September 18, 2022 4 min read
Hal Jordan known as Green Lantern is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. He was created by John Broome and Gil Kane and first appeared in Showcase #22(October 1959)
Hal Jordan is a member of the Green Lantern Corps and occasionally is it's leader.
Hal Jordan was the second Green Lantern to be created and was based on the first Green Lantern, Alan Scott. In 1959, Julius Schwartz reinvented the Green Lantern character as a science fiction hero named Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan's powers were more or less the same as Alan Scott's, but otherwise this character was completely different and unrelated to the Green Lantern of the 1940s. He had a new name, a redesigned costume, and a rewritten origin story. Hal Jordan received his ring from a dying alien and was commissioned as an officer of the Green Lantern Corps, an interstellar law enforcement agency overseen by the Guardians of the Universe.(1)
Hal Jordan made his debut in Showcase #22(October 1959).
Hal Jordan was born in Coast City to Martin Jordan and Jessica Jordan. As a young child, he idolized his father, a test pilot who worked for Ferris Aircraft. At a very young age, he had to face his greatest fears when his father died in a plane crash right before his eyes.(2)
Many years later, a dying alien named Abin Sur, member of the Green Lantern Corps, crash-landed his ship in the Californian desert. Having selected a replacement officer for his position, the power ring chose Hal Jordan for his ability to overcome great fear. The ring and its abilities were explained to him, and he inherited the mantle of Green Lantern. Acting as a galactic police officer, it was his job to serve and protect all life in Sector 2814. He would soon learn that there were another 3599 Green Lanterns across the universe, all monitored and empowered by mystical creatures called the Guardians.
Hal received training from some of the best the Corps had to offer, including drill sergeant Kilowog, and his mentor Sinestro. During his training, Hal learned that Sinestro has been subjugating his home planet, Korugar, through fear, using his ring. After Hal reported these acts to the Guardians and fellow Corps members, he battled Sinestro, and emerged victorious. Along with the rest of the Corps, he then testified against Sinestro at his trial. Expelled from the Corps and banished by the Guardians to the Antimatter Universe as punishment, Sinestro became a sworn enemy to the Corps and gained a new Qward power ring, exacting the start of his revenge.
As Green Lantern, Hal Jordan patrolled the galaxy and took on many missions in space. He continued to spend his time at home working at Ferris Aircraft, where he romantically pursued his boss, the lovely Carol Ferris.(3)
Being a Green Lantern, Hal Jordan gets his powers from the Power Ring,without the ring, he is powerless.
The ring creates hard-light constructs which can be in any shape as he imagines it. His power is only limited by his imagination and his willpower. Hal Jordan has a high level of willpower.
In the events of Zero Hour,after the destruction of his home town, Hal Jordan lost his sanity and killed thousands of Green Lanterns and destroyed the power battery and began calling himself Parallax. As Parallax, Hal Jordan was one of the most powerful characters in the DC Universe. He could manipulate and reconfigure space-time, manipulate reality to a large scale and had a huge amount of superhuman energy which was enough to knock-out Superman with one punch.
Hal Jordan has a number of supporting characters including his love interest Carol Ferris and Dorine Clay. Being a Green Lantern, Hal Jordan has the whole Green Lantern Corps for backup.
Also being one of the founding members of the Justice League, he can ask for help anytime.
Green Lantern has a lot of enemies including Sinestro, Parallax,Red Lanterns Hector Hammond and Puppeteer .
In 2011, Warner Bros. released Green Lantern directed by Martin Campbell. The movie featured Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern/Hal Jordan, Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, Peter Saarsgard as Hector Hammond and Mark Strong as Sinestro. The movie did not perform well critically or financially. It received mixed reviews and disappointed many fans.
You can check out the trailer below.
In 2012, Warner Bros. started a Green Lantern TV series which was aired on Cartoon Network. It was produced by Bruce Timm. This show didn't use traditional animation like the other DC Comics TV series,it used CG animation. It starred Josh Keaton as Hal Jordan, Kevin Micheal Richardson as Kilowog, Diedrich Bader as Guy Gardner and Jason Spisak as Razer.
You can check out the trailer below.
Comics | Writer(s) | Artist(s) |
Blackest Night | Geoff Johns | Ivan Reis |
DC: The New Frontier Vol. 1 & 2 | Darwyn Cooke | Darwyn Cooke |
DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore | Alan Moore | Various |
Green Lantern Chronicles Vol. 1 | John Broome | Gil Kane |
Green Lantern: Circle of Fire | Brian K. Vaughan Jay Faerber Judd Winick Scott Beatty |
Various |
Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight/New Dawn | Ron Marz | Bill Wingham, Darryl Banks |
Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection | Dennis O'Neil | Neal Adams |
Green Lantern: Secret Origin | Geoff Johns | Ivan Reis |
Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War Vol. 1 & 2 | Peter J. Tomasi, Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons | Andy Kubert, Ethan Van Sciver, Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Gary Frank |
Green Lantern: Willworld | J.M. DeMatteis |
Seth Fisher |
1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Lantern#Silver_Age
2.http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Green_Lantern_%28Hal_Jordan%29
3.http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Green_Lantern_%28Hal_Jordan%29
4.http://www.ign.com/articles/the-greatest-green-lantern-comics
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