Green Lantern: Rebirth

Green Lantern: Rebirth is a six-issue monthly American comic book limited series written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Ethan Van Sciver. Published by DC Comics between October 2004 and May 2005, the series featured characters from throughout the sixty-year history of Green Lantern comics.

The storyline follows the "rebirth" of the Silver Age Green Lantern Hal Jordan as he overcomes fear itself in the form of the cosmic entity Parallax. The series starred various members of the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart and Guy Gardner. It revived elements of the Green Lantern mythos including the Guardians of the Universe, Kilowog and the villain Sinestro, while introducing new concepts such as the emotional spectrum. In addition, the GLC power ring's flaw of being unable to directly affect the color yellow is significantly weakened, allowing experienced Corps members to overcome it if they can conquer their fear.

In 1994, DC Comics decided to do away with Hal Jordan, who had been the primary Green Lantern of Earth since his first DC Comics appearance in 1959, and replace him with a new character to carry on the Green Lantern legacy, Kyle Rayner. The storyline, Emerald Twilight, which began in Green Lantern (vol. 3) #48 (January 1994), involved Hal Jordan descending into madness following the complete destruction of his home town, Coast City, by the villain Cyborg Superman. This caused Jordan to become the villain Parallax. Jordan went on a rampage on the planet Oa, the planetary citadel of the Guardians of the Universe, who oversee and administer the Green Lantern Corps. He killed some fellow Green Lanterns who opposed him and all the Guardians save for one, Ganthet. He also destroyed the Central Power Battery, with which all Green Lanterns recharge their power rings, and even killed the renegade former Green Lantern, Sinestro, whom Jordan himself had exposed as a criminal who used his power ring to enslave his planet and whom the Guardians apparently freed from his imprisonment in their Central Power Battery in a failed attempt to stop Jordan. Jordan then attempted to destroy all of existence so that he could recreate it to his liking in the 1994 miniseries and crossover storyline, Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!.

"Emerald Twilight", as scripted by Ron Marz, provoked severe outrage amongst many Green Lantern fans. While retaining Kyle Rayner as the sole remaining Green Lantern, DC responded with more than one attempt to redeem Jordan's image and hopefully placate the irate fans, first in the 1996 storyline The Final Night, in which Jordan sacrificed his life to re-ignite Earth's Sun, and then in the 1999 Day of Judgment miniseries, in which his soul, languishing in Purgatory, was chosen as the newest host for God's "Spirit of Vengeance", known as the Spectre. These attempts, however, failed to placate the fans.

In 2004, following the cancellation of The Spectre (vol. 4) featuring Hal Jordan, and a dropoff in sales of the Green Lantern comic, as well as the character's prominent appearance in the popular DC: The New Frontier, DC decided to return Hal Jordan as a Green Lantern. First, the Green Lantern monthly series was canceled with issue #181 and Geoff Johns was assigned to write Green Lantern: Rebirth, which would pave the way for Jordan's return as a Green Lantern. The series would also answer lingering questions about Jordan's character, as well as reveal the decades-long mystery of why the Green Lantern power rings, the powerful weapons assigned to each Lantern that allow them to conjure virtually any form of matter or energy, were unable to affect anything yellow in color.

Geoff Johns first announced his plans to resurrect Hal Jordan in an April 2004 issue of Wizard, noting that he had been working on the five-issue miniseries for a year and that it was due for an October release. As research for the story, Johns spent time with the test pilot department at Edwards Air Force Base and cleared his facts with a major.

The Green Lantern of Earth, Kyle Rayner, crashes at Highway Hill on Earth in a spacecraft, mumbling to the two hikers who find him, "It has a name". His power ring begins speaking, "Parallax is coming…"

Several strange and disturbing incidents begin to occur. Hal Jordan, pronouncing judgment on the villain Black Hand, becomes unable to focus clearly, and senses that something is wrong, telling his friend Oliver Queen (a.k.a. Green Arrow), "None of this should have happened. This isn't me. This isn't who I am." Meanwhile, Guy Gardner begins losing control of his Vuldarian shapeshifting abilities. Coast City, long destroyed, suddenly reappears to two pilots flying over it, though the only building that is restored is Hal Jordan's old home.