Graphic Novels - Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn

Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn
Writers: Jim Owesley (Issue 1), Keith Giffen (issues 2-6), and Gerard Jones (issues 2-6)
Artists: M.D. Bright and Romeo Tanghal

So why did I get this? Simple, I read Emerald Dawn 2 and enjoyed it. I wanted to see how it all began for the Green Lantern. Also, the new movie is coming out. Now, I’ll talk about why I got Emerald Dawn 2 in the first place later. I’m only doing this post of Emerald Dawn because to understand what happens in 2, you have to read 1 first.

I don't know much about the creative team, only that they are real good. most of this team was already on the main Green Lantern book at the time this came out, so that definitely helps the situation. the Mini-series came out around 1990. So, let’s jump into this origin for Hal 'Swingin' Jordan.

1. Hal Jordan – ZERO to HeroThe first issue pretty much shows us the origin of Hal getting the ring. We start out with a flashback of a young Hal watching his father die in a plane accident. We then skip to a few years later where Hal’s life pretty much sucks. He lost his job (gets it back after his mom talks to the boss) and his woman Carol Ferris (the looks she give him in these issues even made me feel like I did something bad). Things get worse when Hal and his friends get into a car accident where some “spirits” were involved. Hal was at the wheel drunk. At the hospital, Carol gives him that look again. The next day, the Injured Hal heads to his job at Ferris. Suddenly,weird things happen.

While he’s being brought to his destination (a crashed ship), a voice tells him all about the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps. In the ship, Hal meets Abin Sur, the guy with the purple head on the cover, and he tells Hal that the ring has chosen him to be the new Green Lantern. Hal shrugs this off, saying that does not want this. But it’s too late. Sur dies and the ring goes to Hal. He takes it well I think.



He calls Carol, who’s wondering what the heck happened, and is told that the friend that was in the car accident has been paralyzed. Angered, Hal then sees the sign that “caused” him to have the accident and runs right through it. This, of course, was a dumb move and this move knocks him out cold.

Yeah, Hal is not a real cool person when we see him later in life. His life sucks, pure and simple. One complaint would be that I kind of want to see how Hal’s life got to this place before the night of the accident. He also doesn’t want to take responsibility for something that was definitely his fault. And it looks like it’s about to get a little worse and weird for Hal.

2. Ooo…A Yellow Villain
While Hal is sorting out with the ring and his personal problems, we have the villain of the miniseries. He’s (or they’ve) come to the solar system and then to Earth to find Abin Sur. The villain talks as if he’s many (kinda like Venom from Spider-Man). The villain crashes on earth and finds the ship. He finds Abin’s body and then starts looking for a Green Lantern signal. Meanwhile, Hal decides to be a responsible man and turn himself in to the cops, who have been looking for him. Suddenly, the villain crashes into the police station and kills everyone there. Hal goes to find his ring and then transform into GL. As Hal looks ready to kick E.T’s butt, this happens:

Ha ha!!

It then looks like it’s over for Hal, and then his ring shuts off and he changes back into his civilian clothes…Eh? This is actually a good thing since the villain is only looking for GL signals. The villain then leaves Hal, who’s lucky to be alive. Later, it’s discovered that the villain is looking for Green Lantern by following Hal’s own trail. The villain trashed the hospital and Ferris Airports (where Hal had been earlier). Hal’s friend, Ryan, is killed in the attacks, which ticks Hal off. He goes back to Abin’s ship to find the Lantern Battery and charges up. It’s also found out that Legion (the villain) attacked Abin to find the location of Oa, home of the Guardians. This is why Abin crashed on Earth. Suddenly, Legion attacks Hal. The ring tells Hal that he can use the ship’s engines to blow up the villain. Hal realizes this could kill him as well, but Legion destroyed all that he cares for. Hal then blows the ship up, which ends the 3rd issue.


The second and third issues keep the action going, introducing the villain and upping the stakes for Hal. There’s actually some humor in this mini-series now, which doesn’t make it too depressing. My only complaint: we don’t get the villain’s name until issue 4. It’s great romping around the desert for the first 3 issues, but it’s time to go into space! Oh Yeah!

3. …Space is weird.
In issue 4, Hal wakes up and Legion is out of sight. Woo Hoo. Hal then asks the ring to take him to another GL and the ring does so by leading Hal into space. Meanwhile, Legion (who’s still alive) is on the moon and watches Hal leave Earth. Later, Hal lands on a planet in another sector that is guarded by no other than Tomar-Re (aka Birdman). Hal fills him in on what been going on and they have a little adventure together against….Alien Grass. Oh yeah.

I have no words for this.

After this little adventure, the group is then called to Oa to find out more about Legion. They meet another Lantern named Salaak (the nice version of the Alien from….Alien). Hal is amazed by all of Oa while he, Tomar, and Salaak go to the Book: the place where all the knowledge that the Guardians of the Universe have stored. Unfortunately, the background info on Legion’s origins don’t match up with what Hal faced. Afterwards, Hal and Tomar talk about things while Tomar leads Hal to a room where he will stay to start his training. Before he starts his training, Hal uses a ring to contact his brother on Earth and he tells him to cover for him till he gets back. Then the training of a Green Lantern begins, and it …well…looks hard as hell.

Probably the funniest part of the series.

After Mr. Woodcock….wait…Kilowog (aka Killa) is finished, Hal finally gets some sleep. He is then woken up by an alarm calling all GLs: Legion has come to Oa.

In the fifth issue, the Lanterns (led by Kilowog) take on Legion. Legion is basically unstoppable because the Green Lanterns’ rings have a weakness to yellow, and Legion’s suit is yellow. Oh crap. The Lanterns try to hold off Legion with some moves, but it’s all futile. Legion keeps on coming and even kills some of the Lanterns. He eventually busts into the building where the Guardians are …in the Odinsleep? Anyway, security measures are in place as some cables come out and capture Legion. The Guardians wake up and wonder what the heck just happened. The cables are getting ready to give out, so Hal shows how awesome his is by using the ring to cut the cables and takes Legion out of there.

He then even comes up with an idea: dump Legion in some mud to cover up the yellow. The idea works and Hal unleashes all of his fury on Legion. The ring tells Hal that he is getting too emotional about this, so Hal tells it to shut up and he keeps kicking Legion’s butt. As Hal is about to kill Legion, Legion basically gives him a sob story about its people and how the Guardians screwed them over. Hal doesn’t care about Legion’s sob story, but he relents from killing Legion and instead knocks him out. When Ha blasts open Legion’s armor, he is shocked to find…a clear bloblish creature, which then goes nuts and starts to attack the Lanterns.

In the final issue, we see the Lanterns take on Legion in its true form. The blob is really powerful, gaining energy from the planet itself. The Lanterns do what they can, but their efforts are futile. The guardians tell the Lanterns to retreat and that they are all leaving Oa. Hal takes offense to this and tells the main Guardian off, saying they have the power to stop Legion. The Guardian tells Hal that while the ring’s powerful, it is only a fraction of power. The Central Power Battery on OA is the ‘ultimate power’ of the GLC. Hal then shows more of his coolness and uses the central battery to charge up.

This (and the whole fight) is worthy of some music. (Ah ha!)

Some Queen music starts playing as Hal is able to get Legion off of Oa. He succeeds and then proceeds to fall out unconscious. Meanwhile, the Guardians tell the rest of the Lanterns to escort the blob known as Legion to its home planet. Hal wakes up to find that the Guardians have surrounded him. They ask about how he was able to access the Central Battery’s power. Hal doesn’t know. The Guardians then tell him that his training period is over and he is allowed to return to Earth. As he returns to Earth, Hal proclaims that he is a new man now and that there is one more thing he has to do before he can move on – turn himself in…again (luckily there are no yellow villains in sight this time).

After some time (probably 90 Days), Hal is released from prison. He meets up with his brother and his brother’s girlfriend. They tell him that Carol is so impressed by his actions of being responsible that she will offer him his old job back. After some time, Hal is back flying in the air. Suddenly, he starts have ing a problem with his plane. Rather than using his ring, Hal decides throw the ring out the window and land the plane on his own and succeeds—until it blows up… (Ooo, whatcha say-- Oh wait). Luckily, Hal comes out of the explosion alive and picks up ring.


… … … .. .. . . . . . …………

And that is the end of the story. Is it good? …..YES. This is a good origin story. The art and writing was awesome. We see Hal literally go from a zero to a hero throughout the whole mini-series. We see that Hal is flawed man, not bad, but flawed. It is the ring that sees that there is potential for Hal to be something great even though Hal and others don’t see it. My only complaint is that we do not see how Hal ended up in his rut of a life. Some more stuff about him his life before the night of the accident could have been added. The villain of the story was okay.

Legion was really mysterious, and you kind of feel sorry for it (or them) when you find out what the Guardians actually did. It shows that even the Guardians are not perfect, which is something we still see today in the GL books. Anyway, my favorite moment would probably be the talk between Hal and Tomar. We get to the heart of Hal’s matter. He feels he’s not worthy of the ring because of his personal problems. Luckily, Tomar pretty much straightens him out and tells him that he can atone. I would like to see how this origin fares with Secret Origin and DC: New Frontier (technically, it was a GL origin).

Well, that is all I have for this post. Come back next time when I talk about Hal’s time in jail…lol.

NEXT TIME: A HERO BEHIND BARS, MORE FAMILIAR FACES, AND SINESTRO (WHO LOOKS LIKE HE BELONGS WITH MORRIS DAY AND THE TIME WITH THAT FREAKIN’ HAIRCUT OF HIS)!!!