B5Erik

As I noted in my Marvel VS DC thread I picked up the Green Lantern: Hal Jordan TPB, which compiled Emerald Dawn and Emerald Dawn II. GREAT book. I loved it. I love the character, and I love how he was handled in those issues.

I know GL goes back a LONG way, and has changed a fair amount since then (different people have taken on the GL role), but I like the concept and I love the Hal Jordan character as presented in Emerald Dawn.

So my question is this, knowing that DC has rebooted, retconned, and re-started about 14 times over the last 35 years, what Green Lantern TPB's or Hardcover collections are the closest to the Emerald Dawn collection? I can be from the 70's, 80's, 90's, or modern, but what TPB or Hardcover collection comes the closest to that in style?





And the odd thing is that the Green Lantern: Hal Jordan collection is listed as Vol 1, but no Vol 2 was ever put out.

The Valeyard

Happy 80th GL!

Trevor

You can blame Gerard Jones for that.

fujishig

Could you maybe elaborate on what you liked about Hal Jordan in those issues of Emerald Dawn for those of us who haven't read it in, like 30 years?

Obviously the go-to is John's run but without knowing what you liked about this I'm not sure I can give a recommendation.

stingermck

Yeah read Johns run, its GL at his best.

ddrknghtrtns

I thought the GL movie would have been better if they had adapted Emerald Dawn instead of the Geoff Johns rainbow color corps and corn color poop cloud nonsense.
My favorite part of the story (Emerald Dawn), is when he flies into the lantern battery on OA and comes out supercharged much to the shock of the Guardians.

Always envisioned a GL trilogy where Emerald Dawn and the destruction of Coast City would serve as the catalyst of him becoming Parallax. At the end of the trilogy, both John Stewart and Kyle Rayner would become the new sector 2814 Green Lanterns.

fujishig

I personally think Parallax was an insult to the character. It's the only major character I can remember (other than maybe Hawk, and that's only because Captain Atom wasn't available) that basically gave up his legacy to become a villain for a decade or so. Johns's explanation was a bit clunky but it worked fine for me.

And it's not like I'm against Rayner or legacy characters in general. For instance, I will always argue that Johns brought back Barry Allen basically only for himself, nobody was demanding it and people had long since moved onto accepting Wally. But Hal for sure needed to be redeemed.

ddrknghtrtns

​​​​​​In the 80's and 90's, it just felt like both character's story arc had been played out. Barry was hiding out in the future from a murder trial and Hal gave up being GL for a period. Hal didn't even get to play a role during COIE.
After the crisis, Hal got the ring back probably due in big part to readers complaints , plus a cool revamp story (Emerald Dawn). Then it seem like the writers could not come up with an unique angle for the character ego and he just reverted back to being an aimless drifter until the Reign of The Superman event that led to the nuclear genocide of Coast City. Kyle, the new GL was a hip and unique character that really felt fit in well with the 90's era and along with Wally became one of the new JLA charter members.
Also didn't help that the JLA animated series used Jon and Wally instead of HAL and Barry.

fujishig

The problem I had with Hal is that they not only turned him bad, they turned him almost irredeemingly bad, a genocidal maniac who wiped out the entire corps. That was such a 90s way to "start fresh." Part of it is because I didn't mind mind the Gerard Jones volume 3 run (which gave me an appreciation for Gene Ha) and it basically just wiped it completely out.

B5Erik

Wait, what?? What the hell??

That's lame. Unbelievably lame. When did they do that? I'll want to avoid that era.

fujishig

Oop, sorry, I didn't think of that as spoilers...

It happens as a result of Mongul's actions during the Death of Superman.

But it's almost worth reading now to see how Geoff Johns basically completely retcons it. Well, maybe not retcons but gives an explanation as to why it happened, complete with tying it into the Mr. Fantastic-like white hair streaks he had for a while.

PhantomStranger

You have a lot of reading ahead of you from the 1990s.

I'm a Hal Jordan fan that didn't really mind the Parallax arc. Taken on its own, the story is pretty entertaining. My complaint, like most of DC's bigger changes in the 80s and 90s, is that editors stuck too long with the changes. For years I kept expecting DC would bring back Kara and Barry which they dragged out forever. It took almost two decades for those characters to come back.

I'm glad Hal is back. The Green Lantern these days that seems forgotten is Guy Gardner.

ddrknghtrtns

I love to see a JLA movie with Batman and the late 80's characters.
Movie Tagline: Make The Justice League Great Again!~BWAHAHAH.

fujishig

ddrknghtrtns

Is the dude dressed in blue supposed to be Green Lantern?

fujishig

It's supposed to be Guy Gardner, but you could only tell because that's kind of what his costume looked like back in those days (though he didn't wear a mask)

B5Erik

So for something not far removed from Emerald Dawn and Emerald Dawn II with a very human Hal Jordan who isn't perfect, but tries to do the right thing (so a more complex version of the character from the 70's), what are some good TPB's to try next?

I like the basis of the character in those comics - a semi screwed up test pilot who is flawed and makes mistakes and is thrust into a situation that is really beyond what he was ready for, but that he is willing to try and handle.

Suggestions?

B5Erik

Is this a good one to start with??

https://www.talesofwonder.com/produc...S-TP-BOOK-01/0

will travel

Former GL writer Ron Marz lists his All-Time favorite GL covers.

https://13thdimension.com/the-top-13...covers-ranked/

stingermck

Hal as Parallax was great, because they immediately made him a heavy hitter with Zero Hour. Plus like Wally, it gave us some great stories with Kyle. I remember when I was reading Rebirth as it was coming out, and the way Johns masterfully handled the retcon:

B5Erik

Or should I just go with the Omnibus??

https://www.instocktrades.com/TP/DC/...L-01/SEP140319


The TPB's would total out to about $60, shipped. The Omnibus would be about $75.

And is that a good title to start with?

fujishig

This is the start of the acclaimed Geoff Johns run, yes (starting with Rebirth). You may be confused about his current state going into the book but I think it still stands alone fine as a good starting off point. Either option is fine, depends on if you want to try just a little out at a time or if you want a massive honking omnibus to show off. I always opt for the latter but I understand both positions.

PhantomStranger

The Johns' run on Green Lantern is sprawling. I believe DC has put out three volumes of omnibuses to cover it all.

B5Erik

OK, I just ordered these as warmup titles...






The Johns run is next.

PhantomStranger

Hold on to any trade with Gerard Jones' name on it. DC is unlikely to ever republish his issues because of his more recent criminal problems as a convicted pedophile. He wrote a lot of comics for DC in the 90s.