From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Emerald Twilight was a controversial 1994 comic book story told in Green Lantern (vol. 3) #48-50, written by Ron Marz, and published by DC Comics. It caused great consternation among comic fandom, as it transformed the well-established silver age super-hero Hal Jordan into a traitorous homicidal villain. It also followed a tradition going back to Marvel Comics' Dark Phoenix saga of the editor on a book overruling the writer, with results that met with outrage from readers.

Contents 1 Behind the Scenes 2 The Fall 3 Aftermath 4 Rebirth

Originally Emerald Twilight was scripted by Gerard Jones and according to Previews Vol. III #8 (Aug 1993) and the November 1993 Comics Scoreboard, was to involve two sets of the extraterrestrial altruists known as the Guardians and Hal Jordan, a member of their intergalactic police force, the Green Lanterns, having to choose which set was real. Editor Kevin Dooley reportedly thought that this story was not interesting enough to draw new readers and had Ron Marz write the Emerald Twilight story that eventually saw print. Gerard Jones put up both his plot outline and the portions of the script that had been written but DC forced the removal of Jones' detailed script, leaving only the plotline.

In Green Lantern #46, as part of the "Reign of the Supermen" storyline, the extraterrestrial villain Mongul had teamed up with a Cyborg Superman that had been passing himself off as the real Superman in using a series of bombs to destroy Coast City, Hal Jordan's home, their intention having been to use Coast City as one of four way-stations for a giant engine, and ultimately transform Earth into the massive spaceship Warworld. Hal was not able to save his hometown. In issue #47, he teamed up with Green Arrow for a completely different mission, and at the end of the issue, his thoughts once again turn to Coast City.

Issue #48 began with Hal in the center of what used to be Coast City, clutching the remains of a doll - the only physical evidence of the seven million people who once lived there. In a moment of pure anguish, Hal uses his power ring to re-create Coast City, down to the people who had previously died, including his father. When his ring’s energy ran out, one of the Guardians of the Universe contacted him via a holographic projection to tell him he was in violation of one of the principle rules of the Green Lantern Corps, which forbids Lanterns from using their rings for personal gain. Enraged, Hal siphoned off the energy from the projection and made his way to the Guardians’ planet Oa, with the intent of bleeding off all the energy from the Main Power Battery in order to permanently re-create Coast City. Issue #49 saw him going up against the entire Green Lantern Corps, each of whom fell against Hal, until he got to Oa.

Issue #50 saw Hal battle the renegade former Green Lantern Sinestro on Oa, who had been previously imprisoned in the Main Battery, but released by the Guardians to stop Jordan. Jordan killed Sinestro, as well as his fellow Green Lantern Kilowog. The Guardians, having realized that their cause was lost, had given all their remaining energy to the Guardian named Ganthet (who became the sole Guardian) after this energy transference resulted in the death of the rest of them. Hal took all the energy in the Central Power Battery, and when he emerged from it, he had a new costume and took the name Parallax.

Ganthet went to Earth and found an illustrator named Kyle Rayner (who had been briefly introduced at the end of issue #48 when he saw Hal fly off and mistook his green flight streak for a shooting star) and gave him the last remaining power ring, thus making Kyle the last Green Lantern. As Parallax, Hal Jordan became a recurring villain in the DC universe. The character played a central role during the Zero Hour storyline, and in displaying a final act of heroism, he sacrificed his life to reignite the Sun at the conclusion of the ‘’Final Night’’ storyline. Redeemed in the eyes of many of his fellow heroes, he received a hero's funeral. Not fit either for heaven or hell, Jordan’s soul was designated for purgatory, until he became the newest host for the spirit of God’s vengeance known as The Spectre, at the end of the Day of Judgment limited series.

Emerald Twilight was despised by many in the comic fan community, as it was considered both ham-handed and contemptuous of the character of Hal Jordan. Writer Marz endured mass derision for having penned the tale, though it was also felt that he did the best he could with what was ultimately an editorial mandate to massively revamp the Green Lantern character in the face of dwindling sales. He easily survived the controversy, as seen by his subsequently work both on the Green Lantern series that followed Emerald Twilight, as well as his runs on books such as Sojourn and Witchblade.

Because of his perceived "usurper" status, the new Green Lantern Kyle Rayner was widely opposed, fans of the former status quo going so far as to submit a petition demanding the reinstatement of Hal Jordan. The editorial decision to shake up the Green Lantern series was eventually justified by revitalized sales and critical acclaim for the series. However, the perceived disrespect for Hal Jordan was a continuing blot on DC's reputation regardless, and it is arguable that Parallax's noble death and subsequent recasting back into a heroic role were attempts to atone for this blunder. Eventually, DC made steps to undo Hal Jordan's fall completely, first introducing a time-traveling younger version of the character and then finally reinstating both Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps with Green Lantern: Rebirth.

In the 2004/2005 miniseries Green Lantern: Rebirth, written by Geoff Johns, and penciled by Ethan Van Sciver, DC finally brought back Hal Jordan as the "star" Green Lantern of Earth, and exonerated him of his crimes. Rebirth revealed that Parallax was actually an ancient demonic parasitic entity dating back to the dawn of time, that actually was the sentient embodiment of fear, and which traveled from world to world, feeding off the fear of sentient beings, and causing entire civilizations to destroy themselves out of paranoia.

It was this creature, yellow in color, which the Guardians of the Universe imprisoned within the central Power Battery on Oa using fear's opposite energy, willpower. Parallax had lain dormant for billions of years, his true nature covered up by the Guardians to prevent anyone from trying to free it, and thus, it had eventually come to be referred to as simply "the yellow impurity." This was the reason why the rings were useless against the color yellow: Parallax weakened its power over the corresponding spectrum, and hence only someone capable of overcoming great fear could master the power ring. When the renegade Sinestro was later imprisoned in the Power Battery himself, his Qwardian yellow power ring tapped into Parallax's power and awakened it, allowing it to reach out to Hal Jordan through Jordan's own ring when Jordan was at his weakest, spending years influencing him, causing him increasing self-doubt, and even causing his hair to turn white at the temples. Parallax's control over Jordan exploded with Jordan's grief over the destruction of Coast City, and it was Parallax who was responsible for Jordan's subsequent murderous activity, his apparent killing of Sinestro (which was later revealed to be an illusion on Sinestro's part, created as the final stage of Jordan's susceptibility to the impurity in order to break his will), and Jordan's destruction of the Central Battery, which allowed Parallax to graft itself onto Jordan's soul.

It was because Parallax was now free that Kyle Rayner's own ring did not have any weakness against yellow, and the Spectre explained to Jordan that it drew in Jordan's soul in hopes of eradicating the parasitic Parallax from it. The Spirit of Vengeance eventually removed Parallax from Jordan's soul, and itself from Jordan, departing in order to move onto the next recipient of the Spirit, while Ganthet guided Jordan's soul back to his own body, which he had preserved after Jordan reignited the Sun during Final Night.

His soul and thoughts finally clear for the first time in a long time, Jordan was resurrected as a mortal human again, once again taking his place as a Green Lantern, the white portions of his hair even restored to their original brown. He fought Sinestro, who revealed himself as alive for the first time since his faked death, forcing the renegade to retreat back into the antimatter universe. Together, Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, Guy Gardner and Kilowog freed Ganthet, whom Parallax had possessed after his expulsion from Jordan's soul, and imprisoned the parasite back in the Central Power Battery on Oa.

DC Comics subsequently began a new Green Lantern starting with issue #1 (July 2005), with Hal Jordan once again the focal Green Lantern of the book. Trying to rebuild his life, Hal Jordan has moved to the almost deserted Coast City, which is slowly being reconstructed.