Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Green Lantern: Rebirth (#6... Finally!)

*******SPOILERS for #3************
The story continues to crank along, but this is the least interesting issue so far even though it's the one with the answers because it's the least original part of the story that Johns has conceived for the series. There's still a lot of good stuff in here though.

But before we get to the good, the "not bad, but not as good as the rest of it" is the origin of Parallax and the explanation for "Emerald Twilight". The most interesting part of Parallax's origin was revealed last issue - that the fabled "yellow impurity" has a name. So yeah, it turns out Parallax infected Hal's soul and caused all that bad stuff to happen, yada, yada. Johns tells it well and covers (over) Hal's bad actions, even his doubt that surfaced when his hair went grey. It was interesting to equate white hair to Hal experiencing fear, but after awhile it seemed like a checklist to retcon away the bad stuff. It's too bad it wasn't something more unexpected (but then there could be more to this).

Still, it's good that the explanation isn't the real thrust of this series despite being the thing readers have been wanting to see. This is mainly a great GL story that centers on this revelation, but the repercussions are what's of continuing interest.

And of course the art is amazing. Ganthet looks a bit odd without feet (the robe doesn't look long enough to cover his feet unless his legs were really short), but Kilowog looks great, truly alien and dangerous.

And of course that last page .....!!!

i'm really enjoying this so far !!! and i thought GEOFF's spin on the "YELLOW" weakness, was pretty cool !!!

had there EVER been a reason behind the yellow weakness before ???

Matthew.

I recall a story at some point revealing the yellow weakness had been deliberately included in the rings to keep the GLs from becoming completely omnipotent. If one of them went mad, for instance, The Guardians would still have something to fight them with.

I wish I could remember where I read this.

A big problem with GL's history is so much of it has been retconned into or out of existence in the last 18 years. It's hard to know what's "official" by current standards.

For example, in the ACTION COMICS WEEKLY run, Peter Davis had the audacity (in his usual "change everything you know JUST to be different!) to say Hal's ring BRAINWASHED him when he first became GL, to eliminate fear. When he ordered it to eliminate the brainwashing, he almost fell off a building because SUDDENLY, he was scared of heights!

I got the general impression when I re-read most of my GL comics 13 years ago that EMERALD DAWN was a "mild" reboot-- CRISIS hitting Hal a few years late (see ZERO HOUR, it really was happenning!) and certain details from past stories no longer counted in current ones.

Okay, what Geoff Johns revealed in GL: REBIRTH #3 was NOT what I had in mind, or hoped for... but it MADE SENSE. I can deal with it.

In an earlier issue, Batman said "Hal Jordan never changed." That sounded like he was insinuating Hal had ALWAYS been bad, but since Johns wrote the line, I suspected it was meant to infer instead that Batman suspected it was NOT Hal doing all the bad things. I guess I called that right.

In EVERY appearance since EMERALD TWILIGHT that I've read (and they're few and far between, I admit), I've continually gotten the impression that, WHOEVER it was we were seeing, it WASN'T Hal Jordan. There seemed to be NO trace of his "real" personality at all, which long led me to believe he'd been spirited away and replaced with someone or something else-- an IMPOSTER. Close!

REBIRTH #1 was the first time I got a sense we were once again seeing the "real" Hal. Which left me both hopeful-- and disturbed-- at once. Now I see what it was-- the "real" Hal was finally coming out of a trance (more or less).

Amazing what a difference GOOD writing means, isn't it?

I wouldn't give Batman that much credit. I think he's just off-base about Hal because he operates from a very different mindset. Hal is adventurous and will certainly dive into danger without a second thought or plan in mind which Batman sees as reckless and arrogant. That's not the type of person Batman feels he can trust.

I think this might've been GL#19 (last series) where Hal, John and Guy explored Alan's origin. It was used to explain why Alan had a weakness to wood even though the others had the yellow weakness.

I was going down the right track... I just didn't see Parallax being a seperate entity. Cool explanation though regarding the "necessary" yellow impurity. Geoff has a way of taking continuity holes & filling them in nicely with things that make sense & fit quite perfectly.

Okay, I've just gotten ahold of the first three issues to read and have a question. Who the hell let the error slip by that Groom Lake, Nellis AFB and Area 51 are in New Mexico? Sorry, those sites are located in Nevada. Or has DC always placed them in New Mexico? I don't recall them being mentioned before in other titles.

At the very least I would expect them to use a made up name on the sign hanging on the fence if they are placing that part of the story in NM.

It's a conspiracy - they're slowly trying to get people to believe it's somewhere else. First "Rebirth", then altered reruns of "X-Files" etc...

Funny, to me he looks odd because the proportions of his head don't seem to match the rest of his body.
Still, the Ganthet-Kilowog battle was awesome. It gives you an idea of how much more powerful Guardians are (or how intimidating Kilowog is).
The only thing I'm not buying: Parallax being more powerful than the Spectre ? He probably thinks so, but can't be right. He may be talking about willpower, or about who's in control of the body now, but it sounds strange.
And while it was a great moment, aren't Superman's eyes supposed to be, you know, invulnerable ?

Re: the Spectre - sometimes he seems like the all-powerful hand of God, but even he can't be so strong that nobody can ever challenge him. He has faced enemies in his regular series that while maybe weren't "stronger" per se, at least presented a challenge. I just think someone like the Spectre has been shown inconsistantly over the years. His powers tend to fluctuate.

Re: Superman, almost the same thing - he's invulnerable, but can be hurt or given pause. I bought the rationale behind John's attack last issue (that his eyes were probably the least invulnerable part), but that one panel in this issue where Supes is *still* reeling from that (and the rest of the League was taken down) seemed too far to me too. I can see John presenting a challegne to them for awhile but not that he could take them all down (I don't think any one Leaguer should be able to do it - that's the concept of the League isn't it? That they're more powerful together than any one alone).

That's exactly what I was writing about.

Okay so seeing as how I like Emerald Twilight, Hal going nuts, and Kyle Rayner, this series isn't going to make me too happy.

Johns is telling a good tale, and the art just rocks! DC had better keep Ethan around for a loooooong time.

But enough with reviving the dead!

Yeah... John's lied. Trying to throw the clever one's off his trail.

I thought this would be an appropriate thread to post this on. Just today, I uploaded a few more pieces, including 2 that were my response to EMERALD TWILIGHT and its follow-ups. Gee-- has it really been more than 10 years?

Follow the link, then click on "Gallery" and check out the "KLORDNY Miscellaneous Art" page...

http://www.webspawner.com/users/zodiaccomics/klordny.html

Just read #4 today.


WOW!!!!! (on every single level!!!)


It's amazing... I once theorized Sinestro had SOMETHING to do with this situation... but that was before I remembered the Lord Malvolio thing. Geoff Johns actually followed my initial idea, not my 2nd one. Fine by me. (I never did figure out the details the way he did here.)


This entire story-- and this issue in particular-- brings to mind a couple of phrases relating to 2 guys who SCREWED with this character far too long, and who I hope NEVER are allowed near him again. And so, although I'd prefer being polite, in this case I can't help it (and one of these guys was EXTEMEMLY impolite to me in the past, so he has it coming).


UP YOURS, DOOLEY!!!!! YOU TOO, O'NEIL!!!!!

GREAT Issue! I loved the GL/GA confrontation with Sinestro - he has never seemed this dangerous. I loved how Johns describes the core of his vengeance - that he sees Hal as being responsible for his name being tarnished and he in turn made him despised by his homeworld as well. His line to Ollie in particular about his "betrayal" was especially poignant and was a great moment.

Johns added something to the GL ring that I always thought should have been part of the weapon - which is that it's hard to use! Not just anyone can form enough concentration or willpower to make a coherent ring construct. Interesting that it's also physically draining, though I think he may have overdid it. How does he explain that Kyle, a guy picked at random, was able to use the ring? Ganthet's selection was either not so random or maybe it was his imagination or skills as an artist that helped him?

And that last page .... YES!!! (finally!)

John's is making Kyle out to be a hell of a hero. That he and GA are making Sinestro work for it is good. These guys are heroes in their own right. I'm still bummed about Kyle having to take a back seat to Hal. This issue proves why he shouldn't have to.

The throwdown with Sinestro next issue should be wild.


p.s.- and- whoo hoo!!- no more leotard

My theory is that it was never random. The ring, as always, led to the best possible choice available. The difference this time was that the selection didn't need to be "without fear."

I've never been a Hal fan, and I never will be. But dang if this storyline hasn't done a bang-up job of rehabilitating him back into the role he was born for and making him cool as hail in the process. If only someone would do the same for Aquaman...

"I've never been a Hal fan, and I never will be. But dang if this storyline hasn't done a bang-up job of rehabilitating him back into the role he was born for and making him cool as hail in the process. If only someone would do the same for Aquaman..."

It's understandable. Writers & editors have spent DECADES screwing these characters up! I feel it stems from a false belief that instead of telling "good stories", they somehow think it's better to completely screw with the main characters' lives, in order to make them "more interesting". What we really need more of is writers who can create great characters of their own, or find ways of doing new stories with older characters that live up to whatever greatness they had initially that made them last this long in the first place.

From the beginning, Denny O'Neil did his best (worst?) to screw over Hal Jordan-- and just remember when those stories with Neal Adams were done to realize HOW LONG this has been going on. Every time some adventurous writer or editor would come along and try to "fix" things (Steve Englehart, Gerard Jones) before you know it someone else would barge in and mess up their sandbox.

*cough*DevinGraysononNIGHTWING*cough* :rolleyes:

One thing that was a tad of a letdown was how easily Ganthet was able to free John and Guy from Parallax's control. It was a bit anti-climactic and if it was that easy, why didn't he just do that with Kilowog last issue instead of taking part in that protracted battle? (and for that matter, why would Ganthet have to throw Kil on the ground like that in this issue after freeing him (other than making a dramatic entrance)?)

Ya know, you can't blame writers or editors for trying to mix things up a bit in the books. They are trying to tell stories, interesting ones that sell books. If they didn't there wouldn't have been a Hal in the first place, nor would we be going back to him now.

Hal Jordan supplanted Alan Scott for no reason other than to boost sales. They took the idea in a more sci-fi direction. Ditto with Barry Allen and the Flash mantle. When Kyle was brought in, DC wanted to keep the idea of the GLC and get people who weren't reading about Hal to read the book. That's why they are bringing him back, to get the ones who only read Hal.

Batman used to carry a gun, Superman could only "leap tall buildings." Character changes used to happen all the time in comics, back before readers stuck around through their 20's and 30's and beyond. We've become so attached to those stories we read as a kid, we don't allow for new ones to be written.

We're all so attached to the characters we read growing up, we're inhibiting the medium's growth.

Two major differences here. The first is that the Alan Scott character hadn't been in a book for years before Jordan's creation. The second, and most impotant, is that they didn't do a napalm job on Alan Scott in order to create Hal Jordan. It wasn't necessary. Nor was it necessary to destroy Jordan to create Rayner. Nor would it be necessary to destroy Rayner to revive Jordan. I have next to no use for the Kyle Rayner character, but I hope he doesn't get wiped out.


Given the number of quality comics on the stands today, I don't see how we are inhibiting the medium's creativity. As for growth in terms of sales, I am simply not required, as a consumer, to buy something that fails to interest me. It's like saying that my love of Ben and Jerry's inhibits the growth of ice cream.

"my love of Ben and Jerry's inhibits the growth of ice cream"


If your ice cream is GROWING, there must be something seriously wrong with it!