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silentcrowsilentravens · 9 months

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Stars alpha reacting to their partner pulling a Richard and sacrificing themselves for them?

"Pulling a Richard" lol.

I'd like to apologize in advance to Lisa Trevor for this.

Joseph Frost, Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, Brad Vickers, Barry Burton, and Albert Wesker reacting to their s/o sacrificing themselves to save them.

(Gender ambiguous).

Warnings: death, blood, gore.

Masterlists here!

Joseph Frost

Arklay Mountains. It’s the evening of July 24, 1998. Led by Captain Wesker, you and four other members of the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team are searching for signs of Bravo team and pilot Kevin Dooley, with whom contact was lost the day prior.

You trudge through the tall grass, gun unholstered and flashlight scanning over every dark shape in your path.

A persistent sense of unease hangs in the air. You’d be hard-pressed to think of another time you’ve felt so on edge while on the job.

There's shifting behind you. You whip your head around.

Joseph is standing there with his gun. "Jumpy?" he teases half-heartedly. You roll your eyes at him and resume what you were doing.

"Hey... wait a sec..." He motions for you to come over.

"What is it?" You point your light down as you approach. It catches a metal object laying in the grass between you. It's a gun. A standard-issue Beretta.

Joseph bends down to pick it up, which is when you realize that it's attached to something.

It's...

It's a hand.

A human hand with no human attached to it.

Joseph drops the severed part in shock. Both of you jolt away from it with a yelp.

Upon further inspection, realize that you know who it used to belong to. You recognize the fingerless glove and the wristwatch. They're part of a S.T.A.R.S. uniform. More specifically, the uniform of Edward Dewey from Bravo team.

For a moment, the only thing you can hear is the wind and your heart pounding in your ears. You can do nothing but stare in disbelief.

There have been a lot of deaths lately. Gruesome ones.

You’ve seen the crime scene photos.

You’ve seen the crime scenes.

They’re difficult to stomach.

But the feeling that washes over you here and now is particularly visceral. Every last drop of blood in your body has run cold. You feel dangerously close to hurling.

Edward is someone you see almost every day. He...

He’s a great man. A friend of yours.

He can’t be...

You finally manage to tear your gaze away and look at Joseph.

“...Eddie can still be kicking,” he says blankly. “Guy doesn’t need both hands to live.”

Yeah.

Yeah, Edward can still be out there. Alive. Hopefully. He's tough...

...

Is that...

...growling you're hearing?

Out of the corner of your eye, you realize something—multiple somethings are rapidly approaching. Joseph notices just a beat later than you do.

“Joey, watch out!” With all of your might, you shove your partner out of harm’s way.

He hits the ground.

A bloody creature collides with you, its sharp teeth sinking into the exposed skin of your forearm. You cry out, wrenching your arm to the side in a desperate attempt to make it release you. It does, tearing a chunk of flesh away in the process, and quickly latches back on.

A second beast joins in, causing you to lose your balance and fall.

Followed by another one.

And another.

There are so many. They look like dogs and smell like rotting corpses, but you aren't paying much attention to that. You're in so much pain, it's difficult to think. They're quite literally eating you alive and all you can manage to do is flail about, weakly attempting to get them off.

Joseph shouts your name in alarm, scrambling to pick up his gun. His weapon-mounted light illuminates the mass of creatures pinning you down. Blood and viscera glisten.

He fires round after round, trying to kill them.

Jill, Barry, Chris, and Wesker rush over to help.

Your screams abruptly stop, cut off by an awful, strangled, gurgling noise as a set of teeth manage to rip your throat out.

"No!" Joseph keeps firing, unable to process it all. Just because you've gone quiet doesn't mean you're dead, right? Right? There's a chance you're still alive. There has to be! "Get off! Get off!"

BANG!

"Joseph, it's too late!" Chris grabs Joseph's shoulder, trying to make him stop. Joseph won't. "We have to go!"

This can't be happening. This can't be real. You're not gone. You're not!

The remaining beasts turn their attention toward the rest of the team.

Finally, Chris and Barry seize Joseph by the back of his tactical vest and physically drag him along as they start running. He doesn't stop calling your name, doesn't stop reaching for you even as your body becomes further and further away from them.

"Brad!" Chris shouts as their helicopter abandons them. "Brad! Where's he going?!"

This night can't get any worse. They end up seeking refuge in a mansion. The moment Jill slams the doors shut and locks them, Joseph plops down on the floor, breathing hard and cradling his head in his hands.

He can't believe it. You're gone just like that. It all happened so fast... And if you hadn't done what you did, it would've been him instead.

He wishes it were him instead. His eyes begin to burn.

Jill Valentine

It's the dead of night in the summer of 2005. You and Jill are stranded in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea on the Queen Zenobia, which just narrowly avoided being completely obliterated by the Regia SOLIS.

Unfortunately, the ship still ended up getting caught in the shockwave of the blast, leaving you to deal with even more water pouring into the ship.

It's time to clear out and fast.

Both of you are swimming through the flooded corridors in search of an exit when eventually, you make your way into a room that has yet to fill completely. The surface of the water is in view. You speed up, sparing a glance over your shoulder to where Jill ought to be.

She isn't there.

You come to an immediate stop, a jolt of panic passing through you as you spin around in an attempt to locate her.

You find her a little ways back, having fallen behind because she's busy grappling with a sea creeper that's caught up to her. Damn things!

It's gotten ahold of her legs and she's fighting to keep its wide maw away. Despite their spindly limbs, earlier encounters have let you know that they're rather strong.

There's already been quite a stretch between this and the last opportunity you got to get some air. In the time it would take you to pop your head out and swim back to help Jill, it could already be too late.

With that thought at the forefront of your mind, you ignore your body's desperate pleas to breathe and make your way over.

You unsheathe your Bowie knife. Using all of your might, you drive it straight into the B.O.W.'s soft shell.

Blood turns the water red. The creature reels back with a high-pitched cry and you take the opportunity to seize your partner.

With a tight grip on the equipment harness strapped to her back, you begin to swim upward, pushing yourself to go as fast as you can.

You're so close. Fresh oxygen is just within reach when something grabs hold of your ankle and sharply tries to yank you back.

Looking down, you find the same sea creeper giving things another go.

'Get offa me, dammit!' You slam the heel of your boot down on its covered head until it releases you, then kick away.

You lift Jill and force her above the surface, managing to get her arms hooked onto a ladder leading up to a catwalk.

There's yet another tug on your leg, far harsher than the last.

You release Jill, not wanting to risk pulling her down with you.

Bubbles begin to stream past your parted lips and water floods your lungs. The burning in your chest is beginning to worsen exponentially as you're dragged away, simply unable to hold your breath any longer than you already have. You're certain this is it for you.

Jill coughs and sputters. As the darkness begins to fade back to the edges of her vision and she's able to form a thought other than 'I need air or I'm gonna die down here', she processes that you haven't resurfaced along with her.

Her still-pounding heart leaps into her throat and she curses, diving back down without a moment's hesitation.

Her eyes instantly lock onto a red cloud in the water, which both you and the sea creeper are in. It has you in its grasp and you aren't struggling. You aren't moving at all.

As Jill closes the rest of the distance, she continues to hope against all hope that she can save you.

The handle of your blade is sticking out of the creature's back. She yanks it out and plunges it into a new spot, tugging you free and kicking the thing as hard as she can, sending it into a wall.

With you in tow, Jill makes her way above the water and back to the ladder.

You aren't breathing anymore when she successfully gets you onto the catwalk. She hastily begins to perform CPR, determined to fix that. She has to.

Unfortunately, she can't. It's already too late for you.

Finally, resignation begins to set in and she lets her hands still on your chest.

Jill is no stranger to losing people, and there's a persistent nagging fear in the back of her mind about losing more. You've often been at the forefront of it.

She's always tried to push it aside, though, always hoped that it wouldn't come to pass.

Her fingers tremble slightly as they curl into fists. She lets her head hang.

If only she hadn't let that damn B.O.W. catch up to her...

There's a lump forming in her throat that she tries to swallow as she stands, sending you a silent apology for letting you down.

...

Even if she wants to stay here with you, she knows this ship isn't going to last much longer. Cursing under her breath and blinking away the tears beginning to form in her eyes, Jill keeps moving. She has to...

Chris Redfield

"We're picking up a large bogey on radar. It's heading right for you!"

Just when you thought shit had already hit the fan, that message came through on comms and not even a minute later, a tandem rotor helicopter appeared, dropping off another absolutely massive—probably a good thirty feet tall—B.O.W. onto the team's already full plate.

Echo needs three anti-aircraft guns taken out before further help can be given, so everyone tries to provide cover for Finn as he sets the charges needed to blow them up.

The wrecked buildings around you provide little cover from the ogroman, which is intent on crushing the lot of you.

Chris points out a weakness that can be exploited: Soft, exposed red flesh around where a big metal connector is sticking out of its back.

You and a few others distract the beast with bullets. Chris manages to leap onto its back while you do so, ripping out a bit of protruding bone and driving it straight into the weak point. The process is rinsed and repeated a few times before the ogroman dies, dissolving into a foul-smelling, steaming goop that leaves you coughing.

Two anti-aircraft guns down, one more to go.

Everyone's comms crackle. "There's another giant B.O.W. closing in on your location!"

A loud roar rings out.

A massive hand grabs onto a rooftop, sending shingles raining down onto a few j'avo.

"It's the one we lost at the Two of Hearts," Piers points out.

Chris orders the team to prepare to engage. You follow Finn to the last gun, making use of an underground passage that leads you into another building. When you're standing on the top floor, the target of the objective comes into view, sitting on the ground below beside a barricade.

"Let's try to make this quick."

The ogroman has other plans.

Finn and Piers, a little ways ahead of you, head down the ladder.

You and Chris are stepping out from behind a partially destroyed wall when it turns and spots you there.

The two of you begin to unload your clips into it, not getting too many hits on that weak spot thanks to the way it's positioned itself.

Click.

"I'm out!" you announce.

"Me too," Chris says. "Look out!"

A massive hand shoots out toward you.

You both dive out of the way in time. You land back behind the wall, and Chris is still out in the open stretch. Another hole is smashed into the building.

The ogroman draws its arm back, then raises it up and prepares to sweep it across.

"Chris!" You don't even think, you just act, launching yourself back onto your feet and sprinting toward him. It'll hit him if you're not quick enough!

The arm grows closer.

With mere seconds to spare, you shove Chris back to the floor.

All the wind is knocked out of you as the ogroman makes contact, sending you sailing straight over the edge.

You make a graceful arc before colliding harshly with the pavement down below.

"Shit!" Chris shouts your name in alarm.

He needs to get to you.

"Cover me!"

He slides down the ladder while other members of the team show up to keep the ogroman busy.

A red puddle has begun to form beneath you. By some miracle, you're still responsive, but only barely.

"You're gonna be alright. You're gonna make it. Just hold on, okay?" Chris begins to drag you over to cover. You let out a groan, unable to process any of what you're hearing. "I need you here." Speaking into his comm, he calls for urgent first aid.

Before long, your feeble movements begin to peter out. Chris feels his stomach drop.

"No... No, come on. You have to stay with me. You have to!" You mean so much to him. He can't lose you. He can't. Not like this.

One last raspy, rattling breath leaves your lips before you're gone.

The grief, the devastation is like an instant weight settling upon Chris' shoulders. He slams his fists against the ground and cries out, leaning down to rest his head against your chest.

This is his fault... He'll never forgive himself.

Brad Vickers

"Pizza's here," you announce, shutting the apartment door with your foot. It's late in the evening, and you and Brad decided to call in and order one for dinner.

(Both of you also went ahead and ordered one for Brad's friend, Jill, who has scarcely left her home since being suspended. Brad would've been as well, had he joined in on the shouting match she and three other S.T.A.R.S. members got into with Chief Irons over the mansion incident. You know Brad still feels guilty about it).

"Brad. Pizza." You pop open the box and waft it in front of his face before placing it on the coffee table. He snaps out of it and sends you a small smile.

"You pick out something for us to watch already?"

"Uh-huh." He places the TV Guide down and picks up the remote. "They're showing one of our favorite flicks tonight, actually."

"Yeah? Which one?" You plop down beside him on the couch with a few paper plates in hand.

...

Hours have passed, and you've fallen asleep living room. The movie has long since ended, the remaining half of dinner is sitting abandoned, and Brad is snoring lightly beside you. You might've remained that way until morning...

...if not for a loud noise from somewhere on the street below waking you up.

You slowly straighten up, removing your head from your partner's shoulder.

Then, you begin to process the not-so-distant sounds of chaos. There are sirens and people screaming.

'What is going on...?'

An orange glow is bleeding from around the edges of the drawn curtains. You get up and pull them open. Multiple fires are burning.

You hurriedly wake Brad. "Hey. Something is wrong," you tell him as you drag him over to the window. "Very, very wrong. Look."

"Holy shit." He blanches. "We need to go."

You throw on a coat and shoes while Brad puts on his S.T.A.R.S. getup. He grabs his Beretta. All you have is a pocket knife.

The two of you make your way out of the apartment, hurriedly heading down the corridor and into the stairwell.

When you reach the emergency exit at the bottom of the stairs, you encounter a problem. Before Brad even gets the chance to push the door open, something rips it off the hinges. It's a huge figure clad head to toe in a black outfit, which is dotted with small yellow hazard symbols and staples.

"S.T.A.R.S...." it growls.

After a moment's hesitation, Brad seizes you by your sleeve and begins to high-tail it toward the front of the building. Time to try the front doors instead.

The thing gives chase. It's fast. Surprisingly so.

Brad aims his gun over his shoulder and opens fire. The bullets appear to have no effect. Not good.

It lifts its hand. A thin tentacle shoots out quick as lightning, wrapping around one of Brad's ankles and tripping him up. He lands harshly on the floor, his weapon slipping from his grasp. It begins to drag him.

"Help!"

You stagger to a stop, whipping around and grabbing hold of him. All that accomplishes is making the pursuer pull you along as well.

"Let go of him!" You take your blade and slice the appendage in two. The half still attached to it retreats. You help Brad up.

"S.T.A.R.S.!"

A new tentacle pops out of its sleeves. The moment you catch a glimpse of it, you put yourself directly behind Brad.

Rougher than before, the pursuer swings its arm back, yanking you over to it.

"Brad, run!"

Brad doesn't. He freezes in place.

It picks you up by your face, squeezing so tightly that it feels as though your skull might shatter. You struggle. "Run! Before it gets y—"

Your sentence is cut off by the tentacle going straight through your mouth and out the back of your head.

You're tossed aside, dead as dead can be.

You land facing Brad, your face stained red and your eyes wide open. He feels himself begin to shake.

Then, he runs.

This can't be happening. This seriously can't be happening!

He should have stepped in to help you. Doubly so after you had done that for him.

He should have done something. Anything but just stand there! What the hell is wrong with him?!

'Oh, god...'

When it seems that he's finally lost the pursuer, Brad slumps against the wall and slides down it until he's sitting. Alone in a random building, he cries harder than he has in a long time. He's so incredibly angry with himself for practically letting that happen.

There's a hole in his heart where you used to be that can simply never be filled again. You're gone. Gone. He can't believe it...

Barry Burton

As the Starlight slowly sinks into the waters below, explosions rattle it, illuminating the pitch-black night sky with bright oranges and yellows.

You, Barry, Leon, and Lucia stand safely aboard the deck of the Umbrella submarine Barry hijacked. Admittedly, you're still a little mad that he scared you again. A few years back, when you were both part of S.T.A.R.S., he pretended to betray you and the others the same way Wesker had.

He did it to protect your daughters and kept the ruse up long enough for Wesker to let his guard down. Tonight, he pulled a similar stunt. He made a fake deal with Umbrella and acted as though he was going to hand Lucia over to them, abandoning you and Leon on the ocean liner in the process.

"Sorry, honey," Barry says, noticing the sour look on your face. "I couldn't risk them finding out."

You sigh. "No, I get it. I just can't believe I fell for it again, even if only briefly."

"I guess I must be that good of an actor, huh?"

"I wouldn't go that far," you tease lightly. "It was just the panic of it all..."

"Ouch." Barry puts on a hurt expression.

Somewhere behind you, you hear the crackle of a radio. "Hey, I'm finally getting through to headquarters," Leon announces.

Barry places a hand on Lucia's shoulder. "I'm sure Polly and Moira will be excited to meet their new sister."

Lucia's eyes widen. "You guys were being serious?"

"Of course!" Your hand lands on her free shoulder. "Welcome to the family."

She grins. A genuine, happy-as-can-be grin.

"HQ, this is Leon. Mission accomplished. We're heading home."

You glance behind you in an attempt to see Leon, but he's standing closer to Barry. Your gaze only finds his shadow. You look away.

Over the sound of the rain and explosions, your ears manage to pick on a subtle gurgling noise.

Once again, you turn your head. The shadow is beginning to change. It's distorting and growing.

With dawning horror, you realize that all of the B.O.W.s haven't been eradicated, that it isn't actually Leon standing with you guys, that he's probably still aboard the Starlight.

"We aren't out of the woods yet!" is all you can manage in warning before the Tyrant finishes turning into its true form, red, intestine-like tentacles shooting out of the wide cavity in its stomach.

Barry doesn't even get the chance to fully pull his magnum from its holster before you throw yourself into the path of danger.

Rather than your husband, the appendages end up grabbing you instead. With how your arms end up pinned to your sides, you can't grab your pistol or knife to try and free yourself.

Panic instantly tightens itself around Barry's lungs. "Good god! Lucia, get inside!" He opens fire on the monster, desperate to make it release you.

It swings you all around, making it difficult for him to get a clean shot. It slowly but surely begins to squeeze you.

A big gray forearm collides with Barry, sending both him and his weapon flying across the deck.

The monster leaps off the sub and into the cold ocean, slowly sinking.

"No, no, no!" Barry practically throws himself over the railing, grasping it with one hand and desperately grabbing for you with the other. Just barely, he manages to take hold of your webbing.

The monster tightens its grip and there's an audible crack. You stop struggling.

...

Barry stills, his fingers going slack. He can't breathe, can't believe it. The devastation hits like a sucker punch to the gut.

Your body fully disappears into the dark waters. This is one of his worst nightmares.

He curses, banging his fist against the sub. It should have been him, not you! Why did you do that?

...He knows the answer. It's because he means as much to you as you do to him.

He knows he would've risked himself like that too if the roles were swapped.

He wishes that they were. What is he meant to do without you?

Albert Wesker

By all accounts, Albert Wesker should be dead. Instead, he's woken up as something else. Something more than human.

And now, he needs to leave this place before it turns into a pile of burning rubble. It isn't clear how much time is left before the self-destruct sequence goes off, but it ought to be enough for him to make it back out the doors.

Most of the bioweapons are easy enough to take out and get past.

There is, however, one problem—one nuisance that is refusing to leave him alone: Lisa Trevor. She's followed him all the way back up to the mansion proper. Since she doesn't have the good sense to give up, he's had to take a different route in an attempt to lose her.

Finally, he thinks he might have. The exit is close. Just down the stairs, in fact. He can see it.

A door behind him flies open. He turns, tightening his finger on the trigger of his Samurai Edge.

"Captain Wesker!"

Oh. It's only you.

Albert is pleased to see that you've made it this far. Not that there was much doubt in his mind that you would. You're one of the best S.T.A.R.S. has to offer when it comes to your combat abilities.

"Where'd—" Your eyes widen before your features twist in concern. "What the hell happened to you?"

It's evident that you haven't run into Jill, Chris, Barry, or Rebecca since everything that happened down in the basement labs. This could work to his advantage. He was hoping to have you join him.

Sparing a glance at the absurd amount of red staining the front of his tactical vest, Albert tells you, "It's nothing serious."

You head closer and stare at him incredulously. It's a lot of blood. As in, more than should be outside of anyone's body if they're still alive. Maybe not all of is his? He isn't acting like he's injured.

"...Alright, if you say so," you reply, unable to shake your worry completely.

"Come with me. We're leaving." Without waiting for another second, Albert starts heading down the stairs.

"But what about the others?"

"There's no point in going after them now,'" he answers vaguely. "I'll explain everything once we get outside."

You hesitate for a moment before beginning to follow him...

...Only to be stopped moments later by an awful, raspy moan and a hunched figure hobbling into the entrance hall with surprising speed.

'What is that?!'

It's clad in a raggedy blue medical gown, wearing a mask that appears to be made of stitched-together human faces, and making a beeline for Albert.

He moves to pull out the gun he just reholstered.

The monster hunches further. A load of worm-like tendrils shoot out of its back.

Everything seems to be happening in slow motion. Wordlessly, you throw yourself between the two of them in order to save your captain from further injury,

As though they were sharp knives, two of the tendrils pierce straight through you. One through your stomach, and another through your chest. You land in a limp pile on the marble floor, blood pouring from your wounds and past your lips.

...

No...

No, this won't do at all.

White-hot anger slowly begins to crawl through Albert's veins.

"You have no idea how grave of a mistake you've just made."

Yet again, he deals with her, this time ensuring that it will be the last time. You watch through half-lidded eyes, unable to truly process any of it. You're teetering dangerously on the edge of nothingness and it's far too late for you to be saved.

Albert just about unloads the rest of his ammunition into Lisa, saving his last bullet so that he can send the chandelier crashing upon her.

"Be a good girl and stay dead." He sneers, then turns to you.

You're already dead. He picks you up.

"Don't worry, my dear. I'll fix this. I will help you rise from the ashes as I did. I will make you something more."

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mutant-distraction · 5 months

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"This was one of those times when I knew a great image was possible. I recall just hoping that the elephant just in front of me would lift her foot. When it happened I framed the image and began photographing. What a wonderful day.

Botswana"

Kevin Dooley

https://www.facebook.com/kevin.dooley.560

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comfortfoodcontent · 1 month

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The *other* Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight story -- how we almost NEVER got a Kyle Rayner

(Years ago I made a Twitter thread about this and one of my favorite websites, DC In The 80's asked if they could host it and I was proud to revise it and have it be a part of their amazing site. I repost it here on my only remaining socials, revised once again and expanded quite a bit, for @greenlantern94to04 as well as everyone else. Thanks!)

Ok, so we're gonna talk about Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight. How we almost never got Kyle Rayner. How Gerard Jones had a very different story in mind. We're gonna talk about how DC made the drastic, correct decision. We're gonna discuss H.E.A.T.

I am gonna preface this by saying: Former Green Lantern writer Gerard Jones was sentenced to 6 years in federal prison for child pornography charges in 2018. There is no debate here. The man is a literal monster. Absolutely disgusting. Cancel culture exists to shun a man like this.

This thread is not to support his work or encourage you to seek it out. Please do not. Rather, its to showcase comics history & show you how we dodged a huge bullet & he was rightfully fired off Green Lantern & we got one of the best runs in comic history with Ron Marz.

So, historical context: Green Lantern as a franchise was struggling in the late 80's. It didn't have its own series, it was running in Action comics Weekly with some odd specials here & there. Hal Jordan wasn't that huge. In 1990 Green Lantern Volume 3 was launched by Jones:

Your mileage may vary on Jones' run & what he did for the GL franchise. The gist of his run is showing how OLD Hal Jordan is. He spends most of the series as an old drifter, wandering the country, with some fresh greyed hair. It is by no means an exciting book with Hal as the lead.

Anyways, this series runs for several years with Jones always battling with his editor Kevin Dooley about its contents. Meanwhile in the Return of Superman story, Hal Jordan's hometown, Coast City is destroyed by Cyborg Superman & Mongul.

Now this is followed up in Green Lantern 46 & 47 by Gerard Jones. Here's the last page of GL #47:

Hal certainly seems ok with everything that happened & he's ready to move on to some other story. Doesn't seem like he's gonna lose it & go crazy over the loss of Coast City, does he?

That's because Ron Marz' Emerald Twilight was originally not planned! Jones had his own version of Emerald Twilight planned. It was even solicited with house ads for it even appearing in books at the time!! Here's the house ad again that was to be the cover of GL #48 by Kevin Maguire:

Here are the original previews that were sent out to retailers for Green Lantern issues 48 & 49:

GL 48 by Jones, Cobbs,& Tanghal

"Superman and the Justice League gather by Green Lantern's side as Hal confronts the horror of the destruction of Coast City. Meanwhile on Oa, the Guardians of the Universe find themselves fighting a lethal battle against the Guardians of the Universe?"

GL 49 by G. Jones, Haynes, & Tanghal

"Green Lantern is caught up in a battle raging between two equally powerful groups of the Guardians of the Universe. Hal's side loses, and the winners' first act is to take away the power rings' 24-hour time limit, and their yellow impurity Their second act is to appoint a new leader of the Green Lantern Corps --- Sinestro! This issue leads directly into the landmark Green Lantern #50, a major turning point for the series."

So as you can see we almost got a VERY different course of action for Green Lantern in the 90s. Now those are hints of the original proposed plan, but Jones actually went into it all in interviews & a plot synopsis. Here is Jones' original plot for Emerald Twilight in its entirety:

"The destruction of Coast City and his breakup with Carol make Hal realize that he can't find the roots he wants on earth. He's inspired by the memories of the dead, especially his father, to become a better hero; he decides he must affirm himself first and foremost as a Green Lantern, finding his community in the Corps. But when he goes to Oa for the big swearing-in ceremony of all the new GLs, a new group of Guardians appears, claiming to be the true Guardians.

These "New" Guardians claim that the "Old" Guardians are impostors who plan to use the GL Corps to reduce the universe to chaos. The Old group counters that the New ones are impostors who plan to use the GLs to subject the universe to tyranny in the name of "order". Adding credence to the New Guardians' claim--and raising the stakes--are the Zamarons, convinced that they are their husbands. The Zams are about to give birth to the ultimate Cosmic Children, whose power will be such that whoever controls them can control the cosmos. The fate of the universe--chaos or tyranny--hinges on whichever set of Guardians can win over the GL Corps and gain control of the Children.

Hal--who knows the Guardians as no other GLs do, having seen the Old Timer at his most human and vulnerable, and having gone through his conflict with them and his "act of faith" in GL 35--knows in his gut that the New Guardians are the impostors. But the weight of evidence is against him and he can't convince the other GLs (the "Twelve Angry Men" dynamic).Hal has a choice: break with the GL Corps, now his only hope for community and belonging; or collude with something he feels will reduce the universe to tyranny. Hal chooses the former.

He enters the battery to increase his power, fights the Corps and takes the Old Guardians into hiding as he seeks a way to convince his fellow GLs or beat the New Guardians. The stakes for Hal are high: if he's RIGHT about the New Guardians, but they WIN, then the universe is doomed. If he's WRONG in his gut-feeling and HE wins, then HE'S doomed the universe. If he's WRONG and he LOSES, then the universe is okay but Hal is ostracized from the only group that means anything to him. The pressure is on him not only to win, but to be damn sure he's right.

The New Guardians announce their new leader of the GL Corps: Sinestro, renowned for his devotion to order before he broke with the GL Corps. He whips the Corps into a paramilitary group and starts a program of "good" but ruthless acts: like destroying the Khund homeworld. Hal sends his only ally, Star Sapphire, to appeal to her fellow Zamarons. She learns some things about the way the New Guardians convinced them of their legitimacy that suggest to Hal that the power behind the New Guardians is ENTROPY.

Hal contacts the confused but sympathetic Arisia, trying to argue his point with other GLs through her. But Sinestro has them all wowed or cowed...and when Kilowog throws in with Sinestro and his tough new approach, Hal feels his struggle to win over the Corps is becoming hopeless. Hal returns to the Coast City monument, to commune with the memory of his father, whose grave was destroyed along with the city. But the Hunter GLs-revived by Sinestro to police the Corps' internal affairs--catch him there.

He escapes for the moment, but they've destroyed his ring. But the inspiration of Hal's dad makes him want to find a way to keep fighting, and he discovers that he has power within him. His trip into the battery enabled him to internalize his power, but he couldn't realize that as long as he felt he needed his ring, and the Corps. Hal fights back, knowing he may have to fight alone to his death, and defeats the Hunters.

Sinestro reacts to this by getting even tougher with the Corps and speeding up his acts of "purification," and some GLs begin to wonder if Hal was right. The Zamarons, meanwhile, are about to give birth, which would give the New Guardians the power they need to take control of the universe no matter what Hal does. The clock is ticking faster and faster. Star Sapphire, acting under Hal's instructions, learns enough about the New Guardians through the Zamarons to start forcing Entropy to show his hand.

Hal gathers DC earth-heroes to join him against the Corps. When Sinestro tries to send the whole Corps against Hal and his allies, Arisia rediscovers her nerve and fights back against him. Other disaffected GLs join her--but not enough to stop the rest. Arisia's splinter group flees into space, is nearly caught and destroyed by Sinestro's group...but are saved at the last moment by Hal.

Hal now leads his rag-tag band of heroes and rebel GLs against Sinestro on Oa. But Entropy, through the New Guardians, throws him a curve: they reveal to Hal that his father didn't die by accident; his death was arranged by the Old Guardians.... who saw the potential for a great GL in Hal but foresaw that he would need a trauma to make him the fearless man he could be.

At the moment before the final conflict, Hal is shaken to the core: can he fight to defend the beings who killed his father? Hal realizes that his private grief and rage means nothing against the fate of the universe. He fights for the old Guardians despite what they did. The babies are about to be born. The New Guardians capture Sapphire and are about to kill her. The battle begins.

Hal goes head to head with Kilowog, the most painful battle of either of their lives. In the heat of conflict, though, Sinestro begins to reveal his true, wretched self. Hal tricks him into showing his true colors. Kilowog realizes he's been suckered. Enraged, he joins Hal's side. Sinestro's support collapses. The New Guardians dissolve, revealing themselves as mere manifestations of Entropy, and Entropy throws himself personally into the fray. His goal all along has been to reduce the universe to lifeless entropy by robbing it of its life, its ability to change. Too much order (Sinestro) is essentially equal to too much chaos (Entropy). The Old Guardians represent the right way, the way of Life. Now he's about to seize the Children as they're born.

The Old Guardians show up--thanks to Hal's power--and tip the battle. They snatch the babies from Entropy at the last moment. The GLs turn on him. He's destroyed. All seems well. Deceived GLs are forgiven. The Guardians send the Corps off to do its thing while they tend to the Children who will become the greatest powers in the universe.

But all isn't well with Hal. He fought for the Guardians, because it was right, but he can't go on serving the cosmic manipulators who killed his father. They say they don't do things like that anymore, but it's too late. Hal has his own internal power now, and he's learned that he fights best alone. He won't be manipulated again. He goes off to become the Protector!!"

... AND THATS THE END OF THE PROPOSAL! There are a lot of similarities in the proposed & realized Emerald Twilight: Sinestro, Hal fighting the GL's, Hal taking on a new identity clearing the way for a new fresh Lantern to take over the book.

Jones had this to say about it all in a Fanzing (#39) Interview about his proposed plans:

"Even before Paul, Mike and others said so, (GL Editor) Kevin Dooley and I were talking about using issue 50 to turn everything upside down, bring in a new Green Lantern, give Hal an indefinite break, and get back to basic, exciting stories.

Unfortunately, Denny O'Neil, who was Kevin's boss, and Paul Levitz and Mike Carlin, didn't feel it was big enough to turn around readers' perceptions of what by then had been a lousy comic for about a year. Particularly if the writer stayed the same.

As Denny said to me later, sometimes the market has to see that a complete creative shift is occurring, including the creative team. Which makes total sense, although at the time I was very angry and frustrated. This whole series was my frustration, the series I really wanted to make great but that for four years had never felt like mine, and here I saw a chance to start over and make it good at last, and I just couldn't get there.

What I feel worst about in retrospect is that Kevin was apparently going to bat for me again and again with his bosses, but because he wasn't free to tell me what was going on behind the scenes, and because I was mad at him about other petty crap, I blamed him. I criticized him to his bosses, wrote a nasty fax, really puerile ways to blow off my frustration. I apologized later, and I think everyone understood that I was just a clueless freelancer, 3000 miles away. But it was an ugly finish. I quit so they didn't have to fire me.

Then they had an emergency plotting session, Paul, Mike, Denny, Archie [Goodwin], and Kevin, and they handed that plot to Ron Marz, who was coming up at the time, had worked with [Jim] Starlin, had a cosmic resume going.

First, I hasten to say that "The Protector" was a working title! We were going to do better than that! But yeah, there was going to be a new, younger GL, which I'd originally preferred to doing a Hal who was too burdened by the ball and chain of continuity. Hal would have popped in and out, maybe gotten his own miniseries, and then maybe or maybe not have become a GL again. I had various thoughts about the down-the-road story. But issue 51 would have been the introduction of a new GL, a completely new character, who was still in the vaguest development when it all ended."

SO! What happened next?? DC, in a real pickle here has Jones leave the title, but a huge supposed "Break the Bat"/"Death of Superman" Green Lantern Emerald Twilight story has been solicited. In an emergency situation they turn to Ron Marz, who has this to say:

"I got a call late on a Friday night offering me the book," says Marz of 1993. "I'd actually been down in New York for the day at the Marvel offices. I came home, my wife and I went out for a quick dinner, and then I guess around 9 o'clock the phone rang and it was Kevin Dooley offering me the job. Mike Carlin, Archie Goodwin and Denny O'Neil were in the room, as well as Eddie Berganza, who was Kevin's assistant at the time. I believe Paul Levitz might well have been there too."

"Kevin said he wanted me to take over 'GL' because the book needed a fresh direction I was excited, because I'd always thought Hal was a pretty cool character, and I love that costume. And then the other shoe dropped. Kevin explained what was planned, essentially removing Hal from the book and replacing him with a GL that I would make up. Pretty serious stuff. The real kicker, and I swear to God this is true, is I was wearing a Hal T-shirt when I got the call. It was one of those pocket T-shirts from the Warner Bros. Stores. I still have it."

"Darryl Banks: I was already on the project with another writer then the editors decided to go in a different direction.

Marz: The previous writer had a different storyline in mind for issues #48 through #50, and Darryl actually drew some pages from that issue script.

Banks: I had drawn about five pages or so of the initial project when the changes began.

Marz: I think I have copies of them somewhere.

But ultimately DC editorial decided that story was not what they wanted, and offered me the title.

I assume Darryl and I started talking when he started drawing issue #50. Switching storylines meant that the schedule was behind enough that other artists had to be brought in to draw #48 and #49. That's why each issue of 'Emerald Twilight' has a different artist."

So Ron Marz takes over the books with a plot & we got what was published. Hal Jordan, utterly broken by the destruction of Coast City jarringly tries to remake it in his image with his ring. Stopped by the Guardians & gone mad with grief, he destroys the Corps & becomes Parallax while a new Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner is introduced:

Marz: DC faxed me about a page-and-a-half of notes, just a broad outline of what the three issues were supposed to be. All the details were left to me to fill in.

Killing Kilowog was all me.

I felt like if Hal was going to destroy the Corps, it needed to be personal, we needed to see a known character meet his fate on camera. There's no sense in doing that kind of storyline if it doesn't hurt.

Banks: It's funny you said "heel turn" because Hal did use a few pro wrestling moves in issue #50!

Marz: The last line of the outline that DC gave me was, essentially, "...and a new Green Lantern is created." That was the only direction I was given.

I asked if the new GL could be a woman, and DC said they wanted to keep a male lead.

I asked if the new GL could be an alien, and the answer was he needed to be human.

Other than that, there was no direction.

So we just made up Kyle from the ground floor. I never made a secret that he was very much based on the Everyman archetype that Spider-Man typifies.

I wanted just a regular guy, rather than someone who was already a hero, like Hal, who was a test pilot. If we were going to go in a different direction, let's really go in a different direction. Let's have somebody who has to learn to be a hero. Irish ancestry because that interested me. I picked his first name because of Kyle Reese in The Terminator. I picked Rayner off a list of Irish last names, just because it sounded good with "Kyle." Black hair because Hal had brown hair, and Alan had blond hair. And an artist because Green Lantern is in a lot of ways a special effects book. We wanted someone who was going to make cool stuff with the ring.

Ultimately, Ron Marz makes the DC version of Spider-Man and Magneto in one fell swoop.

Marz: Darryl was the one who came up with the name Parallax, and it's perfect. Hal's view of everything has changed, because of his perspective. For me, Hal was never a villain, he was at worst an antagonist or an anti-hero. I wanted the audience to feel like, 'Well, maybe he has a point here...'

To me, the best villains are the heroes of their own stories. That's why I generally was more attracted to Marvel villains than DC villains. The old rule of thumb was that Marvel villains wanted to rule to the world, DC villains wanted to rob banks.

I saw Hal as Parallax very much in the Magneto mold. He was convinced in the righteousness of his cause, and he was willing to do what was necessary to achieve his goals. He was very much a sympathetic character to me. All-powerful, but broken.

Banks: Parallax wasn't the villain he was perceived to be. Hal Jordan was pushed past his limit. Furious, yes. Evil, no. There was still a nobility about the purpose and one of the reasons I designed him with knight-like armor.

The word 'parallax' essentially deals with a different point of view. It is a literal line of sight term but I thought it was a fitting metaphor for Hal Jordan's transformation. Originally, DC wanted to name him 'The Protector' because they already owned that name. That just didn't fit with where we were going with the character and I had to put in writing why I liked the name Parallax better. Hal's decision to gain more power was actually noble in intent. With the design, I thought of it as an Arthurian 'Green Knight' approach. I like armor anyway!

The response to this was shock. Some people loved the new direction and introduction of Kyle Rayner & Parallax. Others thought it the most disrespectful thing ever done, spawning one of the most polarizing fanbases ever: H.E.A.T. - Hal's Emerald Advancement Team. On newsgroups, Prodigy, GeoCities sites, AOL rooms, CompuServe & all of the other 1994 internet chat rooms of the time, people enraged over this direction came together. These fans together made H.E.A.T. whose mission was: As Green Lantern fans, it is our goal to encourage and advocate the return and exoneration of Hal Jordan as Green Lantern, the restoration of the Green Lantern legends, and the revival of the honorable Green Lantern Corps. They harassed DC and the creators, sending death threats & countless awful messages to the writers & editors calling for them to be fired and worse. They were an incessant online troll fanbase. Defenders and members of H.E.A.T. claim they were a charitable group that set up a scholarship in memoriam of Gil Kane and that they also raised money to send John Broome to San Diego Comic Con in 1998 as well as organized many comic donation charities. I tend to believe the creators and fans who have their own personal accounts of how awful and toxic they were than the PR messages of the people in the group. In fact, every time I write about them, some of them STILL come out of the woodwork to "Um, Actually" me and disrespect me. Soooooo, make of them what you will but I think I've painted a pretty clear picture.

For years, they did not die down, they did not quit. In 1997 they took out a full page ad in Wizard Magazine. These people were unhealthily obsessed:

They are infamous for spending more than 5-10 years trying to harass DC & anyone who would listen into reversing this story & putting Hal back on top as a character. They are a clear cut case in what not to do as a comic fan.

In 1997, Will Allred of Quantum Zone interviewed Jack Grimes from H.E.A.T. detailing his efforts to advance Hal. Here's a few interactions from the interview:---

Allred: Now that we know I'm a fanboy, could you give us a little background on how this project got started?

Grimes: Well, I had had the idea for a Hal/Green Lantern Corps advertisement swirling around in my head since the Green Lantern Corps page's "Green Lantern Corps Petition" really started taking off, racking up something like 50 signatures a month. I just didn't have the initiative (nor the time) to investigate. That is, until late August, when friend and fellow Green Lantern fan Harry Philipo publicly suggested taking out an ad to the "regulars" on AOL's DC Online GL message board. When almost a dozen people immediately pledged at least $20, I figured we might actually have a shot at it, and I e-mailed them with my interest in organizing the ad. We did some investigating and found the ad rates for a few industry magazines. Despite the vastly greater cost in Wizard, we decided to make the biggest impact possible and go with the industry's most widely distributed magazine. Kevin Huxford opened communication lines with Wizard, which I then followed. Joe Sturgeon and Harry lent their computer graphics talents in constructing the ad itself, which I chose the image and wrote copy for, while I drummed up support on the Internet from the most publicly adamant fans.

Allred: You've got the ad. What do you hope to accomplish with it?

Grimes: Obviously, we want to see Hal Jordan in a prominent, heroic position again in the DC Universe, and the Green Lantern concept enriched once more with the mythology of the Corps. But at the core of it, it's to send a united message to DC, and all comic companies. A message that says long-time fans are tired of taking a back seat to hot trends and disposable incomes. And a message to fans of Hal and the Corps letting them know that they are not alone.

Allred: Do you think it will work and bring Hal and the Corps back?

Grimes: I don't see why not. We certainly aren't calling for the end of the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern. There's no way we'd wish "Emerald Twilight" on any comic fan, no matter the character. What we would like to see is in everyone's best interest: a bigger, brighter, more successful GREEN LANTERN.

Allred: How do you think those at DC will react?

Grimes: The optimist in me says, "Immediately hire Kurt Busiek." The pessimist in me echoes one comic professional I contacted for contributions (I contacted several, and most sent their best wishes of support, but declined to donate due to conflict of interest), who said that DC might treat the ad as a joke. But I really don't know how DC will respond...if past experience is any indicator, they'll probably shrug it off as the "cries of the loud minority," but this is a unique situation. I truly hope and expect them to take us seriously and at least consider where we are coming from.

Allred: Anything else to add?

Grimes: I'd just like to make it clear to all Kyle Rayner fans that we are not calling for replacement. We're calling for expansion and restoration. And, I'd like to once again thank all those that helped make this ad possible!---

Unhealthily. Obsessed.

Marz had this to say about them in 2020 (Source):

Marz: Certainly the overall lesson was that a relatively small number of people can make a lot of noise. The vast majority of people read a comic, enjoy it, and move on with their lives But a very few people obsess over some aspect. I knew 'Emerald Twilight' was going to be controversial, and upset a segment of fans. But ... yeah, some of them got a little carried away over these made-up people.

I've got a couple of stories. The first one is when I was in Portland, Oregon for a convention, and a guy was pointed out to me as one of the ringleaders of H.E.A.T., a guy who was seriously agitating for me to get fired by DC, and never work in the business again. He kind of loomed at the periphery of my table, and I figured he was never going to approach me. But he finally got up the nerve, stepped up to the table, and announced he was very unhappy with what I had done to Hal Jordan. I told him that it wasn't personal, the story wasn't meant to upset him personally, and that I hoped he had found other comics he liked. He presented me with a laminated H.E.A.T. membership card with my name on it, and a list of demands on the back, one of which was that be fired off the book.

So I politely handed back the card and told him I didn't really want to be a member of an organization that had a goal of making me unemployed. I pointed out to him that he was more concerned with what happened to imaginary people than real people, and he looked kind of baffled at that notion, like he had never considered that before. He assured me it "wasn't personal" ... and then handed me a stack of all of my Green Lantern issues to that point, and asked me to sign them. Which I did.

The other is when, in the midst of all the "Emerald Twilight" controversy, Wizard Magazine invited me and one of the vocal H.E.A.T. guys to come to their Chicago convention and debate the story. I said sure, that seemed like fun. But they couldn't get the other guy to commit to the trip. It was time for Wizard to book plane tickets and hotel rooms, and the guy still wouldn't commit. Finally, they needed an answer, and the guy admitted he couldn't come to Chicago because "my mom won't let me." He was a 16-year-old kid.

Now, personally, I love Emerald Twilight. Do I think its a jarring, sudden story that does irrevocably change a long time beloved character? Yes, very much so. Do I think it deserved H.E.A.T. and the hate? Not at all. I think everyone tried their absolute best to do something bold and new and rare for the Big 2 in turning a longtime hero character into a villain. That Marz was trying to, with respect and purpose after the initial rush job, fashion him in the Magneto mold, with fascinating shades of gray and the potential for an infinite number of great stories is, to me, something to be applauded for. He didn't unceremoniously kill him and constantly disrespect him. We actually got several excellent stories with both Parallax and classic Hal from Marz after this that I think serviced the character with such impressive depth and care in a way he's rarely ever been handled.

In response to fan backlash, Marz had this to say: (source: Emerald Archive: Ron Marz answers every question regarding 'Green Lantern')

"Look, people are going to believe what they want to believe. But if there are actually people out there thinking it was somehow my life's goal to 'destroy' Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern mythos ... please, seek help. I was offered a job. The job had certain parameters. I took the offer and worked within those parameters, and did the best job I could."

"The truth is, if I hadn't written Emerald Twilight, someone else would have, and the story would have been substantially the same. That's by no means an effort to pass the 'blame.' I did write those stories, and if you don't like them, feel free to blame me because, yes, my name is in the credits box."

"I still think 'ET' was a gutsy move by DC at the time. To effect permanent change upon one of your top characters is brave. I liked Hal as a character. I still do. But he'd been badly handled for a number of years prior to my tenure. I can remember picking up the first few issues of what was then the new GL series, and coming away just not caring because Hal seemed like a wuss wandering the country searching for … whatever. This was a fearless test pilot?"

"So the thinking at the time was that something drastic was needed, something that would attract a lot of attention back to what had become a moribund franchise. That much worked. When I agreed to take the book, issues #48, #49 and #50 were all due."

"The book was late, the planned issues had been pulled, and things had to get moving right now. So I wrote my first three issues at the same time. That's why there were three different artists on them. I remember writing part of issue #48 between sets at a Peter Gabriel concert. I found a quiet place where I could steal a few minutes to write."

"The deadlines were that tight. I would have loved to write 'ET' over six issues. I think that's about the length that would have been necessary to really make Hal's descent believable and tragic. So what we ended up doing was a bit rushed because of circumstances, and I regret that. But if I'd had six issues, the events would have been generally the same. I just would have had more room for the character stuff. Sometimes you just have to play the cards you're dealt."

"I had a few pages of notes from editorial, dictating the broad strokes of what needed to happen: Hal goes nuts, wipes out the Corps, kills Sinestro and blows up the Central Battery and the Guardians. The details were up to me."

"I decided to have Hal kill Kilowog on camera, because I felt we needed to feel the loss of a more known character to make this thing have some weight. I decided that Ganthet would be the one Guardian to survive, since he'd had some previous exposure."

"I've never given much thought to what I would have done differently, because that wasn't a possibility at the time. As I said, though, more pages to tell the story would have been great. I had the most freedom to develop the new Green Lantern. DC just let me make up Kyle from scratch. The name, the look, the background, everything. I'm really thankful for as much leash as I had."

"I guess I saw Hal as a classic character who had turned into a dull character that not many readers cared about. Very often it's not the character itself, it's the portrayal. And once readers become bored with a portrayal, it's very hard to get them to come back. 'ET' certainly jump-started interest in GL, so from that viewpoint, it was a success."

"As to whether it was necessary, apparently sales were sliding enough that something drastic was needed. Having read what was originally written and drawn for issues #48-#50, I can say that those issues would not have stoked interest in the series, because those issues were more of the same. That's not a qualitative judgment. I'm just saying that the material wasn't exciting enough to attract new readers."

So there we have it. All the behind the scenes drama and info surrounding Emerald Twilight & the huge change to Hal Jordan as a character by DC Comics.

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greenlantern94to04 · 3 months

Text

Green Lantern #50 (March 1994)

"EMERALD TWILIGHT," Finale! Hal Jordan goes full supervillain, and nothing will ever be the same again (for about 10 years).

Last issue ended with Hal, usually the hero of this comic, attempting to steal the power of every Green Lantern in the universe via their Central Power Battery, only to be stopped by Sinestro, usually the villain of this comic. Hal, driven mad by the destruction of his city and obsessed with getting the power to un-destroy it, tells Sinestro he'll kill him if he doesn't get out of his way, but Sinestro ain't buying it -- he still thinks he's talking to the Hal Jordan who appeared in the Super Friends cartoons.

Hal demonstrates how serious he is by nearly blowing Sinestro's pants off with all those GL rings he stole last issue. Sinestro points out that one ring vs. ten rings isn't very sporting, so Hal actually drops the extra ones so they can have a fair fight. I guess resurrecting Hal's loved ones as soon as possible isn't as important as proving to a purple jackass that he can beat him without unfair advantages.

So, Hal and Sinestro start fighting as the increasingly worried Guardians of the Universe watch on. Sinestro tries to get under Hal's skin by telling him about the time the Guardians begged him to take this sad little Earthling and turn him into "half" the Green Lantern Sinestro was, but Hal isn't in the mood for fight scene banter right now. What starts as a classic power ring battle (constructs, energy blasts) soon devolves into two angry dudes beating the crap out of each other, until Hal finally gets his arms around Sinestro's neck...

...and breaks it. Hal doesn't even let out a dramatic "NOOOOOOOO," like a proper superhero. He just mutters "damn you" and walks away, leaving Sinestro's mangled body on the ground.

Now no one else stands between Hal and the Central Battery -- or so he thinks, until Kilowog comes back for another round. Despite having no ring, Kilowog gives Hal a good beating as he tries to make him think about the consequences of draining the Power Battery (you know, like murdering every GL currently in space or in a fight somewhere). Kilowog tells Hal he may have killed Sinestro, but he isn't evil like him yet. He can still stop. Hal replies: "No. I can't." Then he confirms it by turning one of his best friends into a pile of bones.

Hal drops his ring, saying he doesn't deserve it anymore... and besides, he won't need it after absorbing the Central Battery's power. Hal walks up to the Battery and all the Guardians are there, but without any GLs around, they can't really do anything but lecture him. With tears in his eyes, Hal tells them: "What's going to happen is going to happen. It has to. You can't stop it... and neither can I." It's like Hal knows they're all merely pawns to a higher power: yes, Green Lantern editor Kevin Dooley.

It's only once Hal has entered the battery that the other Guardians turn to Ganthet and are like "okay, fine, let's try that plan you mentioned last issue." As the Battery begins to collapse, the Guardians perform a ritual where they send all their lifeforce to Ganthet (which you can tell because they're getting even older and wrinklier). Finally, the Battery explodes and Hal emerges with a new costume, a new more villain-esque hairdo, and, although we don't know it yet, a new name: PARALLAX.

Parallax walks across the Guardians' shriveled up bodies and angrily steps on his old GL ring before flying off into space. Then, Ganthet rises from a pile of corpses and puts the broken ring back together (and gives it a redesign, while at it). He says that, as the last Guardian of the Universe, he'll make sure that his brothers' ideals live on, then turns himself into a ball of energy headed for Earth.

Meanwhile, the same young dude who saw Hal flying to Oa in GL #48 comes out of a nightclub to get some air and spots another "falling star" in the sky, only this one is actually falling. In fact, it's heading directly for him. It turns out to be Ganthet, who lands right in front of this understandably confused clubgoer, tells him "You shall have to do," and hands him Hal's refurbished ring.

Without saying much else, Ganthet turns back into green energy and disappears. After confirming that the hobo who was sleeping in this alley also saw "a blue little guy in a red dress disappear" (for what it's worth), the guy decides to put on the ring -- and suddenly finds himself wearing a Green Lantern costume. "Oh man," he says, "I think my life just got a lot more complicated."

Haha, you don't know the half of it, buddy.

Plotline-Watch:

Things we know about Kyle Rayner so far: 1) he likes Nine Inch Nails, based on his shirt, 2) sometimes he dances so hard that he has trouble breathing, and 3) if a little blue man in an alley tells him to do something, he does it. Perfect superhero material. Things we don't know about Kyle Rayner yet: that his name is Kyle Rayner.

I've always liked the contrast between the way Hal was recruited to the Corps in 1959's Showcase #22 (with a speech about how fearless and honest he is) and the way Kyle was recruited in this issue (with a shrug and a "you'll do").

The Guardians did approach Sinestro about training Hal, as told in Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn II #1 (1991), but there was no begging involved. In fact, they forced him to do it. I guess he showed him in the end when his trainee wound up destroying the Corps (and killing him, but still).

Kilowog (RIP) tells Hal "I know what it's like to lose yer home, the folks ya love..." and it's true: he lost his planet twice. Bolovax Vik was destroyed during Crisis on Infinite Earths, but Kilowog managed to preserve everyone's minds inside his ring. Then, as soon as he found a new planet for his people in Green Lantern Corps #218 (1987), Sinestro blew it up again, permanently killing everyone this time. By Hal's logic, Kilowog should have turned himself into a DOUBLE Parallax long ago.

Kilowog also mentions that Hal has gone into the Central Battery twice before: first to save the day at the end of Emerald Dawn, and then to try to save the day in Green Lantern #6 (1990), although it didn't work out so well the second time because a crazy Guardian had already taken that power for himself. You know, they really should have put a door on that thing or something.

I don't remember if the hobo who was sleeping in the alley when Kyle got the ring will appear again, but I'm giving him a tag anyway. Wonder if they've ever done an alternate reality story about what if he'd become the All-New Green Lantern...

Guy-Watch:

Guy Gardner: Warrior #18 marks the start of the "Emerald Fallout" storyline, which will reunite Guy with his old pal Hal. It kicks off with Guy's yellow power ring (which feeds off GL ring energy) suddenly exploding and showing him a vision of Hal killing Sinestro, Kilowog's corpse, and Parallax emerging from the Battery. Guy, however, seems more concerned with the fact that the ring isn't working now, so he takes it to Blue Beetle, who can't resist the opening for a dick joke.

Beetle ends up giving Guy a prototype of the EXTREME '90s armor he built for Booster Gold (incidentally, based on Kilowog's old designs), which is somehow even more EXTREME and more '90s. Guy has some trouble adjusting to it, but grows to like it.

Next, Guy visits his on-and-off girlfriend Ice at the Arctic Circle, where she's quite literally chilling as she figures some stuff out -- as seen in the Justice League America series, she recently lost her dad after he was murdered by her evil brother, who also died, and then she gained vaguely defined new powers for vaguely defined reasons. Also, she went from modest clothes and no cleavage to an exotic dancer suit and all of the cleavage. The '90s were hard on everyone.

Just when it looks like Ice and Guy are about to reconcile, there's a huge explosion that knocks her out -- it's that Militia asshole who tried to kill Guy last issue, who just shot himself out of a submarine's cannon to finish the job. Will Guy ever catch a break?! NEXT ISSUE: Not in this storyline, he won't.

#green lantern #ron marz #darryl banks #romeo tanghal #hal jordan #sinestro #guardians of the universe #kilowog #ganthet #kyle rayner #guy gardner #blue beetle #ice #justice league #militia #green lantern corps #quorum #hobo who was sleeping in the alley when kyle got the ring #oh yeah and also bivvix the talking crocodile green lantern dies in the guy gardner issue rip bivvix the talking crocodile green lantern

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