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Hal meets Sinestro, and the becoming of Hector Hammond!

Hal Jordan, to me, is the Anakin Skywalker of the DCU, in much the same way that Green Lantern is the Star Wars of the DCU. If you look closely (maybe too closely…) you can see similarities. An ancient legion of protectors using their willpower as a weapon. And Hal Jordan… the greatest, most powerful Green Lantern of all gives in to fear and anger, turns evil and causes many deaths but eventually redeems himself. And that’s a big part of what Green Lantern has become in the past few years under the guidance of Geoff Johns, who breathed familiar yet new life into Hal, first with Green Lantern: Rebirth, and now with the newest volume of the GL comic. After the tremendous and mythology-shredding “Sinestro Corps War” storyline, apparently Johns thought it was time for a bit of a reboot of Hal’s origin. And anyone at DC knows that fans love a good ‘Year One’ story arc, so Johns and artist Ivan Reis are giving us one with “Secret Origin Book Four” in Green Lantern #32.

Last issue, we were introduced to The Green Lantern Corps in its full glory as Hal ‘reported’ to Oa for Basic Training under the firm but even firmer guidance of the eternally lovable Kilowog. But still many mysteries abound. Who is this being from Sector 666 and why does he want to destroy the Corps? How exactly did Abin Sur die and why? Well, the Guardian Ganthet wants an investigation into Abin Sur’s demise, so he sends the ‘greatest’ GL, Sinestro, to investigate and assist in mentoring Hal. In this issue, we get our first glimpse into how Hector Hammond became the supervillain he is today as he, in typical brash and arrogant fashion, opens the fuel compartment of Abin Sur’s ship and becomes exposed to whatever was in there. He then gains almost immediate telepathic and telekinetic abilities and just cuts loose on everyone around him, killing them, initially by accident. Meanwhile, Hal is transported back to Earth, and good ol’ Pieface himself discovers that he’s the Green Lantern that saved a fellow Ferris pilot and his plane from an imminent crash. Hal also finds that there’s been a walkout at Ferris Air when Carol Ferris took over the company from her father. Hal walks into her office to announce he’s joining the walkout (and also give her a piece of his mind about his own father’s death) when Carol, desperate for a pilot, and maybe has a bit of a soft spot already for Hal, asks if he wants to be a pilot again. Once back up in the air, Hal ‘meets’ Sinestro, and they do the ‘meet-cute/fight-cute’ introduction. Then they have a very “Empire Strikes Back” moment when Sinestro puts Hal’s destroyed plane back together. Once Hal sets back down, Hammond, clad in a bloodied cloth, strikes down all there with his telepathy… and finds that Hal is indeed Green Lantern! And if that’s not enough, the creature from Sector 666 performs a very disturbing little ritual where the name of the human that can help him with the birth of ‘The Black’, and that name is William Hand.

Who the hell is that? Apparently, answers are forthcoming.

I was a really big fan of the 80’s retcon of Hal’s origin, the “Emerald Dawn” arc, but because of how Johns himself has retooled the entirety of the Corps after the war, what with the creation of the different-colored lanterns and the like, he now has to redo everything. All that was old is new again here. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m really liking what Johns has done with Hal and the Corps for the most part and I LOVED “The Sinestro Corps War”, but now it kinda feels like he’s over-extending himself so that he can make sense of everything that he’s created by doing a reboot. As always, Ivan Reis’ art is terrifically intricate and detailed, but there’s just something that’s not working here. Maybe it’s taking the origin of one man and instead of making it a more personal story, he’s making it something epic.

Come to think of it, that’s kinda how Lucas did it too. Hopefully, he doesn’t screw it up as badly.

Green Lantern #32
“Secret Origin Book Four”
Written by Geoff Johns
Pencils by Ivan Reis
Inks by Oclair Albert with Julio Ferreira
Colors by Randy Mayor
Letters by Rob Leigh

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