Green Lantern... Reborn. *Rebirth Spoilers*

[Seadevil]

Well, now that Green Lantern Rebirth has wrapped, what'd everyone think?

Myself, I thought it was brilliantly done and stands as a testament to Geoff John's excellent (in my oh-so-humble opinion, naturally) writing. Parallax got a retcon that appeases everyone, and it actually made sense, which is always a plus. Kyle lives to fight on as a Green Lantern, which i'm also very happy about as i've grown to like Kyle as well over the past few years.

I also thought there were alot of "This is so friggin' COOL!" moments. One that stands out is the splash page of Hal at the end of #4 as he stands in the GL uniform, his ring glowing and ready to go, and the man himself staring down Sinestro.

Another was Hal's attitude towards Batman. At the beginning of #6, before Hal the rest of the GLs assembled get ready to fight Parallax...
Batman: "We're not done-"
*Hal slugs Bats square in the jaw and drops him."
Hal: "Right now, We are"
Guy: "Did you see THAT? One punch. Y'know Hal, i've always liked you."
Instant classic.

Then near the end Batman says something along the lines of "Do you expect me to believe all of this?" to which Hal says "I don't expect you to believe anything. And quite honestly, I don't care." Awesome.

The way Johns described how each of the GLs actually work their rings and the constructs they made was very, very cool to me. Alot of the time in the older GL books, it'd be everyone formed a hammer, glove, what have you. But now, you see the inner workings of their minds and how much their tactics and ways of thinking differ from each other.

I know this whole post has been basically one big "Wow! Did you see that? And then this happened! And then this and this!" But, i'm still excited over the whole experience.

Needless to say, the Doctor is pleased. :)

[AfterglowNoMore]

The only thing that I didn't like was the way that Johns made Kyle come off as a bit sloppy and unconfident when he was describing how they worked their rings. In previous comics he's been pretty sure of him self after the whole Ion thing. And I can't remember once where Kyle kept "erasing" parts of his GL creations. Other than that I thought that it was well done.

[Maveric]

I always admired the character and concept. I stopped following hal's journey when they (the writers) turned him into a mass murdering serial killer.

i found a decent review...

http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/maurice/2005/04/green-lantern-rebirth.html

i was hoping for a bit more information or clarification. so, was hal resurrected by god to pay for his sins by being a super hero? if not, how did he get his physical body back, where'd he get his ring, is it a new ring or the old ring, did they revamp the ring's abilities again? was it really hal that went insane and murdered the rest of the Green Lantern Corps and others? if Hal is permanently back now, is he solo or with the JLA. what's up with Kyle, where's he fit in the picture now? what's the story on the GL corps, last i heard, Kyle was trying to reform them and not doing such a good job. are the gardians still out of the picture?

sorry, it's been a long time.

-Mav

[Seadevil]

i was hoping for a bit more information or clarification. so, was hal resurrected by god to pay for his sins by being a super hero? if not, how did he get his physical body back, where'd he get his ring, is it a new ring or the old ring, did they revamp the ring's abilities again? was it really hal that went insane and murdered the rest of the Green Lantern Corps and others? if Hal is permanently back now, is he solo or with the JLA. what's up with Kyle, where's he fit in the picture now? what's the story on the GL corps, last i heard, Kyle was trying to reform them and not doing such a good job. are the gardians still out of the picture?

sorry, it's been a long time.

-Mav

Well, hopefully I can help clear it up a bit.

You gotta go back to Final Night, really. Hal gave up his life to re-ignite the Sun, but Parallax was rooted into his soul, so even in death, he was still begin corrupted by Parallax. That's why the Spectre chose Hal, to keep Parallax in check and attempt to free Hal from it's grip. In Rebirth, Parallax seemingly won the battle between itself, Hal, and the Spectre and took control for a brief time (in issue 4). But, Hal and the Spectre actually joined forces, where before it was just Spectre vs. Parallax with Hal seemingly not aware or unable to do anything (from what I understand) and the three were split.

The Spectre returned to Heaven until a new host was found, Parallax possessed Ganthet for the remainder of the series, and Hal was free to enter Heaven, if he wanted. But Ganthet, in mid-possession, told Hal to follow his light instead, which led to his body in the Watchtower. He did, and Hal got his body back.

His ring now is an exact duplicate of the one he had. He gave the copy to Green Arrow, 'just in case', after their road trip across America. It sat in a vault in Ollie's house until Rebirth. I remember something about Ollie having to actually go get it from Ferris in The Archer's Quest arc, but i'm not sure there... Memory's fuzzy. But, for all intents and purposes, it's the same ring.

I would assume that the yellow impurity will remain, since Parallax was sucked back into the Central Power Battery on Oa, which was reformed when Kyle was Ion. Kyle also used all of his energies as Ion to bring back the Guardians and reignited the Central Power Battery.

It wasn't really Hal that went psycho. It was Parallax and Sinestro that were controlling him. Sinestro was trapped in the Power Battery some time ago by the Guardians, where he appearantly came into contact with Parallax. Parallax wanted out of the battery and Sinestro wanted revenge on Hal, so they plotted their scheme. Sinestro's death in Emerald Twilight was appearantly just something to fool Hal and let Sinestro gain more control over him.

I hope that clears things up a bit. I know it gets confusing...

[D'Arkaine]

according to the GL Secret Files that were just released, the yellow impurity is not there anymore - even tho Parallax has been banished back to the battery.

[Randomus]

The one-punch thing was stupid and totally out of character for Hal. Guy should've been the one trying to punch Batman. The scene was already a wink and a nod at the funnier JLA launch where Bats dropped Guy in one punch, and Blue Beetle made "One punch? ONE PUNCH?!" a memorable line.

[Magna Harrier]

But it might be in character to for new-and-improved, "Now with personality" Hal, so I'll forgive it. Oddly enough, being inhabited by an evil energy being, killed, becoming the avatar of God's Vengance, spiltting from said avatar, and coming back to life might have made some small impact on him. :p

[Solario]

I haven't read it, but it seems highly unlikely that Batman would have let his guard down enough, so Hal could punch him, considering this is the guy who had profile on how to kill each and every one of the JLA.

I would have prefered it, if it had been more in the vein, that Batman acted towards Dick in Bruce Wayne: Murderer, the whole "the first punch is free" etc.

[Masked Revenger]

Okay, so I got the last issue, and I have to say, I liked it. Good old fashioned Hal Jorden, back in action! Gotta say, this is the first time a dead hero has been brought back that I liked the storyline they used to bring him back. The manged to work it into the Green Lantern mythos, and did it well.

As for the whole "One Punch" thing with Batman, yeah, it was weird, but to be honest, I found it MORE out of character for Bats to continue to not believe Hal with the monster stairing him right in the face.

"You expect me to believe this?"

Well, DUH! You just watched it, what's there not to believe?

But, the rest of the series was so good, I'm willing to ignore it.

Chris

[AfterglowNoMore]

I found it MORE out of character for Bats to continue to not believe Hal with the monster stairing him right in the face.

"You expect me to believe this?"

Well, DUH! You just watched it, what's there not to believe?

But, the rest of the series was so good, I'm willing to ignore it.

Chris
Well, you're talking about a character that as has been previously stated, was inhabited by an energy being, died, became God's spirit of vengence and then came back to life. I'd be skeptical myself if I were Batman. I mean, a GL has a tremendous amount of power, Parallax had more, and then there's the Spectre, if I were Batman, where Hal was involved, there would be little that I'd be willing to believe. With that kind of power, I'd think that it had the possibility of being a hoax too.

[Griimace]

I'm just happy somebody finally gave Batman what he deserved.


Good series overall, I knew Geoff wouldn't dissapoint. I hope Kyle doesn't become Hal's frickkin sidekick though.

[Gold Rush]

Okay, so this IS old. But I never got the LAST issue of this. Just picked up the TPB and read it. There is a good interview with Geoff about his goals during the series and even a rough-draft script of each issue. After reading such first draft scripts, I tend to like them better than the final story, but I found I like the final story better than some of the plotted actions in these scripts.

As for the Batman letting Hal off the hook at the end. Geoff noted he didn't want any strings dangling; he wanted Hal to be accepted into the DC universe fully as a hero without any lingering doubts. Admirable goal, but yeah, hard to do. You can see, in general, Batman kept his paranoia of not just Hal, but everyone with his satellite tracking/info network that became OMAC. So, other writer's may've picked this suppossedly wrapped up thread up.

For thoughts. Actually, I liked the Hal who wandered around America trying to discover himself. I liked the greying of the temples, although, at the time of their inital appearance, they sprouted up too quick. I like having Hal back, but over in his new series, something is definitely different. I suppose I could chalk this up to his experiences with being a villian AND an angel of retribution. Still, it's not the same, personality-wise. There is...something distant about him in the current series. I do miss Carol Ferris, actually. Shame she got married, but that sorta thing happens iRL. I do think, however, something has been taken out of the Hal-Formula with that one. Also, for some reason, Hal has become too...what words can I describe him with? He's always had an opinion and was a fierce fighter, but to punch out his current commanding officer in the Air Force AS Green Lantern was kinda wierd. Sure, he deserved it, but it was a rather obvious/weak set-up that the commander used to figure out Hal's identity (Hal, under this guy's command in the past, also punched him out and the commander figures they punch the same and no one else has punched him before.) So, now Hal/GL is basically a patsy of the Air Force; an agent of the government. Probably a story set-up to events later, but this sorta bugs me that the same guy who didn't take any gruff from Batman is kowtowing to this commander. Again, maybe deep-down, Hal respects authority and doesn't want to lose out flying jets, but I don't remember Hal putting up with this for too long.

For Kyle : You know, I am probably one of the few here who actually hated Kyle. I hated his set-up. The "last" GL. They went so far as to even make a reason for Alan Scott to give up his GL name and started calling him "Sentinel". I hated Kyle dating Donna Troy, moving in out of nowhere. I hate Kyle dating Jade. Even leafing through some of his issues, I hate some of the stories in there. I've tried to give him a chance, but...I've hated him for a long time.

Well, until the last issue of Rebirth.

It's always been known that Kyle was chosen for a purpose; he wasn't quite like the other GLs. Most writers have aimed primarily at his humility and cautiousness (fear). All understandable. When Hal and Kyle got introduced and worked together, something clicked for me that sort of bothers me about the new Green Lantern and Hal. I am all for "fearless Hal". Maybe it's the way he has been recently protrayed that I do not "cotton" to (cotton=accept). Especially in Rebirth, it's been, "GLs don't fear this" and, "GLs are braver than that." All fine and good, but, after awhile, I start to feel, personally, out-of-touch with Hal and the rest.

There is a reason why we see the stereotypical scene from time to time. You know the one, where a young hero goes up to an older hero and tells him he's afraid and asks the older one if he's ever felt fear and the older one replies, "All the time." I think readers identify with that and feel emboldened. Even Superman has some fear, Batman, too. If a character is too fearless, there is a danger of his protrayal coming off inadvertently like a "jerk" or someone you can't connect with. I felt better about Kyle and his fears (and his fighting his fears) emotionally than Hal's strutting. I could identify with Kyle more. (Actually, this whole Kyle topic was the REAL reason I posted this post.)

So, I am glad Hal is back, but...maybe I'll look (and hope) Kyle's adventures are told in a better way, especially without all that baggage/weight of "This is the LAST GL and you better accept it" mess.

Of course, they seem to be re-starting Ion again (which I know nothing about) and seem to be making Kyle a more galactic rover than Hal currently. So, we'll see how that comes along. :)

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Gold Rush