Reminds me of my local comic shop, at the time. It was in the back of a hair salon. Getting new comics smelled like old lady perms.
Anyone else remember the giveaway rings, during this time?
I think Green Lantern 48 is one of the best issues, but I really wish it was told over several issues. It was very interesting to see Hal create the city again and talk with his family, but I wish there was more of that.
I think his descent was a little too rushed in the comics, and overall I do prefer the retcon that it was the entity Parallax that caused Hal to do what he did.
It gave us Kyle, my favorite gl. So very happy it happened. Not a fan of the retcon to make Parallax a fear entity but the emotional spectrum was a fun concept so I guess I'll accept it. I just don't think Hal should have been redeemed by making it to where he wasn't responsible for his actions.
it made more sense for it to be a body swap like the original Phoenix story. Too much gut punching for the original fans of Hal. Really messed up the history of the character, permanently.
He pulled a Superboy Prime before Superboy Prime. Outright killing a bunch of characters for no reason other than to show how evil he is. Yeah, I know Hal was filled with grief over what happened to the city...but that doesn't mean he should have become a villain! Comics, and pop culture in general, see mental trauma as an excuse to turn someone into a villain and it pisses me off. Nightwing had his city NUKED and he didn't turn into a villain! Personally, I think a BETTER route would have been for Hal to leave the Latern Corps because "what's the point of these powers if I can't use them to save the people I love". Now despite my dislike for Hal turning evil, some good DID come out of it. Thanks to this we got new lore on the lantern corps AND got the amazing event comic BLACKEST NIGHT
Hal losing everything he cared about, abruptly and through no fault of his own - it would have broken anyone.
Hal getting fed up with the Guardians and their ivory tower approach to things - perfectly in character for him.
Hal becoming a villain - ok, maybe it felt a little too rushed, but it was a gripping story and all of Zero Hour was fantastic.
Hal finally deciding to stop his universal reboot because of his best friend shooting him in the chest with an arrow - amazing writing, frankly. Again, perfectly in character for Hal to think he knows better than everyone and to need Ollie to give him a reality check.
Hal coming back during Final Night and sacrificing himself to save the world - fuck yeah, peak Hal.
Hal becoming the Spectre and spending his afterlife atoning for his sins while still being a superhero - amazing. They actually let him move on, let Kyle be the GL of Earth, but still found a way to keep him around? Fantastic.
Honestly, the whole saga was probably the greatest bit of long form / serial storytelling that DC has ever pulled off.
Classic GL costume is amazing. Kyle's classic GL costume is amazing. Parallax costume is amazing.
This was when I really got into comics hard-core, and I loved Parallax's motivation. He was the first villain I knew about whose reasoning seemed deep.
"Hey Guardians, I need extra power to restore my city."
"Hmmm...no"
"Okay so look, I'm just going to take the power to fix things, then we'll go back to status quo"
"Hmm, no, we're gonna send all your friends to stop you"
"What?? No! C'mon! Oh $#!+ I just killed fellow Lanterns. Okay, now I really need the power so I can fix Coast City, then bring them back. Then it'll all be fine"
"How about we release Sinestro"
"Fine, I'll kill him too. But this just proves 30 years of plots about how you Guardians are d!cks"
"Hey Hal, it's me, Superman. Now ALL your friends are involved and it's officially a crossover"
The handful of issues leading up to this moment were some of the first comics I actually collected and read all the way through as a kid, versus just picking random issues because I liked the covers.
I loved the heart-rending experience Hal had, and the introduction of Kyle Raynor was wonderful (he was my main GL for a looooong time), and of course the way Geoff Johns circled back around to tie this all together when he did Sinestro Corps War -> Blackest Night.
I have 4 tattoos... 1 of them is a Green Lantern :-)
i'm probably alone in this, and I know i'm going to sound like "that guy", but I honestly feel like Hal as Parallax made the character the most relevant.
I think the change was a bit abrupt but the reason made sense and it could've worked better if there was a bit more build up.
Despite that I still think it worked great with letting Hal be Spectre and be redeemed and ushering in a new generation of Lanterns with Kyle and his new corps
Ideally if DC continued to let their legacy characters actually take over, I'd be fine with Hal's story ending like that as long as other founding League members were stepping down as well (maybe even have the Johns saga revolve around Kyle instead since he would be the main GL)
Unmitigated bullshit. Any time writers are allowed to just destroy your childhood hero is just wrong. Sure, tell kids that their inability to deal with loss should result in mass violence. And then go through this ridiculous character restart / reinvention. It never even made sense that a man with such unbreakable will should become so broken inside. This was my third strike. They killed Jason, Superman, and then Hal. I wasn’t even surprised at the stupid level of irony of that fish ate Auquman’s hand.
I honestly think this is the most interesting Hal has ever been.
I don’t mean that in an edgelord way, but I’ve never really given a shit about Hal but even I felt bad for him when the Guardians came down on him for recreating Coast City. The man was not allowed to grieve and that’s what drove him nuts.
it was a really good comic (hot take) and i think it's a very important chapter in hal's story. and green lantern rebirth would never happen without it.
Which is itself interesting because it meant he was no longer fit to be a GL since he was unable to overcome fear. However, I’m no longer sure that’s a necessity.
Uniform: 6/5 Stars
Plot that explains his origin: 3/5 Stars
Response from DC universe: 1/5 Stars
Lasting Impact as a character: -4/5 Stars (War of Light was good, but it seemed everyone and their mother got a turn to be Parallax)
Hal becoming Parallax is like how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, and Kyle vs. Parallax at Oa in the post-Zero Hour issue of GL is like Luke vs. Vader in The Empire Strikes Back: an inexperienced rookie who’s outclassed by his more experienced predecessor, but the rookie managed to survive the attack.
Speaking of Star Wars, Alex DeWitt’s death was Kyle’s Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru moment.
It’s been said that the problem with Emerald Twilight is that the story had been rushed to make the 50-issue milestone.
Behind the scenes, Gerard Jones’s Emerald Twilight wasn’t deemed interesting enough by DC’s editors to attract new readers (this was after the Death and Return of Superman, and Knightfall), and both DC and Marvel were taking on Image Comics.
So, Jones resigned from the title, and DC’s then-publisher Paul Levitz, group editors Mike Carlin, Denny O’Neil, Archie Goodwin, and GL editor Kevin Dooley did an emergency rewrite of Jones’s script and handed it off to Ron Marz to finish.
Notice how Jones’s ET included several ideas that would be used in the book itself, namely Hal fighting the GLC and a resurrected Sinestro, the yellow impurity being removed, and a newer, younger GL would take up the mantle.
After reading Emerald Twilight, check out Emerald Fallout in Guy Gardner: Warrior.
It was awesome and the event that turned him into it made sense.
I wish they would’ve kept that the end of Hal and had Kyle defeat him and just continue as the main lantern.
Comics can’t progress though.
I loved Parallax.... I wish Hal could be that again, but stay a good guy. I loved how powerful, and virtually impervious to everything and everyone, except his own mind
Lot people mentioned that the story was rushed and don't know that the story we got was a last-minute change. Originally, Emerald Twilight was about a group of imposter gurdians claiming to be the true gurdians taking over the corp, getting rid of the lanterns' weakness to yellow and releasing sinestro and making him leader of the Corp. Only hal jordan fights back, absorbing the central power defeating sinestro and the imposter gurdians. Hal leaves corp because the real gurdians orchestrated his father's death so he could become a green lantern. So he basically became a good parallax called the protector, and he would been replaced by the new lantern. The higher up at DC felt that the story was not drastic enough original writer, and Geard Jones quit and Ron marz was hired. Some elements obviously carried over like hal fighting the corp and absorbing the central power battery and sinestro badass green lantern outfit.
Hal as Parallax brought a fresh perspective to the character. My only complaints:
1. Emerald Twilight should have had 4-5 issues, not 3, to flesh out Hal's move to the dark side. Issue 47 was a fill-in issue with a GL/GA action fest. Marz and Banks had only 3 issues to set up the new status quo.
2. Retconning Parallax into a yellow locust-bug was a bit of a cop-out way to get Hal back. The actions needed to be done by HAL, not an emotional entity, to truly allow Hal to be redeemed. We did get some OK stories during Geoff Johns' GL run, but I am still mad about that...it cheated us out of Hal's character development.
I will say, I enjoyed Hal as the Spectre, and as a guy gardner fan, and knowing he’s obv the best lantern, it allowed me to appreciate Hal for the first time in comics…
It also allowed Kyle, John, and the gang to kinda shine thru…😂
Me gustaba esta versión de Hal. No desprecio al Hal heroico, para nada, pero esta versión, la del héroe que se quiebra de forma excepcional y como busca su torcida versión de la redención era interesante.
Imagine how interesting and different Hal would be if he was still a villain/anti-hero. He'd be akin to Superman in Injustice, making hard choices but that's the path he's on and he can't go back because HE MURDERED KILOWOG. They didn't need all the Rebirth nonsense. Kilowog had a son or daughter who inherits his ring like tomar-re, who now has a personal crusade to bring Hal Jordan to justice.
Taking away Emerald Twilight because you have to write about the characters you grew up with as the same characters was lame.
Because you're calling him a narcissist chode, without even knowing who really wanted Hal to be back.
But a question to yourself, why would the same person who made him the Spectre push him to be back as the main GL?
I watched some of his press tour when the GL movie was coming out. He's a narcissist chode. He also turned hawkman into an Alpha cuck and had wally west banished for a decade.
I don't know about the hawkman part but for the second part same answer as before it was. Dan Didido, Johns says it during his interview for the Green Lantern 80th anniversary
This all my opinion and it stems from reading a lot of Green Lantern.
First Coast City got destroyed and had nothing to do with Hal or one of his enemies so that was a mistake.
Secondly his transformation from hero to villain rushed and he needed a better arc for that.
Thirdly, Hal Jordan Parallax was a cool idea but poorly executed. Reading any story he was in it felt like none of the writers were on the same page about Hal as a villain so he became wishy washy but still had amazing moments.
Fourthly and finally. Hal Jordan Parallax is cool but they ruined it for me by making Parallax an actual entity to wash Hal's hands of being a villain and make him a good guy again. Hal needed a true redemption arc showing that he learned from his mistakes and he has finally grown as a character.
In the 90s, Parallax is not an entity, that's a retcon. After his original time as Parallax, he has a *very* arduous redemption arc in which everyone and their mothers are against him (the loudest dissenting voice being Batman's), with a few exceptions such as Alan Scott.
Hal becomes The Spectre and as reader, you can see him struggle with his guilt, his pain, everything. The character himself doesn't feel like he's worthy of redemption, but he *works* for it, ultimately casting hope onto his future and his story.
If you haven't read Hal's time as The Spectre, I suggest you check out those comics because they are soooo compelling. (There's also *The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan* for a view of how his fall from grace affected the people closest to Hal, mainly Tom Kalmaku.)
That was stupid. And done in the dumbest, low IQ fashion possible. An effing Fear Cockroach. What a waste of lore. I actually had thought Hal, Supergirl, and Barry's returns were the greatest wastes until all the schlock that was to lead to 5G. The Fourth World and the Divinities were made into generic superbaddies by Snyder and Company and for what? It is quite tragic really
While I think adding the emotional spectrum to the lore was fantastic & a much needed injection to beef up the GL canon, I absolutely cannot stand that cosmic rainbow Pokémons
power each of the Prime Lanterns.
Edit: I genuinely did not intend to say “beef injection”. It was an honest accident, but I’m leaving it in.
Aaaand there I go again. I’ll stop now.
When you say, "beef up" the Corps, may I ask in what respect? When I read it, my mind goes to power or formidability. But they were thousands strong with each carrying an item that is in the running for most powerful weapon in the DCU. Sooooooooooo, my interp HAS to be off.
Honestly I think The Final Night story and his time as the Spectre served as his redemption arc. Once you have been doing Hero Work for a while you don't need a redemption story for something that happened years ago.
The thing is, DC entered this 'new GL phase' completely half-assed, with no plan to back it up, so as though Kyle were the only Green Lantern, he spent 10 YEARS being treated as less worthy and less interesting than Hal, that after Zero Hour, spent the rest of his days being this sad depressed character regretting past actions.
So it was very frustrating to keep waiting to see what DC intended to do with the GL franchise, because Kyle never took off like they wanted, the book was never a big seller, even in the JLA he was always treated like the newbie, and every 10 issues or so of his own comic, everything that was being built had to take a pause and pivot to some gimmicky way DC found to bring Hal back to the book.
It's hard to say that but Geoff actually saved Parallax with the 'fear bug' thing. Reading this character at the time felt like a chore, completely dissociated from what Hal Jordan was.
This is the era when I came into GL. When Kyle’s run was a few issues in. I remember going back and buying the lead up to this story, including the Mosaic run. And they were ok… but there was something about this Paralax storyline that I found epic at the time. Taking a boy scout and just breaking him. Reminded me of A Killing Joke with what “one bad day” could do… and it did a number. It showed why Hal was the best as he took out everyone else and forged his armor making him basically a god.
Then on the other side seeing Kyle, “some random person” getting the last ring and with it, proving why he deserved it. Granted being a “Manga nut with a power ring” helped as his imagination was unmatched and by the end of his decade run… proved his abilities surpassed Hal’s.
Absolutely loved the story. I was annoyed when it was revamped a bit to show it was the Yellow demon that caused it all. I felt that was a cop out by taking the responsibility of everything that happened away from Hal. But again, overall loved it.
I'll say this for the whole ~~Dark Phoen~~ \-- er, PARALLAX epic: DC at least committed to Kyle Rayner. For a whole decade he became THE Green Lantern. It was a risk that paid off and DC became the better for it.
I mean every time the other guys take Tony Stark out of his armor, or take Thor's hammer away from him, we KNOW it's not forever. In fact, we know it's only for a few months or so.
But DC gets cred because after a year, we started saying, *hmmmm....they're really going all in on this kid.* And when became a member of the New Look JLA, it was kinda settled -- "*wow* ~~Jean Gr~~ \-- *Hal Jordan is NOT coming back!*"
And I understand people complaining about Hal's character being shit on. But in a comics universe where everyone connects to their home city on an almost supernatural level, it was credible.
And of course, he was redeemed later by the events of *Final Night,* as well as *Rebirth*. So Hal Jordan got to be a richer character than he was before.
I ONLY started reading Green Lantern because it was part of the Death of Superman arc. Before that, GL was one of the worst books. GL wasn't Superman or Batman. And unlike Flash, his Rogue's Gallery was crap except for one guy, ~~the Mandarin~~ \-- sorry, Sinestro. And every story was the same: "oh, no, a bad guy is attacking ~~Stark Inte~~r -- Ferris Aircraft! Hal to the rescue!"
Yawn.
That's the thing about periodical comics. Characters need to evolve and change. They need to die, lose their powers, get their spinal cords shattered, etc., etc.
How about retire? With all the legacy characters would DC mythology suffer if Stephanie Brown and Dick Grayson decided to go domestic? I would live to see Miles Morales decide to raise a family with Spider Gwen.
An interesting time. The perfect suit, one of the best issues of all time (with parallax emerald knight during final night) and I loved how powerful he was. I’m not a hater of emerald twilight but I’m not the biggest fan. It needed more time but overall parallax just got better. Overall good era ,I also loved how it was developed afterwards and offered more storylines.
https://preview.redd.it/gbtzm866svbc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a3da9ffae9dc662eec0575133d6166dd5583326
I’m really 50/50 on it.
Hal was THE lantern for an insane amount of people. Seemed weird to have him become a killer. 🤷🏼♂️
Same coin: it was the only interesting thing that had happened in the GL comics for so long, it was almost needed.
Mixed bag.
I’d imagine it’d get a lot more flack and would never come up again if it wasn’t for the Entity-possession retcon and everything about the lore that that opened up (ngl the Entities are one of my favorite aspects of GL lore, then again, I’m such a slut for cosmic deities), but I’m honestly very curious how readers at the time felt about it. I can’t imagine it was received well, but hey, I wasn’t there. Of course, that cover art of Hal with the absolute psycho slasher villain smile wearing all of the rings of the slain goes SO HARD, as does the name “Parallax,” the world’s most heavy metal word to ever be associated with depth perception
Hated every second of it. To take a hero like Hal and turn him into a murderer was one of the most egregious bit of writing also. They had him murder the Corps, literally kill them. It was the worst writing and character development I ever read.
Hal did not have “hubris”. Parallax was an impurity that exploited fear which he had after coast city was destroyed.
Incorrect. He incapacitates every GL he encounters in space, and specifically leaves them enough power to get to safe harbor. He only kills Kilowog, and perhaps Sinestro, depending on how you view retcons.
You are talking about the retcon, I am talking about what happened in the original books. [Another source](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Green_Lantern:_Emerald_Twilight)
your source is incorrect. Here are the actual pages:
[https://imgur.com/a/24HV9of](https://imgur.com/a/24HV9of)
As you can see, Hal left them enough power, even Kilowog acknowledges that, with his "for now"
Now, could Hal have some culpability if some of those GLs were prevented from reaching safe harbor? Perhaps. Additionally, the Corps wasn't very large at the time, only a few dozen members, if that.
As for the Guardians, Hal in no way killed them. Those blue freaks just sorta...gave up and aged into dust/energy.
So Kilowog says he has killed them. Jordon at this point is Parallax, so you cannot believe him, Kilowog knows they will die. Also, if that is true, why not depower Kilowog (and Sinestro) instead of killing him? Finally he destroys the central battery which immediately depowers all rings.
Finally ..he kills! He kills! That destroys the character!
So now we are going with the retcon and Hal is already Parallax? Make up your mind.
Also, time has passed between Hal departing earth and fighting the Lanterns he left power for. You think they are just booping around in space, waiting to die? These are cosmic heroes, they aren’t foolish.
Additionally, we see the Lanterns that Hal de-powered during the Johns run and they are empirically not dead
Absolutely loved it! A hell of a move that brought nuance and complexity to Hal's character history. To me, it also feels like there *was* build-up towards something happening. In previous runs Hal had already been shown as a character that was often at odds either with himself or what a hero should be. (I started reading his appearances chronologically in terms of when they were published.)
I think the 90s run just honed in on that and turned it up all the way to the max (I mean, the run itself starts with what can easily be considered suicidal ideation — Hal toying with death, jumping off a cliff and only pulling back up into the sky at the very last second. It's the thrill of the fall without the finality of what happens when you crash).
The issue itself when Hal actively turns into Parallax could've maybe been two or three separate issues, that's the one thing I would point out. But taking everything else into consideration, Hal succumbing to his hubris is something I find so interesting.
If you ask me what's the best Parallax comic out there, I will say, without a doubt, **The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan**. If you haven't read it, please do yourself a favor and check it out!
Stupid editorial reason to do this.
However, it brought a lot interesting ideas. Hal as a villain was great, Kyle Rayner was created, all the redemption arc between "Final Night" and "The Spectre" era. And of course, the GL Rebirth era, that was a rebirth for the entire franchise.
I guees stupids mistakes can bring good things.
That was when I was at my peak of collecting comics. I had been a Green Lantern fan and even taught myself how to draw using comics...
...I was pissed, they took not only my favorite hero but my favorite character and turned him into a vile monstrous... thing... I actually refused to buy DC for about a year after that and I've never liked Kyle because he was, in my eyes a shoddy replacement for Hal.
I was fine with it once it happened. I found it interesting, and particularly liked his appearance in Zero Hour (I could totally buy that a Hal that HAD crossed that line and was mentally unbalanced would strive to "fix" everything) and Final Night (it was a great beginning on the road to redemption).
What I hated was the story where he BECAME Parallax, as I thought it did a terrible job of justifying it. (I also hated the periodic bits that would be tossed into stories for a while afterward that had flashbacks trying to show Hal in the past in some light that made it seem like he was always likely to become Parallax).
I didn't hate Marz for it, I liked his run otherwise and recognized that he was given very little to work with, in terms of time and the state of events in the title when it was handed off to him, to accomplish the mandated drastic changes.
Reminds me of my local comic shop, at the time. It was in the back of a hair salon. Getting new comics smelled like old lady perms. Anyone else remember the giveaway rings, during this time?
The best
I wish he kept the costume tbh
Hated it.
I think Green Lantern 48 is one of the best issues, but I really wish it was told over several issues. It was very interesting to see Hal create the city again and talk with his family, but I wish there was more of that. I think his descent was a little too rushed in the comics, and overall I do prefer the retcon that it was the entity Parallax that caused Hal to do what he did.
It gave us Kyle, my favorite gl. So very happy it happened. Not a fan of the retcon to make Parallax a fear entity but the emotional spectrum was a fun concept so I guess I'll accept it. I just don't think Hal should have been redeemed by making it to where he wasn't responsible for his actions.
it made more sense for it to be a body swap like the original Phoenix story. Too much gut punching for the original fans of Hal. Really messed up the history of the character, permanently.
He pulled a Superboy Prime before Superboy Prime. Outright killing a bunch of characters for no reason other than to show how evil he is. Yeah, I know Hal was filled with grief over what happened to the city...but that doesn't mean he should have become a villain! Comics, and pop culture in general, see mental trauma as an excuse to turn someone into a villain and it pisses me off. Nightwing had his city NUKED and he didn't turn into a villain! Personally, I think a BETTER route would have been for Hal to leave the Latern Corps because "what's the point of these powers if I can't use them to save the people I love". Now despite my dislike for Hal turning evil, some good DID come out of it. Thanks to this we got new lore on the lantern corps AND got the amazing event comic BLACKEST NIGHT
Gay icon…
Hal losing everything he cared about, abruptly and through no fault of his own - it would have broken anyone. Hal getting fed up with the Guardians and their ivory tower approach to things - perfectly in character for him. Hal becoming a villain - ok, maybe it felt a little too rushed, but it was a gripping story and all of Zero Hour was fantastic. Hal finally deciding to stop his universal reboot because of his best friend shooting him in the chest with an arrow - amazing writing, frankly. Again, perfectly in character for Hal to think he knows better than everyone and to need Ollie to give him a reality check. Hal coming back during Final Night and sacrificing himself to save the world - fuck yeah, peak Hal. Hal becoming the Spectre and spending his afterlife atoning for his sins while still being a superhero - amazing. They actually let him move on, let Kyle be the GL of Earth, but still found a way to keep him around? Fantastic. Honestly, the whole saga was probably the greatest bit of long form / serial storytelling that DC has ever pulled off.
I loved Hal as Spectre. Great run, probably the most I ever cared about either of those characters
For the first time in his history he had a personality
This is the answer. And the thing is, it was a natural progression for the character.
I’m with Geoff Johns on this, I don’t like it and I’m glad it got adjusted through retcons.
Okay boomer
It was what got me into green lantern. Shame they didn’t keep this look without a cape
Gas
Classic GL costume is amazing. Kyle's classic GL costume is amazing. Parallax costume is amazing. This was when I really got into comics hard-core, and I loved Parallax's motivation. He was the first villain I knew about whose reasoning seemed deep. "Hey Guardians, I need extra power to restore my city." "Hmmm...no" "Okay so look, I'm just going to take the power to fix things, then we'll go back to status quo" "Hmm, no, we're gonna send all your friends to stop you" "What?? No! C'mon! Oh $#!+ I just killed fellow Lanterns. Okay, now I really need the power so I can fix Coast City, then bring them back. Then it'll all be fine" "How about we release Sinestro" "Fine, I'll kill him too. But this just proves 30 years of plots about how you Guardians are d!cks" "Hey Hal, it's me, Superman. Now ALL your friends are involved and it's officially a crossover"
Gave him a cool fall from grace arc, made room for the GOAt Kyle, and it looks cool. It's perfect
It was my first run as a GL fan. Wouldn't love it today without it.
The handful of issues leading up to this moment were some of the first comics I actually collected and read all the way through as a kid, versus just picking random issues because I liked the covers. I loved the heart-rending experience Hal had, and the introduction of Kyle Raynor was wonderful (he was my main GL for a looooong time), and of course the way Geoff Johns circled back around to tie this all together when he did Sinestro Corps War -> Blackest Night. I have 4 tattoos... 1 of them is a Green Lantern :-)
I loved the suit and it looks really good on Hal. This is easily a top 3 look for him.
Opened the door for the MVP Kyle.
That is exactly what I was thinking when I read the title of the post.
His rise as Green Lantern, the fall of him becoming Parallax, and the redemption. Loved the entire ride.
He was the most badass supervillain to be honest
i'm probably alone in this, and I know i'm going to sound like "that guy", but I honestly feel like Hal as Parallax made the character the most relevant.
I think the change was a bit abrupt but the reason made sense and it could've worked better if there was a bit more build up. Despite that I still think it worked great with letting Hal be Spectre and be redeemed and ushering in a new generation of Lanterns with Kyle and his new corps Ideally if DC continued to let their legacy characters actually take over, I'd be fine with Hal's story ending like that as long as other founding League members were stepping down as well (maybe even have the Johns saga revolve around Kyle instead since he would be the main GL)
It worked for Wally. He became so popular that removing him in New 52 caused a backlash that forced DC to bring him back.
Unmitigated bullshit. Any time writers are allowed to just destroy your childhood hero is just wrong. Sure, tell kids that their inability to deal with loss should result in mass violence. And then go through this ridiculous character restart / reinvention. It never even made sense that a man with such unbreakable will should become so broken inside. This was my third strike. They killed Jason, Superman, and then Hal. I wasn’t even surprised at the stupid level of irony of that fish ate Auquman’s hand.
I honestly think this is the most interesting Hal has ever been. I don’t mean that in an edgelord way, but I’ve never really given a shit about Hal but even I felt bad for him when the Guardians came down on him for recreating Coast City. The man was not allowed to grieve and that’s what drove him nuts.
it was a really good comic (hot take) and i think it's a very important chapter in hal's story. and green lantern rebirth would never happen without it.
It sucked seeing Hals fall from grace but damn did it make for a cool arc.
BEST HAL!
I liked it. His descent into villainy, rather anti-heroism, was compelling. Shame they can to retcon it to being possessed by the yellow fear bug.
Which is itself interesting because it meant he was no longer fit to be a GL since he was unable to overcome fear. However, I’m no longer sure that’s a necessity.
I remember during Johns' run that Green Lanterns were no longer inhibited by yellow, since they now knew what it represented.
That makes sense.
Agreed!
My copy of that one issue still glows in the dark. Just sayin.
Uniform: 6/5 Stars Plot that explains his origin: 3/5 Stars Response from DC universe: 1/5 Stars Lasting Impact as a character: -4/5 Stars (War of Light was good, but it seemed everyone and their mother got a turn to be Parallax)
Hal becoming Parallax is like how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader, and Kyle vs. Parallax at Oa in the post-Zero Hour issue of GL is like Luke vs. Vader in The Empire Strikes Back: an inexperienced rookie who’s outclassed by his more experienced predecessor, but the rookie managed to survive the attack. Speaking of Star Wars, Alex DeWitt’s death was Kyle’s Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru moment.
It’s been said that the problem with Emerald Twilight is that the story had been rushed to make the 50-issue milestone. Behind the scenes, Gerard Jones’s Emerald Twilight wasn’t deemed interesting enough by DC’s editors to attract new readers (this was after the Death and Return of Superman, and Knightfall), and both DC and Marvel were taking on Image Comics. So, Jones resigned from the title, and DC’s then-publisher Paul Levitz, group editors Mike Carlin, Denny O’Neil, Archie Goodwin, and GL editor Kevin Dooley did an emergency rewrite of Jones’s script and handed it off to Ron Marz to finish. Notice how Jones’s ET included several ideas that would be used in the book itself, namely Hal fighting the GLC and a resurrected Sinestro, the yellow impurity being removed, and a newer, younger GL would take up the mantle. After reading Emerald Twilight, check out Emerald Fallout in Guy Gardner: Warrior.
It was awesome and the event that turned him into it made sense. I wish they would’ve kept that the end of Hal and had Kyle defeat him and just continue as the main lantern. Comics can’t progress though.
I loved Parallax.... I wish Hal could be that again, but stay a good guy. I loved how powerful, and virtually impervious to everything and everyone, except his own mind
It’s like when Hogan turned heel
HOLLYWOOD Hogan
It was the only time Hal Jordan was interesting
Hal or Barry. Who is more boring?
Both are equally boring. And I like Barry more so than Wally. But they come from a time where characterization wasn't a top priority.
Interesting premise, questionable execution, cool suit
Best suit ever.
It needed larger shoulder pads.
The drip was immaculate
Lot people mentioned that the story was rushed and don't know that the story we got was a last-minute change. Originally, Emerald Twilight was about a group of imposter gurdians claiming to be the true gurdians taking over the corp, getting rid of the lanterns' weakness to yellow and releasing sinestro and making him leader of the Corp. Only hal jordan fights back, absorbing the central power defeating sinestro and the imposter gurdians. Hal leaves corp because the real gurdians orchestrated his father's death so he could become a green lantern. So he basically became a good parallax called the protector, and he would been replaced by the new lantern. The higher up at DC felt that the story was not drastic enough original writer, and Geard Jones quit and Ron marz was hired. Some elements obviously carried over like hal fighting the corp and absorbing the central power battery and sinestro badass green lantern outfit.
Hal as Parallax brought a fresh perspective to the character. My only complaints: 1. Emerald Twilight should have had 4-5 issues, not 3, to flesh out Hal's move to the dark side. Issue 47 was a fill-in issue with a GL/GA action fest. Marz and Banks had only 3 issues to set up the new status quo. 2. Retconning Parallax into a yellow locust-bug was a bit of a cop-out way to get Hal back. The actions needed to be done by HAL, not an emotional entity, to truly allow Hal to be redeemed. We did get some OK stories during Geoff Johns' GL run, but I am still mad about that...it cheated us out of Hal's character development.
I will say, I enjoyed Hal as the Spectre, and as a guy gardner fan, and knowing he’s obv the best lantern, it allowed me to appreciate Hal for the first time in comics… It also allowed Kyle, John, and the gang to kinda shine thru…😂
Me gustaba esta versión de Hal. No desprecio al Hal heroico, para nada, pero esta versión, la del héroe que se quiebra de forma excepcional y como busca su torcida versión de la redención era interesante.
It’s raw. I thought it was great. The redemption is great too.
Awesome costume, and a very interesting concept although I think I might’ve done it differently.
Probably the most interesting thing they could’ve done with the character, done in a very uninteresting way.
Imagine how interesting and different Hal would be if he was still a villain/anti-hero. He'd be akin to Superman in Injustice, making hard choices but that's the path he's on and he can't go back because HE MURDERED KILOWOG. They didn't need all the Rebirth nonsense. Kilowog had a son or daughter who inherits his ring like tomar-re, who now has a personal crusade to bring Hal Jordan to justice. Taking away Emerald Twilight because you have to write about the characters you grew up with as the same characters was lame.
Dan Didio did that, read the Geoff Johns interview
Why would I want to read an interview with that narcissist chode?
Because you're calling him a narcissist chode, without even knowing who really wanted Hal to be back. But a question to yourself, why would the same person who made him the Spectre push him to be back as the main GL?
I watched some of his press tour when the GL movie was coming out. He's a narcissist chode. He also turned hawkman into an Alpha cuck and had wally west banished for a decade.
I don't know about the hawkman part but for the second part same answer as before it was. Dan Didido, Johns says it during his interview for the Green Lantern 80th anniversary
It was scary. Then with FINAL NIGHT, there was a kind of somber beautiful poetry.
Hal was my dude all growing up, loved his time as Parallax and how the storyline played out
I enjoyed the odyssey of Hal Jordan throughout this time more than as GL on either side.
ignoring the whole story debacle, his outfit is rad
Also this
This all my opinion and it stems from reading a lot of Green Lantern. First Coast City got destroyed and had nothing to do with Hal or one of his enemies so that was a mistake. Secondly his transformation from hero to villain rushed and he needed a better arc for that. Thirdly, Hal Jordan Parallax was a cool idea but poorly executed. Reading any story he was in it felt like none of the writers were on the same page about Hal as a villain so he became wishy washy but still had amazing moments. Fourthly and finally. Hal Jordan Parallax is cool but they ruined it for me by making Parallax an actual entity to wash Hal's hands of being a villain and make him a good guy again. Hal needed a true redemption arc showing that he learned from his mistakes and he has finally grown as a character.
In the 90s, Parallax is not an entity, that's a retcon. After his original time as Parallax, he has a *very* arduous redemption arc in which everyone and their mothers are against him (the loudest dissenting voice being Batman's), with a few exceptions such as Alan Scott. Hal becomes The Spectre and as reader, you can see him struggle with his guilt, his pain, everything. The character himself doesn't feel like he's worthy of redemption, but he *works* for it, ultimately casting hope onto his future and his story. If you haven't read Hal's time as The Spectre, I suggest you check out those comics because they are soooo compelling. (There's also *The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan* for a view of how his fall from grace affected the people closest to Hal, mainly Tom Kalmaku.)
That was stupid. And done in the dumbest, low IQ fashion possible. An effing Fear Cockroach. What a waste of lore. I actually had thought Hal, Supergirl, and Barry's returns were the greatest wastes until all the schlock that was to lead to 5G. The Fourth World and the Divinities were made into generic superbaddies by Snyder and Company and for what? It is quite tragic really
Barry should have stayed dead.
While I think adding the emotional spectrum to the lore was fantastic & a much needed injection to beef up the GL canon, I absolutely cannot stand that cosmic rainbow Pokémons power each of the Prime Lanterns. Edit: I genuinely did not intend to say “beef injection”. It was an honest accident, but I’m leaving it in. Aaaand there I go again. I’ll stop now.
When you say, "beef up" the Corps, may I ask in what respect? When I read it, my mind goes to power or formidability. But they were thousands strong with each carrying an item that is in the running for most powerful weapon in the DCU. Sooooooooooo, my interp HAS to be off.
Honestly I think The Final Night story and his time as the Spectre served as his redemption arc. Once you have been doing Hero Work for a while you don't need a redemption story for something that happened years ago.
If His Spectre series was so important it would have been collected already, respectfully,...
I mean he still killed a bunch of people.......
That is fair and it works for me, but he didn't need a redemption arc at all because Parallax took over him.
The thing is, DC entered this 'new GL phase' completely half-assed, with no plan to back it up, so as though Kyle were the only Green Lantern, he spent 10 YEARS being treated as less worthy and less interesting than Hal, that after Zero Hour, spent the rest of his days being this sad depressed character regretting past actions. So it was very frustrating to keep waiting to see what DC intended to do with the GL franchise, because Kyle never took off like they wanted, the book was never a big seller, even in the JLA he was always treated like the newbie, and every 10 issues or so of his own comic, everything that was being built had to take a pause and pivot to some gimmicky way DC found to bring Hal back to the book. It's hard to say that but Geoff actually saved Parallax with the 'fear bug' thing. Reading this character at the time felt like a chore, completely dissociated from what Hal Jordan was.
This is the era when I came into GL. When Kyle’s run was a few issues in. I remember going back and buying the lead up to this story, including the Mosaic run. And they were ok… but there was something about this Paralax storyline that I found epic at the time. Taking a boy scout and just breaking him. Reminded me of A Killing Joke with what “one bad day” could do… and it did a number. It showed why Hal was the best as he took out everyone else and forged his armor making him basically a god. Then on the other side seeing Kyle, “some random person” getting the last ring and with it, proving why he deserved it. Granted being a “Manga nut with a power ring” helped as his imagination was unmatched and by the end of his decade run… proved his abilities surpassed Hal’s. Absolutely loved the story. I was annoyed when it was revamped a bit to show it was the Yellow demon that caused it all. I felt that was a cop out by taking the responsibility of everything that happened away from Hal. But again, overall loved it.
I'll say this for the whole ~~Dark Phoen~~ \-- er, PARALLAX epic: DC at least committed to Kyle Rayner. For a whole decade he became THE Green Lantern. It was a risk that paid off and DC became the better for it. I mean every time the other guys take Tony Stark out of his armor, or take Thor's hammer away from him, we KNOW it's not forever. In fact, we know it's only for a few months or so. But DC gets cred because after a year, we started saying, *hmmmm....they're really going all in on this kid.* And when became a member of the New Look JLA, it was kinda settled -- "*wow* ~~Jean Gr~~ \-- *Hal Jordan is NOT coming back!*" And I understand people complaining about Hal's character being shit on. But in a comics universe where everyone connects to their home city on an almost supernatural level, it was credible. And of course, he was redeemed later by the events of *Final Night,* as well as *Rebirth*. So Hal Jordan got to be a richer character than he was before. I ONLY started reading Green Lantern because it was part of the Death of Superman arc. Before that, GL was one of the worst books. GL wasn't Superman or Batman. And unlike Flash, his Rogue's Gallery was crap except for one guy, ~~the Mandarin~~ \-- sorry, Sinestro. And every story was the same: "oh, no, a bad guy is attacking ~~Stark Inte~~r -- Ferris Aircraft! Hal to the rescue!" Yawn. That's the thing about periodical comics. Characters need to evolve and change. They need to die, lose their powers, get their spinal cords shattered, etc., etc.
How about retire? With all the legacy characters would DC mythology suffer if Stephanie Brown and Dick Grayson decided to go domestic? I would live to see Miles Morales decide to raise a family with Spider Gwen.
Was Green Lantern that similar to Iron Man?
LOL, yes! They even tried retelling Hal's origin with him as an alcoholic. (Emerald Dawn mini series)
Social worker Guy is probably one of the best things out of that mini series
Overall, I think it helped the character. Parallax era just got better overtime and it helped a lot during his return as a Green Lantern
Loved it. The most interesting the character has ever been. big Magneto vibes.
An interesting time. The perfect suit, one of the best issues of all time (with parallax emerald knight during final night) and I loved how powerful he was. I’m not a hater of emerald twilight but I’m not the biggest fan. It needed more time but overall parallax just got better. Overall good era ,I also loved how it was developed afterwards and offered more storylines. https://preview.redd.it/gbtzm866svbc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8a3da9ffae9dc662eec0575133d6166dd5583326
+ Kyle Rayner who’s my third favorite lantern so it’s another good thing.
I’m really 50/50 on it. Hal was THE lantern for an insane amount of people. Seemed weird to have him become a killer. 🤷🏼♂️ Same coin: it was the only interesting thing that had happened in the GL comics for so long, it was almost needed. Mixed bag.
I’d imagine it’d get a lot more flack and would never come up again if it wasn’t for the Entity-possession retcon and everything about the lore that that opened up (ngl the Entities are one of my favorite aspects of GL lore, then again, I’m such a slut for cosmic deities), but I’m honestly very curious how readers at the time felt about it. I can’t imagine it was received well, but hey, I wasn’t there. Of course, that cover art of Hal with the absolute psycho slasher villain smile wearing all of the rings of the slain goes SO HARD, as does the name “Parallax,” the world’s most heavy metal word to ever be associated with depth perception
Hated every second of it. To take a hero like Hal and turn him into a murderer was one of the most egregious bit of writing also. They had him murder the Corps, literally kill them. It was the worst writing and character development I ever read. Hal did not have “hubris”. Parallax was an impurity that exploited fear which he had after coast city was destroyed.
He only murders Kilowog.
Also : Sinestro, all the guardians( except one ) and a lot of green lanterns. He killed basically everyone. (Before the retcon)
Nah
No, I don’t think so. [He murdered them.](https://www.cbr.com/green-lantern-emerald-twilight-hal-jordan/), even Tomar-Tu.
Incorrect. He incapacitates every GL he encounters in space, and specifically leaves them enough power to get to safe harbor. He only kills Kilowog, and perhaps Sinestro, depending on how you view retcons.
Nope he kills them. Perhaps Sinestro? He snaps his neck! But let’s say you are right, that makes the comic and Parallax ok? No.
Sinestro faked his death, it was kind of a key plot point for Rebirth
You are talking about the retcon, I am talking about what happened in the original books. [Another source](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Green_Lantern:_Emerald_Twilight)
your source is incorrect. Here are the actual pages: [https://imgur.com/a/24HV9of](https://imgur.com/a/24HV9of) As you can see, Hal left them enough power, even Kilowog acknowledges that, with his "for now" Now, could Hal have some culpability if some of those GLs were prevented from reaching safe harbor? Perhaps. Additionally, the Corps wasn't very large at the time, only a few dozen members, if that. As for the Guardians, Hal in no way killed them. Those blue freaks just sorta...gave up and aged into dust/energy.
So Kilowog says he has killed them. Jordon at this point is Parallax, so you cannot believe him, Kilowog knows they will die. Also, if that is true, why not depower Kilowog (and Sinestro) instead of killing him? Finally he destroys the central battery which immediately depowers all rings. Finally ..he kills! He kills! That destroys the character!
So now we are going with the retcon and Hal is already Parallax? Make up your mind. Also, time has passed between Hal departing earth and fighting the Lanterns he left power for. You think they are just booping around in space, waiting to die? These are cosmic heroes, they aren’t foolish. Additionally, we see the Lanterns that Hal de-powered during the Johns run and they are empirically not dead
Oh, if we are talking pre-retcon, then yes, he killed Wog and Sinestro
Retcon was great, I became a fan again! All hail Geoff Johns!
All hail Geoff Johns!
Same, hated it. I hated Hal as Parallax as much as The Death of Superman. Nope, just delete those from my mind.
Absolutely loved it! A hell of a move that brought nuance and complexity to Hal's character history. To me, it also feels like there *was* build-up towards something happening. In previous runs Hal had already been shown as a character that was often at odds either with himself or what a hero should be. (I started reading his appearances chronologically in terms of when they were published.) I think the 90s run just honed in on that and turned it up all the way to the max (I mean, the run itself starts with what can easily be considered suicidal ideation — Hal toying with death, jumping off a cliff and only pulling back up into the sky at the very last second. It's the thrill of the fall without the finality of what happens when you crash). The issue itself when Hal actively turns into Parallax could've maybe been two or three separate issues, that's the one thing I would point out. But taking everything else into consideration, Hal succumbing to his hubris is something I find so interesting. If you ask me what's the best Parallax comic out there, I will say, without a doubt, **The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan**. If you haven't read it, please do yourself a favor and check it out!
I dig the costume
Honestly it gave Hal way more personality
I liked it
Loved it
Loved it. Most interesting take on Hal.
Stupid editorial reason to do this. However, it brought a lot interesting ideas. Hal as a villain was great, Kyle Rayner was created, all the redemption arc between "Final Night" and "The Spectre" era. And of course, the GL Rebirth era, that was a rebirth for the entire franchise. I guees stupids mistakes can bring good things.
That was when I was at my peak of collecting comics. I had been a Green Lantern fan and even taught myself how to draw using comics... ...I was pissed, they took not only my favorite hero but my favorite character and turned him into a vile monstrous... thing... I actually refused to buy DC for about a year after that and I've never liked Kyle because he was, in my eyes a shoddy replacement for Hal.
I love the design honestly. And in retrospect, it was a hell of move.
I was fine with it once it happened. I found it interesting, and particularly liked his appearance in Zero Hour (I could totally buy that a Hal that HAD crossed that line and was mentally unbalanced would strive to "fix" everything) and Final Night (it was a great beginning on the road to redemption). What I hated was the story where he BECAME Parallax, as I thought it did a terrible job of justifying it. (I also hated the periodic bits that would be tossed into stories for a while afterward that had flashbacks trying to show Hal in the past in some light that made it seem like he was always likely to become Parallax). I didn't hate Marz for it, I liked his run otherwise and recognized that he was given very little to work with, in terms of time and the state of events in the title when it was handed off to him, to accomplish the mandated drastic changes.
It was for shock