Editor: James Paraha. Sunday 8th May 2005.
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Things'
Editor: James Paraha. Sunday 8th May 2005.
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 “In Brightest Day, In Darkest Night”
In 'On the Face of Things' we take a look at who those people in the little pictures actually are, their histories, powers and how these qualities are represented on their VS. cards. Today we're going take a look at someone who you haven't seen in any top 8 decks yet but (hopefully) is going to play a big part in Upperdeck's next VS set - Hal Jordan. Hal is the character most non-comic fans associate with the name Green Lantern*, to long time comic fans he is one of the best of the best. Superman is a force of nature, an indestructible man of steel, Batman is the most driven and cunning of individuals but Hal... he was the bravest and boldest of all DC's costumed heroes. History: Hal Jordan is a born hero - brave and virtuous he could be considered the Lancelot of the DC universe. However, the origins of Hal Jordan's story start long before he was actually born, so cue the wavy dissolve effect as we step back in time...
In order to restore a balance to the universe the people of Malthus relocated to the planet Oa at the centre of the universe and became cosmic protectors. One of their first actions of the 'Guardians of the Universe' was to cleanse Oa of its rogue magical elements by binding them into a mystical force known as the Starheart and banishing it to the anti-matter universe. After a billion years the Oans decide that they required assistance to police the universe and create the android Manhunter army. When the Manhunters proved to be unreliable (murderously so), they too were banished to the anti-matter universe***. The Guardians realised they required representatives with 'free will' and proposed the formation of the Green Lantern Corps. Dividing the universe into 3600 sectors and nominating a representative from each sector, the Guardians outfitted the first Green Lanterns with powerful ray guns before completing the construction of their ultimate weapon - the power ring. Powered by a central power battery, the rings gave the Green Lanterns near limitless energy powers. ...And we're back. The publishing history of Green Lantern began in July 1940 with All-American Comics #16. In that issue we are introduced to the Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott. Scott divined his powers from a mystical lantern shaped from the metals found in a meteorite that had fallen to Earth in China. As it turns out the meteor was a small piece of the Starheart (which we know from our little history trip above). Although his powers seemed similar to the current GL's, they were in fact magical in nature and were unable to affect anything made of wood. Scott became a founding member of the Justice Society of America and had adventures for many years, but he isn't Hal Jordan so lets move on.
Harold 'Hal' Jordan's childhood idol was his father, a test pilot with Ferris Aircraft Corporation who died during a test flight. Despite the tragedy of the situation, Hal was only further inspired by the accident to follow in his father's footsteps. Hal grew and prospered in his home town Coast City. Both athletic and smart, his marks earned him a place at collage where he studied Aeronautical Engineering. Following college he enlisted in the Air Force, rising quickly through the ranks to become a military test pilot. While testing a stealth bomber, Hal was hijacked by his co-pilot, who intended to deliver the plane to Soviet operatives. Hal and and the hijacker fought, causing the plane to crash in the Alaskan wilderness. Unable to parachute to safety, like his attacker, Hal was forced to stick with the plane and managed to survive the landing. Unable to find the hijacker, the Air Force decided to make an example of Hal who was summarily discharged from the service. Though disheartened by his dismissal Hal easily found civilian work with his credentials. He was soon working for his Father's old employer Ferris Aircraft Corporation as an engineer and test pilot. It was here Hal was to find his long time love interest Carol Ferris, daughter of his boss Carl Ferris. One night while working inside a training flight simulator, Hal and the module are enveloped in a field of green energy which transports him to a remote region of desert beside a wreaked spacecraft. Inside, Hal finds a dying alien, who introduces himself as Abin Sur, Green Lantern of sector 2814. Sur quickly explains his role as a interstellar policeman and that he had his ring search the Earth for someone who was "fearless and honest" to inherit his power and responsibility. Sur explained the ring's inherent weakness against anything yellow and the need to recharge it every 24 hours with his 'power battery'****. With that Abin Sur slips the ring onto Hal's finger and passes away, Hal stands and for the first time brings the ring to the power battery and recites his Green Lantern oath:
Yup, pretty cheesy but this was the 1950's. Over the next 10 years Hal proves to be popular with the readers. He meets other members of the Corps and the Guardians and fights former GL and arch-enemy Sinestro for the first time. He also runs across other long time GL villains like Sonar and the Weaponeers of Qward *^. Hal also became a founding member of the Justice League of America along with Flash, Green Arrow, Black Canary, the Martian Manhunter and Aquaman. During the '70's Hal was part of a ground breaking run partnered with Green Arrow. Together the straight-ace conservative Hal and the loudmouthed liberal Ollie toured the United States and dealt with non-traditional superhero issues such as the cost of war, racism and (famously) teen drug usage. Together these "hard travelling hero's" showed that mainstream comics could deal with real issues and not just the colourful villain of the month. Following his travels with Ollie, Hal returned to Coast City and Ferris Aircraft for an extended on again, off again relationship with Carol**^. When Ferris Aircraft is threatened due to Hal's activity as Green Lantern, Carol confronts Hal and demands he makes a choice between her and being Green Lantern. Subsequently, he meets with the Guardians and after a few ripe words quits the Corps. They promptly give Hal's role and ring to his replacement - John Stewart. John Stewart is introduced in Green Lantern #87 (December 1971). A young Afro-American from Detroit, John filled in for Hal whenever he was unconscious or to fulfill his duties as Green Lantern. After Hal quits, the Guardians appoint him full time GL of Earth. John does an adequate job but after his wife gets killed, he has his back broken and fails to prevent the destruction of an entire planet, the Guardians decide they should play nice and get Hal back. John later gets a chance to redeem himself as protector of the patchwork world called Mosaic. John has may further adventures and continues to be an active Green Lantern but he isn't Hal Jordan, so lets move on. During the 80's Hal's popularity dips again, his straight edge attitude is no longer appreciated but the majority of the young comic readers who identifies with the cooler Uncanny X-Men or New Teen Titans. In order to boost flagging sales DC decides to shake things up again. During the first great company wide cross-over event 'Crisis on Infinite Earths', six of the Guardians split off and decide to create their own Corps and give a power ring to a new Green Lantern, the obnoxious ultra-right wing Guy Gardner. It is revealed that when Abin Sur requested his ring to find a replacement for him it found both Hal and Guy were acceptable. As Hal was geographically closer to the ailing Sur he got the position over Guy. Hal and Guy face off a few times and eventually Guy replaces Hal in the Justice League and as protector of space sector 2814. DC also discontinues the Green Lantern comic leaving Hal in comic limbo. Guy continues to be the active Green Lantern for much of the mid 80's. Guy's outrageously chauvinistic and hotheaded attitude won him many fans which saw him continue on in many different guises after his time a Green Lantern, right through to current day and his recent re-instatement as a Green Lantern. However he Hal Jordan, so lets move on. The late 80's/early 90's saw a massive influx of 'investors' into the comic market. Hot to expand their line of comics DC revives the Green Lantern title. Hal is back a little older and wiser now with grey in his hair. While Hal goes about setting himself up and winning back his title of Green Lantern of sector 2814, DC decides to embark on a marketing coup by killing Superman. In his absence four new Supermen rise to take his place. It is one of these Supermen, known as the Cyborg Superman and the alien conqueror Mongul that manage to destroy Hal's home town, Coast City while Hal is off patrolling in space.
The surviving Guardian, Ganthet recreates Hal's original ring and teleports to Earth, giving it to the first human he meets - Kyle Rayner the last Green Lantern. Unlike all the Green Lanterns before him Kyle is the first chosen not for his indomitable will. Kyle manages to compensated by using his vast imagination and artistic abilities to wield the power of the ring. Kyle find out that his ring differs from when Hal wore it - it no longer requires recharging and no longer has the weakness against yellow. He takes over the starring role in the Green Lantern comic and Hal's position in the Justice League. Eventually Kyle rebuilds the central power battery, aids in the rebirth of the Guardians and begins to rebuild the Corps. However he isn't Hal Jordan, so lets move on. Unbeknownst to DC, the legions of Hal Jordan fans took serious offence at the out of character actions of their favorite hero. Internet petitions were organised and DC staff were accosted by annoyed Hal Jordan fans at conventions. So it was, that after a period of biding his time and acting nefarious, Hal Jordan had his chance to redeem himself in the 1996 crossover event, Final Night. When the solar system was threatened by the stellar entity know as the Sun Eater, Earth's combined forces are unable to stop it from absorbing the sun's energy. Hal in a moment of clarity sees the error of his ways and sacrifices himself by plunging deep into the heart of the dying sun and reigniting it with the stolen power of the central power battery. Wow, so Hal is dead? Well no, never let it be said that DC is adverse to recycling old idea's. Y'see DC had another old concept hanging around at the time, the Spectre.
Unfortunately this was not the success DC was hoping for. The Spectre had been a character immersed in magic and religion, Hal as Green Lantern was all sci-fi action. It soon became apparent that this situation didn't really satisfy the fans of either character, so once again Hal's title was cancelled. And that brings us up to present day. This late 2004 it was announced that Hal would be taking back his title of Green Lantern of Earth. Currently we are in the middle of a mini-series called Green Lantern: Rebirth which is angling to explain away Hal's apparent about face after the destruction of Coast City and restore him as the upstanding hero he previously was. The basic plot seems to be that the weakness to yellow was due to a yellow entity named Parallax being imprisoned within the central power battery but the Guardians during its creation***^. Parallax is empowered by absorbing fear, the "polar opposite" of willpower. That is why only people with strong wills could control a power ring - they were fighting the 'fear' influence of Parallax. When Hal allowed himself to be overcome by grief there was enough wiggle room for Parallax to cross over via the power ring and nest in his sub-conscious. And.. well 'and' nothing, that is where the story is up too. Upperdeck is coinciding the release of their set with the release of the new Green Lantern series in May. Until then you will find me waiting for the release of the next issue of Green Lantern: Rebirth at my local comic book. Powers: None, Hal Jordan is an above average athlete who has has had training in standard hand to hand combat techniques and weapon usage as a member of the US Air Force. Hal is also a accomplished test pilot and displays an highly developed level of willpower, above that of most sentient beings. Weapons: The power rings of the Green Lantern Corps act as a conduit for the vast energies stored in the central power battery on Oa. By placing the ring in contact with their own power battery and reciting an oath, a Green Lantern can charge their ring with near limitless power for 24 hrs. This charge is emitted as green energy, malleable in form and function by the rings user. The energy has been used in many different ways by different GL's - from simple concussive blasts and force fields, to giant energy hands and basic tools like hammers, through to complex constructs such as air purifiers or microscopes. The existence of each energy construct is reinforced by the amount of willpower exerted by the user. The more willpower used to empower the construct, the more likely it is able to withstand an opposing force. The power ring has an inherent weakness against the colour yellow, anything this colour is not affected by the energy of the power ring. Currently the power ring worn by Green Lantern Kyle Rayner has been purged of its weakness against yellow. It has yet to be seen whether this will affect all other power rings in the future.
The cards: Luckily there has been a few preview card released for the GL set that feature Hal. I'm sure that these aren't the only cards Hal will be showing up on but they are the only one's available for review at this time. Please note that these reviews are not of their play value but how well the portray the character they are based on.
While the total willpower of characters you control is 20 or greater, you cannot lose the game and your opponents cannot win the game. Ok, starting from the top, Reborn tells us this is the Hal in his current role as the resurrected Green Lantern of Earth, visually this matches in the art with his slightly updated uniform. Rarity is fitting, there may be 3600 GL's protecting the universe out there but Hal's the best and the brightest and the Atk/Def values place him as one of the top guns but fittingly not an absolute brick. Flight, range - check and check. So far looking pretty good. Game text , hmmm... Ok I believe there's been a bit of confusion as to what the willpower rating on this card is - 5, 6 or 8. Whatever it is I hope it about as high as your going to get. If so, this is all good, if not, it had better be second only to an earlier version of himself. The win/lose ability is a bit lost on me though. Perhaps it's meant to tap into the fact that the GL's are supposed to be a cosmic police force, protecting you but not necessarily helping you. Or maybe its reference to Hal coming back from the dead, either way this ability is only tangentially linked to the character.
Discard a card > Hal Jordan gets +5 willpower this turn. Power corrupts. Absolute power is parallax. Parallax... Evil Hal... Never has Hal been so juiced as he was in his Parallax persona, so a 25/25 atk/def rating suits him down to the ground - this was the dude that single handedly re-ignited the Sun! With those digits and his 9 cost this puts him on par with Dark Phoenix, pretty much the perfect cross-universe match up in my opinion. Flight and range are standard fare for a GL and are a no-brainer for this card. I can say that this definitely looks like Willpower 5, equal or slightly less than Hal Jordan Reborn, hopefully less than. Now the discard ability is one I really like as it directly makes reference to a feature of Parallax's story. During his change into Parallax, Hal fought and defeated a bunch of GL's adding their rings (and power) to his fingers making for a pretty cool cover for issue #49. To me this is what his ability is all about - bumping off his allies in order to strengthen himself. Overall a really good continuity and story inspired card.
Well that turned out to be a bit longer than I expected and yet we've only really touched on the tip of the iceberg as far as the Green Lantern Corp goes. Maybe later down the track we can revisit the Corps and talk to you all about the greatest Green Lantern ever - G'nort****^. If you have any further questions on Hal or the Green Lantern Corps, let me know in the forums and I'll do my best to get you some answers. Next up we'll switch gears and universes and have a look at our first Marvel Comics character. Cheers, James Paraha (Torquemada on the forums).
* Ok, I realise that many of the younger readers may know Green Lantern as John Stewart from the Justice League of America or Justice League Unlimited cartoons but first and foremost Hal Jordan is Green Lantern**. ** Yes I know, technically Alan Scott was the first Green Lantern but for simplicity sake (not to mention the flow of the article) Hal Jordan IS Green Lantern. I'll get to all this other stuff soon, I promise. *** Kinda sounds like the Guardians personal garbage bin doesn't it? **** Which just happened to look like an old fashioned railroad lantern. *^ Who were from the anti-matter universe. They were probably pissed at the Guardians for using their reality as a dumping ground. **^ Carol for a time becomes possessed and fights Hal as the villainess Star Sapphire. ***^ When will those Guardians learn not to chuck their problems into alternate dimensions and the like. ***^This is a comic geek joke, hence your probably cooler if you don't get it.
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10 billion years ago, a group of advanced beings on the planet Malthus
created a utopian civilization, dedicated to the study of the universe. Six
billion years pasted until one of their scientists, Krona, delved into
forbidden studies and split the universe, creating the
anti-matter universe. This split diminished the ambient energy of the universe
so it could no longer self sustain itself. for the first time the universe began
to decay.
The late 1950's saw a resurgence in the appeal of superheroes
to the comic
reading public. In response, DC comics decided to retool a number of their old
concepts to boost their existing superhero fare. The start of the Silver Age of
comics is defined as the release of Showcase #4 in 1956 featuring the Silver Age
Flash. September 1959 saw the release of Showcase #22 and the first appearance
of Hal Jordan.
"In brightest day, in darkest night,
Overcome with grief at
the destruction of his life long home, Hal attempts to resurrect the city and
its inhabitants with the power of his ring, only to be stopped by the Guardians
who chastise Hal for using the ring for personal fufillment. Enraged with the
indifference show by the Guardians, Hal rockets towards Oa intent on destroying
the Guardians and gaining the power to bring Coast City back to life. On the way
he is opposed by members of the Corps whom he defeats and uses their rings to
add to his own power. The Guardians re-instate the former Green Lantern and
Hal's nemesis, Sinestro in a last ditch effort to stop him from destroying the
central power battery. The powered up Hal sweeps through snapping Sinestro's
neck and enters the battery intent on absorbing all its energy. Hal's efforts to
absorb the energy cause the battery to explode, seemingly killing all the
Guardians bar one and revealing Hal in his new guise of Parallax.
The Spectre was a DC character with a 60 year history, an amalgam of a human
soul in need of atonement attached to the embodiment of the wrath of God. The
most recent bound soul had earned enough Brownie points to ascent to its divine
reward, leaving the character without a host. So a match with Hal's soul seemed
like a convenient idea and the Spectre's costume was even green! Obviously a
match (pardon the pun) made in heaven and so DC released a new Spectre comic
with Hal as the host. 
Name:
Hal Jordan
Name:
Hal Jordan