Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews

Green Lantern #29
DC Comics
Johns, Reis & Albert

This issue has the revisiting of Hal Jordan’s origin. I understand that this arc will open up new items in his origin to bring about future storylines, but this issue is almost all the old story, just retold. This is fine for the new readers, but does the veteran reader get anything at all to keep them interested?

If you have read Green Lantern over the last twenty years you know there are a bunch of humans behind the mask. Hal Jordan is probably the most popular. That certainly doesn’t make him the most interesting, but being the most popular, he gets the most attention. This issue attempts to finally wrap some information around a second Green Lantern other than Hal Jordan, in addition to retelling Jordan’s origin. To me, this was the most interesting part of this story.

This issue begins with the adult Hal Jordan remembering exactly what he is afraid of. He is perceived as fearless, but he does have a fear. That fear is his origin. It’s his father flying the test plane and crashing, right in front of him. This is exactly what we get the first few pages. This contains all the standards we’ve seen in the last 15 years or so. Hal, gets to hold his Dad’s jacket, Carol Ferris is there and makes a snobby comment or two, Hal’s dad determines the plane is in trouble, he is told to keep it up there, he crashes it away from spectators and Hal Jordan, the unlikable snot, is born.

From the explosion we get Hal acting up as an adolescent. He disobeys his mother, angers his older brother and ignores his younger brother. He is probably the most self-centered hero you will ever find. He finally turns 18 and joins the Air Force and abandons his family for good. His brother should have beat the crap out of him. Instead, he skates.

Next we get Hal in the Air Force, disobeying orders and wrecking planes. Amazingly, he only gets discharged when he punches his superior officer. Before this happens Hal is involved in a bar fight with some Marines. One of the Marines is John Stewart, future Green Lantern. This involvement of a John Stewart origin is a welcome one, but how unimaginative is it that he is in the Marines? Now we have two military Green Lanterns, both of which like to disobey the Guardians aka their superior officers. I found the idea to do something with Stewart to be a good one, but the execution to be very lazy in terms of creativity.

Finally, Jordan’s mom dies and Jordan is all wrapped up in self-pity and guilt. The issue ends with Abin Sur getting some of the Blackest Night prophecy while torturing some bad guys.

Okay, so this issue helps to re-establish that Jordan is a selfish brat, who is slightly arrogant and a loose cannon. He sounds an awful lot like Sinestro doesn’t he? That was the best part of Jordan going all ape on the Corps during Emerald Twilight, he was becoming Sinestro. Now that all of that has been reversed and written away, he is going back to being that person. Interesting how that all worked out. Personally, I like Jordan to be on the edge of becoming Sinestro. It makes him more interesting. To me, since his Rebirth, he has been a boring drone compared to the tail end of his days pre-Emerald Twilight.

As for Stewart, we don’t get much insight into his character, expect he is a sharp shooter and likes to fight. I would like to see more of this explored though. Although, being a Marine, helps to explain why he seems to be a lot tougher than the other human Lanterns.

And for the Blackest Night, we find that Abin Sur is a real tyrant, no? Kind of a departure from the weakened alien who dies in Jordan’s arms, wouldn’t you say? He sure seems to act a lot like his kid.

The issue is okay. It’s nothing ground breaking. The story doesn’t really make for very interesting artwork. This origin has been retold so many times it is hard to deviate too much pictorially. To me, it looked very much like the art from Emerald Dawn twenty years ago, but what does that mean? It probably means I’m not an art critic or that I have a terrible memory.

You’ll like the issue depending how you like your Hal Jordan. If you like him as a leader and hero then this paints a different picture for you. If you like him as a rogue and a bit of an ass then this will satisfy you. I think we will see more of a deviation in his origin in subsequent issues than we did in this one. This issue is as good as any if you want to “jump on”.

3 out of 5 geek goggles.


Green Lantern #29