In Brightest Day....

Sorry for the long delay in posting, everyone. I was suffering from some writer's block, but now I have decided to write about anything that I might be currently obsessing about. Today, I am thinking about comic books. As many of my friends and family know, I am a comics and science fiction fan. Those of us who enjoy comics and science fiction are often (unfairly) painted with a broad brush as being uncool, strange, and out of touch with real life. I put it to everyone who has ever made fun of a nerd-what is the definition of real life? Are my interests any less important to yours? Have you ever picked up a comic in recent years (and NO, watching movies starring comic characters does not even count)? If you took the time to look through the collection of graphic novels at your local Barnes and Noble or Borders, you might be surprised at what you find. By their very definition, comics represent graphic serial storytelling. It is an artistic medium that, like most media, have its shares of highs and lows. The problem is that many choose to focus on the lows. I shall endeavor to educate you on some of the highs, starting with my favorite comic character, one who may not be familiar to most of you.

Hal Jordan.

No? No recognition? Well how about this name:

Green Lantern

Ahh...I can detect a faint glimmer or recognition, but do you know who he is and what he is all about? Do you know what drives him? Do you know why he is the most famous (and infamous) of all of the Green Lanterns (yes, there are others)?

Hal Jordan was a test pilot, a fearless (this is important) and sometimes reckless (also important) member of the Ferris Aircraft Corporation. Hal's father was also a test pilot for Ferris, and Hal, as a boy, witnessed his father's death when the plane he was flying crashed, but only after the elder Jordan had remained at the controls to make sure that bystanders were not injured. One day, the adult Hal was in a flight simulator when, suddenly, it was yanked from its stationary moorings and propelled into the desert (somewhere in California) to the site of a crashed spaceship. Hal, being the fearless person that he is, entered the spaceship to investigate. Inside, he found Abin Sur, an interstellar policeman assigned to Sector 2814, which included the planet Earth. Abin Sur told Jordan that Sur's power ring, under programming that triggered when its wearer was near death, had scoured the planet for a worthy replacement, a man without fear. The ring had chosen Hal Jordan. Abin Sur told Jordan of the Green Lantern Corps, the band of policemen who patrolled space to protect the innocent. He told Jordan that the ring's power would only last for 24 hours, at which time it had to be recharged using a power battery that always remained with its Green Lantern. Furthermore, the ring had only one weakness-it was powerless against any items within yellow spectrum. All 3,000 + Green Lanterns report to the Guardians of the Universe (now, I wonder if they gave themselves that name? What hubris!!), the blue skinned denizens of the planet Oa. Oa was the center of the universe, the headquarters of the Green Lantern Corp, and location of the Central Power Battery, the power source that imbued the Lantern's rings with their powers. With that, Abin Sur died and Hal Jordan's adventures began.

Why is Green Lantern my favorite character? There are myriad reasons. First of all, no fewer than 4 individuals have been the ring bearer for Sector 2814: Hal Jordan, John Stewart (who, along with Black Lightning, is DC Comics longest-lived African-American super hero), Guy Gardner, and Kyle Raynor. Secondly, the power ring is the single coolest item in comics (and yes, that includes the Batmobile). The power ring can create green energy forms of anything its wearer visualizes (elephants, bats, wolverines, giant fists, buzzsaws, etc). The power ring also allows the bearer to fly and protects the bearer from physical harm. While the power ring is powered by the central power battery, the "on/off" switch for the ring is the bearer's will power, and it is here where the ring depends on the individual. Not everyone can be a ring bearer, for the amount of will power that it takes to activate the ring is far greater than that possessed by normal individuals. So, the ring gives you the powers of Superman but only if you can handle them. Third, the storylines. Although the "Oan" Corps has been around since the Silver Age of comics, continuity in the storytelling (aided by some inventive ret-conning) has been a hallmark of the Green Lantern comics. Indeed, in one storyline, Hal Jordan turned evil and went on a killing spree that left many fellow ring bearers dead. Rather than ignoring this storyline that was very unpopular with fans of the series, writers such as Geoff Johns embraced it as a challenge in their effort to resurrect Hal Jordan as the greatest of all Green Lanterns. Finally, Hal Jordan had the COOLEST villain of all, Sinestro of Korugar, an individual who was once viewed as the greatest of the Corp until Jordan uncovered the fact that he had used his powers to become a despot on his own planet. Sinestro was banished to the anti-matter universe of Qward, where the Weaponers of Qward fashioned another power ring for Sinestro, one powered by fear and whose energy was...YELLOW in color. You can see why this was so cool. Sinestro was, and is, a complex villain. He does not see what he does as something bad because all he wants is to bring order to the universe. He counts among the only two friends he as ever had Abin Sur and his replacement, Hal Jordan. Sinestro has been Jordan's adversary in many of the best Green Lantern stories.

Now, many of you who read this blog will not have any interest in learning more about the character or even reading the seminal graphic novels that have recently been released by DC Comics. If, by some chance, you do decide to learn more, might I recommend:

1. Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn
2. Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn II
3. Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight
4. Green Lantern: Rebirth
5. Green Lantern: the Sinestro Corp Wars.

Even though the aforementioned stories are amazing works of fiction, they still cannot do justice to the rich tapestry of stories that make up the Green Lantern universe. I even love the oath; it always sounded cheesy to me, but the fact that Hal continues to speak the oath when charging his ring reminds me of happier and more innocent times:

In brightest day, in blackest night
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil's might
Beware my power-Green Lantern's light

Find out more about Green Lantern here.