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Hal Jordan is a DC Comics superhero, the Silver Age Green Lantern, and arguably the most famous hero to bear that name. Created by John Broome and Gil Kane, he first appeared in Showcase #22 (October 1959).

Publication History

Recreated for the Silver Age

After achieving great success in 1956 in reviving the original Golden Age character The Flash, DC editor Julius Schwartz looked toward recreating the original hero, Green Lantern from the Golden Age of Comic Books. Like The Flash, Schwartz wanted this new character to have a different secret identity, origin, and personality than his 1940's counterpart. A long time science-fiction fan and literary agent, Schwartz wanted a more sci-fi based Green Lantern, as opposed to the mystical powers of Alan Scott, the forties Green Lantern. He enlisted writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane, who in 1959 would reintroduce Green Lantern to the world in Showcase #22 (September-October 1959).

Like E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensmen, the new Green Lantern was a member of an intergalactic constabulary made up of many different alien species who were given a device that provided them with great mental and physical abilities; * however, both Broome and Schwartz had denied a connection between those pulps and the Green Lantern stories. Gil Kane drew from actor Paul Newman in creating Hal Jordan's likeness and redesigned the Green Lantern uniform into a very sleek form-fitting outfit of green, black, and white - quite the opposite of Alan Scott's red, yellow, green, purple, and black costume with a puffy shirt and cape.

The character was a success and it was quickly decided to follow-up his three issue run on Showcase with a self-titled series. Green Lantern #1 began in July-August of 1960 and would continue until #89 in April-May 1972.

This creative team was responsible for introducing many of the major characters in Hal Jordan's life. First and foremost was Carol Ferris, Jordan's love interest, who might have been a Lois Lane clone if not for her strong personality. She was in charge of Ferris Aircraft, and as such, Hal's boss (whereas Clark Kent and Lois Lane were colleagues with equal standing). Furthermore, while she preferred Green Lantern to Hal Jordan (as Lois Lane preferred Superman to Clark), she took an active role in trying to win him over, even going so far as to propose to him in the old Leap Year tradition. Although she actually gave Jordan the time of day, her job and company always came first. Ferris was a strong-willed woman of authority at a time in which this was rare, especially in comic books.

Another unique addition to Green Lantern's supporting cast was his best friend, Tom Kalmaku, who was both Hal's mechanic and the chronicler of his super-hero adventures. An Inuit from Alaska, Tom's nick-name was "Pie" or "Pieface", in reference to Eskimo Pie ice cream sandwiches. Like "Chop Chop" from the Blackhawk comics, this nick-name is now understandably viewed as racist and has been downplayed by most modern writers. However, unlike "Chop Chop", Tom was actually a competent and intelligent character with a well-rounded personality, not a stereotypical buffoon. Despite the unfortunate nick-name, Tom Kalmaku was amongst the first minority characters to portrayed in this manner and broke new ground for mainstream comic books. Tom would later be followed by another trail-blazing minority character, John Stewart, the first African-American super-hero of the DC Universe.

Jordan's masters, the Guardians of the Universe, were physically based on David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel and were developed from an idea Schwartz and Broome had originally conceived years prior in a story featuring Captain Comet in Strange Adventures #22 (July, 1952) entitled "Guardians of the Clockwork Universe".*

Schwartz and company also allowed Jordan to have a family, which was another rare thing at this time in superhero comics. While he didn't have a family of his own, he had many interactions with his two brothers, Jack and Jim. The Brothers Jordan were primarily inspired by the Kennedy brothers, who rose to prominence during the sixties.

When compared to comics of the thirties, forties, and early fifties, Green Lantern broke new storytelling ground and can be seen as a precursor to the "Marvel Revolution" that would take place several years later. Whereas older comics treated each issue as a stand-alone with no real sense of temporal direction between issues, Green Lantern's issues followed the order of publication, with references within the stories to previous stories and adventures. Not only were references made, but subplots (such as Hal and Carol's romance, the marriage of Tom Kalmaku, etc.) were advanced showing actual growth in the character's lives. While these subplots rarely were given much notice in comparison to Marvel's storylines in the sixties and especially to today's modern stories, they were the first step toward this sort of serial storytelling instead of the episodic nature of older comics.

Likewise, Green Lantern was one of the first comics to be a part of a "shared universe". The Justice League of America united several superheroes that DC owned, just as the Justice Society of America had in the Golden Age. The crucial difference was that events occurring in the Justice League title were reflected and referenced in individual superheroes' titles (such as Green Lantern).

Also adding to the advancement of the medium was Gil Kane's use of dynamic art. Whereas previously, comics had mostly stuck with a six panel page consisting of six equal sized rectangles, Kane's panels changed in size and shape to offer a more emotional and visceral experience. The action and/or scene dictated the art instead of being forced into a rigid box structure. In addition, while there had been plenty of flying superheroes in the past, none flew quite like Hal Jordan. Kane’s art made Hal look more like he was gliding or swimming through the air than the usual leaping or bullet-like flying motion of other superheroes. His fluid poses made Hal a more graceful and, as a result, realistic looking flying man.

John Broome seemed to come up with stories centered on a common theme and then run them together within a fairly short time. For example, Green Lantern #2-4 each contained stories involving the anti matter universe of Qward, issues 12 and 15 featured "Zero Hour" stories (in which Hal would run out or nearly run out of energy in his ring while in a desperate situation), and issues 6 and 12 involved Hal being sent to the year 5700 AD in the guise of Pol Manning.*

Starting in issue 17, Gardner Fox joined the book to share writing duties with John Broome. The quartet of Schwartz, Broome, Fox, and Kane remained the core creative team until 1970.

The Era of Social Conscience

Starting with issue #76, Denny O'Neil took over scripting duties and Neal Adams art. Their collaboration produced the most famous and celebrated runs on Green Lantern. Julius Schwartz remained editor and hand selected the two to revitalize the title which had been slipping in the sales. Unbeknownst to the two of them, O’Neil and Adams had already begun preparation for the classic run in the form of their re-workings of another DC character: Green Arrow.

Green Arrow was a character originally created by DC in 1941 (then known as National Comics). He was a wealthy businessman named Oliver Queen who wore a green Errol Flynn-esque Robin Hood costume and shot “trick” arrows in his efforts to fight crime. His characterization was fairly basic (borrowing heavily from Batman but lacking the depth and tragedy of that character) and as such remained a second or third string hero throughout the Golden Age. However, the character managed to survive the fifties (during which most superhero comics were eliminated due to lack of interest and, in extreme cases, hatred) by being a backup character in the Superboy comics. In 1961, DC added Green Arrow to the roster of the Justice League of America, but still remained in the background and fairly uninteresting.

This changed in 1968 with Justice League of America #66. Written by Denny O’Neil, Green Arrow started to show resentment toward his fellow superheroes who wield great power, but did little to help the ordinary people with ordinary problems. O’Neil continued to push Green Arrow’s tolerance for his peers and a little less than a year later, Neal Adams (not working in any sort of cooperation with O’Neil) redesigned Arrow, giving him a goatee and more dynamic and fierce outfit. Justice League of America #74 (still being written by O’Neil) introduced Black Canary as Arrow’s love interest and issue 75 left him broke, his company and fortune stolen from him. O’Neil wanted to recreate Green Arrow to better represent a modern Robin Hood, but felt a rich man would be a poor champion of the undertrodden.

Some time after this, Schwartz invited O’Neil to take over Green Lantern. Wanting to represent his own political beliefs in comics and take on social issues of the late sixties and early seventies, O’Neil came up with the idea of pitting Hal Jordan, who as an intergalactic cop stood for not only Law & Order but The Establishment, against Oliver Queen, who O’Neil had characterized as a profoundly outspoken liberal and stood for the Counter-Culture Movement. The first issue he wrote had Green Lantern capturing a street “punk” who was pushing around a man. All around him, people start throwing things at the bewildered Jordan. As he steps in to attack, he is stopped by Green Arrow, who explains that the man he defended was a slum lord “fat cat” and goes even further to show Lantern the conditions of the slum. At the roof, in a now famous scene, an old African-American man grills Jordan as to why he has not done much for the “black skins” of his own planet while helping out other different colored aliens of other planets. Following Schwartz's approval of the story, Neal Adams was brought in to replace Gil Kane, much to the surprise of Denny O'Neil. And yet, the pair had already been working together on Batman (where Adams successfully reconstructed the character into a more dramatic "Dark Knight"), Adams had been the one to redesign Green Arrow's costume, and the artist had a growing reputation for one who did not back down and pushed for innovative, good ideas and therefore, was the perfect candidate to work with O'Neil.

The pair proved to be dynamic and stunning. They tackled a number of social issues including corruption, sexism, cults, consumerism, the environment, racism, poverty, and even (subtly) child molestation. However, none were more shocking and controversial than the issue explored in issues 85 and 86. Neal Adams drew the cover, which showed Green Arrow’s youthful side-kick, Speedy, shooting heroin. Editor Julius Schwartz did not want it published. Neither did publisher Carmine Infantino. It appeared that the cover which had no story would be forgotten. But over at Marvel, Stan Lee had green-lit Amazing Spider-Man #96, which featured pills and presented an anti-drug message without the Comics Code Authority seal. Facing opposition and controversy, the Comics Code Authority revised its rules in regard to what could and could not be presented in comic books and, while still restrictive, became more lenient. As a result, DC approved Adams’ cover and O’Neil wrote a two-part story involving drugs with Speedy being hooked. Green Arrow, who was usually presented as being the more understanding and mentoring of the Arrow/Lantern duo, now had his world turned upside-down, not only unable to understand his own part in leading Speedy toward drugs, but even coming off as uncompassionate toward the troubled youth. With this story, Adams and O’Neil not only tackled a difficult social ill, but looked inward at the ways that their “champion of the everyman” could be wrong. New York Mayor John V. Lindsay wrote a letter to DC in response to the issue commending them, which was printed in issue 86.

Despite unprecedented mainstream media coverage, critical attention, awards, and apparent increased sales, Green Lantern/Green Arrow was canceled, one of many titles that ended publication perhaps prematurely under the reign of Carmine Infantino. Julius Schwartz had a reprint of an older story published for issue 88 and saw the comic he began back in 1959 come to an end in 1972 with issue 89. However, he had Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams do one last story together, stretched out over Flash #217-219 as a backup story.

History

Green Lantern History at Large

It is important to note that Green Lantern is something of an anomaly in the greater DC Comics universe. While most titles were "rebooted" with the 1980s Crisis on Infinite Earths, Green Lantern's continuity remained (for the most part) intact with relatively few exceptions (the only rule being, if a future issue contradicted something that came before, the subsequent issue would have precedence).

The second Green Lantern is Hal Jordan, who in comics published in 1959 was a second-generation test pilot (having followed in the footsteps of his father, Martin Jordan) who was given the power ring and battery (lantern) by a dying alien named Abin Sur. When Abin Sur's spaceship crashed on Earth, the alien used his ring to seek out an individual to take his place as Green Lantern: someone who was "utterly honest and born without fear" (which would be later retconned in the fourth and latest Green Lantern volume as someone instead who would "overcome great fear").

Emerald Dawn

In December of 1989, following the cancellation of Volume 2 of Green Lantern at issue #221, the origin of Hal Jordan was retold/retconned in a similar manner to Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One" and John Byrne's "Superman: The Man of Steel" (though it is important to note that Green Lantern is somewhat of an anomaly amongst other DC titles: while many DC series were "rebooted," almost all of the previous Green Lantern issues in Volume 1 and 2 stand as-is, unless contradicted by future issues). Here, published between the second and third volumes of Green Lantern (though chronologically the first Hal Jordan story in the modern day continuity), we learn what originally made Hal the man he is, and how he obtained the ring and under what conditions. We see his father die before his very eyes, we see him roll a jeep with his friends in it while driving a little less than sober, and we see how a person like this must manage a ring of power.

Hal finds the ring while he's testing a flight simulator. Strangely, the simulator goes flying off the base and flies through the air. Hal lands near a beat and broken version of a Green Lantern. The GL is dying, and he chose Hal to be the successor to his power ring. He tells Hal that he is a man without fear (though in the later fourth and current volume of Green Lantern this would be retconned to indicate Abin Sur told Hal, in fact, that he was a man that would "overcome great fear"). With this, Hal Jordan becomes Green Lantern.

Though treated on Earth like a superhero, Hal Jordan soon learned that Abin Sur was a member of an elite force of intergalactic police called the Green Lantern Corps, who worked for the Guardians of the Universe. Instead of one Green Lantern wielding a magic ring, there were 3,600 Green Lanterns patrolling the entire universe. Their rings were powered by the central power battery at the planet Oa, where the Guardians lived. Oan power rings had to be recharged every 24 hours, and were ineffective against direct contact with the color yellow, due to a "necessary impurity" in the design of the rings. Jordan was assigned to patrol Sector 2814, in which Earth was located.

It seems, at first, that Hal is less than up to the task. The first thing he does with the ring is goof off and have fun flying. But when an evil yellow alien known as the Legion appears, it is time to get serious. Legion appears to be both angered and unstoppable and it seems that Hal does not know the ring's one and only weakness: yellow, and unfortunately Legion is completely just that.

Things get hairy when the Legion attacks the Guardians on the Green Lantern Corps headquarters of Oa. Hal, meanwhile, has been being trained by the Green Lantern's drill sergeant-esque trainer, Kilowog, of the planet Bolovax Vik. There are many battles between all of the Green Lantern Corps and Legion, but the GLs are on the losing side. Of course, we see a glimmer of the Hal that would one day emerge when he comes up with a ingenious plan to stop Legion that impresses even the Guardians of the Universe. In the end, Hal Jordan returns to Earth to face the music for his drunk driving charge, being sentenced to 90 days in prison, then we follow him again as he finishes his sentence to continue his new life as Green Lantern.

Emerald Dawn II

We travel back 90 days from the conclusion/epilogue of the original "Emerald Dawn" to relive Hal Jordan's actual drunk driving sentence. He begins it in earnest, intending to serve his time with no question, though still dreams of his time with the Green Lantern Corps and the adventures that yet lay ahead.

It is determined by the Guardians of the Universe that Hal Jordan need be trained by another of their finest Green Lanterns, this one Sinestro, of Korugar, who reportedly has the most orderly of all Green Lantern Corps-controlled sectors. Sinestro, begrudgingly, agrees to further train Hal Jordan, and immediately appears in Hal Jordan's prison cell. A series of mini-escapes from prison ensue, during which Hal did his best to conceal (either by making glowing replicates of himself still "asleep" in bed or by other means) while he would go on a series of training exercises with Sinestro into outer space and alien worlds. Finally, when Sinestro is unable to establish contact with his homeworld of Korugar, he takes Hal Jordan along with him to see what is the matter. What Sinestro finds, to Hal Jordan's shock, is a world in turmoil -- it seemed Sinestro's people had rebelled against him, tearing down banners and flags with Sinestro's picture on it. In short, it seemed that Sinestro demanded a heavy price for his "protection" from his own people -- nothing less than hero worship, and the people were no longer willing to stand idly by.

Hal Jordan does not stand idly by either, quickly calling in the Green Lantern Corps at large. Sinestro is quickly arrested by his brethren; equally quickly tried by the Guardians of the Universe and sentenced to exile to the Anti-Matter Universe of Qward.

Hal Jordan returns to Earth to serve the remainder of his sentence in relative peace.

It is also noteworthy that Guy Gardner plays the role of a social welfare caseworker over the course of this storyline, often aiding Hal Jordan and sticking up for him when questions are raised about his whereabouts during his trainings with Sinestro. In the end, during a prison riot, Guy Gardner loses control of his anger and we see a more familiar side of the Guy Gardner he would later become.

The Beginning

Hal Jordan had a longtime on-again off-again love affair with his boss, Carol Ferris. He fought colorful 1960s-published villains such as Star Sapphire (a mind-altered Ferris), Hector Hammond, and the rogue Green Lantern, Sinestro. He was also a founding member of the Justice League of America in The Brave and the Bold #28 (1959), where he became friends with the Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen.

Near the end of the sixties, Hal decided to finally propose to Carol only to discover that she'd already agreed to marry another man named Jason Belmore. Heart-broken, Hal quit his job as a test pilot at Ferris Aircraft and began travelling around America in a series of different jobs including a commercial pilot, an insurance investigator and a travelling toy salesman (where met and began dating Olivia Reynolds). The combination of this change in status quo and new competition from less idealized heroes published by Marvel Comics led to diminishing sales on Green Lantern, prompting a startling new direction...

Hard Traveling Heroes

In comics published in 1970, torn between dealing with the intergalactic problems of the Guardians and the individual, personal miseries on Earth, Jordan travelled across the United States with fellow hero Green Arrow in a "search for America", highlighted by tensions between the pair due to their different outlooks on life. The Guardians assigned one of their own to accompany the pair for a time, while temporarily reducing the power of their insubordinate Lantern's ring. One memorable scene from this period saw Green Lantern confronted by an elderly black man, who noted that the Green Lantern had done much for aliens with fantastic skin colors, but asked what he had done for the "black skins".

Meanwhile, a new character was introduced named John Stewart, who was designated by the Guardians to assume the role of the Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814 should Jordan ever become unable to perform his duties. John was chosen for this task when Jordan's previous back-up, Guy Gardner, was injured saving a young girl during an earthquake. Gardner later recovered but was left a vegetable when his Power Battery exploded and hurled him into the Phantom Zone and the Anti-Matter Universe of Qward.

During this period, Hal had fallen in love with psychic Kari Limbo, whom he met following Gardner's presumed death. When Gardner was discovered alive on Hal & Kari's wedding day, Kari left Hal at the altar to care for Gardner, now in a coma. Soon afterwards, Hal dissolved his partnership with Green Arrow and returned to Ferris Aircraft to work as a test pilot once again.

The 80s Exile

In comics published in the early 1980s, Jordan was exiled into space for a year by the Guardians in order to prove his loyalty to the Green Lantern Corps, having been accused of paying too much attention to Earth when he had an entire "sector" of the cosmos to patrol. When he returned to Earth, he found himself embroiled in a dispute with Carol Ferris. Faced with a choice between love and the power ring, Jordan chose to resign from the Green Lantern Corps. The Guardians called Jordan's backup, John Stewart, to regular duty as his replacement.

In 1985, the Crisis on Infinite Earths saw Jordan once again take up the mantle of Green Lantern, even as the Guardians withdrew from his dimension for a while to consort with their female counterpart, the Zamarons. Jordan helped organize the new Corps, with seven members residing on Earth, including several aliens, John Stewart, and Jordan's slightly-unbalanced "other backup", Guy Gardner. For a while, Jordan was romantically involved with a younger, alien Lantern named Arisia. The alien Lanterns took a more direct hand in human affairs, a fact not appreciated by human governments (Kilowog helped create the Rocket Reds for the Soviet Union). Eventually, the Earth corps broke up, several members returning to their home sectors. The Guardians soon returned to his dimension, and Jordan worked with them to rebuild the fractured Corps.

Emerald Twilight & Zero Hour

In the controversial 1994 Emerald Twilight storyline in Green Lantern (vol. 3) #48-50, the villainous alien Mongul came to Earth in a plot to take advantage of the death of Superman. Jordan defeated Mongul, but not before Coast City (Jordan's former home) was destroyed. He tried to use his ring to recreate the city, but the Guardians condemned this use of the ring for personal gain and demanded that Jordan come to Oa for trial. Angered at what he saw as the Guardians' ungrateful and callous behavior, Jordan seemingly went insane and attacked Oa to seize the full power of the Central Battery. The Green Lantern Corps attempted to defend Oa, but the enraged Jordan overwhelmed them, crippling his fellow Lanterns (even cutting off the hand of Boodikka) and the Guardians. He then renounced his life as Green Lantern, adopting the name Parallax.

As Parallax, he initiated the Zero Hour Crisis in Time, attempting to rewrite history to his own liking, but he was eventually defeated by a gathering of heroes. Jordan was replaced by Kyle Rayner as the Green Lantern of Earth when Rayner came into possession of the last ring, created from the shattered remains of Jordan's. During the same storyline, Alan Scott gave up his ring upon the death of members of the original Justice Society of America, the ring later being crushed by Parallax. Alan Scott would soon renounce the name "Green Lantern" and go by solely "Sentinel." Subesequently Kyle Rayner, for some time, would remain the sole claimant to the name "Green Lantern."

Many long time fans were outraged by the decision to turn Hal into a homicidal maniac, viewing it as a betrayal of his character and a transparent attempt to cash in on the then-popular trend of re-interpreting iconic super-heroes as morally-dubious anti-heroes. The decision also received negative comparisons with the decision to replace the Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen, with his nephew, the former Kid Flash Wally West, with many fans complaining that Jordan should have been given a heroic send off like Allen. Other fans, new and old alike, welcomed this storyline, seeing it as, perhaps for the first time in many years, making interesting a character who had become stagnant (both in sales and general popularity). Good or bad, for the first time in over a decade, people were talking about Green Lantern again and sales flourished.

Spirit of Redemption

In the 1996 Final Night miniseries and crossover storyline, Jordan returned to his heroic roots, sacrificing his life to reignite the Sun (which had been extinguished by the Sun-Eater). Many super-heroes, including Superman, viewed this sacrifice as Jordan's redemption, one final heroic act. Batman was unconvinced, saying that one act couldn't make up for the evil that Hal had committed.

In the 1999 miniseries Day of Judgment, Jordan became the newest incarnation of The Spectre. * Soon after assuming this mantle, Jordan chose to bend his mission from a spirit of vengeance to one of redemption. A new Spectre series then debuted, based on this premise, however, it lasted 27 issues before being cancelled due to poor sales and continued calls amongst comics fandom to return the character to his sci-fi roots as Green Lantern.

Rebirth

DC brought back Hal Jordan as the central Green Lantern of Earth, and attempted to redeem his image with the 2004/2005 miniseries Rebirth, written by Geoff Johns, and pencilled by Ethan Van Sciver, in which it was revealed that Parallax was actually an ancient demonic parasitic entity dating back to the dawn of time, that actually was the sentient embodiment of fear, and which traveled from world to world, feeding off the fear of sentient beings, and causing entire civilizations to destroy themselves out of paranoia.

It was this creature, yellow in color, which the Guardians of the Universe imprisoned within the central Power Battery on Oa using fear's opposite energy, willpower. Parallax had lain dormant for billions of years, his true nature covered up by the Guardians to prevent anyone from trying to free it, and thus, it had eventually come to be referred to as simply "the yellow impurity." This was the reason why the rings were useless against the color yellow: Parallax weakened its power over the corresponding spectrum, and hence only someone capable of overcoming great fear could master the power ring. When the renegade Sinestro was later imprisoned in the Power Battery himself, his Qwardian yellow power ring tapped into Parallax's power and awakened it, allowing it to reach out to Hal Jordan through Jordan's own ring when Jordan was at his weakest, spending years influencing him, causing him increasing self-doubt, and even causing his hair to turn white at the temples. Parallax's control over Jordan exploded with Jordan's grief over the destruction of Coast City, and it was Parallax who was responsible for Jordan's subsequent murderous activity, his apparent killing of Sinestro (which was later revealed to be an illusion on Sinestro's part, created as the final stage of Jordan's susceptibility to the impurity in order to break his will), and Jordan's destruction of the Central Battery, which allowed Parallax to graft itself onto Jordan's soul.

It was because Parallax was now free that Kyle Rayner's own ring did not have any weakness against yellow, and the Spectre explained to Jordan that it drew in Jordan's soul in hopes of eradicating the parasitic Parallax from it. The Spirit of Vengeance eventually removed Parallax from Jordan's soul, and itself from Jordan, departing in order to move onto the next recipient of the Spirit, while Ganthet guided Jordan's soul back to his own body, which had been preserved by the remnants of the energies Jordan had used to reignite the Sun during Final Night.

His soul and thoughts finally clear for the first time in a long time (while still retaining in his memory his time as the Spectre in a third person sense), Jordan was resurrected as a mortal human again, once again taking his place as a Green Lantern, the white portions of his hair even restored to their original brown. He fought Sinestro, who revealed himself as alive for the first time since his faked death, forcing the renegade to retreat back into the antimatter universe. Together, Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, Guy Gardner and Kilowog freed Ganthet, whom Parallax had possessed after his expulsion from Jordan's soul, and imprisoned the parasite back in the Central Power Battery on Oa. Despite this re-introduction of the "yellow impurity", however, it is important to note that the power rings' weakness against yellow no longer applies, as experienced wielders are now able to consciously recognize its source, and overcome the fear associated.

DC Comics subsequently began a new Green Lantern starting with issue #1 (July 2005), with Hal Jordan once again the focal Green Lantern of the book. Trying to rebuild his life, Hal Jordan has moved to the almost deserted Coast City, which is slowly being reconstructed. He has been reinstated as a Captain in the United States Air Force, and works in the Test Pilot Program at Edwards Air Force Base. Issue #1 was #1 on the monthly sales charts, and the monthly series has consistently landed at the top of the monthly comics sales charts.

In his new title, he has faced revamped versions of his Silver Age foes Hector Hammond, The Shark and Black Hand. He and Batman teamed up to fight a new version of the Tattooed Man, at the end of which Batman finally came to terms with Jordan's return as a hero and they have started rebuilding their past friendship.

Infinite Crisis and 52

Hal helped with the decimation of the OMACs and Brother Eye. He also fought with the world's heroes against the Society, defending Metropolis. Along with Guy Gardner, Hal led the Green Lantern Corps attack against Superboy-Prime.

Along with John Stewart, Hal was involved in one of the first post-Freedom of Power Treaty confrontations. After a battle with the Great Ten & Black Adam, Stewart and Jordan were escorted to Russian airspace by the Rocket Reds.

One Year Later

As part of DC's reimagining of the entire universe, as of Green Lantern #10, the book has skipped ahead one year bringing drastic changes to Hal Jordan's life just like every other hero in the DC Universe. Over the "missing year", Hal was shipped out as part of the United States Air Force's first operational F-22 Raptor squadron, and dispatched to bomb terrorist training camps. The details of this event are vague, not even the reason for it is explained. Hal, along with fellow pilots Shane "Rocket-Man" Sellers and Jillian "Cowgirl" Pearlman, were shot down somewhere over the former Soviet Union where they were captured and held as prisoners of war for a month. Hal was unable to escape as Green Lantern because he never carries his power ring with him when he flies. Hal has repeatedly encountered the Russians and their Rocket Red patrols while chasing intergalactic criminals as Green Lantern. Because of these encounters, Russia issued a statement that they wouldn't hesitate to use force against him if Checkmate would not uphold the metahuman treaty legislation prohibiting metahumans to enter foreign air space. Hal's defense is that as the Green Lantern of Earth, he is not acting as an American when he crosses international borders. Among those threatening Hal were a new form of The Global Guardians.

Also in Green Lantern #10, while receiving a P.O.W. medal, an alien ship crashed to Earth and revealed to Hal an alien Green Lantern named Tomar-Tu which Hal had supposedly killed while under the control of Parallax. In Green Lantern #11, Hal discovers that the Green Lanterns that he had supposedly killed as Parallax were all still alive, and he and Guy Gardner go to rescue them only to be attacked by Cyborg Superman.

Elseworlds and other versions

  • In the Elseworlds storyline for the comic Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, it is revealed that Hal Jordan left Earth years previous, shunned by humanity, and decided to live in a separate dimension. In Batman's words, "He used to need a lantern. Now he is one." He is an exemplar of sheer willpower, and aids Batman in thwarting Lex Luthor.
  • Hal Jordan also stars in Age of Wonder as an army captain in Area 51. He works with a Superman who heads up a group of inventors which includes Thomas Edison, and Nikola Tesla. Superman is asked to visit Area 51 and a crash landed alien who wants to give Superman his power ring. Superman refuses, instead suggesting Hal Jordan take the ring.
  • Bruce Wayne becomes Green Lantern instead of Hal Jordan in In Darkest Knight. In this storyline, Bruce is thinking of a symbol who might strike fear in the heart of criminals (in normal continuity he would see a bat flying into the manor, which would be his inspiration to become Batman) when he's interrupted by a hologram of Abin Sur (who didn't die) telling him he was chosen to wield the ring. In this story, the Guardians also recruited Superman, Wonder Woman and Flash, who wore a 'lanternized' version of their respective outfits.
  • Al-Jor-Dhan is a fisherman who becomes a sultan with the aid of a magic lamp in the Arabian Nights based Elseworld 1001 Emerald Nights.
  • Hal Jordan also appeared in the DC/Marvel Comics Amalgam Comics series. He was merged with Marvel mainstay Iron Man to form the character Hal Stark/Iron Lantern. This character appeared in the book of the same name.
  • In Red Son, Hal Jordan was featured as a prisoner of war that spent years in a P.O.W. camp where his will was forged before becoming Green Lantern. When he did become Green Lantern, he aided in trying to overthrow Superman, but was met with defeat.
  • In The Nail, Hal Jordan was shown to be the leader of the Justice League of America, being the most powerful member since Superman never existed.
  • Hal Jordan was a main character in JLA/Avengers which featured a crossover between DC and Marvel Comics. Despite the fact that both teams traveled to both of their respective universes, this is one of the few comics featuring multiple universes that remains in (DC) continuity.

Other media

Hal Jordan made his first cartoon appearance in 1967 in an epynonymously-titled segment of The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure cartoon by Filmation. In it, he fought evil with the aid of a blue-skinned, pointed-eared sidekick Kairo, Hal's Venusian Helper. In these cartoons, Hal Jordan was voiced by Gerald Mohr.

Hal Jordan and his archnemesis Sinestro were also regulars in the Challenge of the Superfriends cartoon, which aired 1978-1979. In The Superfriends, Hal was voiced by Michael Rye. One notable episode featured a re-telling of Hal's origin in which the dying Abin Sur passes on his ring.

Around the same time, a two part mini-series of live-action films featuring The Superfriends and their villains The Legion Of Doom was produced under the title The Legends of the Superheroes which featured Howard Murphy as Hal Jordan.

In the The Animated Series episode "In Brightest Day" a version of Green Lantern is depicted that combined elements from both Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner. While physically resembling Jordan and possessing his ultra confident alpha-male personality, the character was called Kyle Rayner and worked as an artist at The Daily Planet in Metropolis. The episode had him given a power ring by the dying Abin Sur and fight renegade Green Lantern Sinestro in a power ring duel. During a fight with Sinestro on an Air Force base, Kyle is smacked into a fighter jet, that says "Col. Hal Jordan" on it.

The subsequent Justice League cartoon also included a Green Lantern that incorporated elements from Hal Jordan, this time into John Stewart. In addition to Hal's military background, several Hal Jordan stories and villains were used for the cartoon's version of John Stewart, most notably Hal's girlfriend, Star Sapphire.

In the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Once and Future Thing Part 2" Hal Jordan appears when time becomes fluid and John Stewart is changed into Hal. He introduces himself "Hal Jordan, another timeshift, I'm up to speed, carry on." Then later when the JLA and the JLU are at the coliseum, Hal changes back into John and Static says "Make up your mind!" Hal was voiced by Adam Baldwin in this episode.

Hal Jordan also appeared in a 2003 episode of the Duck Dodgers animated series entitled The Green Loontern, in which Duck Dodgers is mistakenly given a Green Lantern uniform by his dry cleaners. Donning it, he meets the Corps and fights Sinestro before meeting Hal (voiced by Kevin Smith), who is wearing Dodgers' too-small uniform.

In episode A Hero Sits Next Door of comedy show Family Guy, the 1970's Superfriends are pictured including a man in a green and black outfit with Hal Jordan's trademark hairstyle indicating he was the Green Lantern the artists based their Green Lantern on.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic also features a scientist on the underwater Manaan base named "Haal Jordan" who died in an attack by insane Selkath shortly after creating the sound wave emitter the main character uses during the course of the mission.

Bibliography

Ongoing Series

Hal Jordan first appeared in Showcase #22-24 (September 1959 – February 1960, DC Comics). After that, he was given his own series. Over the years it has been renamed, canceled, and rebooted several times. His “core” series have been:

Team Series

Hal Jordan was a founding member of the Justice League of America, which first appeared in Brave and the Bold #28-30 (February 1960 – July 1960, DC Comics).

References

  • Daniels, Les DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World’s Favorite Comic Book Heroes. Boston, MA: Bulfinch, 1995. ISBN 0821220764
  • O'Neil, Dennis "Introduction by Dennis O'Neil". Green Lantern/Green Arrow Volume One. Ed. Robert Greenberger. New York, NY: DC Comics, 2000. ISBN 1401202241
  • Giordano, Dick "Introduction by Dick Giordano". Green Lantern/Green Arrow: More Hard-Traveling Heroes. Ed. Robert Greenberger. New York, NY: DC Comics, 1993. ISBN 1563890860
  • Lawrence, Christopher "Neal Adams". Wizard. Sept. 2003.
  • Casey, Todd "Green Mile". Wizard. Nov. 2004.

External links

  • Alan Kistler's Profile On: GREEN LANTERN - Comic book historian Alan Kistler gives this in-depth three-part article on the full general/comprehensive history of the Green Lanterns, from the original stories of Alan Scott all the way down through Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner, with discussions on their enemies, the characters that inspired them and the stories that were planned but never happened. Lots of image scans.
  • H.E.A.T., Hal's Emerald Advancement Team, one of the most vocal and proactive Hal Jordan fan clubs
  • Doug's Green Lantern Cover Index, a collection of Green Lantern cover art thumbnails
  • The Continuity Pages: Green Lantern, a listing of all Green Lantern-related issues.

Fictional aviators Fictional mass murderers | Fictional time travelers | Heroes who turned evil Green Lantern Corps members | Green Lantern villains Justice League members

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Hal Jordan".

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