Recreated for the Silver Age Broome had originally conceived of the character years prior to his debut in a story featuring
Captain Comet in
Strange Adventures #22 (July 1952) entitled "Guardians of the Clockwork Universe". After achieving great success in 1956 in reviving the
Golden Age character
The Flash, DC editor
Julius Schwartz looked toward recreating the Green Lantern from the
Golden Age of Comic Books. Drawing from his love for science-fiction, Schwartz intended to show the new Green Lantern in a more modern light, enlisting writer
John Broome and artist
Gil Kane, who in 1959 would reintroduce Green Lantern to the world in
Showcase #22 (October 1959) by creating Hal Jordan. The character was a success, and it was quickly decided to follow up his three-issue run on
Showcase with a self-titled series.
Green Lantern #1 began in July–August 1960 and would continue until #89 in April–May 1972. Starting in issue #17,
Gardner Fox joined the book to share writing duties with John Broome. The quartet of Schwartz, Broome, Fox, and Kane remained the core creative team until 1970.
O'Neil/Adams and socially-conscious Green Lantern/Green Arrow Starting with issue #76 (April 1970),
Dennis O'Neil took over scripting and
Neal Adams, who had drawn the cover of issue #63, became the series' artist. O'Neil and Adams had already begun preparation for the classic run in the form of their re-workings of another DC superhero, the archer
Green Arrow. In an introduction to the 1983 reprinting of this O'Neil/Adams run, O'Neil explains that he wondered if he could represent his own political beliefs in comics and take on social issues of the late sixties and early seventies. O'Neil devised the idea of portraying Hal Jordan, effectively an intergalactic law enforcement officer, as an establishment gradualist liberal figure against Oliver Queen (Green Arrow), who O'Neil had characterized as a lusty outspoken anarchist who would stand in for the counter-culture movement. The first of these socially motivated Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories was written with
Gil Kane slated to be the artist, but Kane dropped out and was replaced by Neal Adams. The stories tackled questions of power, racism, sexism, and exploitation, and remain viewed in the comics community as the first socially-conscious superhero stories. Despite the work of Adams and O'Neil,
Green Lantern sales had been in a major decline at the time Green Arrow was brought on as co-star, and their stories failed to revive the sales figures. This leads into the
Emerald Twilight arc, which sees Jordan using his power ring to recreate Coast City as an instrument in the process of overcoming his grief, and talking to ring-created versions of his old girlfriend and parents. After his ring's power expires, a projection of a Guardian appears and admonishes him for using the ring for personal gain and summons him to Oa (the homeworld of the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps) for disciplinary action. Angered at what he sees as the Guardians' ungrateful and callous behavior, Jordan absorbs the energy from the Guardian's projection, goes
insane and attacks Oa to seize the full power of the Central Power Battery (the source of power for all Green Lanterns), defeating and severely injuring several members of the Green Lantern Corps in the process, taking their power rings as his own and leaving them to die in space. He arrives on Oa and kills
Kilowog and
Sinestro, and the Guardians commit suicide to pool all their life force in Ganthet. He then renounces his life as Green Lantern, adopting the name
Parallax after absorbing the Power Battery's vast powers. Ganthet designates
Kyle Rayner to replace Jordan as the Green Lantern of Earth when Rayner comes into possession of the last power ring, created from the shattered remains of Jordan's. Guy Gardner has visions of the Green Lantern Corps' destruction and his yellow power ring's energy (being powered by residual Green Lantern's energy) starts to fluctuate. Soon after, Gardner goes to Oa to investigate, bringing
Martian Manhunter,
Darkstar (Ferrin Colos),
The Ray,
Wonder Woman,
Captain Atom,
Alan Scott and
Arisia Rrab with him. Jordan uses the element of surprise, attacks, and easily defeats them, leaving Guy in a coma. After the battle, Jordan sends them all back to Earth warning them to leave him alone in the future. Not long afterwards, Parallax attempts to rewrite history to his own liking with the help of
Extant in the universe-wide event
Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!. Parallax destroys the
Time Trapper and attempts to remake the universe into a perfect, peaceful place, causing time disruptions throughout the universe. Superman, Kyle Rayner and
Metron call upon Earth's heroes to stop the mysterious disturbances. Jordan and Extant are eventually defeated when Hal exhausts most of his power from both fighting and manipulating the time stream. Green Arrow then takes advantage of Jordan's drained state and shoots an arrow into his chest. Jordan makes a brief and redemptory appearance as Parallax in the 1996
Final Night miniseries/crossover storyline, apparently sacrificing his life to combat a threat to the
Solar System.
Transformation into Spectre In the 1999 miniseries
Day of Judgment, Jordan becomes the newest incarnation of the
Spectre, released from
Purgatory after a
fallen angel attempted to take that power. Soon after assuming this mantle, Jordan chooses to bend his mission from a spirit of vengeance to one of redemption, also making other appearances through some of DC Comics' other story lines, such as advising
Superman during the
Emperor Joker storyline (where the Joker steals the reality-warping power of
Mister Mxyzptlk) and erases all public knowledge of
Wally West's identity as the
Flash after his terrible first battle with
Zoom, which led to his wife miscarrying their twins. He also appeared in a four-part story arc in the series
Legends of the DC Universe (issues #33–36). A new series based on this premise, titled
The Spectre (vol. 4), ran for 27 issues from 2001 to 2003. In it, Hal loses his beloved brother, Jack Jordan, to a supernatural assassin. After the series ended, Jordan was forced to return, temporarily, to the Spectre's mission of vengeance, following a confrontation between the new
Justice Society of America and the
Spirit King, an old foe of the Spectre, and
Mister Terrific, who had managed to "resurrect" the ghosts of all those the Spectre had damned to Hell when Jordan's attempt to turn the Spectre's mission to redemption weakened his hold on the damned, until Hal 'accepted' his original mission of vengeance. During the
Identity Crisis storyline, Green Arrow visits Jordan at his grave, asking to exact revenge on
Sue Dibny's killer. Although Hal admits knowing the culprit's identity (revealed later to be
Jean Loring), he refused as the Spectre to a higher purpose, and implying to Oliver that the killer would eventually be caught, thus explaining the Spectre's inaction.
2000s In 2004, DC launched the
Green Lantern: Rebirth miniseries which brought Hal Jordan back to life and made him a Green Lantern once again, and in a redesigned Corps uniform. Shortly after the conclusion of
Rebirth, DC Comics began a new
Green Lantern (vol. 4) series, beginning with a new #1 and retconning his past murders as Parallax as the result of an intergalactic fear-driven parasite. The Green Lantern Corps has also been successfully rebuilt. Despite the revelation that Hal's past villainous activity was because of the influence of the parasite Parallax, many of his fellow Corps officers are unwilling to trust him, even Jordan, on some levels, believes the reason that Parallax succeeded in possessing him was because he surrendered to it, and thus acknowledges that he truly has a dark side. Despite being freed from Parallax, his experience also leads him occasionally to have a lack of confidence and self-doubt, making him no longer a daredevil he once was. Jordan also becomes friends with Kyle Rayner after their first battle with Parallax. In the new volume, Jordan moves to the nearly deserted Coast City, which is slowly being rebuilt. Reinstated as a pilot in the United States Air Force, Jordan now works in the test pilot program at
Edwards Air Force Base. The series introduces new supporting characters for Hal, including a man from his and his late-father's pasts, Air Force General Jonathan "Herc" Stone, who learns his secret identity during a battle with the Manhunters and acts as his ally. He also begins to develop a romantic attraction with his fellow pilot, the beautiful Captain
Jillian "Cowgirl" Pearlman. Returning characters also include Carol Ferris, Tom Kalmaku, and Jordan's younger brother James Jordan with his sister-in-law Susan and their children, Howard and Jane. In this new title, he faces revamped versions of his Silver Age foes such as
Hector Hammond,
Shark, and
Black Hand. A new account of Green Lantern's origins is also released as part of this series. In this new origin, Hal Jordan is working as an assistant mechanic under Tom Kalmaku, barred from flying due to his insubordination while in the
USAF and his employer's lingering guilt about his father's death in the line of duty. Green Lantern
Abin Sur, while fighting the villain
Atrocitus, crashes near Coast City. Knowing he is close to death, Sur sends his ring to seek a replacement (as all rings do when their wearer dies), and his ring fetches Jordan. Sur then informs Jordan that he is to replace him as the Green Lantern of Sector 2814.
Infinite Crisis As part of DC's 2006 event
Infinite Crisis, Hal helps briefly with the attack of the
OMACs and
Brother Eye. He also fights alongside a group of heroes against the
Secret Society of Super Villains, defending
Metropolis.
Guy Gardner leads the Green Lantern Corps attack against
Superboy-Prime with Hal appearing in the group. As part of DC's post–Infinite Crisis retconning of the entire universe, all current stories skipped ahead one year in an event called
One Year Later. This brought drastic changes to Hal Jordan's life, as with every other hero in the DC Universe. It is revealed that Jordan spent time as a P.O.W. in an unnamed conflict and has feelings of guilt from his inability to free himself and his fellow captives.
Sinestro Corps War and other Pre-Flashpoint stories Hal and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps find themselves at war with
Sinestro and his army, the
Sinestro Corps during the events of the
Sinestro Corps War. As a Green Lantern native to Earth, Hal is featured in the
Final Crisis miniseries by
Grant Morrison. In the Agent Orange story arc, Jordan is briefly in command of
Larfleeze's power battery after he steals it from him in a battle. The orange light of avarice converses with Jordan, his costume changes, and he becomes the new Agent Orange. However, Larfleeze quickly takes his power battery back. Jordan is also a character of focus in the new
Justice League of America series as a charter member of the revamped JLA. He is also involved in the first plotline of the
Brave and the Bold monthly series, teaming up first with
Batman and later
Supergirl. When teamed with the fledgling Supergirl, Hal is very impressed with her cleverness, although he finds her flirtatious behavior somewhat unnerving. In the
Justice League: Cry for Justice miniseries, Hal leads his own Justice League with
Green Arrow,
Shazam, Supergirl,
Congorilla,
Starman,
Batwoman, and the Atom (
Ray Palmer and
Ryan Choi) to avenge the deaths of
Martian Manhunter and Batman. Jordan eventually recruits some of the former
Titans members for the League's new lineup, including Batman's successor
Dick Grayson,
Donna Troy, and
Starfire.
2010s During the
Blackest Night event, Hal allies himself with six other Lantern Corps during The War of Light. He finds himself facing many of his deceased allies, enemies, and people he failed to save reanimated as undead
Black Lanterns under the control of the Green Lantern Corps' ancient enemy
Nekron. Hal finds himself not only teaming up with
Barry Allen, who is also resurrected from his death, but also must work with his enemies Sinestro, Atrocitus, Larfleeze, and his former lover Carol Ferris.
The New 52 In 2011, after the universe-altering event
Flashpoint, DC Comics relaunched its entire line of stories. In this era, Jordan returns to civilian life on Earth, having been discharged from the United States Air Force. This iteration of the hero, written by
Geoff Johns and
Robert Venditti, sees him team up with Sinestro as the pair encounter ramifications of the Brightest Day/Blackest Night storylines, as well as a crossover with
New Gods characters in
Green Lantern: Godhead. Hal Jordan is featured as a part of Justice League series relaunch as well. The initial issues of the title take place five years prior as Jordan assists
Batman against
a mysterious threat. It is shown he is already friends with
Barry Allen and each know the other's secret identity. Hal also believes with the ring he can overcome anything by himself by sheer force of will. This leads to reckless behavior that almost gets him killed. It is only when Batman reminds him of his mortality by revealing his own identity as Bruce Wayne that Hal reconsiders his approach. Five years after the team forms, Green Lantern resigns from the Justice League in an effort to keep the group functioning after his behavior put the team in peril during their fight with
David Graves. Subsequently, he returns to the Justice League to help
Jessica Cruz learn how to control her powers. In the aftermath, Hal gets a new look as he goes rogue from the Green Lantern Corps to create a scapegoat for the Corps and be the focus of the universe's blame and distrust for recent events, such as the Third Army's assault or Relic's attack. The Corps itself – unaware of Jordan's intentions to show the universe that the Green Lanterns are not corrupt and will go after one of their own – believes that he has actually betrayed them when he attacks Kilowog. Along the way, Jordan steals a Green Lantern prototype gauntlet and power pack from the armoury, allowing him to continue to operate as a hero without the need for a power ring, although he is sometimes required to fight other Lanterns to maintain the illusion of independence.
DC Rebirth In 2016, DC Comics implemented another relaunch of its books called "
DC Rebirth", which restored its continuity to a form much as it was prior to "The New 52". Jordan returns to Earth temporarily to assign
Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz the task of protecting Earth while he and the rest of the human Green Lanterns are away. He takes their power batteries and fuses them into a single battery to help the two bond as Lantern partners. Subsequently, in
DC Rebirth, Hal returns as Green Lantern again, now equipped with his self-constructed power ring, searching for the rest of the Green Lanterns and hunting down the Sinestro Corps. Hal takes on several Yellow Lanterns before fighting Sinestro and getting injured. He is healed by
Soranik Natu, Sinestro's daughter who now is a Yellow Lantern like her father. After being healed, he takes on and defeats Sinestro and saves Guy Gardner, who was being tortured by Sinestro. Hal is now reunited with the Green Lanterns who have entered a war with the Sinestro Corps. The battle leads them to
Xudar, the home planet of Green Lantern
Tomar-Tu. As they fight, Braniac shrinks the planet with the Lanterns in it. The shrunken planet is given to the Grand Collector which turns out to be Larfleeze. Hal is believed to be dead in the destruction that came with the shrinking of the planet. He has been transported to the Emerald Space, an afterlife for deceased Lanterns. Guardians, Ganthet and
Sayd call upon White Lantern Kyle Rayner to rescue Hal. Kyle pulls him out of the Emerald Space and the two meet up with the rest and escape from the shrunken planet and restore it. Larfleeze escapes with his orange construct Lanterns. The Green and Yellow Lanterns form an alliance. At the end of the run, Hal Jordan reconciles with Carol Ferris. Jordan appears with the Justice League in the
Dark Nights: Metal miniseries.
The Green Lantern With writer
Grant Morrison taking the helm, Jordan returns to interstellar duty and infiltrates Controller Mu's
Blackstars to discover the mole within them. He later becomes a full member of the Blackstars and reassumes the Parallax mantle before seemingly sacrificing himself to stop Mu's U-Bomb. However, he is rescued by his ring and meets its artificial intelligence, Pengowirr. Hal reunites with Green Arrow and goes on an adventure busting up an assassin from a cosmic cartel of Hadea Maxima, while dealing with a drug dealer from Dimension Zero, Glorigold DeGrande. Teaming up with Xeen Arrow and Xeen Lantern, the heroes save the day by shooting a giant cosmic arrow at the assassin Azmomza on Earth's moon. Hal then takes off for R&R on Athmoora, the fantasy world of 2814 and faces the evil wizard Ah-Bah-Nazzur, who turns out to be a mind-controlled alternate universe version of Abin Sur. Teaming up with him and The Guardians Of The Multiverse, a team of multiversal Green Lanterns, a cosmic interpol, Hal faces off against The Anti-Man/The Qwa-Man, The Mad Lantern, who is his Anti-Matter counterpart, set loose by Controller Mu and the Blackstars. From there on, he reunites with Uugo, The Conscious Planet, Strong-Woman Of Thronn and joins this team on a rescue operation for The Star Sapphire of Earth-11 on the forbidden universe of Earth-15. Becoming part of The Cosmic Grail Quest, Jordan finds himself in grave danger facing a mysterious Lantern figure.
2020s Infinite Frontier During
Dark Crisis, Hal Jordan returns to Earth and is shocked to see Earth in chaos due to the "death" of the
Justice League. He encounters a grown up
Jonathan Samuel Kent, as well as
Wally West. He learns from
Black Adam that
Pariah has teamed up with The Great Darkness and corrupted multiple cosmic villains to take down the Justice League and Justice League Incarnate. Hal Jordan tells Wally West to go find
Barry Allen while he goes find where Pariah is. Hal Jordan meets up with the rest of the Green Lantern Corps, rescues
Kyle Rayner from his prison, and formally introduces Kyle to
Simon Baz,
Sojourner Mullein, and
Jessica Cruz. Hal Jordan, Sojourner, and Kyle go confront Pariah, where Hal Jordan realizes that Pariah has trapped the Justice League into fantasy worlds where it will turn into weapons. Hal Jordan is trapped in a world where he is attacked by a samurai Lantern version of Kyle Rayner, but is saved by Barry Allen. They decide to travel to the Justice League prisons to free everyone. They all confront Pariah, but Pariah vanishes to destroy Earth-Prime. Hal Jordan and Barry Allen create a plan where he will use his power Ring to connect the rest of the Justice League back home while Barry Allen will use his connection of the Multiversal vibrations to navigate. They manage to arrive back home to confront a possessed
Deathstroke and his army Black Adam uses his powers to empower the rest of the Justice League to defeat Deathstroke's army, and Hal Jordan tells Barry he will stay on Earth for a while in order to be more grounded. They watch how the new heroes rebuild the
Hall of Justice and are impressed by their bravery, and Hal Jordan goes out to hang with his Green Lantern Corps.
Dawn of DC During Jeremy Adams' run on
Green Lantern, Jordan quits the Green Lantern Corps after the Guardians of the Universe disappear and the
United Planets take over the group. This results in Hal losing his power ring, so he gains a new Lantern ring from a Central Oan Battery near
The Green's source of power and reconciles his relationship with Carol Ferris. A villain named
Starbreaker plans to envelop the entire universe in sorrow by teaming up with Nathan (Carol's ex-boyfriend) and causing the emotional spectrum to enter a state of flux. With the help of Jadestone (a reformed
Amazo robot) and John Stewart's sentient ring, Hal, Carol, Sinestro, Kyle, John and Kilowog find the avatars of the emotional spectrum are trapped in the
Source Wall, and decides to help them on the condition they never contact the Lanterns again. ==Powers and abilities==