Random Retrospective #19 – Green Lantern #33

There’s no denying Geoff Johns revitalised GREEN LANTERN in the early 00s. With GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH, he took Hal Jordan from out of the cowl of the Spectre and gave him a power ring back, at the same time introducing the concept of Parallax the Fear Entity, explaining away Jordan’s madness in ZERO HOUR and elsewhere as possession by that entity. All of which led to this latest series where Johns waits the best part of two years before retelling Jordan’s origins.

But it’s not just Jordan here – Hector Hammond is given a slightly new origin and attacks before Jordan’s Corps teacher, Sinestro appears and makes taking Hammond out look easy.

With Hammond dealt with, Jordan and Sinestro fly out to the grave of Abin Sur where a message, a warning, is triggered for Sinestro. Abin Sur reveals the history of the Manhunters, the robotic precursors to the Green Lanterns, and the massacre of sector 666, all of which had been hidden by the Guardians.

Abin Sur gets a retcon as well – it wasn’t a random yellow meteorite or his ship running out of fuel that caused him to crash on Earth; instead he was transporting Artrocitus as a prisoner, and his escape caused the crash. Unlike Sinestro, Atrocitus absolutely believes the prophecy mentioned by Abin Sur and has tracked down the one he thinks will give him what he needs.

Sinestro and Jordan arrive only to find Atrocitus’s weapon drains their rings, leading to a big fight next issue.

Though it wasn’t realised at the time, this was all laying the foundation for the epic BLACKEST NIGHT event that would happen the following year, so full marks to Johns for setting things up well in advance.

I’ve said it before, Johns was usually good value for money, at least up until FOREVER EVIL, and I have fond memories, by and large, of his run on GREEN LANTERN.

3 thoughts on “Random Retrospective #19 – Green Lantern #33”

  1. I’ll definitely give full props to Johns for reinvigorating the Green Lantern title, the mythos, and most of all Hal Jordan. It definitely proved mutually beneficial for his career & DC by giving them so much material that added in increased sales per event.
    I will say that I wish he gave Alan Moore more credit for directly influencing his new revisionist takes on GL’s origins, especially Abin Sur & the wonderful stories & mythos he lovingly developed & gave to fans to take in & be mesmerized by. It was Alan Moore that first mentioned the 5 Inversions, the dark future fate of the GLC and giving a true relatable reason for why Abin died, by shaking his faith in his ring enough to force himself to rely on things other than it.

    Sadly at least for me, GL and Hal haven’t been as exciting & a must read since he left.
    And yeah, I know Grant Morrison wrote two seasons of GL and unfortunately for me anyways, it all surprisingly fell flat.

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    1. I hear you; though at the same time it wouldn’t hurt Moore to have been a little more gracious about others building on his tales, the way he built on the originals.

      Morrison’s run left me cold as well; as always with them, it felt like they were throwing as many ideas to the wall as they could and seeing what would stick. For me, it wasn’t much.

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      1. Which massively disappointed me because it’s Grant F’N Morrison! It looked so natural & no-brainer-ish on paper, yet fell flat. I still don’t get it.

        As for Moore, I chalk it up to DC constantly & needlessly needling him by continuing to profit off his ideas w/o appropriate credit just for kicks. No wonder he doesn’t trust many comic publishers anymore.

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