Went down the rabbit hole now of reading all of Guy Gardner's earliest appearances, and he really does get shafted every time he shows up.
His first appearance is kind of an AU story, when the Guardians tell Hal Jordan that there was another Green Lantern candidate on Earth who was equally worthy, but Abin Sur chose Hal to take the ring because Hal was closer. The Guardians then show Hal a what-if scenario that would have played out if Guy was Green Lantern first. Guy doesn't have much personality, but he acts as a hero just like Hal, and eventually dies of an incurable "yellow plague," passing the ring on to Hal as he does. Hal is like, "This Guy Gardner seems like an excellent fellow, I want to meet him," and travels to Baltimore just to join Guy's gym and hang out with him for a week. Guy is a normal guy living a normal life as a school PE teacher, and hasn't got a clue about any of this.
I want to emphasize here that Guy was declared "equally worthy" at the time that Hal was chosen. He isn't just some jerk that stumbled his way into powers, he was straight up chosen by the Corps.
Guy next appears in Green Lantern 87, where he gets taken out of commission to allow John Stewart to become the new "back-up" Green Lantern. No shade on Stewart, who is a great character in his own right, but I think it's funny that Guy literally got "thrown under a bus" to pave the way for John. Guy is chaperoning the kids from his school on a field trip
Hal shows up in time to save them both but not in time to prevent Guy from getting creamed by a bus. So Guy gets pushed further down the list of Lantern candidates and still has no idea. This is who Guy used to be, though, a caring teacher who puts himself in danger to save a child, and I think that that's still the core of his personality, even when it's wrapped in layers of angry jackass.
After Guy recovers, there comes a time when Hal's ring is malfunctioning and he goes to OA to have it repaired. Hal recruits Guy again, and Guy finally gets to be a Lantern....for a very brief time.
Guy is still kind of mild-mannered and ordinary. Interesting that he actually has a "mental implant" preparing him to be a Lantern, so on some level he was sort of programmed to "want it". Guy isn't perfect but he does a decent job as a rookie, and saves Green Arrow from falling debris. He is also subjected to Green Arrow's famous chili:
Meanwhile, Hal finds out that there is a problem with his battery, and comes back, but not in time to warn Guy. Hal's battery appears to completely disintegrate Guy, and he is thought to be dead:
It turns out Guy was actually sent to the Phantom Zone, although the incident with the battery, according to the Guardians, "damaged his mind and body."
Hal is genuinely distraught by Guy's apparent death, and he deals with that grief by almost immediately hooking up with Guy's girlfriend, Kari Limbo. Kari is a "Gypsy fortune-teller" with psychic powers/abilities to predict the future, because unfortunately American comics and pop culture used to use that word freely and tended to always depict Romani people according to certain stereotypes. At least Kari is treated as a good and sympathetic character.
Settle down, Hal, Guy just died last issue! In fairness to Hal, he truly believe that Guy is dead, and Kari makes the first move. But the two of them have a whirlwind romance, meeting in issue 117, and almost getting married in issue 122.
In issue 122, the wedding falls through as Kari senses Guy calling out to her from the Phantom Zone. Superman and Hal go to investigate and discover that Guy has been trapped there, and has fallen under the control of General Zod. Guy was also able to see what was happening on Earth, so after getting thrown violently into another dimension, Guy has been watching Hal romance his girlfriend while trapped in a horrible nothing place. It's no wonder he later thinks it was a set-up:
(From a later Secret Origins)
Hal valiantly goes in to rescue Guy. Guy is first somewhat under the control of General Zod, then gets whisked away by Sinestro, who uses him as a hostage against Hal. By the time Hal brings Guy back safely, he has gone catatonic:
Guy remains in this state for YEARS. For years he is basically in a coma, until Crisis on Infinite Earths, when the Guardians restore him because they need him to act as a Green Lantern. And here's the kicker. The Guardians could have fixed Guy at any point, but they let him stay catatonic until they needed him:
Guy was basically injured in the line of duty, through no fault of his own, and the Guardians are now telling him that they couldn't be bothered to help him because he was just a "back-up" Lantern, and they had more important things to worry about. Even though he was originally "equally worthy" to Hal. They just let him rot until they needed another Lantern.
Like god damn, no wonder he is so angry all the time, no wonder he has such a chip on his shoulder about being THE Green Lantern.
None of this really excuses Guy's asshole behavior, he is rude and abrasive to everyone, and does things that border on villainy. But he really gets kicked around before finally getting accepted into the Corps. It also seems like the brain injury that Guy suffered has at least partially caused this shift in his personality, but that could be a whole other post.
Honestly, I like asshole Guy, it really adds to his character. Early Guy was a very decent person, but bland. Gruff, abrasive Guy is more interesting, as long as writers don't forget that he wasn't always this way, and that there's still a decent person in there. Guy is the epitome of Jerk With a Heart of Gold, sometimes that gold is just...buried pretty deep.
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