Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight/New Dawn

Rating:
Summary: The writer and artist should never work in comics again....
Review: This was the 90's, and long standing heroes and comic book stories go darker and darker. This book was one of them. DC Comics allowed Marz and Banks to ruin the Green Lantern stories and throw 35 years worth of stories away just to boost sales. All they ended up doing was hurting the fans and ruining a great hero with a replacement who was too young and immature for the part. Thankfully ten years later, DC Comics and the big change of editors at last came to their sense and are now restoring Green Lantern to Hal Jordan.

Rating:
Summary: Bold Step... But Should Have Been Longer!
Review: "Emerald Twilight/New Dawn". This book reads like a weird nightmare. Everything is so crazy that it's almost unreal - like something in the back of your mind telling you that this just can't be happening!

DC Comics took one real bold step with Hal Jordan in the early 1990s. They made him crazy and evil. Ever since the 1985-6 "Crisis on Infinite Earths", they have been killing off the Silver Age heroes and replacing them with new versions. Barry Allen was replaced by Wally West, Oliver Queen was replaced by Connor Hawke, Superman was (temporarily) replaced by FOUR new versions of the character (don't ask!), Batman was (also temporarily) replaced by Azrael and later Dick Grayson and finally Hal Jordan was replaced by Kyle Rayner (of which the tale is told in this volume).

The most controversial of all the "replacements" and "revamps" was the Hal Jordan-Kyle Rayner thing. You see, all the other replacement were either temporary (Supes, Bats and even Green Arrow is now back) or the original died heroically (as in the case of Barry Allen). With Green Lantern, sales was so low that they needed a really HUGE event to shake things up - so they had Hal Jordan go crazy, slaughter all the other GLs, the Guardians, destroyed Oa and become a super-powerful cosmic villain called Parallax. Ron Marz, the original scripter of these tales (he's not the one really responsible for the whole thing - it was an editorial decision!), have been receiving death threats and insults from fans (mostly unreasonable) ever since. My reaction is like that of the other reviewer - WHY THE EXTREME REACTION?

Granted, I like Hal Jordan a whole lot! Look, I even created an Amazon List on everything Hal! And after reading the recent Mark Waid penned "The Brave and the Bold" TPB, I too wished that Hal Jordan is still Green Lantern. But then, I like the evolution of the character even more. And I like the idea of Hal Jordan as Parallax (and now as the new Spectre). In short, I like change. And finally, I'm beginning to like the new GL, Kyle Rayner, a whole lot too.

Now to the stories in this volume. They were previously collected in TWO separate volumes - "Emerald Twilight" and "A New Dawn". DC recently rereleased the two stories in one volume along with the "Emerald Dawn" and "The Road Back" volumes to form a series with a similar cover-design. Therefore, this current volume consist of issues 48 to 55 of the Green Lantern comics and includes an Afterword by Ron Marz. I rather enjoy the reading the story in one sitting (although I'd recommend reading "The Return of Superman" TPB before this one to understand the background behind Hal's descent into madness). My only complain is that they should have made the "Emerald Twilight" story longer. It was a major milestone in a character's life and he only had THREE ISSUES? Then you have FIVE ISSUES of melodrama and soap opera with Kyle Rayner discovering his new powers as the new GL? The whole collection feels rather uneven because of this. The pacing for the first part is too fast and too crammed and the later part is too loose.

Ron Marz's writing is passable and Kyle Rayner is still largely undeveloped in this volume. Get "Baptism of Fire" (the next volume) to see how Marz develops this new GL. The artwork is overall very good - especially the chapters by Darryl Banks and Bill Willingham. Finally, it's always great seeing another appearance by Alan Scott, the original Golden Age GL, giving some pointers to the new GL! This is an important milestone in the history of Green Lantern (possibly the most important in recent decades) and I'd recommend it seriously for everyone interested in the evolution of the GL mythos.

Rating:
Summary: Great Story, 5 stars if you like Green Lantern
Review: I loved this story, it shows the fall of one of DCs greatest heroes, and the rise of a new one.

Basically, Hal Jordan is so distrought after Coast City has been destroyed, he tries to re-create it. The Guardians then try to punish him for this act, and Hal goes crazy.

This TPB covers Green Lantern #47-#52, and half is Hal Jordan's fall, and the other half is Kyle Raynor's rise.

The only reason I didn't give this a five is because it may not appeal to someone who isn't a casual Green Lantern fan. But it is very good even if you aren't.

Rating:
Summary: Why all the outrage people?
Review: Lets face it, as progressive as comic books may be, there is no fan base on this planet more adverse to change then comic book fans. Trust me, I know, I'm one of them. Hal Jordan was my favorite hero when I was growing up. As a young child, the Green Lantern action figure was my favorite, and the few comic books I had of that day included several of his. Years passed and my comic book focus was lost for several years. The death and rebirth of Superman managed to drag me back in. A related event to Superman's rebirth was the destruction of Coast City, Hal Jordan's home. This was the moment that I had to get back in to the Green Lantern series. I had to see how my childhood hero would react to such a loss. The writers at DC took him in an unexpected and incredibly bold direction....Insanity. Hal Jordan lost his place, and in his rage and misery managed to destroy all that he held dear to him. He turned his back on heroics and spent the next few years as a villian, taking the name Parallax.
Well, most people out there cryed out and screamed and wailed and said "If Hal isn't going to be Green Lantern anymore I'm not going to read this book anymore". Well that's just petty. Like the passing of the role of James Bond, the passing of the Green Lantern ring to Kyle Rayner was a bold and innovative choice. We got to watch someone else grow into the role, someone who, in my mind, has managed to tell as grand a tale as any Hal could write up. I stand by DC's decision and they're story making ablities. Emerald Twilight is one of the greatest comics I have ever read. Hands down.

Rating:
Summary: Mixed Feelings
Review: When this story first appeared about nine years ago as part of DC's "Zero Hour," I glanced at it and hated it, taking it as the ultimate proof that DC Comics had no respect for its characters in the early 90's. Now that it's available as a graphic novel, I've finally sat down and read it. It's about what I expected, but to my surprise, I enjoyed parts of it.

Hal Jordan the Green Lantern has had his entire home city destroyed by a super-villain. This was Coast City, as integral to his adventures as Metropolis is for Superman. It has been blasted off the map, along with most of the people living in it. Hal is utterly distraught and broken. When he uses his powers to briefly recreate the an illusion of the city to assuage his pain, he is swiftly reprimanded for misuse of his powers by his superiors (the Guardians of the Universe on planet Oa who run the Green Lantern Corps, a universal police force). This slap in the face pushes Hal over the edge into madness. He decides that if he can steal the awesome powers of the Guardians, he will be able to change history and bring the city back, as well as undo everything else in his life that ever made him unhappy. So he travels to Oa, fights off and even kills many of his old comrades, and successfully steals the Guardians' powers, turning him into a being of seemingly godlike power, with the Guardians dead and the GL Corps destroyed.

Hal was one of the most genuinely noble of the DC heroes. The brutality he displays in his rampage toward Oa is totally out of character (author Ron Marz had never handled the character before, and it shows), though it is typical of the blood-splattering storytelling that dominated comics in that period. The story also makes little sense--no matter how good a fighter GL is, it's absurd that he could take on the entire Corps in a face-to-face slugfest and win.

That being said--the opening sequence with Hal mourning the loss of everything he's ever loved is actually quite poignant. It is the sort of catastrophe that could drive someone mad. If the writers had taken time building up to this (and it's unusual for me to call for a longer story arc, as I think most comics commit the opposite vice of being too longwinded), it could have been believably tragic, and enough of that potential shines through that despite myself, I almost like it. Still, it's much too abrupt.

Unfortunately, this volume never shows us what becomes of Hal after this point (which is not the fault of the author of the original comic stories being reprinted here, but rather of the book's editors who chose not to include it). Instead we cut away to a new character, youthful brat packer Kyle Rayner, to whom the last surviving Guardian gives the last Green Lantern power ring. Most of the book is actually taken up with the kid learning to use his powers and fighting assorted bad guys. This would be entertaining if the villains weren't such awful 1990's sadists--the fate of Kyle's girlfriend at the hands of a supervillain has achieved some public notoriety as an example of comic book misogyny. Also, Kyle's introduction as the new main character is much too sudden. He does come across as likeable though, which surprised me.

And there the book cuts off. To learn the rest of the story, you must read Zero Hour, which DC published separately some years ago.

For what it's worth, Ron Marz and DC took a LOT of flak for making Hal going insane, become a villain, and eventually get killed. This criticism was deserved.

As I write this, Kyle is still around today in his own monthly comic book, and despite everything, he has become a well-written, strong character.

Many years later, Marz appears to have repented for what he did to a character so many fans loved, and the result was the brilliant story Emerald Knights, which is available as a graphic novel and which I would highly recommend. In it, due to a time travel accident, Hal's young self from ten years in the past winds up temporarily stranded in the present, long after his own death. This still innocent Hal Jordan has to come to grips with the terrible crimes he hasn't even committed yet. In the way he chooses to deal with it, we get to see Hal at his most righteous and noble, one last time.

Rating:
Summary: Mixed Feelings
Review: When this story first appeared about nine years ago as part of DC's "Zero Hour," I glanced at it and hated it, taking it as the ultimate proof that DC Comics had no respect for its characters in the early 90's. Now that it's available as a graphic novel, I've finally sat down and read it. It's about what I expected, but to my surprise, I enjoyed parts of it.

Hal Jordan the Green Lantern has had his entire home city destroyed by a super-villain. This was Coast City, as integral to his adventures as Metropolis is for Superman. It has been blasted off the map, along with most of the people living in it. Hal is utterly distraught and broken. When he uses his powers to briefly recreate the an illusion of the city to assuage his pain, he is swiftly reprimanded for misuse of his powers by his superiors (the Guardians of the Universe on planet Oa who run the Green Lantern Corps, a universal police force). This slap in the face pushes Hal over the edge into madness. He decides that if he can steal the awesome powers of the Guardians, he will be able to change history and bring the city back, as well as undo everything else in his life that ever made him unhappy. So he travels to Oa, fights off and even kills many of his old comrades, and successfully steals the Guardians' powers, turning him into a being of seemingly godlike power, with the Guardians dead and the GL Corps destroyed.

Hal was one of the most genuinely noble of the DC heroes. The brutality he displays in his rampage toward Oa is totally out of character (author Ron Marz had never handled the character before, and it shows), though it is typical of the blood-splattering storytelling that dominated comics in that period. The story also makes little sense--no matter how good a fighter GL is, it's absurd that he could take on the entire Corps in a face-to-face slugfest and win.

That being said--the opening sequence with Hal mourning the loss of everything he's ever loved is actually quite poignant. It is the sort of catastrophe that could drive someone mad. If the writers had taken time building up to this (and it's unusual for me to call for a longer story arc, as I think most comics commit the opposite vice of being too longwinded), it could have been believably tragic, and enough of that potential shines through that despite myself, I almost like it. Still, it's much too abrupt.

Unfortunately, this volume never shows us what becomes of Hal after this point (which is not the fault of the author of the original comic stories being reprinted here, but rather of the book's editors who chose not to include it). Instead we cut away to a new character, youthful brat packer Kyle Rayner, to whom the last surviving Guardian gives the last Green Lantern power ring. Most of the book is actually taken up with the kid learning to use his powers and fighting assorted bad guys. This would be entertaining if the villains weren't such awful 1990's sadists--the fate of Kyle's girlfriend at the hands of a supervillain has achieved some public notoriety as an example of comic book misogyny. Also, Kyle's introduction as the new main character is much too sudden. He does come across as likeable though, which surprised me.

And there the book cuts off. To learn the rest of the story, you must read Zero Hour, which DC published separately some years ago.

For what it's worth, Ron Marz and DC took a LOT of flak for making Hal going insane, become a villain, and eventually get killed. This criticism was deserved.

As I write this, Kyle is still around today in his own monthly comic book, and despite everything, he has become a well-written, strong character.

Many years later, Marz appears to have repented for what he did to a character so many fans loved, and the result was the brilliant story Emerald Knights, which is available as a graphic novel and which I would highly recommend. In it, due to a time travel accident, Hal's young self from ten years in the past winds up temporarily stranded in the present, long after his own death. This still innocent Hal Jordan has to come to grips with the terrible crimes he hasn't even committed yet. In the way he chooses to deal with it, we get to see Hal at his most righteous and noble, one last time.