Happy Rebirthday! (The First Day of the Rest of my Life)

27 October 2004.  Although I didn’t realise it at the time, this date heralded the biggest world changing event in my life outside of my wedding day and the births of my children.  For it was on this day that DC Comics released Green Lantern: Rebirth #1, the first issue in a six issue story recounting Hal Jordan’s return to the role of Green Lantern. My life and the long-suffering patience of my family can be divided into two parts – ‘Before Rebirth’ and ‘After Rebirth’.  Before Rebirth I was a young twenty something with a wide range of hobbies and interests, one of which happened to be reading comics.  In fact, I enjoying reading standard text novels far more and I got a lot of my superhero fix from reading novelizations of comic book stories such as Death of Superman.  If anyone asked, my favourite heroes where Batman and Punisher “because those guys were dark and they didn’t need superpowers to get the job done”.  Then Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver came along and nonchalantly tossed a phenomenon right there in my lap.  From that moment forwards I have been an obsessive.  Obsessed with comic books in general, and more importantly, obsessed with all things Green Lantern.  Check out some of the other posts on this blog if you don’t believe me!

The funny thing is, Hal Jordan isn’t even my favourite Green Lantern.   He isn’t even my favourite Green Lantern from Earth (that honour goes to John Stewart), or indeed my second favourite (Kyle Rayner).  But the book itself unleashed something within me that cannot be quelled or sedated.  I’m not going to try and tell you the story contained with the pages of Green Lantern: Rebirth.  I know my fellow GL blogger Myron Rumsey of The Blog of Oa intends to publish a celebratory post today as well.  Myron is a die-hard Hal fan and I admire his writing and his blog very much and expect he has provided an exceptional recap of the book that I can piggyback on.  So stop, go read his post and make sure you come back here when you are finished.  Ok then… welcome back.

What I do want to tell you about is why Rebirth lit the touch paper within me that quickly became an everlasting green flame.  First I have to tackle the art.  When it comes to getting under the skin of Green Lantern, Ethan Van Sciver is untouchable.  There are actually a few artists out there who I probably like more, Ivan Reis being one of them.  But Reis nor anybody else could have done justice to this book like Van Sciver did.  I can imagine Geoff Johns’ receiving his artist’s pages through the mail and thinking “Wow, I kind of thought I knew what I was trying to say here but Ethan just nailed it better than I had even imagined possible”.  Let me home in on one specific concept to demonstrate what I mean.   With Hal back in the green there are now four Green Lanterns from Earth.  In another creative team’s hands they could all be said to wield the same power – ring energy is ring energy, right?  No.  As Johns tells us, each Lantern’s power is influenced and enhanced by his own personality.  It is all very well to write this in a script but Van Sciver went to town on the concept and brought it to life in a way that I think has not been replicated since.  John Stewart is an architect, a designer, he builds his constructs in minute detail.  Guy Gardner is a wild force and his constructs burn and flare just as he does.  Without even reading the narrative textboxes we already know from the art alone how each GL thinks.  What fuels them.  How they look at the world.  To capture that emotion in such a unique way is, I think, one reason why Rebirth should be considered some of the best art that comic books have to offer.

And if that weren’t enough there is always this…

…and this…

…and this…

…and this.

So that’s the art.  But, let’s face it, Green Lantern: Rebirth would not exist at all if it were not for the brilliant and unusual mind of Geoff Johns.  My obsession is entirely borne out this writer’s own obsession.  He opened me up to a history that I had never really considered before.  I started reading Green Lantern on and off through the Kyle Rayner era.  Kyle was my guy, he was young and essentially cool but with a touch of the Peter Parkers about him.  I was well aware that he was the latest in a long legacy but I didn’t really give it much thought.  With Johns arrival on the book I could think of nothing else.  I know it has been said elsewhere but it should not be underestimated the risk that Geoff Johns took when he brought Hal back.  He could have gone down the traditional comic book route of retconning all that came before out of existence.  He didn’t.  Johns took every bit of mythology from every era of GL.  Golden-Age, Silver-Age, Bronze-Age, Modern-Age.  He took them all and threw them all into the mixing pot.  He gave it a stir, blended the ingredients together a little, and poured out the glorious creation that is Green Lantern: Rebirth.  And not only did he manage to hold on to the essence of the last 60 odd years of the character’s portrayal in comics and bring back the most famous iteration of said character in a move that many thought was impossible; hindsight shows that he also sewed the seeds for the next ten years of his unrivalled story-telling.  Wonderful stories like The Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night have their origins right here in Rebirth.

I’ve written other blogs about how much I like to scrutinise both the real and imagined history of Green Lantern.  It appeals to the geek in me.  Is there a hardcore comic book fan that doesn’t spend hours deliberating over continuity and who begat who, killed who and brought who and who back to life?  It was Johns that opened my eyes to the endless possibilities that Green Lantern mythos contained for just this activity.  Sure I’d read quite a bit of Kyle’s run and had come across Hal and the rest here and there, mostly via Justice League but I hadn’t sat down and blown my mind with a billion years of continuity.  And I hadn’t respected how much ground Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps had covered, even in the last twenty or thirty years, until Geoff Johns tied it all up in to one neat little package for me.

So that’s the history bit.  Green Lantern: Rebirth has it in spades and I love it.  But that’s not the main attraction.  The real reason I hold Rebirth as one of the finest comic books ever written is the feeling it gives me every time I read it.  The characters contained within these pages are the very definition of ‘superhero’.  In the face of the untold adversity they stand tall.  In the shadow of evil they burn brightly.  In the space of these six issues the Green Lanterns come together to combat two of the greatest enemies they have ever had to contend with, namely Parallax and Sinestro.  They show valour akin to knights of old.  Strength worthy of ancient Greek titans.  Ferocity reminiscent of Viking warriors.  And an unswayable determination matched only by mighty modern champion himself, Superman.  In short, the heroes of GL:Rebirth  are truly the stuff of legend.  And let me assure you, as if there was any doubt, the bad guys get well and truly beaten!

There are a dozens of scenes I could point to illustrate my meaning more clearly.  Hal Jordan battling for his soul against Parallax and Spectre at the same time as both entities fought to possess him will always stick out in my mind.  Green Arrow donning a power ring and mustering all of his will to construct a single arrow of green energy and drive it into the chest of Sinestro is another.  And if my respect for Green Arrow was raised measurably through this act, my respect for Green Lanterns and the effort it takes to use the ring every day was raised a thousand fold.  Guy Gardner purging his Vuldarian DNA.  John Stewart standing up for his beliefs against a disapproving Justice League and taking down the aforementioned Superman with a pinpoint accurate beam of energy.  The list goes on and on.

As well as establishing the individual traits that make each character remarkable, all of these vignettes share a common subtext which can be boiled down to two words, ‘The Corps’.  This was a concept that had been essentially missing from all the Green Lantern titles I had read in recent years.  I’d read team books like Justice League, or the more nurturing Teen Titans.  I’d followed team-ups and crossovers were allies band together against a mutual foe.  But I had never read a book that stirred within me a sense of unity like I experienced reading Rebirth.  This was something I wanted to be a part of and to read more of.  Geoff Johns understood that Green Lanterns aren’t just a legacy of characters sharing the same name.  For all of their differences they are bound as closely as any blood-tie.  And together they will face down anybody.  His Lanterns don’t reel off their oath in secret, charging their rings in some hidden broom cupboard.  They roar it proudly in the field of battle, standing side by side with their fellow Corpsmen and revelling in the association.  “Beware our power…”

Frankly, I’ll never look back.  Hundreds of unwritten issues awaited me.  Hours of trawling back-issue bins.  Literally thousands of pounds of hardcovers, trade papers backs, variant covers, T-Shirts, prints, cups, caps, figures, belt buckles and DVDs featured in my newly discovered life. …And one crazy little blog that I am pretty damn proud of!   On 27 October 2004 a bright green light was switched on and it has been shining over my universe ever since.

Oh, and that guy Batman I professed to love so much, the dark shadow of superhero comics?  Well…

Beware their power, Green Lantern's light!

Lanterns, Lanterns Everywhere...

So you love Green Lantern (and let's face it, why wouldn't you?) but you stepped away for a while, or you are daunted by the long history of the GLU, and you don't know where to jump back on.

At Flodo's Page we are always here to help a willing rookie overcome great fear and there has never been a better time to be a Lantern fan because, as the title suggests, right now in DC Comics there are Lanterns, Lanterns Everywhere!

Here's the low-down you'll need to find

the GL book that is right for you:

Green Lantern - The mainstay of the world's favourite comic book franchise, this title follows the fortune of Silver-Age hero Hal Jordan as he struggles to come to terms with leading the largest police force in the universe (GL is very closely tied to Green Lantern Corps at the moment and I strongy recommend the two are read together).

Green Lantern Corps - Fan fave John Stewart gets down and dirty in the trenches, inspiring the next generation of Lanterns to carry the torch (lantern!) at a time when their reputation has been severely tarnished.  They have to put it all behind them and get on with the job of saving the galaxy.  This is the book that puts the T-E-A-M in team.

Green Lantern: New Guardians - White Lantern Kyle Rayner explores the cosmos, righting wrongs with a bunch of Guardians that had been locked in a box for half a billion years tagging along behind him.  Together they face moral dilemmas and ask each other, "What does it all mean?".  Think James T. Kirk with the power of a god.

Red Lanterns - Guy Gardner has switched sides and now leads a rag-tag gang of Red rebels who are just beginning to realise there is more to life than spewing naplam over people all day long.  This book has been a revelation since Charles Soule took over writing duties and is HIGHLY recommended to anyone who likes their comics fun and action-packed.

Sinestro - The most recent addition to the Lantern stable, the book (as the name suggests) follows the adventures of the baddest ass-est villain in the DCU.  Sinestro is a malefactor on a mission, so if anti-heroes are your thing this is the book for you!

Larfleeze - Coming to the end of a 12 issue run, the Glutton of Greed rollercoasters his way across the stars battling gods for ownership rights to one very reluctant butler.  Written by Giffen and DeMatteis with the same zany tongue-and-cheek humour they brought to Justice League International in the '80s, this is one for the comedy lovers.  And the whole adventure is soon to be available in trade!

Justice League of America / Justice League United - Following the fallout of the war with Relic there is only one Green Lantern permitted to remain on planet Earth, and that Lantern is Geoff Johns' own original creation, Simon Baz.  Baz appeared initially in the JLA and teasers promise he will be cropping up in JLU shortly.

Supergirl - What happens when the strongest teenager alive throws a mega-strop?  She gets recruited into the Red Lantern Corps of course!  Penned by GL stalwart Tony Beddard, I can't recommend this crossover enough.  The title of the arc alone, "Red Daughter of Krypton", is enough to get the heart pounding and send adventure-lovers racing to their local comic book store.

Justice League 3000 - Another one from Giffen, this book is not short on laughs either but has a much darker tone than Larfleeze.  The League in this book are somehow brought back from the dead 1000 years into the future and, worst luck, their powers are on the blink.   Hal Jordan is slinging a magic cloak instead of a ring and becomes troubled by the unwanted affections of a tempestous teen with superpowers beyond measure.  It is not going to end well!

Scribblenauts Unmasked - The heroes of the excellent video game join forces with the heroes of the DC universe to kick some tail and look very cute doing it.  Issues #3 and #4 feature a rollicking battle between Green Lantern Corps and a dastardly team-up of Red and Yellow Lanterns.  Chuckles and a great big dollop of action ensue.  The book has something for everyone.  Great for the kids but with enough story and DC cameos to keep the geekiest mums and dads entertained too.

Smallville: Lantern - Taking up the story where the Smallville TV show left off, Clark Kent becomes attached to a ring that he cannot get rid of and has to deal with a whole new set of powers as a result.  Features a full array of our favourite Lanterns including John Stewart as the current GL of Earth.  Fans of the show can easily dip into this 4 issue mini-series without having to have read any of the preceeding Smallville comic books.  Well worth your hard earned pennies!

New 52: Futures End - What happens when you take a Green Lantern and mix him up with a power-mad cyborg-making super-computer?  Futures End... obviously!  The latest weekly comic from DC Comics is not to be missed.  Horror fans in particular should take note.

Earth 2 - A Green Lantern with a difference, the Golden-Age hero that started it all is re-imagined for the New 52.  Alan Scott fights for the survival of a parallel Earth empowered by the very planet itself.  A beautiful book with a carefully crafted story and unrivalled art offering up a host of classic characters as you have never seen them before.

With all these choices on the shelf everyone can put a little Lantern in their lives.  So go on fanterns, shine the light for the GLU and I can promise you'll have a lot of fun while you're doing it!

Green Lantern: Secret Origins - Revision or Retcon?

Without a shadow of a doubt Geoff Johns is the name most famously associated with Green Lantern since Deny O'Neil and Neal Adams had their controversial run together on the title in the 1970s.  Johns is credited with producing a series that is singularly respectful of the entire mythos that came before it.  He managed to unite Lantern fans of every era, which is no small feat considering the fall out between Hal Jordan fans and supporters of his replacement, Kyle Rayner, after the Emerald Twilight saga.

Two things are clear from the outset of Johns' long relationship with Green Lantern; 1. he knew his stuff, and 2. he had a plan.  To say Johns knew his GL history is an understatement.  He references back to the Silver-Age and the very earliest appearances of Hal Jordan.  Substantial elements of the character's recounted origins can also be attributed to the Emerald Dawn (vol. 1 and 2) mini-series' penned by Keith Giffen and Gerard Jones in 1990/91.  And while Johns is clearly a Hal fan he is shown a great deal of respect by the comic book community for preserving the back story of Kyle that played out through the 90s.  Even more significantly (despite being publicly lambasted by its original creator) he hangs much of the current mythos around a short story by Alan Moore that appeared in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2 .

Which brings me in a neat little segue to this, the chosen subject of my second contribution to the Super-Blog Team-Up.  This time round, as you'll already know if you've been reading the posts of my uber talented fellow Super-Bloggers, we have elected to tackle the subject of retroactive continuity.  The longer a comic book character exists, the more likely it is that their history will be rewritten in order to tell original, compelling stories.  How many times could you read about a rocket leaving the orbit of an exploding planet with a lone baby as it's only occupant if creators just retold the same story over and over again, panel for panel?  Yet the origin of Superman is one of the most well-known of all comic book stories. While one key point remains the same, the events leading up to the super child's launch, the manner of his journey, the nature of the very rocket he travelled in have been tweaked and successfully re-imagined many, many times.

Perhaps less well known is the story of an Earthman's induction into the intergalactic peace-keeping force that is the Green Lantern Corps.  Even so, in the 55 odd years since Hal first burst onto the scene in the pages of Showcase #22 there have been various accounts of the dying alien who bestowed his ring of power on a fearless test pilot.  Geoff Johns set out to tell the tale in unparallelled detail across a seven issue arc of Green Lantern called, somewhat unsurprisingly, Green Lantern: Secret Origins.  In this feature I consider the question, 'Is Secret Origins a retcon in the truest sense of the word? Or, given Geoff Johns fabled reverence for all that has come before, is the book instead better viewed as a revision of GL stories past?'  As I began my exploration of the title I wondered to myself if Johns deserves his reputation as the man who left history intact.

It would be very easy here to get lost in a sea of high concept BS. Does Secret Origins reflect the spirit of it's predecessors?  Does the comic maintain its integrity as an original work?  Instead I thought it would be a lot more fun to geek out on some comics!  And there is nothing a comic fan loves more than over analysing ever minute detail of their favourite publications.  In fact I have a feeling the post is going to have more in common with a child's 'Spot the Difference' puzzle than some of the quality literary dissertations on our sequential art medium.

So let's have a look at the evidence.  "Exhibit ,1 Your Honour".  In the aforementioned Showcase #22 and in Green Lantern #1 (vol. 2) released the following year, Hal's first contact with his emerald hued future took place while sitting in flight simulator cockpit.  The wingless (virtually 'planeless') machine is scooped up bodily by green energy emanating from fatally injured Abin Sur's power ring.  It's not a sexy image by any means but there is something enjoyable in the sight of a future cosmic hero being held aloft in a giant metal contraption.  Johns forgoes this original script choice for the more photogenic flying man sans bathtub.

I like to think he and artist Ivan Reis make a nod to it in the panel immediately before the ring's entrance with Jordan sitting in the wreckage of an old plane that has been well and truly grounded.  I could be clutching at straws here, of course.  VERDICT - RETCON.

Hal's heroknapping leads us swiftly to the often asked question, "What the heck was Abin doing in a spaceship in the first place?"  A Green Lantern's power ring enables its wearer to survive flights across deep space unaided.  There should be no reason for the unlucky GL to have required a craft to transport him.  For many years the comics were silent on the matter.  It took Alan Moore to come up with the definitive answer in his short story, 'Tygers'.  Moore's theory was that Abin Sur received a dark prophecy from Qull, a member of a villainous group called The Five Inversions who were held captive by the Corps on the planet Ysmault.  The prophecy claimed that Abin's power ring would fail him a a critical moment.  The ship was a backup plan, much like Simon Baz's gun is in the GL universe today.  So far, so good.  Geoff Johns lifts directly from Moore's story having the failure of the tragic alien's ring foretold by Qull.  Even the ship itself is reminiscent of the one designed by Kevin O'Neil in 'Tygers'.  If we stopped the tape here we'd be able to call this one VERDICT - REVISION.

But when the Green Lantern got into that ship and left Ysmault, the two histories begin to spin in very different directions.  Much like in Showcase #22, 'Tygers' sees the ship pass through a cloud of yellow radiation that neutralises both the mechanics of the vessel and it's occupants ability to wield his power ring.  The moral is that had Abin Sur put his faith in his ring alone he might have been able to test for the radiation zone before he entered.  It's not a particularity definitive conclusion if you ask me.  Geoff Johns takes things from a maybe to a definitely.  The Lantern did not leave the prison planet by himself.  Armed with the prophecy of the Blackest Night, Abin took one of the Inversions with him hoping to extract further information.  The consequences of his foolhardy decision were disastrous.  A Green Lantern's ring is powered by the strength of the wearer's own willpower.  With Abin expecting the ring to betray him at any time, the will he normally commanded had begun to ebb away.

His construct confining the Inversion, Atrocitus, was weak.   Atrocitus was able to break free of his manacles and attack his captor, causing the starship to crash in the process.  In Johns' version of events it was still yellow that ultimately brought about Abin's downfall but this time it was the yellow fear within his own soul instead of any external physical catalyst.   VERDICT - RETCON.

One of the most important relationships explored in Secret Origins is the first contact between Hal and his arch nemesis, Thaal Sinestro.  The villain was introduced as one of Green Lantern's earliest Silver-Age foes in Green Lantern #7.  His origin story was laid out in detail during that very first appearance.  He had been considered the greatest Lantern of them all before a thirst for power swayed him from the path of justice.  Hal was tasked by his masters, the Guardians of the Universe, to defeat Sinestro and this was the circumstances under which they first met.  ...So that was one version of events, one that remained in continuity for a great many years. 

Then came Emerald Dawn.  And with it a time line that saw Jordan recruited during the Korugarian's tenure as a Lantern.  In fact, Sinestro was set the task of training the newest GL of sector 2814 in law and, more importantly, order.  Geoff Johns took the opportunity to tease at this concept in more depth.  Green Lantern volume 4 was his plaything for nigh on decade and giving him plenty of opportunity to work out what makes Sinestro tick.  Under his pen the infamous Corpsman was sent to Earth for a very different reason, to investigate Abin Sur's death.  But Sinestro being Sinestro, he felt obliged to try and educate Jordan along the way.  The thought that someone as reckless as Hal should wield a power ring at all irked him immensely.  There isn't a version of the history imaginable were the veteran does not insist on schooling the impudent rookie on life as he sees it.  Not that Hal makes for a very receptive student!  VERDICT - REVISION.

Emerald Dawn is responsible for introducing another theme that has become central to Hal Jordan's character.  It is the very reason he "can overcome great fear".  As a young boy he worshipped his father, Martin Jordan, another fearless test pilot.  Witnessing his father's death in a plane crash changed his life forever.  In a situation where many would retreat from the way of life that had cruelly taken his idol the young Hal instead pushed himself to emulate the elder Jordan and confront his deepest fear head on.

In Emerald Dawn Martin's death was all too avoidable.  His plane had taken damage and his flight crew urged him to bail out.  The pilot's bravado and self-confidence pushed him to try and land the plane in one piece but it was not to be.  The same attitude can be seen as the root of Hal's own misery in ED when he landed himself in jail on drunk driving charges.  Secret Origins opens with a similar scene of devastation but in this version Geoff Johns sees fit to put a more heroic spin on events.  Martin Jordan's fighter jet again develops faults but he is urged to keep it in the air in front of observing investors.  Realising the plane will go down in any case Jordan sacrifices his own safety to guide it away from the watching crowds thus ensuring the loss of life was his alone.

As before, it is the characteristics of these final moments that are passed on to his son, fundamentally shaping the boys future.  VERDICT - REVISION.

Told across Green Lantern #5 (vol. 2) and Justice League of America #14 (vol. 1) the story of Hector Hammond is a very interesting one.  Portrayed as super-cool to the point of slimy, Hammond has wealth, power and the attentions of one Carol Ferris, sometime paramour of both Hal Jordan and Green Lantern (GL is famous for causing romantic competition for his own alter ego back in the Silver-Age).  The secret behind his success transpires to be a radioactive meteorite he had stumbled across.  He used the space rock to evolve four scientists with futuristic intellects and forced them to invent things for him and to do his bidding against their will.  When the emerald gladiator foiled his plans he turned the meteorite on himself to boost his own mental abilities far beyond that of a normal human.

His Silver-Age personality is  painstakingly recreated in Secret Origins.  As the reader we are left with no doubt that this is the same character as appeared in the original comics.  He even has a brief liaison with Carol before she thinks better off it.  It is only the circumstances of his latest incarnation that have changed.  Hector is now a aeronautics consultant called in to examine the remnants of Abin Sur's ill-fated vessel.  As a result of his own arrogance he is exposed to the fuel source of ship which is, of course, a radioactive meteor and he immediately develops telepathic abilities.  In both retellings an unfortunate side effect of his exposure comes in the form of a grotesquely enlarged cranium.  On the back of how faithful Geoff Johns' take on Hector's character was to his Silver-Age introduction I would love to mark this one up as a revision but the actual narrative is so wildly different that I have to admit there can be only one possible outcome.  VERDICT - RETCON.

The last story element of Green Lantern: Secret Origins that I want to look at in some detail is the introduction of Black Hand.  Readers of my Black Hand pictorial blog will be aware that the Silver-Age depiction of William Hand was that of a clever crook with a love of knowledge, planning, inventions and, for some unknown reason, proverbs.  He created a device that could absorb Green Lantern's power and use it against him.  Another little referenced but very interesting point in the context of our discussion is that he was the odd one out in an otherwise honest, upstanding family.  In later years, particularly the 80s and 90s, Black Hand became a pastiche of himself.  A figure to be derided.  A villain who was destined to be defeated by the hero of the hour.  Given that William Hand became the single greatest threat to the Green Lantern Corps' existence during the Geoff Johns run it is a safe bet to call this one in advance as VERDICT - RETCON.

In SO Hand is the youngest son of a funeral home director.  He is once again at odds with the rest of his family but not because of criminal leanings.  This William Hand has a morbid fascination with death that is just plain creepy.  He is central to the prophecy that Abin Sur learnt from Qull concerning Blackest Night for he contains within him "the doorway to absolute darkness".  The device that Silver-Age Black Hand built to absorb the Green Lantern ring power has been retconned into a creation designed by Atrocitus to pull the Black energy out of William.  It only fell into the boy's possession during a scuffle between the Inversion and his GL opponents.  That Black Hand would later turn the device against the Lanterns was an unforeseen consequence.  As I've said already, VERDICT - RETCON.

All in all, the results have been wonderfully inclusive.  Secret Origins is a bridge of sorts between old and new.  It was, of course, written as a vehicle to further develop Johns' Green Lantern saga.  In this sense it is a prequel to the DC universe crossover event Blackest Night.  It is as much about the origins of Black Hand and Atrocitus as anything else, explaining how their past fits into the big picture.  But it is so much more than that.  The book is Geoff Johns' love letter to the past.  It has a timeless quality that feels like 50 years of continuity have been carefully preserved for future generations.  Most retroactive storytelling stamps all over the past with big hob nail boots.  Forget what you thought you knew because it didn't happen.  Green Lantern: Secret Origins has a unique trick of gently implanting on your memory, just for a moment,  a feeling that the history of the characters we encounter within its pages has always been this way.

****

So now you’ve read issue #2 of this spectacular SUPER-BLOG TEAM-UP crossover event, go check out these other amazing blogs to learn some more about the real stories behind the retcon...

Links (going live throughout Wed, 19 Feb):

#1 Silver Age Sensations: The Red, White, and Blue Silver Age Avenger!

#2 Flodo’s Page: Green Lantern: Secret Origins - Revision or Retcon?

#3 Longbox Graveyard: Retcon: Roy Thomas And Earth-2

#4 Between The Pages: Good Cowboys Always Shoot First

#5 Bronze Age Babies: Was The Vision Really Carrying A Torch?

#6 Superior Spider-Talk: Peter Parker: Child of Radioactivity or Mysticism?

#7 Superhero Satellite: RETCON: Crisis on Continuity Earths

#8 Fantastiverse: Age of the Retcon: Bucky 4.0 - The Winter Soldier

#9 Chasing Amazing: Brand New Day and the Retcon of Harry Osborn

Construct of the Week #29

5 panels, 5 constructs - that's how you use Green Lantern!

Construct: Himalayan Scavenger Kit

Generated by: Kyle Rayner

Appeared in: JLA Annual #2, 1998

The Day They Walked Away: Green Lantern!

Super-Blog Team-Up #3 of 6


The act of reading a comic book more often than not is a solitary experience.  And for many enthusiasts, myself included, there is not a whole lot opportunity to share our favourite pastime as we go about our daily lives.  Apart from a few brief conversations on the weekly trip to my LCS or a fairly one-sided exchange with my loving and very patient better half I don’t really have anyone in my day to day that I can geek out with.  So it pleases me no end to be part of a thriving online comic book community instead. We fanboys and fangirls love to hang out on the interwebs.  Check out the sidebar on this page for links to some of my favourite blog sites and podcasts!

 

And so it is that the Super-Blog Team-Up came about.  @Charlton_Hero, the Professor X to this motley crew, gathered together a bunch of bloggers with a shared passion for the Silver Age and comics of yesteryear to suggest we combine our mighty powers in a project that would span across all of our blogsites.  The goal was to find a theme that united our various interests and to write about it in a globe spanning crossover event (if you’ll excuse the aptly borrowed comic book parlance).  For each of us a different hero or team, or indeed time-period, lies at the centre of our passion so it wasn’t easy to come up with a suitable topic.  Luckily @LBoxGraveyard (who is probably Cyclops in our X-Men analogy but I see him more as the ever wise Beast) hit on the magic formula.

 

“What is the one thing that any long-running hero worth his or her salt has done at some time or other?”   The answer is, “Quit”.  Throw in the towel.  Hang up the cape.  Dump the spandex costume in a back alley trashcan and declare, “No more!”

 

Which is why, without further ado, I want to tell you all about the time that Green Lantern turned his back on the hero life and told the Guardians they could “Take this ring and shove it…”

 

Dave Gibbons infamous cover to Green Lantern #181 (vol. 2) depicts a furious Hal Jordan hurling his power ring to the floor and roaring at his immortal masters, “I’m tired of being your whipping boy!!  I quit!!”  As is so often the case, the cover of #181 does not quite ring true to the narrative that takes place in the issue itself where a calmer but still impassioned GL struggles between the devotion he’s feels towards his duty as the protector of Sector 2814 and his devotion to the woman he loves.  It may surprise you to learn, however, that this issue published in 1984 with Len Wein in the writer’s chair was not the start of the Hal Jordan “I quit” saga - not by a long shot.

Rightly speaking the story begins all the way back in Green Lantern #148 (vol. 2), dated January 1982, under the watchful eye of legendary scribe Marv Wolfman.  And it does not reach its conclusion until Steve Englehart’s Green Lantern #200 (vol. 2), cover date May 1986.  Joe Staton is the artist for both issues but he was off the Green Lantern books completely for some four years in between times!  The final arc of the piece is directly linked to the outcome of DC Comics’ historic crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths, itself a yearlong running story also penned by Marv Wolfman and published in 1985/86.

 

As an ace test pilot, a man of action and a handsome fellow to boot, it comes as no surprise that Hal Jordan has had more than a few ladies in his life over the years but fans will attest to the fact that none of them could hold a candle to Carol Ferris.  Carol is Hal’s ‘meant to be’.  His Lois Lane, if you will.  But, to quote Gene Pitney, true love never runs smooth.  From her earliest depictions Carol has been shown as a strong willed business woman who made Hal jump through more than a few hoops as he tried to make a romantic impression upon her.  In GL #148 an alien race called the Ungarans beseech Green Lantern to rescue their home planet from certain destruction.  The Ungarans are particularly notable as this was the race that Hal Jordan’s predecessor, Abin Sur, came from.  Unfortunately Hal was already preoccupied with the comparatively minor threat of espionage that threatened to destroy Ferris Aircraft leaving Carol and her father penniless.  In conflict with his sacred oath he turns his back on the helpless space travellers in order to deal with his girlfriend’s problems instead.  The Guardians of the Universe have been monitoring all that has transpired and are not best pleased at their Corpsman’s wanton dereliction of his duty and so they summon him to Oa to confront him.

The dialogue in this sequence is very telling.  Hal is unusually callous in his outlook, presumably as a result of his infatuation for Carol and his desire to protect her, even if it is only her business interests that are in jeopardy.  The Guardians call him out on it, “Your problems are all meaningless, Earthman, they deal with troubles in commerce.  Personal gains mean nothing to us!  Our Corps was created to save worlds!  The needs of the Ungara affect millions, yet you, Green Lantern of Sector 2814 - you refused their pleas to merely appease the outward needs of a few?  You are neglect in your duties, Green Lantern of Earth!  You are arrogant in the selective use of your powers!”  All the while, Carol begs the Guardians to release the GL from his duties so he can help her troubled company.  When put so plainly even Hal cannot ignore the obviousness of the situation but he does not show regret for the decision he made:  “N… No, he’s right.  I swore my duty to the Corps… I have to go when I am called.  But I won’t split my loyalties in the future.  I love you Carol – too much to ever risk losing you again.  So I’ll go to Oa, I’ll help solve whatever problem there is on Ungara – and then I’m going to hang up my power ring… forever.  Let someone else be Green Lantern!  I’ve had it!”

 

And that was the end of issue #148.  But, as I have already mentioned, Jordan did not quit the Corps until issue #181.  So just what happened in the meantime?  The Guardians sent Hal to Ungara and during the course of saving an entire planet from destruction he mellowed a little.  He realised how important his calling as a Green Lantern was and he accepted the he was wrong to have ignored plight of the Ungarans.  Faced with a serious breach of their directives but also well aware of the Earthman’s outstanding record, the Guardian ruled that he should serve a penance which would require that he could not set foot on his home planet again for a full year.  Carol was devastated when her hero declared his love for her before taking off to make his new home in the stars.

 

At 20 issues Hal’s yearlong exile actually took up the best part of two years in real time.  The stories told over this period were both fantastic cosmic adventures and vivid lessons in morality.  I like to think of them as the ‘Star Trek years’ because of how reminiscent they are of Captain James T. Kirk’s adventures in the original 60s series. His Oan masters sent him on missions that would challenge his perceptions of the world.  Under their carefully orchestrated tutelage he learnt about diversity and the value of life in whatever form he might find it.  Also during this time, Hal being Hal, he rescued a beautiful redhead called Dorine from a band of evil tyrants dubbed the Headmen.  Dorine fell for him instantly and it wasn’t long before he’d swept her off to the space ship that he was domiciled on during his exile.  Although nothing is said explicitly I think it is safe to assume that she wasn’t only there in the capacity of his travelling companion!  But when his year was up Hal sped back to Earth and as fast as he ring could carry him.  He was back in Carol’s arms by nightfall while poor Dorine didn’t even rate an editor’s footnote in a filler panel.
 

 

While Hal was away doing his space thing, the lives of the people he had left behind continued to unfold within the pages of Green Lantern.  The man behind all of Ferris Aircraft’s troubles, Congressman Bloch, continued his plotting.  Not long after GL arrived back to take up his post as the company’s star pilot (and it’s boss’s leading man) the congressman pulled his most dastardly stroke yet.  He hired the villains known as the Demolition Team to turn the aircraft company’s office and research buildings into so much rubble.  The timing of the attack could not have been worse for the Hal as the Guardians chose this moment to summon him across the galaxy to Omnicron Ceti IV, a normally beautiful world that was suddenly wracked with planet-wide earthquakes.  Bound by his oath and hard-learned lessons the protector of Sector 2814 took to the stars at warp speed and so was forced to abandon his friends to their fate.

 

 

 

Oddly, even without their resident Green Lantern on call, Ferris Aircraft found they still had a super-powered being who could come to their defence - a violent individual who introduced himself as The Predator.  He dispatched with Demolition Team in no time and even managed to steal a kiss from Carol Ferris before making his exit.  Although slightly confused, Carol certainly couldn’t be described as looking offended at having her personal space invaded in this manner!  By the time Hal made it back home the battle was over and the only assistance he could offer was in the form of a giant green fire extinguisher construct to quash the last remnants of fire flickering amongst the rubble.

 

 

Carol’s reaction to her boyfriend’s return marks the tipping point in the wider story of Hal resigning from the Green Lantern Corps.  She is furious that the hero had left her in her hour of need.  Holding the ring-slinger responsible for all of the destruction her father’s company had suffered, she confronts him with an ultimatum (and a stinging slap across the cheek), “No more buts, Hal!  Either have the courtesy to be here for me when I need you –or set me free to live a normal life again!  It’s that lousy ring or me Hal!  The choice is yours!”  Somehow, despite all that he’d been through Hal found himself back where he’d started, forced to choose between the love of his life and his duty as a Green Lantern.

Turning to the superhero community for advice doesn’t make things any clearer.  A typically cavalier Green Arrow commends his friend to risk it all for love.  He reminds Hal there are 3599 other Lanterns in the universe but only one Carol Ferris.  The Flash is up to his neck in woes of his own and sits on the fence while Superman, ever the idealist, holds that those with power must endure personal sacrifices for the greater good.  In the end though Hal Jordan the man wins out over the Hal Jordan the hero and so it is with a heavy but determined heart that he sets off for Oa to deliver his decision to the Guardians of the Universe.  His closest friends in the Corps head him off on route and try talk around with little success.  Len Wein deserves credit for knowing his Green Lantern history with Katma Tui unleashing her anger on Hal for turning his back on the Corps “for the love a of woman”.  Way back in Green Lantern #30 published in 1964 the shoe was on the other foot and Jordan convinced Katma to leave her own fiancé in order to pursue her future with the GLC.  The apology that follows seems a little weak and understandably fails to redress the balance.
 

 

The opposition from his friends dispels any lingering doubts as Dave Gibbons’ image of Hal throwing open the doors of the Citadel on Oa makes it clear to the reader that this is really going to happen.  Within three emotion charged pages the work of a quarter of a century is undone and, for now at least, the superheroes of Earth can no longer count a Green Lantern among their number.  The issue ends on an uncertain note as Carol and her man are reunited.  She begs him not to hate her and he comforts her at once, “I could never hate you!  The choice was mine to make, and I know I’ve made the right one…”  But when the scene pulls back to reveal a wondrous vision of the starry night broken only by a small thought bubble rising above the young lovers, “Haven’t I?”, I can imagine Lantern fans across the ages screaming as one, “Noooo!  Of course you haven’t...!!”



Before long John Stewart is recruited to take over as the Guardians’ representative in Sector 2814 but this does not mean that Hal is forgotten about.  Green Lantern continues to follow the trials and tribulations of the folks at Ferris Aircraft where John has conveniently been taken on as an architect to rebuild after the Demolition Team attack.  With The Predator continually leaping to Carol’s defence unbidden and being more than a little forward in his advances towards her, the pilot turns detective to track down his violent rival.  Here the story takes a startling turn.  It transpires that  The Predator and Carol are two parts of the same being and that being is, of course, Star Sapphire.  For those who joined Green Lantern with Geoff Johns it should be pointed out that Star Sapphire has been a villain in the GL mythos for years.  When the Zamarons wanted to take a new queen they brainwashed Carol Ferris with a gem that emits purple energy beams.  Star Sapphire wanted to take Hal for her consort and for some reason decided the best way to do this would be to repeatedly attempt to kill him.  This surely is the definition of ‘tough love’ in its purest form!
 

 

The Predator and Carol are combined and once again the personality of Star Sapphire takes over.  A rather odd thing happens after that in my opinion.  Maybe it is a result of having lost the ring and being resigned to his status as an Earthbound human but when Star Sapphire returns to Zamora Hal just lets her go.  He doesn’t react as if this is a brainwashed Carol acting against her will and in need of rescue.  It seems instead he is reconciled to the fact that his love has gone for good and he isn’t going to try to do a thing about it.  This stance does not sit right with me at all.  Even without a ring, the guy still knows Superman.  If it was the girl I’d just sacrificed my whole world for I’d be straight on the phone to the Justice League looking for a little back-up.

What we do get, however, is Hal’s thoughts returning to the Corps and the life he has given up.  “I gave up everything for Carol… and now I have nothing!  Somewhere Katma Tui must be laughing, and deservedly so!  I’ve finally taken my own medicine.”  (Hello Hal… are you a little confused between getting dumped and having your girlfriend kidnapped by aliens again?  An easy mistake to make, I guess).  “But maybe… maybe I could rejoin the Corps.  Maybe I could start all over.”

 

Meanwhile John Stewart is proving himself to be a very competent wielder of the Green Light, so much so that when a certain Harbinger shows up to recruit a handful of heroes from across several dimensions to save the multiverse as we know it, John is front and centre with the best of them.  Crisis on Infinite Earths is a story for another blog but if you love DC Comics and you haven’t read it I suggest you rectify this immediately after you’ve finished reading these 6 fine issues of Super-Blog Team-Up!  For now it is suffice to say that the world of the DCU was changed forever after an epic battle between good and evil on a cosmic level scale.

 

Green Lantern tied in 5 issues with COIE including a 'Giant-Sized Spectacular'.  They are of paramount importance to Hal’s return so I will try to do justice to them here in a very brief summary.  The big bad of Crisis, the Anti-Monitor, erected a barricade around Oa to cut off the Corps’ link to the Central Power Battery.  Half the Guardians were placed in stasis and eventually killed.  The rest split into opposing factions disagreeing on the correct action to take in the face of the Anti-Monitor’s scheming.  One group woke Guy Gardner from a coma he had laid in for years and when he came to his personality had changed.  He had become cocky and self-conceited, itching to take his misfortunes out on the world at large.   The Guardians tasked him with raising a team of super-criminals to go after the Anti-Monitor and destroy his power at the source on the moon of Qward.  John Stewart and his fellow Corpsmen are sent to stop Guy on the basis that success in his mission will actually hurry the ultimate destruction of the multiverse.  Hal has been brought to Oa and convinced by a Guardian that Guy’s mission must succeed.  He is finally given a power ring but notably not a GL uniform to go with it.  At some point Sinestro gets involved and confuses matters even further!  Are you still with me?
 

 

Guy and Hal set off for the anti-matter universe with the villains in tow but the two fall out when Guy uses lethal force to kill the Qwardians who stand against them.  Hal feels that they can be taken down humanely but he almost pays the ultimate price when a jealous Guy tries to kill him too.  The Green Lantern Corps show up to save the day while a depowered Hal is side-lined after giving his all in one last attempt to stop Gardner.  John eventually wins out in a battle of will against the newest power-hungry Lantern but the strain on both men is immense.

Meanwhile Goldface, an infamous GL villain and a member of Guy’s band of marauders, attacks fan favourite Tomar-Re.  The impurity in his ring meant the GL was defenceless to Goldface’s assaults as the villain’s costume is covered in yellow gold from top to toe.  Suffering fatal wounds at his enemies hand and sensing the end is close Tomar-Re bequeaths his power ring to “one who is fearless and honest”.  Oddly the ring selects John Stewart to be its wielder even though he is already a Green Lantern.  The ring itself explains that John is wearing Hal Jordan’s ring.  With that John’s ring leaves his finger and plants itself on Hal’s instead while Tomar’s ring moves to take its place.  Hal crouches over his dead friend as a Green Lantern uniform forms around him.  It is John who makes his fellow Earthman’s induction official in the name of the Guardians as he declares, “Once a Green Lantern, always a Green Lantern.

 

And there it ends, more or less.  What Hal learned from the whole experience is very much up for debate.  Love is blind?  Or never trust a woman who has a habit of turning into an alien warrior queen?  Some people are born to be heroes?  Or, like Superman tried to tell him, those who are blessed with power beyond that of mortal men must face personal sacrifice in the name of the greater good?  Maybe it’s a simple tale of comradeship?  When you have trained and fought side by side with a group like the Green Lantern Corps it is impossible to turn your back on them even if you try to tell yourself otherwise.  If Hal had come to me for advice instead of The Flash he wouldn’t have found me sitting on the fence.  I’d have given it to him straight: “Dude, you’re Green Lantern!  That isn’t something you walk away from”.

The storytelling over the years that this saga takes place is some of the most emotionally charged I have read in comics anywhere.  There are many creators who came together to produce this long-running drama, more than I have named here, and every one of them deserves credit for the tremendous part they have played.

 

(As a footnote, I’d like to add that in the very next issue Hal comes to his senses and returns to Zamora to rescue Carol from her Star Sapphire persona only to find that the two are in explicably linked and bringing back the woman he loves is impossible.  A sad moment for the Emerald Crusader to be sure but, with hindsight at twenty-twenty, it proves to be a great lead in for thrilling adventures yet to come).

****
 

So now you’ve read issue #3 of the spectacular SUPER-BLOG TEAM-UP crossover event which it has been my pleasure to contribute to, go check out these other amazing blogs to learn why some of your other favourite super-heroes decided to call it “Quittin’ Time…”

 

Links:
 

#1 Silver Age Sensations: The Thing 

#2 Longbox Graveyard: Captain America 

#3 Flodo's Page: Green Lantern 

#4 The SuperHero Satellite: Superman 

#5 Chasing Amazing: Spider-Man

#6 Fantastiverse: Hank Pym - COMING SOON!!