PRE-CRISIS DCU

Hal Jordan quickly became one of the best test pilots in America and came to work for Ferris Aircraft, based in Coast City, California. Hal fell in love with Carol Ferris, the daughter of the owner of Ferris Aircraft, and the two began an on-again off-again relationship.

One day, while Hal was testing a new experimental simulator, the simulator was ripped from its housing and carried through the roof of the hangar. Brought out to the desert near the Sierra Madre mountains, Hal discovered a crashed spaceship and its pilot. The alien, named Abin Sur, was dying, and needed someone to pass along his title. Abin Sur was a Green Lantern, a member of an elite peacekeeping force that kept order in the universe. Abin Sur gave Hal Jordan his power ring, a ring which could do whatever its wearer willed it do do, and a power lantern, which recharged the ring every 24 hours. Abin Sur had chosen Hal because he was honest and born without fear. Though Hal was Abin's first choice, Abin had a back-up, a gym teacher named Guy Gardner. Hal donned Abin's uniform and became the Green Lantern of space sector 2814. Deciding to keep his identity secret, Hal buried Abin Sur and his spacecraft beneath a mountain and fought crime as Green Lantern, using the following oath: "In brightest day, in darkest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might beware my power: Green Lantern's Light!."

When Hal returned, he found his love Carol Ferris became head of Ferris Aircraft when her father Carl left for two years. Not wanting to jeopardize her career, Carol decided to end the relationship between her and Hal, but over the next few years would find herself in love with both Hal Jordan and Green Lantern, much to Hal's chagrin.

Hal fought against such menaces as the Invisible Destroyer, a creature from the Dulong Experiment Center, and saved the populace of Venus from giant winged lizards. Hal soon learned of his mysterious employers, the Guardians of the Universe. The Guardians of the Universe were small blue aliens of the planet Oa who created the Green Lantern Corps to keep peace throughtout their sectors. They revealed their existence to Hal when they sent him to the planet Calor, his first assignment outside of the Solar System.

It was near this time that an alien race called the Appellaxians invaded Earth. Green Lantern detected an unusual asteroid approaching Africa and when he arrived discovered a huge yellow bird. The alien bird was transforming other creatures into duplicates of itself. Hal defeated the Appellaxian by freezing it in a waterfall. Learning that another asteroid had landed on the Carolina coast, Hal headed there, where he, and four other heroes, fell under sway of an Appellaxian composed of wood. Hal, along with Aquaman, the Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Wonder Woman, defeated the wood Appellaxian using teamwork. Yet another asteroid landed in Greenland, and the five heroes rushed off. Teaming with Superman and Batman, the last Appellaxian was defeated, and the seven heroes decided to permanently band together as the Justice League of America.

Hal found out about another universe, an anti-matter universe, when a hole opened between the two worlds in his hometown Coast City. A strange being named Telle-Teg approached Hal and told him he knew of Hal's secret identity. Tellle-Teg then told Hal about the anti-matter universe of Qward, where the rulers are criminals called the Weaponers and honest people are outlaws. Telle-Teg, an honest Qwardian, escaped to the positive-matter universe for help, but was followed by the Weaponers. Together, Telle-Teg and Green Lantern defeated the Weaponers, but they would become longtime enemies of Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern Corps, and the Guardians of the Universe.

Hal Jordan soon found a buddy in an Eskimo named Tom Kalmaku. When Tom, whom Jordan nicknamed "Pieface," approached Hal for help in finding a lost treasure, Green Lantern came to Pieface's aid. Tom, a mechanic for Ferris Aircraft, soon deduced that his friend Hal was indeed Green Lantern, and he became Hal's trusted friend, often helping Hal defeat villains and maintaining his secret identity of Green Lantern. During this time, Green Lantern went up against such villains as the Puppet Master, Hector Hammond, and such League villains as Starro, Despero, and Amazo. Hal also met a fellow Green Lantern, Tomar Re of neighboring space sector 2813, who would be one of Hal's closest friends in the Corps.

Meanwhile, on the planet Korugar in space sector 1417, Green Lantern Sinestro had set himself up as absolute ruler of the planet. The Guardians of the Universe had taken his ring and banished him to the anti-matter world of Qward. To gain revenge upon the Guardians of the Universe and their Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro joined forces with the Weaponers of Qward, who gave Sinestro a yellow power ring to fight the Lanterns' green power ring. Sinestro returned to the positive-matter universe, and confronted Earth's Green Lantern. Hal defeated the renegade Corpsman, but gained a deadly adversary, one that he would repeatedly clash with over the years.

One of the few times that the Guardians of the Universe called the entire 3600 Green Lantern Corps members to Oa occurred when Krona, the renegade Guardian, once again threatened the universe. Krona, who was now dead, teamed up with the dimensional entity Nekron (not to be confused with the alien Nekron) and returned from the dead for revenge upon the Guardians. Hal Jordan and Tomar Re lead the other 3598 members of the Corps against Krona and his army of the dead, while the Guardians handled Nekron's collapsing of the universe. Though the Corps lost a lot of their number in battle, such as Stel of Grenda, the Corps defeated Krona. While the Guardians tried to hold together the fabric of the universe, the Corps continued to battle the army of the dead, and Hal Jordan entered the realm of the dead to attack Nekron directly. Aided by the spirit of the deceased Abin Sur, Hal managed to close the portal between dimensions. When the battle was over, the Guardians offered Hal a place amongst the Green Lantern Corps Honor Guard, which consists of the best Green Lanterns assigned to guard Oa and the Guardians. Hal declined, preferring to remain assigned to sector 2814.

Hal Jordan possesses one of the Guardians of the Universe's fabled rings of power. After absorbing energy from its power battery, the power ring can do anything conceived by its wearer. Fueled by the wearer's willpower, the ring can interpret its user's thoughts into reality.

The power ring has only two known weaknesses. The ring must be charged once every rotation of the wearer's planet (in Hal's case, once every 24 hours). If it is not recharged, it loses power when the 24 hour limit is reached. Also, the ring is ineffective against anything colored yellow. Due to an imperfection in the creation of the ring, the ring cannot directly affect any objects colored yellow. The yellow weakness was purposely included by the Guardians of the Universe to prevent any one Green Lantern from becoming too powerful.

The ring of power must be recharged by its power battery, which resembles a green lantern. The individual power batteries draw their power from the main power battery located on the Guardians' home planet of Oa. To prevent capture, the power battery is usually located in a pocket dimension, accessible only by its owner.

In addition to the power ring, Hal Jordan is one of the most skilled pilots on Earth. He has worldwide reputation and is commonly known as a man without fear, a quality which makes him an expert Green Lantern. Hal is also a competent hand-to-hand combatant, but he prefers to use his power ring in battle.

Behind the Scenes

After the introduction of Barry Allen, the Flash, to the pages of Showcase, John Broome, Gil Kane, and Joe Giella came together for the debut of the revamped Green Lantern in Showcase #22. Within six pages, Broome had rewritten the origin of the Golden Age Green Lantern with a more modern spin: enter Hal Jordan, test pilot. In an age of Chuck Yeager and the Apollo space flight, young kids looked up to this new test pilot. Starting with the Showcase issue, the origin of Green Lantern slowly unfolded: Abin Sur, his mysterious Guardians, Tom "Pieface" Kalmaku, and Carol Ferris. Under the editorship of Julius Schwartz, Broome began to weave the myth of the Green Lantern.

When his trial run in Showcase ended with issue #24, Hal graduated to becoming a charter member of Schwartz's Justice League of America, but not his own series. Six months later, however, Green Lantern #1 appeared, featuring the debut of the Guardians of the Universe. With Broome writing, other pieces of the Green Lantern mythos were introduced, such as the Weaponers of Qward in issue #2, Hector Hammond in issue #5, and the Green Lantern Corps in issue #11. As the sixties hit, Green Lantern became a staple of the DC universe.

However, as Green Lantern's series entered the seventies, sales started to slip. Under the guidance of writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neal Adams, Green Lantern turned in a new direction. Teaming up with fellow Justice League member Green Arrow, Hal went on an expedition throughout America. The series was re-titled to Green Lantern/Green Arrow with issue #76 as Hal shifted from flying in the stars to traveling around the roads, tackling such subjects as drug abuse, racism, and overpopulation.

Even with this new spin, sales of the title still declined, and with issue #89, cover dated April/May 1972, Green Lantern/Green Arrow was cancelled. Hal continued on as a member of the Justice League of America, and as a backup feature in the pages of the Flash. In 1976, however, Green Lantern flew again, as Green Lantern/Green Arrow #90 hit the shelves. After 33 issues, Hal began flying solo again and enjoyed a number of interstellar adventures. (JH)

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