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DC: Hal Jordan Returns in October's Rebirth
#1
Reported 28/04/2004
Source Newsarama

Newsarama has learned that tomorrow’s Wizard #152 will send Hal Jordan fans into fits of glee. The issue contains an article outlining how, in the October-debuting Green Lantern: Rebirth, a five issue miniseries by Geoff Johns and Ethan VanSciver, Hal Jordan will return to the DCU in a costumed form, and with a ring.

The current Green Lantern series will end with issue #181 in September.

Johns is quoted in the article, saying that the storyline will encompass all facets of the Green Lantern mythos, including John Stewart, Guy Gardner, the Spectre, Alan Scott, and Kyle Rayner, who will, according to Johns, play a major role. And somewhere, members of H.E.A.T. (Hal's Emerald Advancement Team), who have lobbied for the return of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern for eight years are smiling – some for the first time in eight years, when it comes to the franchise.

Rumors of Jordan’s return have been circulating throughout comics fandom for years, basically, since Jordan went nutso in the Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight storyline, killed a bunch of Green Lanterns, became Parallax, took an arrow to the chest in Zero Hour, and died saving the solar system by restarting the sun in Final Night.

During the Day of Judgment miniseries, Jordan becomes the new human host for the Spectre, who had recently dumped Jim Corrigan (Corrigan, jilted, went to Heaven). Jordan was the Spectre since 1999, traveling the path to redemption. Most recently, however, the Spectre/Jordan relationship has been on the rocks, as seen in JSA #60’s (written by Johns) – “Redemption Lost” which has a badly beaten Spectre/Jordan appearing before members of the JSA, saying that he had lost redemption, signifying, at the very least, that the character was undergoing some serious changes.

The rumors of Jordan’s return gained significant traction last year, when new Green Lantern editor Pete Tomasi told fans at a comic convention that they would be very happy in 2004. Last winter, at a book signing for Mythology, Alex Ross told fans, when asked about Hal Jordan returning as Green Lantern, “We won!” Peppered throughout Hal Jordan/Spectre appearances most recently (written by Johns), hints have been liberally dropped that a change was coming for Jordan. The latest hints came through Wizard's own solicitation for its July issue (#154), which read: "Tying into DC's upcoming Rebirth mini-series, Geoff Johns tells us what he thinks about the longstanding Green Lantern debate as we count down why Hal must get the ring back!" The solicitation information was quickly changed on Diamond's website to remove all mention of things Rebirth.

DC’s Dan Didio is quoted in the article as saying, "I've always believed that Hal is one of the greatest heroes of the DCU. In my opinion, the path he was taken down in some ways diminished his role and his impact as a hero in the universe. And there’s so many unresolved issues concerning Hal, the Spectre, and the GL Corps itself. So we wanted to rebuilt Hal's character, addressing all the things that occurred in his life that made and unmade the man--and at the same time rebuild the essence of what the Green lanterns stand for.”

Didio went on to say that in his eyes, Green Lantern should become the #3 franchise from DC, behind Superman and Batman. The full story is in Wizard #152

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Can I just say AAAAAAAAAARGH :bashlamer: Yet another Didiotic decision. I remember reading Hal as GL occasionally when I was a kid and other than the 'gee whizz wish I had a ring that could do that' factor nothing about the character really connected with me. Then in the 90s DC had a shakeup, Hal had his time as GL, and others came after with eventually Kyle Rayner becoming the pre-eminent GL and ultimately proving he is more than worthy of carrying on in the name. Kyle as a character is one of the main reasons I picked up all the JLA trades just to read more of him. Compared to Hal he just seemed so much more human and easy to relate to. I hope they don't do something even more Didiotic and kill him off...
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#2
I grew up with Hal Jordan as Green Lantern. He was very old school, brave hero type, big boy scout, perfect hair and teeth. Despite what this sounds like, I liked him a lot. All of these things were a part of his charm. Great power, cool weapon, interesting friends and foes. Silver Age science fiction adventure at its best.

When the dark age came to comics, unfortunately Hal was a relic, so, through highly nefarious and diabolical means he was replaced. I agree with the replacement - just not the way it was done.

Kyle was human, younger, not perfect, more identifiable. In Judd Winick's hands, one of my favorite characters. Sometimes, change is good.

I don't have a problem with Hal returning to the role if it can be consistently well written - which I doubt it can. If anyone can pull it off well, it's Geoff Johns, but eventually he will move on. Also, what becomes of Kyle?

This event will cause more problems that it will solve, in my opinion. Let's just hope it works.

Glenn Walker
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#3
Personally, I like Kyle Rayner. He is the Lantern that I am most familiar with, and I wouldn't mind keeping him around. Jon Stewart never has and never will do anything for me. I just don't find him interesting or in any way a dynamic character. Unfortunately, I see DC using Stewart as an "equal opportunity" hero by saying "here's another green lantern, oh and by the way, he's black so that we can appeal to more demographics." What they need to do is create a GOOD black character that doesn't have to live off of someone else's reputation or origin...wow, got a little off subject there. Bringing Hal Jordan back doesn't thrill me in the slightest because, I just REALLY started getting into comics when they were replacing him with Kyle. Fans really liked Kyle, eventually, and this is kind of like slapping them in the face...again!
When life hands you lemons, you gotta squirt lemon juice and life's eye and make it your B!TCH
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#4
Has anyone read Rebirth yet?

It's good, very good, but it has the stink of someone standing over Geoff Johns' shoulder saying do this and do that and don't forget about that over there. Am I the only one who gets that vibe?

Glenn Walker
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