The revamp of Green Lantern as Hal Jordan was one of many DC Comics characters to emerge in the Silver Age of comics.
In 1994 Hal Jordan turned into the supervillain Parallax and was replaced by Kyle Rayner as the new Green Lantern. Jordan then underwent a number of further changes in the 1990s including dying and later returning as a new incarnation of The Spectre. Hal Jordan returned to the role of Green Lantern in 2004's Green Lantern: Rebirth miniseries and is the protagonist of the current volume of Green Lantern.
After achieving great success in 1956 in reviving the Golden Age character The Flash, DC editor Julius Schwartz looked toward recreating the Green Lantern from the Golden Age of Comic Books . Like The Flash, Schwartz wanted this new character to have a different secret identity, origin, and personality than his 1940s counterpart. A long time science-fiction fan and literary agent, Schwartz wanted a more sci-fi based Green Lantern, as opposed to the mystical powers of Alan Scott, the forties Green Lantern. He enlisted writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane, who in 1959 would reintroduce Green Lantern to the world in Showcase #22 (September-October 1959).
Another unique addition to Green Lantern's supporting cast was his best friend, Tom Kalmaku, who was both Hal's mechanic and the chronicler of his super-hero adventures. An Inuit (Eskimo) from Alaska, Tom's nickname was "Pie" or "Pieface", in reference to Eskimo Pie ice cream sandwiches. Like "Chop Chop" from the Blackhawk comics, this nickname is today understandably viewed as racist and has been downplayed by most modern writers . However, unlike "Chop Chop", Tom was actually a competent and intelligent character with a well-rounded personality, not a stereotypical buffoon. Despite the unfortunate nickname, Tom Kalmaku was among the first minority characters to be portrayed in this manner and broke new ground for mainstream comic books. Tom would later be followed by another trail-blazing minority character, John Stewart, the first African-American super-hero of the DC Universe.
When compared to comics of the thirties, forties, and early fifties, Green Lantern broke new storytelling ground and can be seen as a precursor to the "Marvel Revolution" that would take place several years later. Whereas older comics treated each issue as a stand-alone with no real sense of temporal direction between issues, Green Lantern's issues followed the order of publication, with references within the stories to previous stories and adventures. Not only were references made, but subplots (such as Hal and Carol's romance, the marriage of Tom Kalmaku, etc.) were advanced showing actual growth in the character's lives. While these subplots rarely were given much notice in comparison to Marvel's storylines in the sixties and especially to today's modern stories, they were the first step toward this sort of serial storytelling instead of the episodic nature of older comics .
Starting with issue #76, Dennis O'Neil took over scripting duties and Neal Adams took over as artist. This issue is one of the comics which is considered to have ushered in the Bronze Age of Comic Books . It is worth noting that Neal Adams actually drew his first cover in Green Lantern #63 in the late Silver Age. The collaboration of O'Neil and Adams produced the most famous and celebrated runs on Green Lantern . Julius Schwartz remained editor and hand-selected the two to revitalize the title, whose sales had been slipping. O’Neil and Adams had already begun preparation for the classic run in the form of their re-workings of another DC character: Green Arrow.
Green Arrow was a character originally created by DC in 1941 (then known as National Comics). He was a wealthy businessman named Oliver Queen who wore a green Errol Flynn-esque Robin Hood costume and shot “trick” arrows in his efforts to fight crime. His characterization was fairly basic (borrowing heavily from Batman but lacking the depth and tragedy of that character ) and as such remained a second or third string hero throughout the Golden Age. However, the character managed to survive the fifties (during which most superhero comics were eliminated) by being a backup character in Adventure Comics. In 1961, DC added Green Arrow to the roster of the Justice League of America, but he still remained in the background.
This changed in 1968 with Justice League of America #66. Written by Denny O’Neil, Green Arrow started to show resentment toward his fellow superheroes who wielded great power (as he himself, possessing exceptional skill but no actual super-powers, did not), but did little to help the ordinary people with ordinary problems. O’Neil continued to push Green Arrow’s tolerance for his peers, and a little less than a year later, Neal Adams (not working in any sort of cooperation with O’Neil) redesigned Arrow, giving him a goatee and a new outfit. Justice League of America #74 (still being written by O’Neil) introduced Black Canary as Arrow’s love interest and issue #75 left him broke, his company and fortune stolen from him. O’Neil wanted to recreate Green Arrow to better represent a modern Robin Hood, but felt a rich man would be a poor champion of the downtrodden .
Some time after this, Schwartz invited O’Neil to take over Green Lantern. Wanting to represent his own political beliefs in comics and take on social issues of the late sixties and early seventies, O’Neil came up with the idea of pitting Hal Jordan, who as an intergalactic cop stood for not only Law and Order but The Establishment, against Oliver Queen, who O’Neil had characterized as a profoundly outspoken liberal and stood for the Counter-Culture Movement . The first issue he wrote had Green Lantern capturing a street "punk" who was pushing around a man. All around him, people start throwing things at the bewildered Jordan. As he steps in to attack, he is stopped by Green Arrow, who explains that the man he defended was a slum lord "fat cat" and goes even further to show Lantern the conditions of the slum. At the roof, in a now famous scene, an elderly African-American man grills Jordan as to why he has not done much for the "black skins" of his own planet while helping out other different colored aliens of other planets.
Following Schwartz's approval of the story, Neal Adams was brought in to replace Gil Kane, much to the surprise of Denny O'Neil. And yet, the pair had already been working together on Batman (where Adams successfully reconstructed the character into a more dramatic "Dark Knight"), Adams had been the one to redesign Green Arrow's costume, and the artist had a growing reputation for one who did not back down and pushed for innovative, good ideas and therefore, was the perfect candidate to work with O'Neil .
The pair tackled a number of social issues including corruption, sexism, cults, consumerism, the environment, racism, poverty, and even (subtly) child molestation . However, none were more shocking and controversial than the issue explored in the famous "Snowbirds Don't Fly" issues #85 and #86. Neal Adams drew the cover, which showed Green Arrow’s youthful side-kick, Speedy, shooting heroin. Editor Julius Schwartz did not want it published . Neither did publisher Carmine Infantino . But over at Marvel Comics, Stan Lee had green-lit Amazing Spider-Man #96, which featured pills and presented an anti-drug message without the Comics Code Authority seal. Facing opposition and controversy, the Comics Code Authority revised its rules in regard to what could and could not be presented in comic books and, while still restrictive, became more lenient. As a result , DC approved Adams’ cover and O’Neil wrote a two-part story involving drugs with Speedy being hooked. Green Arrow, who was usually presented as being the more understanding and mentoring of the Arrow/Lantern duo, now had his world turned upside-down, not only unable to understand his own part in leading Speedy toward drugs, but even coming off as uncompassionate toward the troubled youth. With this story, Adams and O’Neil not only tackled a difficult social ill, but looked inward at the ways that their “champion of the everyman” could be wrong . New York Mayor John V. Lindsay wrote a letter to DC in response to the issue commending them, which was printed in issue #86.
In 1985, the Crisis on Infinite Earths saw Jordan once again take up the mantle of Green Lantern, even as the Guardians withdrew from his dimension for a while to consort with their female counterparts, the Zamarons. The new Corps, with seven members residing on Earth, including several aliens, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner. For a while, Jordan was romantically involved with an alien Lantern named Arisia. The alien Lanterns took a more direct hand in human affairs, a fact not appreciated by human governments. (Kilowog helped create the Rocket Reds for the Soviet Union ). Eventually, the Earth corps broke up, several members returning to their home sectors. The Guardians soon returned to this dimension, and Jordan worked with them to rebuild the fractured Corps.
Cover to Green Lantern (vol.
As Parallax, he initiates the Zero Hour: Crisis in Time, attempting to rewrite history to his own liking, but he is eventually defeated by a gathering of heroes. Jordan is replaced by Kyle Rayner as the Green Lantern of Earth when Rayner comes into possession of the last power ring, created from the shattered remains of Jordan's. In the 1996 Final Night miniseries and crossover storyline, Jordan returns and sacrificing his life to reignite the Sun (which had been extinguished by the Sun-Eater).
During the Emerald Knights storyline, when Kyle Rayner went on an accidental time-traveling trip, he ends up unintentionally drawing a past version of Hal into the present where Hal was shocked to learn of the crimes his future self had committed as Parallax.
In the 1999 mini-series Day of Judgment, Jordan becomes the newest incarnation of the Spectre. Soon after assuming this mantle, Jordan chose to bend his mission from a spirit of vengeance to one of redemption, also making other appearances through some of DC's other story lines, such as advising Superman during the Emperor Joker storyline (Where the Joker stole the reality-warping power of Mister Mxyzptlk) and erasing all public knowledge of Wally West's identity as the Flash after his terrible first battle with Zoom. A new Spectre series based on this premise, however, lasted only 27 issues before cancellation due to poor sales.
Following up on the Green Lantern: Rebirth miniseries, DC Comics subsequently began a new Green Lantern (vol. 4) series starting with issue #1 (July 2005), with Hal Jordan once again the main character. Trying to rebuild his life, Hal Jordan has moved to the nearly deserted Coast City, which is slowly being reconstructed. He has been reinstated as a Captain in the United States Air Force, and works in the Test Pilot Program at Edwards Air Force Base . The series introduces new supporting characters for Hal, most notably a man from Hal's past, Air Force's General Jonathan "Herc" Stone, who learned Hal's secret as Green Lantern during a battle with the Manhunters and acts as his ally. He also begins to develop a romantic attraction with his fellow pilot, the beautiful Captain Jillian "Cowgirl" Pearlman. The returning characters also include Carol Ferris, Tom Kalmaku, and Hal's younger brother James Jordan with his sister-in-law Susan and their children, Howard and Jane.
As part of DC's retconning of the entire universe, as of Green Lantern vol. 4, #10, the book has skipped ahead one year, bringing drastic changes to Hal Jordan's life, as with every other hero in the DC Universe. It is revealed that Jordan spent time as a P.O.W. in an un-named conflict and has feelings of guilt from his inability to free himself and his fellow Captives.
Hal and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps find themselves at war with Sinestro and his army, the Sinestro Corps during the events of the Sinestro Corps War As a Green Lantern native to Earth he features in the Final Crisis mini-series by Grant Morrison.
Leading into the Blackest Night storyline, the Rage of the Red Lanterns storyline features Jordan making use of both Red and Blue rings.
In Justice League: Cry for Justice mini-series, Hal is going to be leading his own Justice League with Green Arrow, Shazam, Supergirl, Congorilla, Starman, Batwoman, and the Atom because of the deaths of Martian Manhunter and Batman, Hal wants Justice for them.
In the DC/Marvel Company crossover series Amalgam, there appeared to be two amalgams of Hal. The Iron Lantern was the amalgam of Hal Jordan and Tony Stark. His identity was know as Hal Stark. Another unknown amalgam of Hal Jordan appeared in Speed Demon #1, in which the Speed Demon killed him, as apparently this Jordan had committed a horrible crime.
Hal Jordan will appear in the animated feature Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.
Green Lantern #1-75 (July 1960 – March 1970, DC Comics). Renamed following issue #75.
Green Lantern #123-200 (December 1979 – May 1986, DC Comics). Renamed following issue #200.
Green Lantern #1-50 (June 1990 – March 1994, DC Comics). Following issue #50, the character Kyle Rayner took over this series.
The Spectre #1-27 (March 2001 – May 2003, DC Comics). Hal Jordan's adventures as the Wrath of God. Canceled following issue #27.
Green Lantern #1-present (July 2005 – present, DC Comics). Currently written by Geoff Johns with various artists.
Justice League of America #1-200 (October 1960 – March 1982, DC Comics). Hal was exiled to space by the Guardians following this and the League was disbanded by Aquaman later in Justice League of America Annual #2 (November 1984).
Justice League of America #1- (October 2006 – , DC Comics). Hal had been chosen by Superman, Wonder Woman, and (reluctantly) Batman to be a part of the new incarnation of the League.