Green Lantern II
Created by John Broome & Gil Kane
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NAME + ALIASES:
Harold "Hal" Jordan, Parallax, Spectre II
KNOWN RELATIVES:
Martin (father, deceased), Jessica (mother, deceased), Jim (brother),
Jack (brother, deceased), Helen (neice), Jason (nephew), Jennifer (niece),
Jan (niece), Howard, (nephew), Lawrence Jordan (Air Wave, cousin, deceased),
Hal Jordan (Air Wave III,
cousin)
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GROUP AFFILIATIONS:
Green Lantern Corps, Justice League of America
FIRST APPEARANCE:
Showcase #22. As the Spectre: Day
of Judgment #5 (November 1999)
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Fearless
Young Harold Jordan grew up in a military
family. Hal idolized his father, who was a pilot at Edwards Airforce
Base. His mother discouraged him from taking the same path, but
every morning before school, Hal would sneak off to the airfield
and watch his father fly overhead. Eventually, Hal too joined
the air force and began his own career as a pilot.
This led him to a job as a test pilot for Ferris
Aircraft in Coast City, California, and a love interest
in Carol Ferris, who ran the company for her father.
Carol shared Hal's love for that sense of speed and danger. (Green
Lantern Secret Files 2005) During one of his tes t flights,
a bizarre event changed his life forever. Hal was summoned by Abin
Sur, the alien Green Lantern charged with protecting Earth's
Space Sector (2814). Abin Sur's spaceship had crash-landed deep
in the Sierra Madre Mountains. And with his dying breath, he commanded
his "power ring" to search out a fearless and worthy successor
to replace him within the ranks of the legendary Green
Lantern Corps. The power ring located Jordan nearby and
transported Hal to the site of the downed spacecraft, where Sur
quickly explained the situation, passed on his ring and uniform,
then died. (Showcase #22, Emerald Dawn #1)
Hal would later learn that another man, Guy
Gardner, was deemed equally worthy. Hal was chosen
simply because he was closer to Abin Sur.
In the months that followed, Hal proved a natural-born hero. In
no time at all, he was traveling into the anti-matter universe of
Qward and battling bizarre alien arch-villains in the best tradition
of the Green Lantern Corps — while still holding down a full
time job at the Ferris. These enemies sometimes included Carol who,
as Star Sapphire, was occasionally overtaken by
an alien race of women called the Zamarons. His arch nemesis was
Sinestro of Korugar, who had once been the greatest
Green Lantern. Sinestro went rogue and was banished by his masters,
the Guardians of the Universe. Lacking a weapon, Sinestro
found the Weaponers of Qward, in the antimatter universe. The Weaponers
made Sinestro a ring that tapped into an ancient evil force within
the Guardians' very power battery.
Millennia before, the Guardians had battled a cosmic beast called
Parallax. This entity was borne from fear itself
and became sentient, threatening to overtake the universe with panic.
The Guardians triumphed and imprisoned Parallax within the very
heart of their own power, the central power battery on the planet
Oa. Because Parallax's essence was yellow, its presence in the battery
gave their power a weakness to the color yellow. The most successful
Green Lanterns would always be those who were the most fearless,
those whose will power was strong enough to weild the green energy
without succumbing to fear.
Just a few months after he became a Green Lantern, Hal helped quell
an Appellaxian invasion and became one of the founding members of
the Justice League of America. (JLA:
Year One #2, Secret Origins #32) Jordan served with the League
for many years, until Aquaman disbanded the original formation.
(JLofA Annual #2) During his seven years
of service, Hal met some of his very best friends: Barry Allen,
the Flash; Oliver
Queen, Green Arrow;
and Dinah Lance, Black Canary.
He took two extended leaves of absence from the JLA. The first was
with Green Arrow, and one of the Guardians, Ganthet. They
set out to explore the country coast-to-coast for a more human persepective
on America. (Green Lantern v.2 #76)
Jordan's second extended absence came when the Guardians exiled
him into deep space for a period of one year. (#152)
Just after Aquaman disbanded the original Justice League, Hal Jordan
passed his power ring on to Detroit architect John
Stewart and resigned his position as a Green Lantern so
he and Carol could marry. (#181) Before
the marriage could take place, however, Carol again became the evil
Star Sapphire and the wedding was off. (#191)
Later, Hal returned to active duty and helped defend Earth against
the universal Crisis. (Green Lantern #198) The
Crisis left the Green Lantern Corps decimated and for a brief time,
Hal led the remaining members, who migrated to Earth.
(#201-234) This band were key players when the Guardians'
original police force — the Manhunters — set about universal
conquest. (Millennium #1-8, Green Lantern v.3 #3)
Hal refused a number of invitations to rejoin the new Justice League
International before agreeing to a brief stint as the leader of
the European branch.
Lost
Hal's hardest days began when his home, Coast City, was destroyed
by the alien warlord, Mongul. (Superman
#80) In his grief and rage, Hal became susceptible to the
fearsome power of Parallax inside the Guardians' power battery.
Not long before, Sinestro had also been banished into the battery,
where he made contact with Parallax. The two plotted against Jordan
and seized his moment of weakness. Hal became a vengeful madman;
he destroyed the Guardians of the Universe, the central power battery
on Oa, and the remainder of the Green Lantern Corps, claiming all
their power. This resulted in the deaths of his friend, Kilowog
and the Guardians themselves (save one, Ganthet). 
Hal was unaware of his possession by the entity Parallax
but took its name and attempted to alter the history of the universe.
(Zero Hour #1) Earth's heroes were able
to stop him, but to atone for his wrongful acts, Hal sacrificed
his life to save Earth's sun from the Sun-Eater. (Final
Night #4) Jordan's (or perhaps Parallax's) will to live was
strong, though. Whether fortunate or not, Hal got the chance to
redeem himself when he was chosen to be the newest host for the
powerful Spectre. (Day of Judgment #5)
Apparently the Spectre's god (the Presence) chose Hal because only
the Spectre's power of the could hope to continue to contain Parallax.
But the Spectre was by nature the spirit God's vengeance on Earth.
Hal's will was so strong that f or a time, he was able to sublimate
the Spectre and wage his own crusade as a spirit of redemption.
(Spectre v.4)
After Hal went mad, Ganthet, bestowed a power ring on the unsuspecting
Kyle Rayner. Because Parallax
was free, Kyle's ring did not have a weakness to yellow. (Green
Lantern #50)
Redemption & Rebirth
The Spectre coerced Hal's old friend Tom Kalamaku into
righting his wrongs against the Green Lantern Corps. Tom used
Hal's old power ring to rebuild the planet Oa. This also allowed
the vengeful spirit of Kilowog to rest. (Green
Lantern: Legacy) Soon after this, Kyle gave up his own
recently acquired omnipotent powers to rebirth the fallen Guardians
as children (this time, both male and female). (G.L. #150) Kyle
and Ganthet also helped restore Kilowog to life. (#169)
Hal continued to struggle against the will of the Spectre, not
realizing that the Spectre was trying to containing the evil of
Parallax. Eventually Parallax's power was too strong and it began
a new quest for universal domination. (GL: Rebirth
#1) It infected the central power battery on Oa, and the
other Green Lanterns along with it. But Hal's own soul was cleaved
from the Spectre and Parallax and coaxed back into his resting body.
From there, his will triumphed over terror and he led his fellow
GLs to beat Parallax into submission. Their rings opened a portal
to the central power battery on Oa, and Parallax was imprisoned
there once again. (#6)
Now with a truly new lease on life, Hal has set out to continue
his career as Earth's co-protector from the Green
Lantern Corps (along with John Stewart). Earth's other Green Lanterns
have kept their rings as well, but taken on slightly different
duties.
Although Hal is a competent, sensitive, and experienced hero, his
ego can be considerable. While most of his fellow Justice Leaguers
were rather modest and low-key when it came to publicizing and promoting
their heroic activities, Jordan actually encouraged press coverage
and attention. At one point, he even went so far as to establish
an official Green Lantern Fan Club, (Green Lantern
#3) a step that most of the other Justice Leaguers would
have found unthinkable. For a time, Hal mellowed a bit with age
and abandoned the brashness of his youth.
Hal has no inherent metahuman abilities but weilds the most powerful
weapon in the universe. The Green Lantern's ring channels the immense
power of the Guardians of the Universe. From their central power batter,
the ring's energy can be used to contain or affect almost all forms of
matter and energy. The ring is also frequently used to build solid plasma
constructs. The plasma is most often used for force or to construct
force fields.
The ring also has a measure of "intelligence." It can be instructed
to search for information, and it can propel the wearer at light speed
through space. The rings have one crucial weakness: their green energies
can not be used against the color yellow. This is because of the presence
of Parallax (the universal embodiment fear) inside the central power
battery. If the ring's weilder has sufficient will power to overcome
fear, the weakness to yellow lessens. In addition, the rings must be
purposely recharged every 24 hours.
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Green Lantern v.2, 224 issues (1960-88)