World Famous Comics: Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight & A New Dawn
Green Lantern: Emerald Twilight & A New Dawn
By: Ron Marz, Daryl Banks Publisher: DC Comics Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: DC Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 192 Publication Date: October 01, 2003 Reading Level: Young Adult Release Date: October 01, 2003
Starts Lame But Ends Strong Having first read Emerald Dawn, Emerald Dawn II, and The Road Back, I figured this story would be just as well-written. I found Emerald Twilight to be really weird compared to the previous titles. I know Hal Jordan suddenly snapped, but he seemed to over-react to the situation. Everything happened so fast. If there was more time taken to "accomplish" all of his tasks then I think I would have enjoyed it more. That being said, A New Dawn was very well-written and Kyle Rayner was a very interesting character to read about. I especially liked Superman's appearance with a mullet (quite humorous, indeed). Because of the cool idea of Emerald Twilight (but poorly executed) and the great execution of A New Dawn, I give it a fairly good rating.
Oh, man, people are gonna be MAAAAAD...! When Ron Marz took over from Gerard Jones and started writing the monthly Green Lantern title at DC, it was clear that, more than anything else, DC was saying "What we're doing is not working, and we need to change bigtime." Ultimately, Marz turned the main character--one whose power was always derived from fearlessness and willpower--and drove him over the edge, making him into a crazed villain who killed his friends, his employers and ultimately took his power to the "next level" to become what would have been an ideal villain for his former heroic self. Ultimately the story was interesting and compelling, and Hal's new costume and new path were provocative and cool, but the fact remained that a man driven by willpower, didn't seem likely to crack so suddenly or so easily. Older readers didn't buy it, and the protests began almost immediately when, instead of following Hal on his new path, they introduced a new Green Lantern and left Hal untouched for six months (until the beginning of the "Zero Hour" crossover). It's for this reason that the book skirts a five-star rating; in spite of strong writing, great characterization, an introduction of one of DC's best new characters in Kyle Rayner and stunning art by Darryl Banks and Romeo Tanghal, it's just not a believable story.
Darth Jordan I highly recomend this book to any Green Lantern fan who's wondered what happened when Hal Jordan became Parralax. It's one of the most gripping things I've ever seen in a trade paperback.
Half and half Back in the early 90's, DC was on a rampage. In an effort to become "edgier" and get new readers, DC went on a hero killing spree. Superman was killed by Doomsday (and later resurrected), Batman would be crippled by Bane, and this storyline, which surprisingly coaxed more groans out of fanboys than the previous two put together, found silver age Green Lantern Hal Jordan going crazy, killing his fellow Lanterns, stealing their powers, and becoming an omnipotent super villain called Paralax. Eventually, in the Zero Hour and Final Night arcs, Hal would come to his senses and sacrifice himself to save the world, but Emerald Twilight showcases the hero's fall from grace as his hometown of Coast City and everyone in it are wiped off the map, and he attempts to use the power of the Lanterns to bring it all back, even if he has to kill everyone in his way. As A New Dawn opens up, slacker artist Kyle Rayner becomes the new GL, and goes toe to toe with Major Force. Now here's the thing, writer Ron Marz was given the task of replacing Hal with a new, younger and hipper hero to take on the GL mantle, and for the most part, he does a good job illustrating Hal's fall. It's his characterization of Rayner which hurts this TPB (personally, I wouldn't be cracking jokes moments after I find my girlfriend dead in the fridge) as he is too immature for his own good. Fans hated Rayner through the years, but as the years went on, he became a very well written character, even better than GL's John Stewart and Guy Gardner. Though this TPB has no real conclusion (you'll have to check out Zero Hour and the Final Night to see how it all ends), Hal would be resurrected and become the Green Lantern once again when fan favorite writer Geoff Johns launched the Green Lantern: Rebirth mini-series, which made everything happening here more sensical, and one of the finest resurrections in all of comicdom.
this is a half good, half bad book the first Half is not very good and really to be honest is very bad, we have a hero who has been around since the silver age of comics turned into a killer who makes the joker look sane, all done in the space of 3 issues in a rushed editoral mandated story line, there is no reason for Hal to go nuts even, all his cloest friends and even his girlfriend was not even in the city when it blew.
but on the plus side you have Kyle, he gets more room, he's the new guy DC wanted, it's kind of like spider-man in a lot of ways for the DC universe, he gets this power, has no idea what to do, makes mistakes aned people he loves will pay for it, but it's good, problem is it's also short, just as he starts to really get going it ends, his rookie years would continue for another 100 issues or so.
there are many betetr green lantern trades to check out, but if you need to see jordons fall or kyles start then get it.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
