Green Lantern '94-'04

Guy Gardner: Warrior #20 (May 1994)

"EMERALD FALLOUT," Part 3! The "Emerald Twilight" tie-in storyline kicks into high gear as Guy is joined by the Justice League, some former Green Lanterns, a (not so) secret villain, and, at last, new writer Beau Smith! Nothing against Chuck Dixon as a writer, but it's under Smith that Guy Gardner truly became a Warrior.

At the end of GG:W #19, Alan Scott met Guy at the JL's HQ to ask for his help with figuring out what the hell's going on with the Green Lanterns these days. Alan mentions the green dome that covered what remains of Coast City (GL #48), and Guy answers: "Whaddya mean 'remains'?" Yes, Guy is just learning that a major American city where he lived for several years has been totally destroyed...

...but, to be fair, he'd been replaced by an evil alien clone when that happened (this means that the Guy who got some good zingers at Aquaman's expense during Coast City's memorial in Superman #81 was actually the clone).

While Alan and Guy are talking, Colos of the Darkstars ("that second-rate, low-rent Green Lantern wanna-be's" as Guy puts it) also stops by to let everyone know that several GLs, including good ol' Hal Jordan, are missing. Others have been found -- dead. Guy insists, in not very polite terms, that he should be the one to lead a group to planet Oa to find out what's happening, but then Wonder Woman intervenes and... agrees with him?!

So, it's decided that Guy will lead a possibly suicide mission to Oa because he's the only one in the League who knows his way around the place. Martian Manhunter, Captain Atom, and The Ray are also coming along. Ex-Green Lantern (and Hal's ex) Arisia is also at the JL HQ, for some reason, and wants to join Guy's Suicide Squad, but Guy won't let her because she's got no powers and he already feels like he's babysitting The Ray. Right before they're about to leave for space, though, Arisia returns with a giant Cable-style gun, ankle pistols, and, perhaps most importantly from Guy's perspective, a far more revealing outfit. He lets her come, obviously.

(And pouches, but I didn't really need to tell you about the pouches.)

As the group approaches Oa, they run across a ton of GL corpses floating in space. It's only once Guy is actually down on the planet and sees the destruction first hand that he realizes his vision of Hal trashing the place while fighting Sinestro (GG:W #18) must have been real. This leads to the heartbreaking moment from the cover when Guy finds Kilowog's skull on the ground, where Hal left it after killing him (GL #50), and cries for the big poozer. Martian Manhunter and Arisia are also pretty shaken up, but they don't have a lot of time to mourn before everyone is attacked by green monsters.

After several pages of all these heavy hitters (and Arisia) being completely owned by green goop, we find out who's behind all this: HAL JORDAN!

Which we already knew, because we've been reading Green Lantern, but it's still a cool "reveal." TO BE CONCLUDED!

Plotline-Watch:

NEXT: Gardner vs. Jordan!

Green Lantern #51 (May 1994)

At last, after months of hype, we've finally reached the official debut of DC's sensational character find of 1994: Ohm! You know, Ohm? The guy who fights (and almost beats) Kyle Rayner in this issue?

Oh yeah, and as of this issue, Kyle Rayner is officially named "Kyle Rayner" and not "the rando who got Hal Jordan's ring."

But, before getting his ass kicked by Ohm, the first thing Kyle does with the ring he got in Green Lantern #50 is visit his ex-girlfriend, Alex, who at first assumes this is some practical joke. I guess she's used to Kyle showing up at her door in the middle of the night wearing tight-fitting costumes? Kyle insists that this is real and explains that he got the power ring from a blue little person in a red dress who materialized in an alley, only he doesn't say "little person."

Apparently, Kyle is a bit immature and irresponsible (hence the "ex-" in "ex-girlfriend"), and his job as a freelance artist doesn't seem to be going anywhere, but he thinks the ring represents a chance to get his shit together and make something of himself. He tells Alex he could become a big shot superhero in New York (they're currently in a small town called "Los Angeles," by the way) while she, a photojournalist, could take photos of him and sell them to the newspapers for big bucks. The ol' Peter Parker gamble.

Alex is eventually persuaded by the idea, though I get the impression she's just humoring him because she wants to go back sleep (without him; he's on the couch). The next morning, Alex wakes Kyle up because some nutjob stole one of those experimental armors S.T.A.R. Labs likes to leave laying around and is trying to use it to siphon all the electrical power in LA. Alex tells Kyle to stay in the car while she takes photos and he assures her he won't do anything stupid like, say, try to fight a supervillain with a power ring he's only used to change his clothes and levitate slightly. We already know how that went. Guess we can add "impulsive" to "immature and irresponsible."

That takes us back to the start of the comic, with the ALL-NEW Green Lantern getting pummeled by the mighty Ohm -- that is, until Alex reminds Kyle that he can create stuff with the ring, like a shield to protect himself from Ohm's attacks or a big... stick thing to knock him down. Thirty years later, I still have no idea what this is:

So, Kyle successfully avoids being murdered on his first mission and saves the day as the crowd cheers for "Green Lantern," with only one guy commenting that his hair looks different now. Perhaps inspired by that, Alex later tells Kyle he should put that Graphic Design degree to use and make himself a new costume that will give him his own identity, resulting in the iconic new look that we'd already seen in the cover, and in the ads for this issue, and at the end of GLCQ #8.

(Note that they're at the beach, which means it's possible Kyle couldn't think of anything for the new mask, looked down, saw a crab in the sand, and said "I've got it!")

Meanwhile, at a maximum security supervillain prison known as "the Slab," some poor guards try and fail to contain the breakout of one of the inmates, who turns out to be... our pal Mongul! As in, the one who broke Hal Jordan's arm (GL #46) and helped break his brain by destroying Coast City. And he wants a rematch with "Green Lantern."

Whelp, hope he's better at remembering hair color than the average LA pedestrian...

Plotline-Watch:

No Guy-Watch this time... because he's getting his very own post! Coming soon.

Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #8 (Spring 1994)

When Hal Jordan went bonkers in GL#50, he didn't just kill the Green Lantern Corps -- he also killed Green Lantern Corps Quarterly, the anthology series that, as the editor goes out of his way to point out in this final issue's letter column, was still selling pretty well when it got cancelled. DC could have kept the series going with past stories of the Corps, or maybe current stories of past Corps members, but I guess they wanted to go all in on the "only ONE Green Lantern left" thing and felt this series undermined that idea, so they asked Lobo to stop by and help kill it.

The stories included in this loosely "Emerald Twilight"-connected issue are:

"The Book of Endings"

The issue's framing story is written by Superman editor Mike Carlin, which I'm guessing means it had to be done at the last minute and he drew the short straw at the office. This story reveals that, while Hal and Sinestro where fighting in GL #50, they didn't even notice that the Book of Oa, the massive book containing the history of the Corps and the Guardians of the Universe, was burning up right in front of them (and neither did the Guardians, apparently, or they would have thrown some water on it or something).

As the oversized pages burn, we see stories that have absolutely nothing to do with "Emerald Twilight," like...

"Close Encounters"

This story is set during World War II, when Green Lantern Abin Sur, Hal Jordan's predecessor, is sent to Earth to stop a murderous madman -- but not the murderous madman, because the Guardians have forbidden him from interfering in human wars. Abin's target is an alien mercenary called Dask N'oir, who comes to Earth looking to offer his services (and sci-fi weapons) to the Nazis. Fortunately, the Nazis aren't big on multiculturalism and don't understand alien languages, so they think Dask is a demon and try to fight him.

The Nazis are so spooked that some run off to the Allied side to ask for help against the "demon." There, they bump into the 1940's Flash and (non-Corps affiliated) Green Lantern, Jay Garrick and Alan Scott, who bravely confront Dask... and are knocked out in one blast.

Abin Sur shows up to arrest the alien criminal, but he too gets easily knocked out when Dask shoots some yellow goo at his hand that incapacitates his Green Lantern ring. When Abin wakes up, he realizes Dask stole the ring, leaving him defenseless. That's when Abin notices that one of the unconscious Earthlings around him happens to have an off-brand GL ring on his finger...

So, Abin borrows Alan's ring and goes off to fight Dask, eventually tricking him into shooting that yellow goo at his own hand, thus allowing Abin to retrieve his ring. Before leaving with Dask, Abin returns Alan's ring and wipes his and Jay's memory of the encounter. The story ends with Abin looking forward to the day he can return to Earth (spoilers: he shouldn't) as Alan wakes up and wonders why his ring is in the wrong finger.

"Bad Intentions"

This one is written by future Guy Gardner: Warrior writer Beau Smith, and features an extremely Beau Smith character called Probert the Bad One, a sort of alien Conan the Barbarian with guns. One day, right after Probert has blown up a T. Rex to rescue a kid from being eaten, a Guardian shows up to ask him for help in taking down his sector's Green Lantern, Krudd, who has used his ring to take over a wealthy planet. Great pick, Guardians.

Probert only agrees to help because Krudd has taken his former lover, Poola, as a concubine, but he refuses to take the ring the Guardian offers him, because Probert don't wear no pansy-ass rings. (This might explain why Poola is a former lover.)

Of course, Probert regrets that decision once he's fighting Krudd and realizes his machine gun is no match for a power ring that can conjure up anything, including anti-machine gun force fields. Just as he's saying that, a GL battery materializes right next to him. Probert starts trying to activate the battery with various oaths ("It's probably something girly-like. Flower flower, give me the powers.") until he lands on something that works: "GIVE ME THE JUICE!"

Suddenly, despite still wearing no ring, Probert is imbued with green power, which he uses to materialize more guns. Krudd fights dirty and is actually quite good with the ring, so Probert ends up taking it away by cutting his finger off with a green energy knife (at least he didn't cut off the entire hand, unlike some other maniac).

Once Krudd is incapacitated, the Guardian comes back to take him and Probert's power away, but Probert says nah, it's his now. The Guardian takes that to mean that Probert has agreed to continue helping them "on retainer" and vanishes before Probert can protest.

He still ain't wearing no ring, though.

"Yella Belly!"

In this Gene Ha-drawn story, L.E.G.I.O.N. sends Lobo to Garnet, the most crime-ridden planet in the universe, to collect a criminal. This puts him in conflict with Garnet's very un-Green Lantern-like Green Lantern, Jack T. Chance. Lobo's not in the mood for fighting one of his many '90s ripoffs... until Jack calls him a "yella belly." Big mistake.

In the fight that ensues, Jack tries killing Lobo with a green chainsaw, but the ring stops him because that's not within its parameters. "Letting its wearer get kicked in the nuts" is within those parameters, though.

Jack tries shooting Lobo in the head with a regular gun, but Lobo catches the bullets with his teeth and headbutts him after playing dead. As Jack is recovering from that blow with the assistance of some booze, Lobo gets an idea based on Jack's hurtful remark from earlier: he covers himself in the yellow blood of some other alien he'd killed earlier and exploits the ring's yellow weakness to beat the crap out of Jack, yelling "Yella belly! Yella belly! YELLA BELLY!"

Lobo tries stealing Jack's ring, but it's "encoded by his D.N.A." and can't be stolen... so, for the second time this issue, someone cuts a ring-bearer's finger off. By simply "wearing" Jack's severed finger on top of his own, Lobo is able to access the ring's power and thinks about all the wonderful things he's gonna do with it (starting with exploding L.E.G.I.O.N.'s planet) -- until the ring informs him that it only works in planet Garnet, killing Lobo's interest.

As Lobo leaves with that criminal he came for, we see the finger crawling back to Jack and reattaching itself to his hand. Upon waking up and learning that Lobo left, Jack takes that as a victory and declares himself the baddest dude in Garnet. (Until he was easily beaten by Hal and left for dead in space, anyway.)

Back to the framing story, the narration concludes that the Guardians are a bunch of incompetent asses and kinda had this whole "Emerald Twilight" thing coming. All the stories in this issue feature a ring being stolen and used for nefarious purposes (not always in that order), so maybe it has a point. As the Book of Oa finishes burning, we get a small glimpse of the future: it appears to be a young man...

...wearing a crab on his face?! Huh, weird.

Plotline-Watch:

Guy-Watch:

Guy Gardner: Warrior #19 continues the "Emerald Fallout" storyline and also Guy's fight with Militia (or as Guy has started calling him, "Melissa"). Ice helps, but then she starts getting a little too aggro (a side-effect of her new powers) and tries to take on Militia all by herself while leaving Guy behind, which doesn't go too well for her.

With Ice down and Guy's new armor malfunctioning, Militia's really got our hero by the balls. Militia picks that moment to reveal his identity and why hunting Guy was so personal to him: he's Guy's supposedly dead cop brother, Mace Gardner! Cue emotional "family reunion" music.

Mace resented Guy for becoming a superhero so, after getting crippled, he faked his death and volunteered for government experiments that gave him his legs back at the cost of making him look and sound like a '90s supervillain. Just when it seems like Mace might kill him, Guy's yellow power ring, which has been on the fritz for the past two issues, gets a sudden burst of energy that allows him to defeat his bro in about two seconds.

Seeing that Militia failed them again, his superiors at the Quorum decide to ditch him and remotely disable his armor, leaving him crippled again. What's all this stuff got to do with "Emerald Twilight," you might ask? Not much, until Alan Scott suddenly shows up (told you he'd be back soon) and tells Guy the universe is in danger. So, you know, TO BE CONTINUED.

Hal Jordan pin-up by Stuart Immonen and Karl Kesel, from Green Lantern #50 (which I covered last week, if you missed it!). Note that Kesel is mis-credited as Karl Story on the side... maybe because he also writes stories? In fact, he started writing a whole lot for Immonen in Adventures of Superman about a year after this issue came out.

Incidentally, Kesel is currently Kickstarting a new volume of the incredibly fun Impossible Jones series, featuring pin-ups by Immonen, Tom Grummett, and others! Back it here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1227066666/impossible-jones-vol-2-ultra-cool-collectors-edition

Green Lantern #50 (March 1994)

"EMERALD TWILIGHT," Finale! Hal Jordan goes full supervillain, and nothing will ever be the same again (for about 10 years).

Last issue ended with Hal, usually the hero of this comic, attempting to steal the power of every Green Lantern in the universe via their Central Power Battery, only to be stopped by Sinestro, usually the villain of this comic. Hal, driven mad by the destruction of his city and obsessed with getting the power to un-destroy it, tells Sinestro he'll kill him if he doesn't get out of his way, but Sinestro ain't buying it -- he still thinks he's talking to the Hal Jordan who appeared in the Super Friends cartoons.

Hal demonstrates how serious he is by nearly blowing Sinestro's pants off with all those GL rings he stole last issue. Sinestro points out that one ring vs. ten rings isn't very sporting, so Hal actually drops the extra ones so they can have a fair fight. I guess resurrecting Hal's loved ones as soon as possible isn't as important as proving to a purple jackass that he can beat him without unfair advantages.

So, Hal and Sinestro start fighting as the increasingly worried Guardians of the Universe watch on. Sinestro tries to get under Hal's skin by telling him about the time the Guardians begged him to take this sad little Earthling and turn him into "half" the Green Lantern Sinestro was, but Hal isn't in the mood for fight scene banter right now. What starts as a classic power ring battle (constructs, energy blasts) soon devolves into two angry dudes beating the crap out of each other, until Hal finally gets his arms around Sinestro's neck...

...and breaks it. Hal doesn't even let out a dramatic "NOOOOOOOO," like a proper superhero. He just mutters "damn you" and walks away, leaving Sinestro's mangled body on the ground.

Now no one else stands between Hal and the Central Battery -- or so he thinks, until Kilowog comes back for another round. Despite having no ring, Kilowog gives Hal a good beating as he tries to make him think about the consequences of draining the Power Battery (you know, like murdering every GL currently in space or in a fight somewhere). Kilowog tells Hal he may have killed Sinestro, but he isn't evil like him yet. He can still stop. Hal replies: "No. I can't." Then he confirms it by turning one of his best friends into a pile of bones.

Hal drops his ring, saying he doesn't deserve it anymore... and besides, he won't need it after absorbing the Central Battery's power. Hal walks up to the Battery and all the Guardians are there, but without any GLs around, they can't really do anything but lecture him. With tears in his eyes, Hal tells them: "What's going to happen is going to happen. It has to. You can't stop it... and neither can I." It's like Hal knows they're all merely pawns to a higher power: yes, Green Lantern editor Kevin Dooley.

It's only once Hal has entered the battery that the other Guardians turn to Ganthet and are like "okay, fine, let's try that plan you mentioned last issue." As the Battery begins to collapse, the Guardians perform a ritual where they send all their lifeforce to Ganthet (which you can tell because they're getting even older and wrinklier). Finally, the Battery explodes and Hal emerges with a new costume, a new more villain-esque hairdo, and, although we don't know it yet, a new name: PARALLAX.

Parallax walks across the Guardians' shriveled up bodies and angrily steps on his old GL ring before flying off into space. Then, Ganthet rises from a pile of corpses and puts the broken ring back together (and gives it a redesign, while at it). He says that, as the last Guardian of the Universe, he'll make sure that his brothers' ideals live on, then turns himself into a ball of energy headed for Earth.

Meanwhile, the same young dude who saw Hal flying to Oa in GL #48 comes out of a nightclub to get some air and spots another "falling star" in the sky, only this one is actually falling. In fact, it's heading directly for him. It turns out to be Ganthet, who lands right in front of this understandably confused clubgoer, tells him "You shall have to do," and hands him Hal's refurbished ring.

Without saying much else, Ganthet turns back into green energy and disappears. After confirming that the hobo who was sleeping in this alley also saw "a blue little guy in a red dress disappear" (for what it's worth), the guy decides to put on the ring -- and suddenly finds himself wearing a Green Lantern costume. "Oh man," he says, "I think my life just got a lot more complicated."

Haha, you don't know the half of it, buddy.

Plotline-Watch:

Guy-Watch:

Guy Gardner: Warrior #18 marks the start of the "Emerald Fallout" storyline, which will reunite Guy with his old pal Hal. It kicks off with Guy's yellow power ring (which feeds off GL ring energy) suddenly exploding and showing him a vision of Hal killing Sinestro, Kilowog's corpse, and Parallax emerging from the Battery. Guy, however, seems more concerned with the fact that the ring isn't working now, so he takes it to Blue Beetle, who can't resist the opening for a dick joke.

Beetle ends up giving Guy a prototype of the EXTREME '90s armor he built for Booster Gold (incidentally, based on Kilowog's old designs), which is somehow even more EXTREME and more '90s. Guy has some trouble adjusting to it, but grows to like it.

Next, Guy visits his on-and-off girlfriend Ice at the Arctic Circle, where she's quite literally chilling as she figures some stuff out -- as seen in the Justice League America series, she recently lost her dad after he was murdered by her evil brother, who also died, and then she gained vaguely defined new powers for vaguely defined reasons. Also, she went from modest clothes and no cleavage to an exotic dancer suit and all of the cleavage. The '90s were hard on everyone.

Just when it looks like Ice and Guy are about to reconcile, there's a huge explosion that knocks her out -- it's that Militia asshole who tried to kill Guy last issue, who just shot himself out of a submarine's cannon to finish the job. Will Guy ever catch a break?! NEXT ISSUE: Not in this storyline, he won't.

Green Lantern #49 (February 1994)

"EMERALD TWILIGHT," Part 2! Hal Jordan has gone so far off the deep end that he's started imitating one of history's most infamous monsters: Ringo Starr. After the events of last issue, a pissed-off Hal is speeding towards planet Oa to give his bosses, the Guardians of the Universe, a piece of (what's left of) his mind. The Guardians try to stop Hal by deploying formidable Green Lanterns like, uh, this red guy and that purple girl.

Hal brutally whoops their asses and steals their GL rings to become more powerful; if he manages to nab 3597 more rings, he can become a One Man Green Lantern Corps. Hal's dangerous bling addiction even leads him to fight Lanterns he personally recruited into the Corps, like Tomar-Tu (the guy with the bird face who doesn't sound like Geoffrey Rush) and Boodikka, a fierce warrior who refuses to let go of her ring... so Hal just chops her hand off. I like to imagine a Green Lantern from some sort of phallus-shaped alien race turning around at this point and going home.

Meanwhile, in Oa, the Guardians seem pretty confident that one of their "servants" will stop Hal, but their arrogance starts evaporating with every ring he steals. Ganthet, paradoxically the least dickish of the Guardians despite being the only one wearing a ponytail, has some sort of secret plan for how they could "preserve themselves" if all else fails. At first, the others just mock him (for his plan, not the ponytail), but as Hal gets closer, they get nervous and start preparing for Ganthet's plan, whatever it is.

Hal finally reaches Oa and faces one of his best friends, Kilowog, the most distinguished trainer of the Green Lantern Corps and the Justice League's one-time handyman. Hal reminds his former mentor that he's got like ten rings by now, but Kilowog defiantly says, "Didn't I teach ya nothing? It's the warrior, not his weapons."

As it turns out, nope, it's the weapons, because Hal defeats Kilowog too within one page. With no one else around to stop him, Hal heads for the Central Power Battery -- literally, a giant battery that powers every GL ring in the universe, and now Hal wants that power to himself (I guess stealing it from here is easier than figuring out how to wear 3600 rings on his fingers). However, the Guardians still have an ace up their oversized sleeves. A hooded figure walks out of the battery, and the final page reveals that it's the other "greatest Green Lantern ever" who went rogue: Sinestro! A villain so heinous that the Guardians executed him for "crimes against the universe," causing his soul to get trapped inside the Central Battery.

Yes, the Guardians are so desperate that they're willing to give a GL ring to a guy whose name means "evil" and who has tried to kill them multiple times in the past. Interesting tactic. Will it pay off?!

NEXT ISSUE: It doesn't pay off.

Plotline-Watch:

Guy-Watch:

Meanwhile, in Guy Gardner's corner of the GL universe: the Guy Gardner series officially becomes Guy Gardner: Warrior with #17, which sees the debut of Guy's new moniker and his shorter, non-Moe hairdo. Plus, artist Mitch Byrd!

In this issue, Guy finally works up the nerve to go back home and tell his abusive dad what he thought of him, only to find out that he died shortly after his brother Mace committed suicide. Both were assholes, but that's still pretty rough. Then, he's attacked by Militia, the armored loon we met last issue. The fight ends when Guy's yellow power ring (which, incidentally, used to belong to Sinestro) suddenly stops working, but luckily, Militia's armor happens to malfunction at the same time and he's ran over by a truck.

Huh, curious that Militia has ginger hair too. Probably a coincidence. To be continued!

Green Lantern #48 (January 1994)

"EMERALD TWILIGHT," Part 1! Good ol' Hal Jordan isn't in a great place right now. Not only did some rude supervillains from another comic dislocate his arm, but they also wiped out the city Hal grew up in and everyone who lived in it (except for his best friend and his two legal-age, non-alien romantic interests, as revealed last issue). The good news is that the arm thing heals pretty quickly in this issue.

The bad news is that Hal's psyche... does not. Hence him using his Green Lantern ring to conjure up a green ghost of his long-dead father, as seen above. Hal tells his dad that he resents him for always patting his brothers on the back but never taking two seconds to tell Hal he was proud of him. Ghost Dad replies that his brothers simply accomplished more than Hal, but Hal is like "Dude! I'm Green Lantern! Come on!" and points out everything he's done in his superheroing career. Ghost Dad's reply: "Didn't do much to save Coast City, did you?" Then he steps into a Ghost Plane that explodes in front of a distraught Hal, just like when he was a kid.

Next, Hal's mother shows up (also as a green ghost) and lovingly tells him to move the fuck on, because the pain and loss he feels are "dangerous things" that could "ruin him" if he doesn't let them go. She tells him to "be satisfied with the memories" as she fades away, but Hal shouts that memories aren't enough, dammit. He wants Coast City back! If only he had something that could make that happen, like a power ring or some-- ohhh, right.

So, he makes it happen: he uses the ring to make the entire city come back, exactly as it was. Only, you know, green.

As he's floating across Ghost Coast City feeling like God, Hal runs into his childhood sweetheart, Jessica, and they reminisce for a while, which is kinda sweet until you remember he's talking to himself. She mentions that she died when the city exploded, but adds: "Nobody blames you. We're just happy you're doing this for us." Next, Hal stops by his parents' old house and his dad, who is in a much sunnier mood now, repeats the same sentiment as Jessica: "everybody" appreciates what Hal is doing for Coast City.

In fact, it looks like Hal's dad is finally about to tell him he's proud of him... when he fades away, along with the entire city.

Hal's Green Lantern ring has ran out of juice. Suddenly, a Guardian of the Universe (as in one of Hal's bosses, not a friend of He-Man) shows up in the form of a projection to tell Hal that using your power ring to recreate your entire city after it was blown up by Superman villains is explicitly against Green Lantern rules. I guess this is the superhero equivalent of being fired over Zoom? Anyway, the Guardian tells Hal that he must surrender his ring and prepare to be transported to their planet, Oa. That's when we find out that scolding your mentally unbalanced employees using a projection they can absorb to make themselves more powerful isn't a great idea.

Hal says: "Oh, I'll come back to Oa all right... but you're not gonna like me when I get there." As Hal flies off to space with murder in his eyes, two young lovebirds chilling in the desert spot him in the night sky and mistake him for a falling star that's going the wrong way. They seem nice. Let's all get very invested in their continued well-being!

Plotline-Watch:

Guy-Watch:

This is the section in which I'll look at whatever's going on with former Green Lantern (and current "What the hell do we do with this character?") Guy Gardner every month, though I reserve the right to make full posts about his comic once Beau Smith takes over as writer because I'm a huge fan of that run. Guy Gardner #16 is mostly about Guy duking it out with his idol, General Glory (kind of like Captain America meets Shazam/Captain Marvel), because Glory saw Guy's evil alien twin murder someone in a previous issue. Eventually, Guy convinces Glory that he didn't kill anyone by having Wonder Woman tie him up with the lasso of truth. Cue predictable Guy Gardner joke.

The issue also introduces a typical '90s super-soldier dude (big guns, psychotic, wriggly colored lines around his word balloons) called Militia, who is hired to kill Guy and seems pretty eager to do it, as if they already knew each other. Militia himself isn't as important as the organization that hired him, Quorum, which will also poke its nose into the Green Lantern comic with rather infamous results...

NEXT ON GREEN LANTERN '94 TO '04: Everyone dies!

"Shame on you people. Anyway, now I'm off to murder all my friends."

GREAT timing on this National AIDS Hotline PSA that ran in 1993-1994 DC comics.

Those Weird Hal Jordan Comics Between "Reign of the Supermen" and "Emerald Twilight"

I've always been fascinated by that brief, strange period in Green Lantern and Justice League comics between Coast City's destruction and Hal Jordan's heel turn, also known as "The Sling Era" (known by me, I just came up with it). The way Hal was handling the death of his 7 million bestest friends varied wildly from issue to issue, almost as if the writers were trying to tell us that he was already having a psychotic breakdown.

Of course, we all know that Hal only behaved that way because DC had no clue what they were gonna do with the character until they went and did it, but it's still kinda fun to look back at that period and search for hints that couldn't possibly be there. So let's do that:

Justice League International #56-57 (October 1993)

These issues came out on the same month as Green Lantern #46 (the Hal vs. Mongul issue) and clearly take place before Coast City went boom, since Hal isn't wearing the sling on his arm yet. I'm including them here anyway because of this telling exchange between Hal and Power Girl, who'd recently found out she was pregnant. For context, Hal and PG had gotten pretty close while they were both in the JLI... but not as close as Hal would have liked:

Maybe it wasn't Coast City's destruction what drove Hal mad -- it was the thought of Aquaman getting into his "girlfriend's" pants before him. (It turned out PG had been magically impregnated by Atlantean wizards, so at least Hal was in the right ballpark.)

JLI #57 includes this amusing moment after Metamorpho says the League won't be the same without Elongated Man and his wife Sue:

Haha, yeah, a member of the JLI turning evil... can you imagine?

Green Lantern #47 (November 1993)

This Green Arrow team-up is pretty much a filler issue with a couple of references to Coast City's destruction thrown in. No one seems that distraught about the fact that their city just exploded. For the most part, you wouldn't know this was a post-"Reign of the Supermen" issue if Hal wasn't wearing that sling on his arm.

Hal and Oliver Queen get caught up in a dumb plot involving Hal's ex, Carol Ferris, his pal Tom "Pieface" Kalmaku, and robot doubles of Carol's dead dad created by her mom due to her "nervous problems." The most intriguing part is Ollie telling Hal "I'm seeing something in your eyes that I never saw there before." (Spoilers: it's murder.)

Later, Hal gives a speech about finally moving on from Carol and "letting go of the past" (so, the opposite of what he's about to do). He also implies that he's gonna be pursuing another of his love interests, Olivia Reynolds, who's trying to get financing for a GL toy line.

The issue ends with Olivia noticing that one of her Green Lantern action figures "lost his head." That's probably the only intentional foreshadowing for "Emerald Twilight" in these issues, but it could just as easily be a tease for another dumb plot that never happened because they switched writers after this issue.

Superman #83 (November 1993)

As mentioned when I covered this issue at the Superman '86 to '99 blog, Hal is in a pretty dark mood here. When Lex Luthor Jr. shows up uninvited to the superheroes' "funeral" for Coast City, Hal bluntly says "This is a private affair. Get rid of him." Then, when Lex says they could salvage some alien tech from Engine City, Hal insists that they just "let it die."

Aquaman (there's that jerk again) takes issue with Hal's idea of dumping a city-sized engine into the ocean. Superman tries to calm everyone down, but Hal snaps and says: "I'm tired of talking! (...) My friends are buried under this junk heap and I'm not about to let it stand as their tombstone!" Later, after Engine City has been safely disposed of and Superman has erected the monument to the dead, there's an exchange between Hal and Ollie that's more meaningful than anything in Green Lantern #47:

Okay, "Can't win 'em all!" isn't the most sensitive way to talk about genocide, but you have to admit it's in-character.

Justice League International #59-60 (December 1993-January 1994)

Hal skipped JLI #58, and the next two issues are mostly set in an alternate timeline caused by a time-traveler who undid the origins of several superheroes, including Hal himself. Conveniently, this means that these issues don't have to deal with our Hal's mental state. In the alternate timeline, Guy Gardner is the heroic Green Lantern while Hal is his biggest fan. Once they figure out the truth, Guy decides to use the ring to go back in time and fix the timeline but Hal tries to stop him, because he knows Heroic Guy will turn into Guy Guy in the corrected reality.

Pretty ironic that Hal didn't want to restore the timeline because he was afraid of Guy losing his "sanity," and then he was the one who went insane (while Guy entered what's probably his most heroic period). Good Guy ultimately sacrifices himself for the greater good, making Hal think: "If this does turn me into Green Lantern... I can only pray that I'll have half the courage and nobility of Guy Gardner!"

Once Hal's memory is restored, they ask him if he can use the ring to travel to the 70th century and stop the villain from creating this whole mess in the first place, but he says he'd "need the whole Green Lantern Corps to do that!" So Hal thinks that if he had the power of every GL, he could change the course of history? Interesting.

Justice League America #83 (December 1993)

Hal is wearing the sling in this issue, so it's definitely set after Coast City's destruction, but he's perfectly calm and seems more concerned with regular League business than reshaping the universe. Maybe he's just trying to bury himself in work?

Valor #14 (December 1993)

Another Sling Era issue. Valor asks some Justice Leaguers if by any chance they know any cures to lead poisoning, which he's currently dying of. Hal says "I wish to God I could help... but there are limits to what my power ring can do." But... maybe there shouldn't be?!

Bloodbath #1-2 (December 1993)

A sling-wearing Hal shows up in the two-part finale of the regrettable "Bloodlines" crossover, though the sling is missing in some panels (perhaps he was already getting better). The only noteworthy interactions here are: 1) Deathstroke telling Hal "Remember that I'm one of the good guys today," 2) Hal referring to the Guardians of the Universe as "control freaks," and 3) Hal telling Superman not to beat himself up because he wasn't around to stop the alien invasion of Metropolis (he was dead at the time). This last scene is by far the best part of the issue, because of a typo when Superman is supposed to say "Poor Metropolis":

Geez, what are they feeding those cows down there?

Eclipso #15-16 (January-February 1994)

Sling Hal and other superheroes (plus Lex Jr., for some reason) talk in the United Nations about the menace of Eclipso, who at the time was president of a small country and had access to nuclear weapons. Then Eclipso shows up and beats them all in two panels, literally.

Hal's only role in Eclipso #16 is as an unconscious body on the floor of the UN. I think I'd also go crazy from the humiliation.

Justice League International #61 (February 1994)

And finally, Hal's last appearance as a member of the JLI consisted of him saying he wished he could help, but he has "pressing business as a Green Lantern!" That pressing business turned out to be crying on a crater and then... well, we'll see that soon enough.

I agree with whoever that guy is: Hal's "I'll be in touch soon" DOES sound pretty ominous. Note that this issue takes place directly after the end of JLI #60 (Hal must have put on the sling between panels). This means that the last thing Hal Jordan did before the start of "Emerald Twilight" was traveling to the far future to stop a supervillain from reshaping history. Wonder if that gave him any ideas...

NEXT: "Emerald Twilight"! And the guy this blog is supposed to be about finally shows up!

The Green Lantern Stories Ron Marz Wrote BEFORE Kyle Rayner

Before becoming Green Lantern writer and co-creating our boy Kyle, Ron Marz wrote some short stories for the Green Lantern Corps Quarterly anthology series. Are these tales absolutely necessary to understand the Kyle Rayner comics this blog is supposed to be about? Nope. But I still read them because OCD compelled me to, so here they are:

Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #4 (Spring 1993)

Fun fact: the first Green Lantern created by Ron Marz wasn't Kyle Rayner, it was Torquemada, the GL who's also a space wizard. In this story, a young guy from a rival gang of space wizards sneaks into Torquemada's secret hideout to steal his GL ring, and hit on his bosomy apprentice Giselle while he's at it.

The evil wizard almost gets away with Torque's ring, but then he decides to force Giselle to make out with him before leaving... unaware that she has a curse that makes everyone she kisses turn into gold. The story ends with the reveal that there's a whole bunch of golden statues inside the hideout, including a female and a giant one, because creeps come in all shapes and sizes.

Not sure how the guy didn't see all those statues there, though. Anyway, Torquemada went on to appear a few times during Marz's run and beyond (without Giselle, unfortunately).

Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #5 (Summer 1993)

Next up is a two-part story about Alan Scott, the original 1940s Green Lantern. Ever wondered why Alan looked so young in the mid-'90s while his Justice Society of America pals looked like old geezers? This story explains it. It starts with Alan dreaming about his wife, the retired supervillain Harlequin (not that one), and waking up to find a young guy staring at him from the mirror.

(This is also how I react upon seeing my handsome face every morning.)

Alan goes out to look for whoever is pulling a Benjamin Button on him, and runs across two supposedly dead enemies of his, the Icicle and Solomon Grundy. They turn out to be illusions created a young lady who also calls herself Harlequin (not that one, either), who says she's only doing this so she and Alan can "be together". Then she disappears and leaves him alone, which is the opposite of being together. To be continued...

Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #6 (Autumn 1993)

Alan visit the JSA to let his friends know he's young again, and they immediately start trying to kill him. Supposedly it's because they think he's an impostor, but it's pretty clear that they're just jealous of his smooth skin and full head of hair.

But that's not really the JSA, it's just another illusion created by the new Harlequin. Turns out she's been obsessed with Alan since she was a kid because she has the same illusion-based powers as his wife, so she figures they should be together. Makes sense! Also, she claims that she's not the one who made him look young: he did that to himself, somehow. Alan looks kind of intrigued by Harlequin's sexy visions, but he snaps out of it when his real wife shows up. When Harlequin hurts the old lady, Alan loses it and shows HER a vision of what it'd look like if they dated, and... they'd be heavily into demonic S&M roleplaying, apparently?

(I suspect this is more about Marz trying to give artist Jim Balent some Jim Balent-type stuff to draw. Maybe Balent put it in his contract.)

This spooks the new Harlequin away and Alan has a tender reunion with his wife, who is still old. And then they went home and did S&M stuff, I guess.

Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #7 (Winter 1993)

This issue is mostly written by Marz and partly drawn by Kyle Rayner co-creator Darryl Banks, so I guess it technically counts as the start of their run. The Marz-written stories are:

This conveniently sets the stage for Alan to adopt the Sentinel name when DC enacts their "there's only ONE Green Lantern and he's Kyle" rule. There was one more issue of Green Lantern Corps Quarterly but it's a (very loose) "Emerald Twilight" tie-in, so I'll cover it along with the rest of that storyline.

Oh yeah, a bunch of magic-related DC characters make very brief cameos during this story, including Blaze from the Superman comics:

And now that I've shown her I have an excuse to link to this post from my Superman '86 to '99 blog and maybe trick some readers into coming here. Hi!

Green Lantern #46 (October 1993)

REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN TIE-IN! Green Lantern Hal “Not a Psychopath” Jordan comes back from a mission in space to find his beloved hometown, Coast City, has been replaced by a giant engine (as seen in Superman: The Man of Steel #26). The ones responsible are a guy who looks like Superman but with robot parts and a giant yellow spaceman called...

Yes, it’s the evil shhhrrakka-- wait, no, Mongul.

Unfortunately, the “yellow” part means that Hal’s Green Lantern ring doesn’t work on Mongul, because comics. Hal tries to attack Mongul by just ripping some machinery around him, but in doing so he accidentally opens a giant tube pumping kryptonite gas -- which is a problem, because the real Superman is in this place too. Also, hey, Superman’s alive! So it’s not ALL bad news today.

While Hal is feeling bad about the kryptonite thing and everything in general, Mongul wipes the floor with him, breaking multiple body parts in the process. Hal, however, is a stubborn motherfucker and gets up again. He makes himself a green energy armor and knocks Mongul unconscious with a steel hammer that Superman’s Pal John Henry Irons dropped recently (which has no silly yellow weakness, and is therefore superior to a Green Lantern ring).

Hmmm, that “big shoulder pads” look suits Hal. Anyway, once Mongul is out, Hal runs into Supergirl, Superboy, and the owner of that hammer he borrowed, and together they... spoil the end of Superman #82 (and the entire “Reign of the Supermen” storyline) for anyone who decided to read this issue first that week.

After the spoilery bit, the issue ends on a hopeful note. The “millions” of voices yelling for revenge in Hal’s head have subsided, which is always a good sign, and only a part of him wants to use his ring to bring back Coast City (how would that even work, anyway?). Hal says he’ll emerge from this tragedy as “a man transformed”.

Can’t wait to see that!

Feel free to follow the Green Lantern ‘94 to ‘04 blog to see the rest of Hal’s wholesome journey (eventually).