The 55th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast: The Green Lantern.

When I started this blog of mine, I mentioned that I am a Marvel Comics guys.  One of my first comics was Fantastic Four.  Yep, one of my first comics.  I bought, well my Dad bought three comics for me, one was the Fantastic Four, next The Amazing Spider-Man and last but by no means least Batman.  I still can't recall whether it was a Detective Comics issue or Batman.  Why did I bring this up, well in the past after I discovered titles like Batman, Teen Titans, Justice League and so on, I decided to broaden my choice of comics.  I liked to once in a while read an issue from DC Comics and after a while it became more than just one issue.  As time went along I decided that there were great comics from both sides of the isle.  I had nothing to lose except my allowance buying more and more comics but hey, I enjoyed reading these comics.  One character from DC Comics apart from Superman and Batman that I seem to like was a test pilot named Harold "Hal" Jordan.  Yep, ol Highball himself, the Green Lantern.

I actually remember the Green lantern character from a cartoon series first.  It wasn't until a few years later that I discovered the comics, well, I think it was more than just a few years.  I can still recall the cartoon, a guy dressed in green and this magical ring.

I can still remember begging my parents for a ring just like that....ring....wearing....guy.  I didn't know who he was at the time.  Hey, the fact that I even remember that there was a Green Lantern Cartoon is an accomplishment all by itself.  As luck would have it, my parents did buy me a ring, not a green lantern ring cause back in the old days, well toys and cartoon memorabilia were scarce in my hometown.  They did however buy me a ring, it didn't do anything of course and I believe barely a week later, that ring was a goner.  I was not known as someone who took care of his toys.  I'm ashamed of that fact, a character trait I kept when I started collecting comics.  Sigh.

I remember growing up reading these comics featuring this daring fearless test pilot who got this powerful ring from a dying alien named Abin Sur.  I can recall reading some of the issues drawn by Dave Gibson and I had fun reading those comics.  Unfortunately there were not mine.  A friend who started collecting much earlier had a huge Marvel and DC Comics collection.  I never did collect issues of Green Lantern though.  It just wasn't always available.  I think that friend of mine bought his overseas and brought them back because I had never seen these comics in town.  The bookstores and so on seldom carried these titles.  So I thought it wasn't meant to be.

A few years later I did manage to find a mini series called Emerald Dawn.  It was the first time in a long time for me to read an issue of Green Lantern.

This was the cover to Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn # 1 featuring a cover by Mark Bright and Klaus Janson.  This 6 issue Mini Series was written by James Owsley, penciled by Mark bright and Inked by Romeo Thanghal.  Emerald Dawn was a retelling of Hal Jordan's origins.  A kind of Year One kind of thing.  I followed this mini series as closely as I could but after Issue # 2, I wasn't able to get the remaining 4 issues.  It seemed that the local retailers were not too concerned about ordering comic books because to them, comics are for kids and they're not really important. they're not profitable and whatever other excuse they could come up with.

So I lost track of this mini series and completely forgot about it.  I did find out later that there was an Emerald Dawn II mini series.  It was another 6 issue Mini Series.  This time, the minis series was written by Keith Giffen who did the story and Gerard Jones who did the dialogue.  The art was handled by the same team of Mark bright and Romeo Thanghal.

In Emerald Dawn II issue # 1, Hal goes to prison to serve 90 days on a DUI conviction. While he is there he meets Guy Gardner who is his lawyer. The Guardians of the Universe send Sinestro to train Hal Jordan.  So basically both Emerald Dawn I and II is Green Lantern Year 1 and 2 I guess.  If I'm not mistaken, there was a regular Green Lantern series that was launched, that event was touted as the return of DC Comics' greatest heroes, Hal Jordan along with the other Green Lanterns.  

This series was written by Gerard Jones, art by Pat Broderick and Bruce Patterson.  In this issue titled Down To Earth, Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner and John Stewart wind up getting "The Call" in several different ways, but the message is the same, "The world needs the Green Lantern Corps." Again.  The return of the Green Lanterns.  I don't think I followed this series very closely at all. But that all changed when they released issue # 48.

This issue was the turning point for me.  Everything I knew about Hal Jordan, The Green Lantern Corps, the ring, the Guardians, everything would change with this issue.  This issue was released during a period of change in comics, Superman had died and came back, Batman's back was broken by Bane and over at Marvel Comics, Peter Parker was replaced by a clone......okay before we go any further I just wanted to say that the ENTIRE Clone Saga was the WORST decision Marvel has ever made.  Whoever came up with that idea should have been given a bullet.  I hated each issue of it and the stupid way it was handled just killed the character for me.  The ending of the clone saga was half assed, because of that mistake, Marvel lost a lot of fans including me.  Anyway I digress, this issue was just unbelievable. This is Emerald Twilight part 1.  Following the rebirth of Superman and the destruction of Green Lantern's hometown of Coast City in the early 1990s, Hal Jordan seemingly went insane and destroyed the Green Lantern Corps and the Central Power Battery.

 Hal Jordan was devastated when Coast City was destroyed.  In a moment of sheer madness he decides to use the ring to recreate Coast City, to bring back the city and everyone in it.  In a moment of madness, Hal Jordan would go against all that he believed in, what he stood for as a Green Lantern.

The Power to be God.  Up until that point I didn't really understand or realize the power of Hal Jordan's ring.  Through the ring Hal willed the return of his city and his loved ones.  In that moment, he truly believed that just once, just once he should have what he wants most, after so many years of loyally serving the Guardians, he truly deserved this one moment, this one act.

In a blink of an eye, Hal Jordan would lose all that he cared for twice.  When I read this issue years a go, I did feel sorry for Hal.  He was at the time a true hero, a soldier, a police officer and also a human being.  I guess I felt that even though he was a hero, he was fallible.  Little did I know that there was quite the story behind this sudden change in Hal Jordan.

This issue was written by Ron Marz.  I read in an interview that he was asked to turn up the heat on this title, to shake things up, to bring some changes to Green Lantern.  In this issue he definitely changed the status quo on Green Lantern as he plunged Hal Jordan into madness.

And with one blow, Hal Jordan would go down a path that he couldn't come back from.  or so we thought at the time.  That was issue 48.  I couldn't believe what I had just read, this was one bold move by DC Comics.  I wanted the next issue to get here quick.  I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next, well Issue # 49 finally arrived and this cover kinda sorta said it all, Darryl Banks and Romeo Thanghal who also did the cover to issue # 48 did a great job here foretelling the story we would read in this issue as we stood witness to Emerald Twilight Part 2. 

As Hal said in Issue 48, he would need more power and he knew where he would have to go to get it.  That would be Oa.  As Hal made his way to Oa, he would have to face many of his fellow Lanterns and friends.

Along the way he would defeat all the Lanterns sent to stop him, friends and comrades, they all fell as Hal Jordan collected ring after ring after ring.

Finally even Kilowog the Green Lantern who was Hal's training officer and friend would also fall to Hal Jordan.  When I was reading this, I thought WOW DC was really serious about Emerald Twilight.  It wasn't that often you'd come across a story where the writer could basically wipe out a cast of characters like Ron Marz had done and all this was happening in the second part of emerald Twilight.  But this wasn't the end of it, no the end of part 2 came when the Guardians sent one more obstacle for Hal Jordan, one who was all too familiar.

Yes, that's Sinestro, once considered to be the Greatest Green Lantern ever.  He would be the Guardian's last line of defense against Hal Jordan.  Which brings us to....

That there is a beautiful cover, what a cover by Darryl Banks and Romeo Thanghal to conclude an already stunning story.  Emerald Twilight's conclusion was called The Future.  And what a story it was too.

 To say that this fight between these two old "friends" would be a knock down drag out fight is an understatement.

 Suffice to say that it was brutal, these two have fought each other for years, the conclusion to this fight is a little shocking I gotta say.  No spoilers especially if you have not read this landmark three issues of Green Lantern.  These next few pages shows it's almost as if Hal knows what he's doing is wrong and yet, he couldn't stop himself from spiraling further into madness.

And finally Hal Jordan's transformation would be complete as he destroys the Great Battery on Oa and emerge as Parallax.

And with that, the Green Lantern Corps is no more, destroyed by possible the Greatest Green Lantern, Hal Jordan but this was far from the end.

And the last Ring would be passed on to a new Green Lantern, that ring and the responsibilities would go to Kyle Rayner.

And a new Emerald Era began.  I read in an interview Ron Marz had with Wizard Magazine that he originally wanted to slowly build up to this chain of events, slowly telling the story of Hal Jordan's apparent descent into madness figuring that fans would be able to accept this and accept the changes and Kyle Rayner but that was not to be as the editor of the book wanted this done in the issues of Green Lantern # 48 to # 50.  Understandably long time fans of Hal Jordan were outraged and angry to say the least.  Fans sent hate mail and even made threats towards Marz and the editor of the title.  All in all after having a chance to read these issues again, it was great to enjoy some strong powerful storytelling.  I really liked the character of Kyle Rayner, he was the rookie who did good.  He was the last hope of the Guardians to carry on the mantle of Green Lantern and I personally think he was a great  Green Lantern.  Hal Jordan would return as Green Lantern a few years later after a lot of upheaval  and changes to his life.

I recently had a chance to read a few trade-paperbacks of Green Lantern written by Geoff Johns and I really enjoyed the stories which prompted me to talk about Emerald Twilight.  I'll cover a few of the trade-paperbacks I've been reading and share my thoughts with you.  If you have not read Green Lantern, try it, get a trade-paperback, you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

Thanks for dropping by for the 55th Co(s)mic Comic Book Broadcast on The Green Lantern, I hope you enjoyed this look at Emerald Twilight.  I'll be back with another broadcast soon, until next time, as always take care.