Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

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Green Lantern
Hal Jordan as Green Lantern
Gender	Male
Publisher	DC Comics
Origin	Coast City, Earth
First Appearance	Showcase #22 (September-October, 1959)
Creator(s)	John Broome, Gil Kane, Joe Giella
Alter ego	Hal Jordan
Aliases	The Emerald Guardian, The Ring Bearer, Spectre, Parallax.
Abilities	Power Ring, allows wearer to do anything he can "will" it to do.
Affiliations	Green Lantern Corps, Justice League.

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) is a fictional superhero character. Hal Jordan was the second Green Lantern, emerged in the 1960s, as part of the Silver Age of Comics. He was part of the attempt on the part of editor Julius Schwartz to bring back the heroes from the Golden Age of Comics (the 1940s) in a new updated version. Hal was a re-vamp of the Golden Age Green Lantern. Still, for many who grew up reading comics in the 60s and 70s, Hal is really THE Green Lantern.

Test Pilot Hal Jordan is surprised when his flight simulator takes flight, and is carried by an eerie green light to the desert site of dying alien Abin Sur. Abin Sur explains that he is a Green Lantern, possessor of a very special ring.

Whoever wears this amazing ring will find its green light energy will do anything its wearer can imagine, including granting the power of flight, just by the force of the owner's will-power. The only exception is that, due to a "necessary impurity in the ring", it can't affect anything yellow, its one vulnerability.

As he lay dying, the ring searches for a suitable replacement candidate, supposedly a man who is honest and "born without fear" who would use the power "against the forces of evil and injustice". The ring selected Hal.

When Hal was young, he lived at Edwards Airforce Base with his parents, his father being an Air force Pilot. In those days, Hal's greatest fear was losing his dad, which came to pass in a tragic plane crash. His greatest fear realized, Hal found that he wasn't scared by anything. It was as though his greatest fear could never be replaces. His fearless nature led to him joining the airforce himself, and his later taking on the dangerous position of a test pilot for Ferris Aircraft. Now it has lead to him being selected by the ring to be a Green Lantern.

Hal now accepts the ring and its lantern shaped "power battery", which recharges the ring's power every 24 hours. In later stories we learn that Hal is actually part of a large Green Lantern Corps, a kind of galactic police force. Each Corps member is assigned to a different space sector by these little ancient blue aliens called The Guardians of the Universe. The "Guardians" live on the planet Oa, located in the exact center of the universe. The Guardians all look exactly alike to our eyes, and are a force for order in a chaotic universe.

Earth happens to be in Sector 2814, as the Guardians count these things. Keeping order in this became Hal Jordan's assignment.

The Hal Jordan version was created in the 1959 as part of an attempt during the Silver Age of Comics to revive and modernize these older heroes, in this case with a more science fiction feel to it.

In his early days, Hal Jordan was well-meaning but a bit politically naive. He soon became close friends with fellow Justice League member, the more savy, (if a bit liberal) Green Arrow. Teamed together, the two went on an odyssey to "discover America", in a series of comics that marked the beginning of The Bronze Age of Comics.

Hal Jordan as Parallax.

Hal's arch nemesis, Sinestro, the renegade Green Lantern, is imprisoned in the main power battery on Oa, where he gains access to the "yellow impurity" in the ring, which he finds is caused by the ancent creature called Parallax, the embodiment of the emotion of fear. Sinestro helps Parallax to escape and possess Hal Jordan. The being's influence on Hal is, at first, subtle, but after the destruction of Hal's home town, Star City, it gets the better of him, and Hal attempts to remake the universe into a better place, killing all those who attempt to stop him, including many Green Lanterns. Now calling himself Parallax, Hal is defeated during the Zero Hour (1994) crossover event and eventually sacrifices his life to re-ignite the sun, during the Final Night (1997) crossover event, saving Earth and the solar system.

For a while, the deceased Hal becomes the ghostly Spectre, searching for redemption for his crimes. When it

Hal Jordan as the Spectre.

is discovered that Parallax is a separate entity and that it had infected Hal, he rids himself of Parallax, finds redemption, and is restored to life. He is reinstated as Green Lantern, though some, like many of the Green Lanterns who survived Parallax's killing spree, and Batman himself, continue to distrust him. After his years of experience, Hal finds that he can overcome the yellow impurity in battle, and that yellow in no longer a particular weakness.

Arch Nemesis:Sinestro
Other recurring enemies: Star Saphire, Goldface, Hector Hammond, Dr. Polaris

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