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Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn Review

Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn review. Although DC’s CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS rebooted the DC Universe in 1985/1986, management waited until 1989 to retell Hal Jordan’s origin. I remember how confused I was when I read Emerald Dawn when it first came out- I had no advance notice that Green Lantern’s origin would be rebooted a la the Superman Man of Steel miniseries by John Byrne.

In many ways, plotter Keith Giffen and writer Gerald Jones retain the same feel as Man of Steel, that is- “this ain’t your daddy’s superhero anymore” and “everything you know about Green Lantern is wrong”. Artist M.D. Bright shines when drawing the yellow robot Legion and when Green Lantern is in outer space and on Oa. There is no doubt that Emerald Dawn not a mid-1980’s comic book- it has modern era all over it.

You know, one of the disappointments of Emerald Dawn is that writer Steve Englehart had put Green Lantern back on the map in 1985 and had one of the best Green Lantern runs of all time with Green Lantern #188 to Green Lantern Corps #222. Green Lantern Corps was so popular that DC made the blunder of canceling it at its peak, and moving it to Action Comics Weekly, and Englehart didn’t want to write 7 page backup stories, so DC gave GL to James Owsley (Christopher Priest), who is still complaining about how the editors handled him even today.

Frankly Englehart and editor Andy Helfer put Guy Gardner on the map before Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis did in JLI. They were also responsible for bringing back John Stewart, and Englehart broke the barriers by not making Stewart the token “black Green Lantern” replacement. Many of the aspects comic book readers take for granted about the GLC stems from this run.

You may think I am digressing but I want to give as much background as I can- there was no need to reboot Green Lantern’s origin besides moving up the timeline. All of Green Lantern’s old stories were validated and mentioned throughout the comic’s publication history. Thanks to that little Editor’s Note, the past was always referenced in GL, old villains came back, and old storylines were brought back and wrapped up or expanded upon. But…DC decided to reboot it all.

Emerald Dawn starts with the events leading to Hal Jordan getting the ring. It ends with Hal and the GLC defeating Legion on Oa, and Hal showing the Guardians of the Universe andhis co-workers in the Corps that he’s something special (like Anakin Skywalker or Luke Skywalker of the Star Wars Jedi Knights).

I’m not going to go on a rant like an old timer and discuss every detail that was changed from the original series. But I will discuss how I don’t agree with Hal Jordan’s characterization. Whereas the Silver Age Hal Jordan was a fearless straight edge playboy confident action hero, here we have….the opposite.

The first few flashback pages are very confusing since M.D. Bright draws Hal, his brother, and his friends all the same- I can’t tell who’s who, even today. Anyway, it seems like Hal as boy watched his dad- also a test pilot- stubbornly die while trying to land a prototype Ferris Aircraft jet. This tragedy stayed with him all of his life. So when we see him as an adult- he’s having relationship issues, drinking issues, and is shown to be unreliable and washed up. [Sidenote: For those of you who saw the new Star Trek Movie this year- I saw a parallel; Emerald Dawn's first scene features a pilot named "Jordan" and he dies, but it's really the future hero's dad. Kind of how ST started- where you see "Captain Kirk" die, but he's shown to have a son.]

As someone who has read every Green Lantern comic book in order and in context, I have seen Hal Jordan’s mental health and consistency deteriorate for some time. Even in the 1960’s he was mind-controlled. He’s been unemployed a lot, quit the Corps, yelled at the Guardians, made mistakes, made illogical decisions when it comes to relationships, and switched political views. Believe me, I’ve experienced first hand how DC was trying to turn Hal Jordan into Peter Parker in the early 1970’s. But at least Steve Englehart explored all of this and restored Hal’s confidence, leadership, and mental healthiness at the end of his run. But thanks to Emerald Dawn, Hal kinda starts off depressed, and we really don’t know which pre-Crisis adventures really happened.

I also really think it’s a shame that Hal totally doesn’t even want to ring from his dying predecessor Abin Sur. He doesn’t even listen to him or care about him. It’s only until Hal meets up with Kilowog and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps where Hal becomes open minded and respectful.

It’s like Gerald Jones wanted to not only stamp HUMAN on Hal Jordan (like we hadn’t known he was human for decades), but he wanted to make Hal barely qualified to be GL. Hal gets a DUI, and his ring leaves a trail that allows Legion to kill his best friend at the hospital. Hal is in jail. We don’t see his relationship or romance with Carol Ferris; she’s dating his brother. It’s only at the end of Emerald Dawn that we see Hal has a greater destiny (again, very similar to Star Wars, which is ironic since George Lucas based the Force and Jedi on the Green Lantern Corps).

To make matters even more baffling, when Gerald Jones launched Green Lantern #1 right after this series, we see Hal Jordan with gray sideburns and is in “Traveller Mode” going from job to job, and being away from the super-hero community. Yeah, that’s real marketable, right? Is it any wonder than DC had to get rid of Hal in issue 48?

Disclaimer: I just want to say that after Englehart left GL, many different writers and editors had Office Wars about Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps’ direction. They have been very vocal about this and everyone points fingers. Backstage politics sucks, I know this. Many times a writer gets handcuffed.

Okay, let’s talk about the good stuff about Emerald Dawn I:

• It was nice to see Hal young again.
• It lead to Emerald Dawn II, which featured Sinestro training Hal Jordan. (Sinestro makes a cameo appearance on Oa in Emerald Dawn I.)
• Sales were good.
• The Guardians of the Universe were very cold and in character.
• There were some great emotional scenes when Legion kills Corps members.
• The GLC ruled.

When everything is said and done, Emerald Dawn is not for old school Hal fans who read a lot of Green Lantern’s old Earth-1 stories, but it is for post-Crisis comic book readers or casual fans. Many younger fans ate this series up, and it’s still on Green Lantern recommended reading lists, although there have been recent New Earth GL retcons in Secret Origins (and 1990’s GL comics that confirmed and denied certain aspects of the new origin.) [Note: it is outside the scope of this review to discuss the new retcons, or how some fans think Green Lantern's continuity has remained intact since the 1960's to today.]

Although Hal gets a good redeeming treatment at the end of this 6-issue limited series, Gerald Jones and Keith Giffen give Hal’s reputation too many black eyes; DC would never permit Superman/Clark Kent to be retconned in such a humbling manner (DUI, running from responsibility, etc.)

Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn

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