Green Lantern (Vol. 3) #0

Cover Date: October 1994

Story: Ron Marz
Pencils: Darryl Banks
Inks: Romeo Tanghal
Cover: Darryl Banks and Romeo Tanghal

After being at ground zero for the Big Bang, Parallax and Kyle Rayner are whisked away through a wormhole. Parallax had latched onto Waverider’s teleporting abilities at the last minute, and the resulting vortex brought himself and Kyle to Oa, where they begin fighting once more. Hal’s power has been drained after his recent battles, though, and after seeing Kilowog’s skeleton, he breaks down. He explains to Kyle that all he wanted to do was fix everything, not to be one of the bad guys. Kyle understands what Hal’s going through due to heavy losses of his own, and gives him his ring. Hal becomes Green Lantern once again, but he tries to draw power from Oa to recharge himself. Kyle realizes that he’s made a serious mistake; he tries to fight Hal without his ring, but is beaten and knocked down into the Green Lantern Crypt. Kyle gets the drop on Hal by knocking a sarcophagus down onto him; since Kyle’s ring doesn’t have the auto-protect function anymore, Hal was unprepared for this. Kyle takes his ring back, and rather than let Hal leach any more power from Oa, he overloads its core and destroys it. As the planetary debris settles, Kyle seems to be the only one left. Lost in space, he tries to find his way home.

The ending of Green Lantern (Vol. 3) #0 made it clear that Kyle was the last of the Green Lanterns, and even though he had quite a legacy to live up to, he was going to make sure he was worthy of the name. DC Comics was really pushing Green Lantern as a solo character book after getting rid of Hal and the Corps, and this helped to solidify that.

Even though it was a single issue, #0 was filled with great character moments. Hal breaking down into tears over his failures was fantastic, and reminded us just how human he was. The scene where Hal even offers to bring Kyle’s murdered girlfriend Alex DeWitt back was especially poignant, even though we all knew that Kyle would have to refuse it. Ron Marz is to be commended for the excellent dialogue between the former and current Green Lanterns.

And the artwork? No one can draw Parallax or Kyle Rayner better than Darryl Banks. Since this issue only features the two of them, it’s a showcase of Banks’ abilities. From Hal’s raw power to Kyle’s detailed constructs to both characters’ varying emotions, the art in this issue is truly a treat for the eyes. (The cover’s not too shabby, either!)

Green Lantern (Vol. 3) #0 was a perfect balance of action and character development. This is superhero storytelling at its finest, people!

Green Lantern Corps (Vol. 2) #49

Release Date: June 23, 2010
Cover Date: August 2010

Story: Tony Bedard
Pencils: Ardian Syaf
Inks: Vicente Cifuentes
Cover: Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes
1:25 Variant Cover: Patrick Gleason and John Dell

While a mysterious figure is building a Central Power Battery of his own, John Stewart’s en route to the mechanical world of Grenda along with Alpha Lantern Boodikka. The pair sneak down to the surface, where the senior Lantern finds that other Corpsmen have been abducted and turned into Alphas against their will. Boodikka then turns on Stewart, and pursues him with a slew of other Alphas. Back on Oa, Kyle Rayner has a nightmare about Jade, and his attempts at explanation to Soranik Natu just make things worse. They’re interrupted by Ganthet, who suspects something’s wrong with the Alpha Lanterns, as they’re all missing from Oa. Meanwhile, in the anti-matter universe on the planet Qward, a group of haggard Weaponers find the white net that Boston Brand left behind, and their leader claims its energy for himself. Ganthet and friends make it to Grenda, but are ambushed by Alphas. They manage to escape and hide, but Stewart is eventually defeated. He’s strapped to an operating table, and Cyborg Superman reveals himself as the man behind the Alphas’ revolt.

Tony Bedard is doing a fantastic job setting up this story arc. Science fiction is his strength, and it doesn’t get much more scifi than an insane cyborg forcing biomechanical experimentation upon unwilling victims! Ardian Syaf’s artwork shines here, too, with all of the various mechanical devices that Henshaw and the Alphas are using to surgically “upgrade” their captives. (The only silly piece of art was John Stewart crafting a rifle and United States Marine Corps armor with his ring. Not exactly the best protection when descending into hostile alien territory, and he’s capable of much better.)

The question is, if ol’ Hank Henshaw’s back to cause problems again…where are the Manhunters? They were in the process of rebuilding him after “The Sinestro Corps War,” and I don’t think he’d leave such an effective army behind for no reason. Granted, he was pissed at them for not allowing him to die, but they’re still useful tools.

As far as the Alphas are concerned, they’ll be broken free of Henshaw’s control by the end of the arc, of course. In addition, I think that Boodikka (and possibly the others) will be given their original personalities back. They can’t have their old bodies back, as the cosmic surgery is clearly irreversible; but giving them their previous “non-robot” minds would certainly be a boon. The Guardians fucked up by creating the Alphas, and this would certainly help to fix things.

The Qward interlude was a little strange; granted, it served to connect the issue to the ongoing Brightest Day crossover (just in case you missed the logo on the cover), but it didn’t seem necessary. It may be setting up a larger plot that will be explored in future Green Lantern Corps issues, but even if that’s the case, I think the scene would’ve been better placed at the end of the issue, not the middle.

I have to say, I’m thrilled to see where this story goes. Bedard’s work on the criminally underselling R.E.B.E.L.S. shows that he really has a grasp on science fiction epics with a large cast, and he’s brought that skill over to Green Lantern Corps. I’ve been consistently enjoying Green Lantern Corps more than the main Green Lantern book, and Bedard’s keeping that momentum going.

Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #0

Cover Date: September 1994

Story: Dan Jurgens
Pencils: Dan Jurgens
Inks: Jerry Ordway
Cover: Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway

As the shocked heroes look on, Parallax begins using the powerful plasmatic energies at his disposal to recreate the universe from the beginning. He reveals that he slipped into the timestream, and absorbed all of the leftover energy from the Crisis. He sees that entropy acts like a loop, and he could tighten it to erase spacetime and recreate it anew. Meanwhile, Waverider manages to bring another group of heroes to Vanishing Point, and comes up with a new plan. Parallax tells the heroes, some of whom are from alternate timelines, that everyone will have a place in the new universe he’s building: Kryption will never have exploded, Batgirl won’t have been paralyzed…even the Green Lantern Corps will be rebuilt. Before he can continue, Parallax is attacked upon the arrival Waverider’s group. Some alternate heroes side with Parallax, as they don’t want their existence to be erased. Parallax is too powerful for anyone to stop…until the Spectre arrives. He curses Parallax for the death of billions, but Parallax is able to hold his own against his opponent. Waverider has some heroes absorb the plasma energy Parallax was using to rebuild the universe, and then has them fire it at him so he can slowly channel it into Damage. Parallax tries to blast him, but the alternate Batgirl sacrifices herself to block it. Kyle Rayner grabs Parallax just in time, and Green Arrow puts an end to Parallax’s plans with an arrow to the chest. The Spectre claims that justice is served, and supercharges Damage. The kid can’t hold it in anymore, and bursts with energy, recreating the Big Bang. Time flows on uninterrupted; there are subtle differences from the previous timeline, but at least Parallax wasn’t overseeing it this time. Waverider managed to spirit the heroes away from the explosion, and reinserts everyone back into the timeline at the exact point he initially brought them to Vanishing Point, though Kyle Rayner has been lost. The heroes celebrate their victory, but not Green Arrow. He walks away, and shatters his bow in frustration over killing his best friend.

Like “Emerald Twilight” before it, Zero Hour is another great story that gets shit on by frothing-at-the-mouth fanboys because it made their hero Hal Jordan into a “villain.” However, if you actually read the damned story, it’s made quite clear in presentation and dialogue that Hal was much more of an anti-hero (or anti-villain, if you must). What most people seem to miss is the moral ambiguity. Hal wasn’t setting out to take over the world or kill everyone like a generic supervillain; he wanted to remake the universe to fix its problems, many of which are hard to argue against. The destruction of Krypton and Coast City are perfect examples of this. Furthermore, Parallax correctly points out that when the heroes plan to rebuild the universe without him, they’re technically guilty of the same “crime.” Sure, the heroes won’t guide this new universe, but they’re still rebuilding it, just as Parallax wanted to.

Of course, all of Hal’s actions prior to and during Zero Hour were later retconned to be the fault of a giant space bug, even though it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. (Why would a fear creature want to remake the universe into a more positive one?) I’m honestly surprised that Zero Hour itself hasn’t been retconned out of existence yet, but perhaps next year’s Flashpoint will address this, as it’s going to be another time travel-centric crossover.

Some fans’ distaste for Zero Hour aside, the character of Extant would prove to be a fan favorite. He would go on to be a thorn in many heroes’ sides up until his death in JSA #15. He was resurrected as a Black Lantern in Blackest Night: Titans #1, but as Hawk, not Monarch or Extant. In Blackest Night #8, he was brought back to life proper, again in his pre-villainous state, and his story is currently unfolding in Brightest Day and Birds of Prey (Vol. 2). Since there’s been no mention of his days as Extant, this also makes me wonder if Zero Hour has been or will be erased.

Something else that spiraled out of Zero Hour was a bunch of special “zero issues” for DC Comics’ superhero line. Some of these #0s kicked off new series, while others were part of currently ongoing books; most of the new series did not last, with the phenomenal Starman being a notable exception.

At the end of Zero Hour #0, there’s a neat fold-out piece that details the new timeline. Golden Age material is still solidly placed into the 1940s (you can’t avoid that, due to the World War II connections), and the Silver Age started “ten years ago.” (At the time of Zero Hour‘s publication, this would have put it in 1984.) It’s pretty common for comics to use a floating timeline as a way to avoid pinning down specific dates, but this is still a rare occasion: over thirty years of publishing time were compressed into less than a third of that in comic book time! Other minor changes to continuity are also listed, with “the future” left decidedly vague. The biggest change to come out Zero Hour was the reboot of the Legion of Super-Heroes, but I obviously won’t be covering that here.

In spite of some fanboys’ grumblings, Zero Hour was a vastly underrated story. Complain all you want about the portrayal of Hal Jordan, but I thought it was handled quite well, and the storytelling was very good. Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway are to be commended.

(Want to know what happened to Hal and Kyle after the Big Bang? Keep an eye out next Tuesday for my review of Green Lantern [Vol. 3] #0!)

Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #1

Cover Date: September 1994

Story: Dan Jurgens
Pencils: Dan Jurgens
Inks: Jerry Ordway
Cover: Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway

Rifts are appearing all over the place in the present day, and Steel is killed by a stray chronal discharge. Extant can’t figure out what’s going on, but he’s attacked by our mystery man. The shadowed figure tells Extant that the random rifts are obstructions in the timestream, and warns Extant not to interfere with his plans anymore. The Legion of Super-Heroes succumbs to a rift in the 30th century, with only the Time Trapper left behind. The mystery man appears and kills the villain for interfering. In the present day, future heroes like Impulse and Booster Gold disappear as their respective eras cease to exist. Jay Garrick confronts the Spectre, who finally agrees to join the conflict as its caused so much death. Metron transports a few heroes to Vanishing Point, where the team works on retrieving a Waverider from an alternate timeline. As Ted Knight passes on his role as Starman to his son David, Extant kills the Leymen, and Batman is consumed by a rift. The heroes left in New York face Extant along with the new Waverider, with Superman set to deliver the knockout punch…only to be stopped by the mystery man. At last, the mastermind behind all of these temporal problems is revealed: former Green Lantern Hal Jordan, now known as Parallax. He’s going to remake the universe the right way in order to erase all of the death and destruction over the years, and he won’t let anyone stop him!

This issue picks up right after events that took place in other books released that month (for example, the death of Guy Gardner’s girlfriend in Guy Gardner: Warrior #24), so it’s a bit confusing at first. There’s a lot of apparent deaths one right after the other, as various characters are erased from existence by the rifts, but we all know that death is meaningless in comics!

Of course, the real centerpiece of Zero Hour #1 (and the entire series, by extension) is that we find out what Hal Jordan has been up to since he destroyed the Central Power Battery on Oa. It’s also where he officially reveals his new name: Parallax. In addition, he got himself a snazzy cape! (It also appears that Hal finally got around to using some Just For Men on his gray temples, but this is just a coloring error.) Now, even though it was retconned eight years later in Green Lantern: Rebirth that it was just a big alien space bug possessing Hal and making him do all of these naughty things (my thoughts on that whole mess are here), it’s silly that “Parallax” would be the creature’s name. The word “parallax” actually means “the apparent displacement or the difference in apparent direction of an object as seen from two different points not on a straight line with the object.” Hal specifically chose that name because of this:

It makes no sense whatsoever for a sentient fear entity to be called “Parallax.” (Just as it makes no sense for a being of willpower to be called “Ion.”) This is made even more ridiculous by the fact that the other emotional entities, revealed in Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #52 and named in #54, have names that do reflect their natures. (Well, “Adara” is a bit of a cipher, but I’m sure we’ll find out the origins of that name soon enough.) Anyway, this easily could have been remedied by giving the fear creature a unique name, and still letting Hal claim Parallax as his own.

But I digress!

Aside from revealing the big mystery behind the rifts, Zero Hour #1 is also very important as it contains the first appearance of Jack Knight, one of the original Starman’s sons. He’d go on to star (ha ha) in the critically acclaimed Starman series written by James Robinson. (Seriously, people. Read it.)

On a final note, I must repeat myself: the art in this series is top-notch. From the desperation on heroes’ faces as their time comes to an end to the excellent Parallax splash page, Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway proved once again why they are masters of their craft.

Zero Hour: Crisis in Time #2

Cover Date: September 1994

Story: Dan Jurgens
Pencils: Dan Jurgens
Inks: Jerry Ordway
Cover: Dan Jurgens and Jerry Ordway

Superman and his crew prevent a future city from landing on New York City just as Waverider’s team is flung back to the present from Vanishing Point. After getting their asses handed to them so badly by Extant, the surviving members of the Justice Society retire, though Jay has a bone to pick with the Spectre. Superman splits his heroes into three teams: one will face the rift in the future, one will protect the present, and the last will stop the rift in the past. Extant has sent mind-controlled Titans from alternate timelines after all three groups, and the villain himself attacks the team in the past. However, this is a previous version of Extant who hasn’t acquired Waverider’s powers yet. The current Extant is watching the battle unfold from Vanishing Point, and already knows how the battle will end. Waverider sends the other heroes home, and is then defeated and absorbed by Extant. As the villain leaves, another mystery man retrieves Alan Scott’s ring before the past is consumed by the rift. In the future, the heroes manage to seal the rift by detonating Metron’s chair, which causes the alternate Titans in the present to disappear. The Time Trapper sends the stranded heroes home, and as Extant merges with his past self at Vanishing Point, he’s furious at this turn of events; he’s already seen the future, and he knows he succeeds…so what’s gone wrong? In the future, the mystery man reopens the rift again, crushing Alan’s ring beneath his boot heel.

Zero Hour #2 is probably the weakest of the bunch, seeing as how it’s stuck right in the middle of the crossover. Sure, there’s plenty of action, but it seems like a little more of the same. The highlight of this issue wasn’t Extant absorbing Waverider, or wondering why the heroes are succeeding, or the alternate Titans: it’s the retirement of the JSA. Sure, we all know it doesn’t last, but it’s still a poignant moment when Alan gives his ring to Kyle, and Jay Garrick tears off his Flash lightning bolt before Impulse. Both heroes know they’ve had enough, and it’s up to the younger generation now to take their place. Senior heroes passing the torch to their successors is always great in comics; it’s fallen out of favor lately due to preposterous nostalgia trips by editors and writers, but it’s a reminder of a time when heroes were much more human.

I know talking about Alan Scott’s ring is making me sound like a broken record…but it’s wrong again in this issue, albeit briefly. This time, it’s a weird hybrid between his original ring and Kyle Rayner’s ring:

Fortunately, it only appears that way in this one panel, as Alan passes his ring on to Kyle. When the ring appears later in the book, it’s back to its correct train lantern style.