The reconceived the Green Lantern as Harold "Hal" Jordan, a cocky test pilot who is inducted to the Green Lantern Corps, a group of interstellar police officers who fight criminals throughout the universe. They use a special ring that allows a Corpsman to use their willpower to create constructs of green energy. The concept has been compared to E.E. Smith's Lensman series, although Schwartz has denied any connection. The Lensman series has been homaged in later stories focusing on the Corps, mainly through the GLs named Arisia and Eddore.
Hal would be a stalwart of the DCU for decades, being one of the original founders of the Justice League, and a member for many years. He would retire for a while, sitting out Crisis on Infinite Earths, but would ringsling again. In 1993, in his grief over the destruction of Coast City in the Reign of the Supermen storyline Hal lost his mind, decimate the Green Lantern Corps, and become the villainous Parallax in the controversial Emerald Twilight storyline, with Kyle Rayner being the sole Green Lantern for some years.
He would become the main villain in the Zero Hour crossover, but Hal would redeem himself by giving his life to save the world and reignite the sun in the Final Night crossover, which would lead to him becoming the Spectre, picking up that mantle from Jim Corrigan during the Day of Judgment storyline.
In 2004, Hal Jordan would be restored to life and made a Green Lantern again in Green Lantern: Rebirth. This would also signal the return of not just Hal, but the Green Lantern Corps. His origin story would be revamped, and ever since, Hal has shined his emerald light in the name of justice.
So, with all of that out of the way, let's take a look at Green Lantern #7!
The cover is pretty cool. It depicts Hal Jordan blasting people with his power ring, turning them invisible. He's thinking about this being the only way to prevent a disaster.
"The Day 100,000 People Vanished!"
Writer: John Broome
Penciler: Gil Kane
Inker: Joe Giella
Letterer: Gaspar Saladino
Colorist: Unknown
Editor: Julius Schwartz
The story begins with a full-page shot of Hal Jordan flying through a city. Nothing unusual...well, for the lack of people. The story begins properly in the morning in Valdale, an average American city. People are hustling and bustling, starting their day. But this ordinary day will take an odd turn.
An aurora-esque light pattern is in the sky, a thunderclap is heard, and the people just...vanish. Literally just...vanish. This city, in the blink of an eye, has become a ghost town. Hal Jordan flies back to Ferris Air, completely baffled. His confidant and friend, Thomas "Tom" Kalmaku, asks if he found anything. Hal scanned the area thoroughly with his power ring, but it revealed no clues. The ringslinger then realized something.
The disapperances happened shortly after 9 AM, and Hal was supposed to be there to help open a "Boys Settlement House", a sort of place where the less fortunate could live. I can imagine he was meant to be there as Green Lantern. Hal was working another case so he couldn't make the ceremony, but it was lucky that he had to cancel. Tom realizes how lucky Hal was. If he had made it, he'd be among the people in Valdale that vanished. Hal seems to blank out for a bit, but the feeling fades quickly.
However, it turns out that his "astral self" was summoned to Oa, a planet in the center of the universe, and the home of the Guardians of the Universe. They summoned him because there's a great emergency. This summoning is kind of weird since it seems like the Guardians don't want to interfere with Hal's life, but it does confuse me. Did they create an energy duplicate of Hal to talk to him? Why not just speak to him through his ring on Earth?
Anyway, the Guardians explain that generally, Lanterns are picked after careful testing. It's hilarious because they are saying this to Hal Jordan, who was literally given a power ring by his dying predecessor. But despite this so-called testing, a bad apple can find it way in. One of them was Sinestro, the GL of sector 1417, which contained his homeworld of Korugar. You'd think the man's name alone would make someone think that he might not be the best of people.
Sinestro was good at his job. He turned out to be a darn fine Green Lantern, but the power he now had in his possession started to corrupt him. He built himself a headquarters that was opulent. People went to him for help with their problems, but he would only help people would could give him interesting adventures, much like Sherlock Holmes would only take cases that interested him.
Eventually, he made himself into Korugar's tyrannical ruler, and the Guardians had had enough of his antics. The Guardians bring him back to Oa, and strip him of his ring and power battery. They then punish him by exiling him to the world of Qward, in a universe based on anti-matter. And with that, they thought the matter was settled. But Sinestro found a way to continue being a menace to the universe. The Guardians show Hal footage of him on Qward, giving a speech to the Weaponers of the world.
Sinestro has developed a teleportation device powerful enough to transport entire cities from the matter universe. Using "super-radar", he has discovered that Green Lantern is due to appear in Valdale. He will use the teleporter to transport the city (with GL in it), to Qward. ...if Sinestro can track Green Lantern, why not just transport him when he's gone out in civilian clothes or something?
Back on Earth, Hal recovers from his dizzy spell (presumably the Guardians returning his "astral self" to him), and flies off. Hal heads to Coast City, his hometown. His ring detects a sealed aperture, an opening that allows one to go to Qward. Hal then develops a plan. He uses his ring to turn everyone in Coast City invisible. He's doing this to get the attention of Sinestro. You know, a simpler way could have been just for Hal to fly out in the middle of the desert and yell out jokes about Sinestro's mother into the air. Sinestro's "super radar" would pick him up anyway. I think modern Hal would do this.
Hal's plan, crazy as it is, actually does work. The Emerald Warrior is transported to the anti-matter universe, and the people of Coast City are visible again. Upon his arrival, the Weaponers of Qward attack him, but a green forcefield kept Hal safe. Sinestro demands that he surrender, or else he will destroy Valdale and everyone in it. Hal agrees, not wanting to risk the lives of everyone in the city. Hal thinks that he didn't consider Sinestro would hold the city hostage. Evidently, Hal being portrayed as an idiot is nothing new.
Hal demands that he will not surrender until Sinestro agrees to return the city and its people to Earth safe and sound again. Sinestro surprisingly agrees and returns the city and its people to Earth. Hal keeps his end of the bargain and allows Sinestro to place him in a bubble of yellow energy. Keep in mind, at this point, Sinestro did not have his yellow ring yet.
Being a former GL himself, Sinestro knows that the rings will only work as long as they are charged. So, they'll simply wait for the ring's charge to wear off...which will happen at 6:00. With Hal's ring dead, the Weaponers can finish him off. The Weaponers say they'll make Sinestro a chieftain for this, and he quite likes the idea. Hal has to get out, but how? He then notices something. His ring has been picking up atomic vibrations from the clock. The test pilot gets an idea.
The hour has come. The energy bubble releases a seemingly powerless Hal. Sinestro fires an energy gun at him, but Hal has a surprise for him.
Yup. Hal nails Sinestro in the mouth with a green beam. Nowadays, Hal would do it with a good ol' fashioned Air Force fist. Hal likes punching people. Sinestro is shocked by this, as Hal's charge should have worn out. Hal explains that he realized that even though his ring could not break the yellow bubble, the bubble was not airtight. He also realized the vibrations that his ring was picking up came from the clock...an atomic clock. The Emerald Gladiator was able to use his ring to send carbon dioxide molecules from his breath to the clock, making the clock run fast by speeding up the atomic mechanism. With that Hal gets the villains all wet thanks to a big green tidal wave.
Sinestro taunts Hal by reminding him that GLs are not allowed to kill, and since the Guardians already exiled him here, there's nothing else Hal can do. The test pilot traps the tyrant in a bubble, and heads for home. You know, Hal, all they would have to do to break that bubble is to paint a pin yellow and poke it. Hal makes it back to the matter universe with only seconds of ring-power left.
The story ends with Green Lantern making it to the rescheduled opening ceremony, telling the young boys there that good will always triumph over evil.
Yeah, this story does have a lot of problems. How Hal escapes is rather silly. There was no way his plan should have worked, power ring or otherwise. It's also a bit complicated to me. I'm not sure why. Also, why didn't the Guardians just contact Hal through his ring? Why do that weird astral projection stuff? Just because they can? I don't get it. Despite all of that, this still is really an important story because it introduces Sinestro, a character that would become rather important to the GL mythos, especially in recent years. Notice that he's missing something? Yeah, he didn't get his yellow ring yet. That won't be until issue nine. So, I would recommend reading it for the historical importance, and if you are a big GL fan. But I think it's not the best GL story out there.
Gil Kane's art here looks much different from the art he did in DC Comics Presents Annual #3. His figures are sleeker, and there's less lines on the faces. Of course, this was 1961, and the 1984 Annual featured art from an older Kane whose art style clearly had evolved since then. It is neat to see how his art had changed in the intervening 23 years. I do like the figures of 80s Kane, but I think his 60s work is much cleaner and lacks the excess lines.
This comic also has another story that focused on Tom Kalmaku, but it was not included in the trade. If I can find it, I'll include it in an update.
I got the scans from this story from the 2008 trade paperback Green Lantern: In Brightest Day, which collected a set of Green Lantern tales chosen by Geoff Johns. It has some great stories in it, if you find it, get it. One of my personal favorites in it is Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill's "Tygers".
Next time, we travel to a dark corporate-ruled future where the wage slaves hope for a hero with a hammer...and a young man named Dargo Ktor must answer the call and become the Thor that world needs...
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