The death of Hal Jordan: In retrospective

[thelazyreader]

Following Emerald Twilight, Hal Jordan became a recurring DC villain, gradually diminishing in the magnitute of threat, until he redeemed himself in the end by dying to reignite the Sun in The Final Night. Fans are still divided as to whether it was a fitting send-off for his character. Here are the scans:



When the JLA, the Titans, and the Legion's combined efforts to stop the Sun Eater seem doomed to failure, Kyle Rayner goes to the one person he believes can save them.

Hal, having finally dealt with Hank Henshaw, is left with no purpose and no future to return to. He contemplates sealing himself within the Source Wall when Kyle shows up.



Before he makes his decision, he meets some old friends and settles his affairs.

-Guy Gardner




-John Stewart




-Oliver Queen



-Tom Kalmaku



-Carol Ferris





-And Ganthet




And he makes his decision.



Meanwhile, Lex Luthor and Brainiac 5 from the Legion have devised a scheme that will stop the Sun Eater. However this will require someone to pilot a spacecraft into the sun, a suicide mission for anyone but Superman, who is currently powerless. Ferro Lad sneaks on board, knowing fully well he won't return.




And the crowning moment of this story,







And dawn arrives.



And the whole world celebrates. Afterwards Batman and Superman contemplate Hal's final deed.



Thus ended the saga of Hal Jordan(until Rebirth). This wasn't one of DC's best stories, but I loved Hal's final moments and the dialogue that led up to it. It's a pity writers never realised the full potential of his fall, death and redemption and ended up having to push the reset button and revert him to Green Lantern.

 

Comments

[thehefner]

That is a run I'd love to see posted here, just to hear people's thoughts.

Waid's Hal from both minis is my favorite Hal too. THAT'S the character I wanted to see come back to life. I'm still waiting.

[jaybee3]

I wonder how much of The Spectre run starring Hal is still canon? It had Hal's orphaned (and now vanished) daughter from a brother that was retconned never to have died. There was Dead!Sinestro, there was Batman forgiving Hal (which Johns later ignored), there was Carol and her husband who she kept saying she loved (but later dumped without looking back the minuted Hal was alive again). It seems Johns has pretty much ignored all of the Hal Spectre era.

[thehefner]

I think Hal's one brother is still dead. We didn't see him in Johns' run, did we? I don't recall.

The thing I may have been most sad to miss? Sinestro's new costume. I LOVED that costume so much more than either his original or Sinestro Corps outfit.

I had conflicting feelings about JMD's run (he's one of my favorite writers, but the themes he was playing with left me cold; I think the very best issue of the whole run was Ostrander's one-shot in Apokolips), but I don't like that the run was entirely ignored either.

[jaybee3]

Yeah, his other brother may be dead but the supposed niece (who met Superman, WW, Green Arrow and even Batman on her birthday in one issue) who was supposed to be significant to the whole cosmos has never been brought up again.

[bruinsfan]

Truth to tell I wasn't much bothered by her being shuffled off to the Land of Vanished Relatives with Chuck Cunningham, since that was pretty much a lukewarm rehash of essentially the same plot DeMatteis used in Dr. Fate. And the first time was too twee for my taste, nevermind round two.

[big_daddy_d]

there was Carol and her husband who she kept saying she loved (but later dumped without looking back the minuted Hal was alive again

I've been meaning to bring that up. Didn't she also have kids with the guy or where they step children? Either way, it bothered me.

P.S. - Hal had a daughter?

[jaybee3]

The daughter was Hal's BROTHER'S. Neither of whom has been brought up since Rebirth even though the kid played a huge role in the Spectre series.

I don't think Carol had kids no (forgot if there was stepkids) but her marriage seemed just like a story device and was discarded easily when Geoff Johns wanted her free. The husband, (ironically named Gil Johns), was a cipher. What little we saw of him he was the anti-Hal. Not very macho, or outgoing, kinda academic. So how did Carol (who always seemed like the kind of gal who was high maintenance) come to marry him within two minutes of Hal's death and how (despite her protestations of love even within Rebirth) did she dump him faster than a speeding bullet when Hal became "alive" again leading Tom to say it was the happiest he'd ever seen her afterwards? There could be a story there (especially since Carol has a big role in the DCU now apparently).

It just seemed like GJ wanted so badly to have a love triangle (with Cowgirl, Hal and Carol) and then have Carol back as Star Sapphire he just skipped over that stuff. The only time Carol's marriage has been mentioned it was dismissively (I forget the issue) but it went like this:
Carol: So you're dating her (Cowgirl), huh?
Hal: Hey, you got married.
Carol: You were dead.
Hal: Not that long.
And that was it it. Kinda like a joke.

[icon_uk]

IIRC Hal also has a cousin, also called Hal, who was the second Air Wave, who then became Maser, who then went back to Air Wave (Because Legacy was "in" I suppose) and who was then killed in the genuinely "WTF was THAT all about" Infinite Crisis subplot about Donna Troy leading a team of random heroes into space with no apparent plan and then we were supposed to be shocked when some of them die badly (Air Wave, half of Firestorm), and the rest just get frelled over (Herald, Bumblebee and Cyborg to name three)