Page 33, Vol. 1, #7

Green with bile

Last night I re-read the trade paperback Emerald Dawn.

I giggled when it ended and sighed. Silly Green Lantern.

Look, it's not that it was badly written, it's that Emerald Dawn is a collection of the first six issues of Green Lantern featuring Hal Jordan (as opposed to his Golden Age predecessor Alan Scott, who is only obliquely acknowledged in the book in a single line). Which means I can't read it without thinking of it in terms of everything that's happened since. Especially his more or less replacing Kyle (who is my buddy).

Look, here's what happened, in short. Hal goes bonkers because his girlfriend died (ok, so it was a whole city, as part of the fallout from Superman only sorta dying—under suspicious circumstances, but we won't go into that… this time). So, he decides to go on a murderous rampage, killing off most of the Green Lantern Corps, and the Watcher of Oa, in an attempt to erase pretty much all of reality and start all over. This guy has gone beyond Hannibal Lecter evil, here.

Anyway, he's stopped, because this is comic books, and despite having Phenomenal Cosmic Power, the good guys beat him. Kyle is approached by the last Watcher and given the last GL ring, which has been modified to, frankly, be much more useful. Kyle is more interesting and dynamic, a better team up with Wally West, and exceedingly good at his job in the JLA.

But nevermind that, because the fans demand Hal back. So a couple times DC tries to bring him back. Now known as Parallax, he returns to earth during the Final Night crisis (a full month of absolutely no plot progression in any DC title, might I add) and re-ignites the sun, sacrificing himself to do so. A bit of the old Hal, but is saving one planet enough to redeem him from wiping out the intergalactic police force and trying to kill the entire universe? (That's a rhetorical question. The answer is 'not really.')

Anyway, so they try to bring back Hal for real, but they can't replace Kyle; too many people like him. So they make him the new Spectre. This is a character that can easily be replaced because no one cares about who he is. However, this also means that a) Hal is just as vengeful and as big a jerk as ever, and b) no one will want to read about him, even if he's Hal Jordan.

So, what to do?

As we've done successfully before in Crisis on Infinite Earths, responds DC Comics, we'll just rewrite the entire continuity!

Yes, they did.

Granted, they didn't do it as overtly as in Crisis, but they still did it.

Suddenly we have a reason for the insipid weakness against yellow GL lanterns had. The weakness we managed to get rid of with Kyle by doing the one intelligent thing that can be done in situations like this: just change it. No alien symbiotes. No clones. No fake Kryptonian religious ceremony. And no funky resurrections. New hero, different limitations. Good enough.

Also, we have a way to conveniently absolve Hal of all the evil things he did. "He was possessed! Also! Sinestro isn't dead!" That last one for good measure. He hasn't shown up for decades, but let's bring him back anyway, since we're already out of control.

I think DC will ultimately be forgiven for the shoddy handling of this whole affair (Hal shouldn't have ever gone crazy in the first place—that would have been the best handling, but I'm still grateful for that, because, as I've said, Kyle is so much better) (note, if there's anything I've ever said or will say in this column that will get me hate mail, it will be that statement, and it will come from Hal's Emerald Advancement Team – they're bigger nerds than I am, just for that acronym). Mostly because even though he spent the better part of a decade evil, they just put him right back into the JLA and had him head up the re-formed GL Corps (if Kyle could resurrect GLs all this time anyway, why the heck didn't he just DO IT and spare us the soap opera). But at least we do have the GL Corps back.

After all, this isn't the first time Hal was instantly forgiven for reckless acts costing the lives of innocents. His best friend was killed because of his own drunk driving (he blamed the sign, which does nothing to endear him to anyone). Yet, as soon as he's out of jail, the girl loves him again, hating her meantime lover, and he's got his job back, risking lives and limbs and millions of dollars in equipment. After all, it was just the alcohol. You have to respect a guy who has a knack for being easily forgiven for losing complete control of himself and then comitting evil acts. It's as good a superpower as any, I suppose.

Oh how I hate him.

But there's more to it than this. Next time I'll delve further into this issue of Kyle versus Hal.

Discuss it in our forums.

Written by SaintEhlers on November 22nd, 2005