So, am I the only one who'll miss the "old" Parallax?

[west3man]

My guess is that I'm in the minority here, but I dug his powers and his costume... especially his costume. *randomly wonders why the hell Parallax had enough power to reboot the universe, but not to kill a sun-eater ... or reignite the sun or whatever* Oh well.

Anyway, I'm the only one, right?

(Btw, I can't decide if I liked the costume more before or after the cape.)

[Smarty Jones]

Personally, I think DC should have left well enough alone. I liked the idea of an established hero losing it and becoming an all-powerful entity more closer to a villain than he ever wanted to be.

[west3man]

Personally, I think DC should have left well enough alone. I liked the idea of an established hero losing it and becoming an all-powerful entity more closer to a villain than he ever wanted to be.

So far, I agree. However, even if they'd explained it in a way I dug more, I'd still miss ol' 'Lax. That was a cool-ass costume design.

Just... cool.

[Alan2099]

Hal was intresting as a villian. He actually had a motivationa nd a rather cool costume as Parrallax.

None of those things he ever had as Green Lantern.

[Brian Thomer]

I enjoyed Parallax, he had potential that DC never capitalized on, IMO.

[Maximus Brockman]

I gotta agree with you here. I like Hal and all, but he was cooler as Parallex. More over the top I suppose. Kinda like when the wrastlers turn heel. I don't think that they even began to touch on what could have been done with that character.

As an aside, I thought it was kinda lame that they bonded Hal/Parallex to the Spectre. I'm glad that's done with!

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I think Parallax had tons of potential but all of it was squandered by piss-poor writing that prevented him from ever being the interesting character he could have been.

His major league ass-whupping of Justice League Task Force in Emerald Fallout is the only time Parallax was able to shine in my view, every other appearance depicted him as unbelievably dim-witted and ineffectual for a guy with the combined knowledge and power of the Guardians of the Universe.

[west3man]

I think Parallax had tons of potential but all of it was squandered by piss-poor writing that prevented him from ever being the interesting character he could have been.

His major league ass-whupping of Justice League Task Force in Emerald Fallout is the only time Parallax was able to shine in my view, every other appearance depicted him as unbelievably dim-witted and ineffectual for a guy with the combined knowledge and power of the Guardians of the Universe.
He had their KNOWLEDGE, too?!

[Argonaut]

He had their KNOWLEDGE, too?!

Guardians focused more than just there power into the central power battery.

[Alan2099]

I did not know that.

Wow. This guiy should have been played up as a Darkseid level threat at least.

[west3man]

Guardians focused more than just there power into the central power battery.
Why would they put their knowledge and power in there, but only give the GLs access to the latter?

[Gauss]

The Guardians are an entire organization dedicated to not giving their Green Lanterns necessary information until the most dramatic moment possible. Having the Guardians bestow their knowledge on the GL Corps would spoil potentially hundreds of "The Guardians Have a Dirty Little Secret" stories... like the one we're reading now, for example! :)

Anywho... I mostly recall Parallax from Emerald Knights, where I thought he was a damn cool villain. I'm still of the opinion that he could be a damn cool villain, but to do so I think he needs to keep Hal's face to some extent. Or at least the armor. :D

[stealthwise]

Nah, I like Hal better as a hero. Those who claim that he's boring or have no motivation just haven't read enough Green Lantern methinks. Of course, I could just be blinded by childhood nostalgia and fanboy love for the character. :)

[west3man]

The Guardians are an entire organization dedicated to not giving their Green Lanterns necessary information until the most dramatic moment possible. Having the Guardians bestow their knowledge on the GL Corps would spoil potentially hundreds of "The Guardians Have a Dirty Little Secret" stories... like the one we're reading now, for example! :) I don't recall a story saying they put their knowledge in the central battery and I can't think of a good reason for them to do so other than sharing it with others.

Anywho... I mostly recall Parallax from Emerald Knights, where I thought he was a damn cool villain. I'm still of the opinion that he could be a damn cool villain, but to do so I think he needs to keep Hal's face to some extent. Or at least the armor. :D I'd prefer that to the yellow gremlin look.

[Kevinroc]

I did not know that.

Wow. This guiy should have been played up as a Darkseid level threat at least.

Darkseid is pretty pathetic these days.

[Kevinroc]

I don't know why you only now will be missing the old Parallax. Hal was "killed" off around 9 years ago in The Final Night. So the old Parallax has been dead for a long time.

[Ian J.N.]

I think they dropped the ball with Parallax. More often than not, he was portrayed as maniacally over-the-top evil like every other comic book super-villain. They should have stuck to the grey areas, like, what if all Hal wanted was to save the however many lives of Coast City, or what if Hal went around playing super-hero deus ex machina (curing the Joker of his insanity, for example). Would the other heroes stand in his way? At what point does 'doing what you think is right' become wrong? How much power is too much?

But no, we got a cackling madman with generic energy blast powers. Oooh, energy blasts.

Costume was cool, though. I'm sure we'll see it again. That's the nice thing about having established Parallax as a separate entity from Hal Jordan. Both characters can be brought back.

[west3man]

I don't know why you only now will be missing the old Parallax. Hal was "killed" off around 9 years ago in The Final Night. So the old Parallax has been dead for a long time.

I think you know what I mean, you sneaky devil, you.

[Kevinroc]

I think you know what I mean, you sneaky devil, you.

Well, Hal hasn't been a "villain" in a number of years. The whole point of The Final Night was to kill Hal until he could be brought back as a hero.

Sure, Hal as Spectre didn't exactly work.

It's not that Hal couldn't make an interesting villain. It's just that it wasn't executed very well. And it's obvious a lot of people weren't happy with the idea of Hal as a villain as he was killed off only a few years after he became a villain.

[west3man]

Well, Hal hasn't been a "villain" in a number of years. The whole point of The Final Night was to kill Hal until he could be brought back as a hero.

Sure, Hal as Spectre didn't exactly work.

It's not that Hal couldn't make an interesting villain. It's just that it wasn't executed very well. And it's obvious a lot of people weren't happy with the idea of Hal as a villain as he was killed off only a few years after he became a villain.... or maybe you DIDN'T know what I meant.

Parallax's entire identity has been compromised. He is no longer what it once was. What HE was and what IT is now are related only by way of a retcon. I miss the pre-retcon identity. Any time I reread the old stories, as I do from time to time, from now on I'll have to think of the yellow gremlin, instead of 'evil Hal.' Any time a new story comes about, it'll probably be with the yellow gremlin, instead of the cool costume.

I miss the old Parallax. Hopefully that makes more sense.

[Ian J.N.]

Parallax's entire identity has been compromised. He is no longer what it once was. What HE was and what IT is now are related only by way of a retcon. I miss the pre-retcon identity. Any time I reread the old stories, as I do from time to time, from now on I'll have to think of the yellow gremlin, instead of 'evil Hal.' Any time a new story comes about, it'll probably be with the yellow gremlin, instead of the cool costume.
I don't see how the old character is compromised. Maybe the how's and why's have been tweaked, but it's still "Evil Hal."

I think you're being unreasonably pessimistic about all this. As Kevinroc said, Parallax had been put to rest some time ago. Now with the Hal Jordan fans appeased, Parallax is actually usable again, and with such a flexible sci-fi concept to the character, the possibilities are limitless. For example, maybe the Evil Hal memory patterns and behavior will transfer over to the next host body. Forget the old. Wouldn't you rather have new Parallax stories?

The costume I'm almost positive we'll see again. It's a trademark of the character and universally loved besides.

[west3man]

I don't see how the old character is compromised. Maybe the how's and why's have been tweaked, but it's still "Evil Hal."

I think you're being unreasonably pessimistic about all this. As Kevinroc said, Parallax had been put to rest some time ago. Now with the Hal Jordan fans appeased, Parallax is actually usable again, and with such a flexible sci-fi concept to the character, the possibilities are limitless. For example, maybe the Evil Hal memory patterns and behavior will transfer over to the next host body. Forget the old. Wouldn't you rather have new Parallax stories?

The costume I'm almost positive we'll see again. It's a trademark of the character and universally loved besides.
1) Who he is has changed. That's a compromising of his character.
2) re: "unreasonably pessimistic," That's a weighty characterization considering the fact that I'm simply expecting any potentially new stories involving Parallax to focus on his NEW identity and appearance, instead of his old one. That seems to be a reasonable assumption to me, although it may be an inaccurate one.
3) I hope you're right about the potential for new, better stories involving the character. I'm not against that so much as I will simply miss him being who and what he was. Reading that as anything more than what it is would be unreasonably pessimistic.

[Gauss]

I can see where west3man is coming from on this. The original Parallax was your basic anti-hero: regardless of what kind of atrocities he committed, he had an unshakeable belief that the ultimate result of his efforts would benefit the greater good. The new Parallax, on the other hand, is an unredeemable, villainous entity concerned only with sowing fear among his victims before consuming them utterly.

That said, I can't say that I mind the change, insomuch as it is the direct and (comic book) logical result of what's going on in GL: Rebirth. For one thing, it changes nothing about the old Parallax's basic motivations, and actually adds to them in my opinion. Now rather than simply being a generic nutter, the old Parallax was Hal, a basically heroic man, operating under a crippling weight of doubt and fear thanks to the entity that had grafted itself onto his soul. If any writers ever tell stories about the old Parallax again, I hope that this aspect is played up.

Moreover, I simply don't think that Parallax as he was could be a viable villain now that Hal has been restored (and while that sounds so obvious as to be stupid, remember that the Zero Hour version of Parallax could turn up at any time he wanted to). Parallax was Hal fallen from grace, so now that Hal's redeeming himself, Parallax loses a lot of his impact.

While the new Parallax no longer has his anti-hero status, he does have a workable motivation, a personality seperate from Hal's, and strong ties to the Green Lantern Corps, things he'll need in order to be a writeable villain in the future. Now just so long as they keep his "yellow fear monster" appearance from turning up too often... ;)

[Kevinroc]

... or maybe you DIDN'T know what I meant.

Parallax's entire identity has been compromised. He is no longer what it once was. What HE was and what IT is now are related only by way of a retcon. I miss the pre-retcon identity. Any time I reread the old stories, as I do from time to time, from now on I'll have to think of the yellow gremlin, instead of 'evil Hal.' Any time a new story comes about, it'll probably be with the yellow gremlin, instead of the cool costume.

I miss the old Parallax. Hopefully that makes more sense.

I know what you meant. You liked the Hal as villain idea. But he hasn't been that in a long time. And it's obvious a number of people at DC hated the Hal as villain idea. That's the whole reason Hal was killed off in The Final Night.

[west3man]

I know what you meant. You liked the Hal as villain idea. But he hasn't been that in a long time. There are people I've known in real life that I haven't seen in a looong time. That doesn't stop me from missing them - even those I haven't been friends with in a looong time.

And it's obvious a number of people at DC hated the Hal as villain idea. That's the whole reason Hal was killed off in The Final Night. None of this has anything to do with MY feelings about the pre-retcon version of Parallax, so I'll just say, "Okay."

Okay.

[west3man]

I can see where west3man is coming from on this. The original Parallax was your basic anti-hero: regardless of what kind of atrocities he committed, he had an unshakeable belief that the ultimate result of his efforts would benefit the greater good. The new Parallax, on the other hand, is an unredeemable, villainous entity concerned only with sowing fear among his victims before consuming them utterly.

That said, I can't say that I mind the change, insomuch as it is the direct and (comic book) logical result of what's going on in GL: Rebirth. For one thing, it changes nothing about the old Parallax's basic motivations, and actually adds to them in my opinion. Now rather than simply being a generic nutter, the old Parallax was Hal, a basically heroic man, operating under a crippling weight of doubt and fear thanks to the entity that had grafted itself onto his soul. If any writers ever tell stories about the old Parallax again, I hope that this aspect is played up.

Moreover, I simply don't think that Parallax as he was could be a viable villain now that Hal has been restored (and while that sounds so obvious as to be stupid, remember that the Zero Hour version of Parallax could turn up at any time he wanted to). Parallax was Hal fallen from grace, so now that Hal's redeeming himself, Parallax loses a lot of his impact.

While the new Parallax no longer has his anti-hero status, he does have a workable motivation, a personality seperate from Hal's, and strong ties to the Green Lantern Corps, things he'll need in order to be a writeable villain in the future. Now just so long as they keep his "yellow fear monster" appearance from turning up too often... ;) Bingo. That's what I don't wanna see - the "yellow fear monster."

Even having him keep the Hal-allax look would have to be done very well for it to work. Hal-allax's ability to look into the future, plus his ignorance of his own "possession" doesn't add up to a cohesive villainous identity, imo. That doesn't mean a skilled writer couldn't do it, though.

Heck, I've always had an issue with Hal-allax's ability to look into the future, but utter ignorance of the fact that he'd "lose." Zero Hour is the only thing I can think of to partially explain his ignorance of his failure, but considering the fact that he's visited the post-Final Night era (or was that just post-Zero Hour?), that doesn't make a lot of sense, either.

[steeler80]

Actually, keeping the old Parallax look might make for some interesting stories because it would make Hal have to confront even moreso, what he did as Parallax.

Now I know, if I'm reading Rebirth right, that Hal was under the control of Parallax and that it wasn't Hal actually doing these things. But I don't know if that's enough for Hal not to feel a sense of guilt. I think, considering the type of man he is, that Hal would still feel responsible, even though his actions were being controlled. Something along the lines of "I should've been stronger. I should've been able to fight it off."

Of course, I've not kept up with Hal during his time as the Spectre. He might be over all that guilt now.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

1) Who he is has changed. That's a compromising of his character.
.

Considering turning Hal Jordan into a mass muderering lunatic whose dialogue was limited to variations of "I only want to make things RIGHT" went well beyond conpromising the original character that Parallax was supposed to be in the first place, I don't feel too bad about this.

To me, this is like someone saying the return of the Bruce Wayne Batman was compromising the character of the Azrael/Batman or the return of the original Superman was a compromising the Superman Blue incarnation.

[redlantern2051]

I'll be disappointed if Hal doesn't end up fighting Parallax, every now and then, and NOT the yellow monster but the Hal face with the grey hair. Why? Many reasons. But HAl will still feel some guilt, because in some ways he is still cupable, given his heoric streak. He, the Man Without Fear, will always be like "Couldn't I have been stronger?"

And as well, I just bought the new Hal and Parallax action figures! :-) I love Hal as a hero, but "the idea", and I mean the idea not the execution, of the Parallax character, was quite groundbreaking.

But hey I just love Hal, anyway. :-)

[fumetti]

Parallax had AWESOME potential.

Getting past Marz/Dooley's really idiotic story of Hal going crazy, Parallax could have been a chance to really explore a new phase of Hal's growth.

What happens to someone when they gain the power of a god? Give that power to a police officer and--no matter how well intentioned--things will get interesting.

But as has been said already, the character got mired down by a bunch of dumb stories.

And am I the only one who sided with Hal in Zero Hour? Since when did reversing time to save a million lives become evil? Superman's a hero for reversing time to restore a single life (Superman the Movie), but Hal's a villain? Plus, I wanted the Yvonne Craig Batgirl's crippled back restored as well.

[west3man]

Considering turning Hal Jordan into a mass muderering lunatic whose dialogue was limited to variations of "I only want to make things RIGHT" went well beyond conpromising the original character that Parallax was supposed to be in the first place, I don't feel too bad about this.

To me, this is like someone saying the return of the Bruce Wayne Batman was compromising the character of the Azrael/Batman or the return of the original Superman was a compromising the Superman Blue incarnation.
That's understandable. *marks you down in the "No." column*

[bannermanonemillion]

He had their KNOWLEDGE, too?!

Yeah-huh. Ol' 'Lax said so in ZH when he was yammering about recreating the universe.

What? You thought he had a copy of "Rebuilding Space-Time For Dummies" lying around? :D

[Forefinger]

I gotta agree with you here. I like Hal and all, but he was cooler as Parallex. More over the top I suppose. Kinda like when the wrastlers turn heel. I don't think that they even began to touch on what could have been done with that character.

As an aside, I thought it was kinda lame that they bonded Hal/Parallex to the Spectre. I'm glad that's done with!

Thats exactly what I thought about the whole thing, "heel turn". I wish that they had left him around the DCU as a cosmic level anti-hero who showed up on Earth periodically instead of the whole Specter thing. I do think that Johns has done an excellent job in Rebirth explaining this all away though.

[amphetamine]

Maybe with different writing, I could have liked Parallax. My big beef was that it was too rushed, too contrived. It took what, something like two years to build up to breaking the Bat? If Bane had shown up, went "OMG I PWN J00" and smashed Batman over three issues, I wouldn't have believed it, and I wouldn't have liked it. So why couldn't they have done the same thing with Hal? Keep making the Guardians more and more controlling, create rifts and tension among the Corps members, push down on Hal to the point where even the fans say, "You know, it's about time someone took down those little blue punks."

Instead I get a guy who's whining about the past (even though not a month before he said he was ready to leave the past behind).

They should have stuck to the grey areas, like, what if all Hal wanted was to save the however many lives of Coast City, or what if Hal went around playing super-hero deus ex machina (curing the Joker of his insanity, for example). Would the other heroes stand in his way? At what point does 'doing what you think is right' become wrong? How much power is too much?

I agree -- It could have been really cool to have a lawful good "villain," if you'll pardon the D+D reference.

Actually, keeping the old Parallax look might make for some interesting stories because it would make Hal have to confront even moreso, what he did as Parallax.

I think, considering the type of man he is, that Hal would still feel responsible, even though his actions were being controlled. Something along the lines of "I should've been stronger. I should've been able to fight it off."

One of the best Hal-Spectre stories (and, sadly, that's not saying much) was the Joker: Last Laugh crossover issue, in that it had Hal literally battling his dark side.

It's a cool conflict -- he can't doubt himself, because a Green Lantern's power leaves zero room for self-doubt. But it'll always be there... It'll become Hal's Jason Todd, in a manner of speaking.

I agree, I hope they keep Parallax around. I mean, don't beat us over the head with it (like I hear some Bat-fans complaining about the overuse of Hush), but I can see Parallax joining the rogue's gallery right alongside Sinestro.

[Viking Bastard]

Parallax was like Venom. He looked *so* kewl but sucked *so* hard.

[hondobrode]

The way Johns is doing it in Rebirth is the best anyone could do it with how it was set up until this point. I'm loving it, but.......

I always liked Hal and Green Lantern but really thought Parallax made a LOT of sense; moreso than 99 % of the villains out there. I would probably think the same thing ! Is that "evil" ? DC bowing to the fanboys disappoints me the same way Marvel did over the entire Scarlet Spider storyline (the first I had been truly excited about Spider-Man since Stern wrote the title 20 years earlier).

Oh well. Maybe we can still have Evil Yellow Impurity Parallax and good ol Hal too.

I can't wait for his new title and the inevitable GL Corps with Kyle too.