Green Lantern FAQ

[SKETCHSANCHEZ]

I just read showcase Green Lantern and i got a few general questions. Most of them are a "when did this change?" type of variety...

Hal used to put on his uniform like one would put on clothes then charge the ring...when did it change that the suit would suddenly appear on the wearer?

Hal called himself green lantern because of what the battery looked like, even the corp werent known as "Green lantern corps". Even the guardians, when they first summoned Hal, said that they were looking for him but instead found a person "called green lantern" was now wearing the ring...they didnt realize, at first (until Hal told them), that they were one and the same. So, when did this change? At one point did Green Lantern become the name for all of the corps?

Also, the oath...they did a story explaining how hal came up with it, but i've seen the entire corps repeat the oath plenty of times so when did hals personal oath become the oath of the corps?

[GreenArroW21]

hey i've been reading Green Arrow Tradeback comics( i guess you could call it that) i want to start reading about the green lantern i remember seeing him once or twice on the cartoon, but i'm starting to get interested and would like to know what you would recommend for someone starting up on green lantern.
i was thinking about buying GREEN LANTERN: LEGACY - THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF HAL JORDAN but i thought since it had the word LAST in the title that it would be a bad place to start off. i want to buy tradebacks. so suggestions??? maybe a link to where i can purchase your recommendation??

[Bored at 3:00AM]

hey i've been reading Green Arrow Tradeback comics( i guess you could call it that) i want to start reading about the green lantern i remember seeing him once or twice on the cartoon, but i'm starting to get interested and would like to know what you would recommend for someone starting up on green lantern.
i was thinking about buying GREEN LANTERN: LEGACY - THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF HAL JORDAN but i thought since it had the word LAST in the title that it would be a bad place to start off. i want to buy tradebacks. so suggestions??? maybe a link to where i can purchase your recommendation??

Green Lantern: Legacy - The Last Will & Testament of Hal Jordan is not very good in my opinion and is certainly not written with new readers in mind. It's written for hardcore Hal Jordan fans and nobody else that I could see.

Start with Green Lantern: Rebirth, it explains everything you need to know about all the various Green Lantern characters, guest-stars half the DCU (with Green Arrow being very, very prominent--almost to the point that he's the co-star of the story) and is a great introduction to the Green Lantern world. After that, I'd keep going with Green Lantern: No Fear, the first storyarc of the current Green Lantern comic. Then, you could move on to Green Lantern Corps: Recharge, which focuses on Guy Gardner and the alien Corps members in outer-space.

If you really like Hal Jordan and want to check out his earliest stories, the Green Lantern: Showcase TPB is a cheap collection his 1960s comics.

If you dig Kyle Rayner, I'd recommend Green Lantern: New Dawn, which is Kyle's first storyarc.

If you dig John Stewart, ask your local comic shop if they've got a collection of Green Lantern: Mosaic for cheap, which they most likely will (issues of Mosaic tend to pop up in every cheapie bin I've ever looked through).

Enjoy!

[kello]

I have a question:

How old is Hal Jordan supposed to be now? I thumbed through GL the other day and I noticed that he didn't have the gray in his hair anymore. Since he got resurrected, was he also get de-aged?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I have a question:

How old is Hal Jordan supposed to be now? I thumbed through GL the other day and I noticed that he didn't have the gray in his hair anymore. Since he got resurrected, was he also get de-aged?

Unless I'm mistaken, to be a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force, you have to have a college degree, so Hal was at least 22 years old when he joined the USAF, then you need a minimum of five years under your belt before you can even be considered as a test pilot. So, at the youngest, Hal was in his late twenties by the time Abin Sur gave him the ring at the start of the Silver Age. Due to the restraints of keeping Superman & Batman eternally in their mid-thirties, the Silver Age will always take place around "10 to 13 Years Ago" no matter what. This would make Hal in his early forties. However, as revealed in JLA, when both Hal & Ollie were resurrected, their bodies were rejuvenated, knocking about 10 years of wear and tear off their age. As a result, Hal & Ollie are two middle-aged old farts running around in thirty-something year old bodies.

[Lorendiac]

I have a question about possible "retirement benefits" for members of the old Corps who left active duty voluntarily after long years of faithful service (as opposed to getting tossed out for bad behavior, as happened to Sinestro).

Recently, on another forum, someone told me that back in the heyday of the classic Green Lantern Corps (the 60s, the 70s, the early-to-mid 80s), it was stated more than once that when a veteran GL "retired" from active duty as the defender of a space sector, he was usually allowed to keep his power ring and the lantern-shaped battery that would let him recharge it whenever he wanted to.

I either had never heard about that or else had forgotten any reference to it I'd ever seen. Does anyone remember any old Silver Age or Bronze Age stories that featured "retired" Green Lanterns who still had rings they could charge up and use again any time they felt like it?

I had always assumed that if Abin Sur, for instance, had survived that emergency landing in the desert but had then said to the Guardians, "I want to quit being a GL," then they just would have taken his ring away from him and given it to Hal, instead of letting Abin Sur go home with his old power ring and battery. But I could be wrong, certainly. Anybody remember any evidence one way or the other?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

I have a question about possible "retirement benefits" for members of the old Corps who left active duty voluntarily after long years of faithful service (as opposed to getting tossed out for bad behavior, as happened to Sinestro).

Recently, on another forum, someone told me that back in the heyday of the classic Green Lantern Corps (the 60s, the 70s, the early-to-mid 80s), it was stated more than once that when a veteran GL "retired" from active duty as the defender of a space sector, he was usually allowed to keep his power ring and the lantern-shaped battery that would let him recharge it whenever he wanted to.

I either had never heard about that or else had forgotten any reference to it I'd ever seen. Does anyone remember any old Silver Age or Bronze Age stories that featured "retired" Green Lanterns who still had rings they could charge up and use again any time they felt like it?

I had always assumed that if Abin Sur, for instance, had survived that emergency landing in the desert but had then said to the Guardians, "I want to quit being a GL," then they just would have taken his ring away from him and given it to Hal, instead of letting Abin Sur go home with his old power ring and battery. But I could be wrong, certainly. Anybody remember any evidence one way or the other?

Retired Green Lanterns do not get to keep their old rings (although it is entirely possibly that someone wrote a story in which this happened, it contradicts every other story I've read about Green Lanterns retiring or stepping-down). There was a touching Gil Kane-drawn "Tales of the Green Lantern Corps" story about the last day of a Green Lantern, which ended with his retirement ceremony on Oa, in which he passed on his ring to his new successor. Similarly, when Hal stepped-down as GL during the mid-eighties, his ring was passed on to John. Hal didn't get to keep the ring.

[Beatnikman]

My 5 year old son just asked me a GL-related question that I didn't have an answer for, and so I'm coming to you for help.

He asked "What does Green Lantern do with his ring when he's not being Green Lantern?"

I can think of at least one instance when Kyle Rayner was nearly mugged for his ring, as it was plainly visible to Central Park muggers (and presumably everyone else).

I know Hal generally doesn't have it with him when he flies jets (although I think that's changed recently), but the rest of the time does he just carry it in his pocket?

I seem to recall some instance of the ring being invisible until such time that the wielder willed it to be visible, although it's entirely possible that I'm not remembering that accurately.

I think I'd have a hard time buying that not only were Green Lantern and Hal Jordan never in the same room, but Hal just happens to be such a big GL fan that he has his own authentic-looking replica ring, and still no one puts 2 and 2 together, y'know?

So, what's the right answer?

[phantom1592]

My 5 year old son just asked me a GL-related question that I didn't have an answer for, and so I'm coming to you for help.

He asked "What does Green Lantern do with his ring when he's not being Green Lantern?"

I can think of at least one instance when Kyle Rayner was nearly mugged for his ring, as it was plainly visible to Central Park muggers (and presumably everyone else).

I know Hal generally doesn't have it with him when he flies jets (although I think that's changed recently), but the rest of the time does he just carry it in his pocket?

I seem to recall some instance of the ring being invisible until such time that the wielder willed it to be visible, although it's entirely possible that I'm not remembering that accurately.

I think I'd have a hard time buying that not only were Green Lantern and Hal Jordan never in the same room, but Hal just happens to be such a big GL fan that he has his own authentic-looking replica ring, and still no one puts 2 and 2 together, y'know?

So, what's the right answer?

Actually your right on all counts. It tends to change with each writer. Sometimes Hal kept it in his pocket, sometimes he kept it inviisible, Sometimes I beleive he kept it in his locker with the Battery.

Kyle just Wore it if I'm not mistaken, and yes pretty much anyone who wanted to know his identity figured it out. Guy I'm pretty sure just wore it too but he never bothered with any kind of Secret ID. No idea about John. He never bothered to hide himself either so he probably just wore it.

[Retrodork]

I've got a question about the Green Lantern from J586, Medphyll. He's the one who has a humanoid body but a one-eyed Mr. Potato Head cranium with pinapple stalks shooting out the top. The best story featuring Medphyll was during the mid-80's in an issue of Swamp Thing when Earth's elemental wound up on J586 and accidentally caused a whole mess of trouble before reaching a peaceful accord with the arboreal GL.
But barely a year later (1988), we see Medphyll as a de-powered GL (this is after the conclusion of the original GL Corps series wherein the central power battery got destroyed) and he gets killed when his ship is fired on by war craft from the alien alliance invasion fleet. Cut to a couple of years after that (early 90's) and Medphyll is seen alive and well as a member of the Darkstars, arguing with another ex-GL about whether or not Hal Jordan could ever be redeemed. Then we flash forward again to the late 90's and Medphyll appears yet again, this time in James Robinson's Starman, wherein he's become corrupt and turned traitor, forcing Jack Knight to kill him in self-defense. Medphyll became one of my favorite alien GL's after the Swamp Thing appearance, but these subsequent contradictory depictions have left me a little confused. Will the real Medphyll from J586 please stand up???

[pc999]

One about a GL enemy, can it be?

What are really Effigy´s powers? I mean, he (his powers) seems vunerable to water and lack of oxygen, but we saw him using them in the vacum of space and under tons of ice. Also, he powers sometimes seems to act like fire, sometimes like something solid (or tangible) but that does not burn, and sometimes he even seems to do a "matter like thing" with it (if I recal he does a red batle armor that resembles his uniform, with his powers). Can he do all that a green lantern can do with his energy (eg convert it in physical prowess, varios forms of energy etc... ie "anything", it would make sense if he his to be some sort of conterpart to the GLC, made by the controllers)? Does he also have "normal" pyrokinesis/genesis?

[ZNOP]

Can a ring create another ring? Ex. Can Hal or another Green Lantern create a working duplicate ring as a backup or for someone else?

[DarkLantern17]

Actually your right on all counts. It tends to change with each writer. Sometimes Hal kept it in his pocket, sometimes he kept it inviisible, Sometimes I beleive he kept it in his locker with the Battery.

Kyle just Wore it if I'm not mistaken, and yes pretty much anyone who wanted to know his identity figured it out. Guy I'm pretty sure just wore it too but he never bothered with any kind of Secret ID. No idea about John. He never bothered to hide himself either so he probably just wore it.

Hal kept in in his pocket until Green Lantern (vol 2) #11, when a hole in his pocket caused him to lose the ring (fortunately a kid found it). At the end of that story Hal decided to keep it invisible on his finger.

DL17

[Lupek]

Has Mother Juno ever appeared in any stories beyond the Death Be My Destiny story in Green Lantern #81? If so, what is her history since that story?

thanks in advance

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Has Mother Juno ever appeared in any stories beyond the Death Be My Destiny story in Green Lantern #81? If so, what is her history since that story?

thanks in advance

Mother Juno has never appeared since that story, although I think the character is begging to return, along with Sinestro's sorcerous sister, the Witch Queen, who has also never reappeared again,

Geoff Johns has already stated that Sinestro's sister will return at some point. Too much potential there given the awesomeness of Sinestro Corps Wars