and energy from the environment and the people around him flows into the type. The ISTJ may act upon the world using extraverted thinking, but the extraverted thinking function acts as a conduit - into his primary function, introverted sensing. Look at Judge Dredd, Darth Vader and Batman - do they exude energy or do they draw it in? The question answers itself. And, if we're to look at Hal Jordan, we see fairly quickly that his primary function - whatever it is - is an extraverted and not an introverted one.

If Hal Jordan doesn't display introverted characteristics, and if he uses extraverted thinking (like the ISTJ) to act upon the world, then he must be an ESTJ.

The ESTJ sees himself as being part of an organisation, a hierarchy, which he respects. I call the ESTJ type the Captain or the Lieutenant - in an organisation, he usually occupies the rank of a mid-level officer. He stands as the man in the middle, and finds it just as easy to receive orders as to give them. His motto may as well be, 'Learn to command by obeying'. That fits Hal Jordan to a tee. The ESTJ may break away from the organisation he belongs to - e.g., Big Barda (Mister Miracle), Two-Face (Batman) and even Captain America at times. But all that means is that the ESTJ will formulate his own idiosyncratic set of rules which he'll rigidly adhere to. (On that note, we see an unusual career trajectory for Hal. He starts the series as a test pilot, then becomes an insurance claims adjustor, then a toy salesman, and by the end of the 1970s, a bum sleeping in his car (!). By the eighties, he returns his old job as a test pilot. The point is that he remains Hal Jordan - an ESTJ, a Green Lantern in good standing, and something of a stick in the mud and authoritarian - throughout these bewildering career changes).

Introverted sensing, when it fills the secondary function in an EJ type, gives the type a conservative philosophy and worldview. The introverted sensor retains and accumulates past sensory impressions and tends to compare them favourably to the present; he will interpret the principles and first causes of the universe through the prism of these sensations, as it were. This entails conservatism (which can, but doesn't necessarily, translate into political conservatism). Again, we see that this another close fit for Hal Jordan.

On top of this, the ESTJ type will tend to jump into the fray and may seem quite impulsive. At his best, he shows admirable courage. But a fine line exists between courage and stupidity. Often when Green Lantern's power ring conks out, he'll take on the bad men without it. Like Captain America, he'll dive past a hail of bullets and wade into a pile of bad guys with his fists. Hal Jordan's impulsiveness and courage owes itself to the fact that the primary function of the EJ fills the action role (decisions, organisations, planning).

In the Socionics model, we see eight functions at work as opposed to four in Myers-Briggs. In the fourth slot in the ESTJ (LSE or ESTj in Socionics), we find Ni - introverted intuition. This makes up the 'point of least resistance' or most 'vulnerable' function in the ESTj. Ni here represents the complete opposite of the ESTj type and is eschewed, even abhorred. 

At Sociotype.Com, we find this description of Ni in the ESTj:

LSEs are usually concerned with the situation immediately in front of them, and with their personal experiences. They usually focus their productive efforts towards matters that they can personally see, hear, feel, or experience, rather than on pursuing speculative or theoretical ideas. Many LSEs concern themselves only with what they can experience or control, and do not always attempt to expend undue energy to understand what is extraneous to their experience. Being grounded in the concreteness of reality, most LSEs are not deeply aware of fantasy, mysticism, symbolism, or any otherworldly esoterics. For this reason, they may be perceived as dry and unimaginative.

LSEs may be minimally adaptive to previously unforeseen consequences. They may attempt to plan and organize their schedules in advance in order to avoid any uncertainty, and they may avoid digressing from these schedules even when they are impractical. Ever proactive, they may commit themselves to too many obligations and responsibilities...

LSEs internal mental worlds are often neglected. They are generally disinclined towards personal and existential reflection. They are focused on what is in front of them and might regard extensive philosophizing as confusing and secondary to their experience. They tend to be perpetually in motion, and may feel restless, dejected, and unproductive if forced to suspend their activities.

Now, go and read through all five volumes of Showcase Presents: Green Lantern and you'll see that the above nails Hal Jordan.

Most of the Green Lantern stories up until 1970 were written by John Broome, who inserts 'fun scientific facts' in just about every story (usually in a footnote at the bottom of the panel). This gives the book a Scientific American flavour and shows, to my mind, a lot of Te (extraverted thinking). Jung characterises the thought of the extraverted thinking as a mass of undifferentiated, usually 'scientific' facts - a jumble of empirical (about the outside world) data not organised by any central principle, i.e., any distinct theme or idea. That sums up Broome. The Green Lantern series could be seen, not only as an example of 'Guardian' fiction, but as extraverted thinking fiction.

But hey, I'm not disparaging ESTJs here: my message to them is - we need you. And we need Hal Jordan.

Mark Hootsen, signing off.