Retro Comics are Awesome

[andersonh1]

Action Comics #6
“The Man Who Sold Superman”

This story was published in 1938, but it’s so topical it could have been written in the modern day. It’s all about mass merchandising and product placement and making money off of celebrity.

A man named Nick Williams shows up at the Daily Star to make an offer: he’s Superman’s manager and will give the Star exclusive early rights to Superman’s exploits if the Star will publicize them. Yeah, Williams is a con man, running a scam, and he just happened to pick the paper where the real Superman works in disguise as Clark Kent. Poor sap. He’s had Superman’s name slapped on a brand of gasoline, a brand of car, a radio series, and other unnamed products. Clark expresses disbelief that Williams is on the level. Williams offers to let Clark interview Superman, and naturally the secretly amused Clark is all for that. The interview is set for that evening.

Lois gets wind of the interview from a blonde office-boy with a bowtie (a prototype Jimmy Olsen?) and, as usual, is determined to see Superman. She agrees to a date with a shocked Clark, but while on the date, she drugs Clark’s drink so she can steal the interview with Superman. Seriously. This is one obsessed woman. She goes for the interview, and when “Superman” appears, she knows immediately that he’s a fake because she’s met the real deal. Lois isn’t smart enough to keep her mouth shut, and Williams declares that she knows too much and has to be taken care of. Fortunately for Lois, the drug had no effect on Superman. He faked falling asleep, then followed her, rescuing her from Williams and the actor pretending to be Superman.

Lois in peril: Yep, and once again it’s because she’s obsessed with Superman and because she talks too much

Employer of the month: Clark and Lois are still at the Daily Star

Overall: The mass merchandising/celebrity endorsement storyline hasn’t dated at all. Lois drugging Clark is surprisingly ruthless and criminal of her, and shows just how obsessed she is with Superman. She’s like a stalker. Superman treats the whole thing as a game, and is amused rather than angry. This is one of my early favorites

[andersonh1]

Action Comics #7
“Superman Joins the Circus”

It’s back to small-time villainy with this story as Clark Kent overhears a couple of thugs trying to extort money from a down on his luck circus owner. So Superman actually joins the circus and performs for the crowd in order to boost attendance. He’s a bit of a jerk when he goes about getting the job though, as he insults the circus strongman and then tosses a animal wagon/cage into the distance to show how strong he is. Presumably it is smashed to bits when it lands and the circus owner is out one wagon.

I love how people in these comics can never figure out who Superman is by his costume… it always takes a feat of strength to make them realize that he’s Superman. Then again, he’s not much of a public figure. People have heard of him and his exploits, and the police certainly know who he is, but it’s easier to believe he’s something of an urban legend when it’s 1939 and there aren’t digital cameras everywhere and the internet isn’t a factor.

Lois in peril: Yep, she tries to sneak into the circus tent to see Superman, but ends up being caught by one of the crooks.

Coloring errors: I don’t normally point these out since the art is so often inconsistent in these early stories, but Superman wears a pair of yellow boots in this story. I’d say he borrowed them from Barry Allen, except that Barry won’t be created for about 20 years.

Time to have a chat with HR: It’s not just Lois that thinks Clark is a pushover. Don’t put up with Curly messing with your tie, “Clarkie”! Go to HR and get him fired! Or, just yank off all his clothes and leave him in his boxers. That’ll work.

Overall: the stakes are certainly small in this story. Superman basically helps a small businessman keep his circus running, thus keeping him and everyone who works for him employed. But that’s Golden Age Superman for you, standing up for the little guy and helping people who can’t help themselves. I like this version of Superman and his priorities.

Action Comics #8
“Superman in the Slums”

Clark Kent is a spectator in Juvenile Court where Frankie Marello is sentenced to two years in juvenile for assault and battery. His gang of friends are watching and decide that “Gimpy” let them down, and they’re going to have a few words with him. Gimpy is the local fence who employs the boys to steal for him, but now plans to turn them all in to the police since they’ve begun to threaten them for not sticking up for Frankie like he promised.

Superman intervenes of course, roughing up Gimpy and then taking the boys off for “a lesson”, including one that was already arrested by the police. He pulls the boy out of the back of the paddy wagon! He runs along phone lines and tries to scare the boys to death, but they actually like the experience and want to do it again!

Every now and then, Golden Age Superman goes a little psycho, and this is one of those instances. As he’s talking to the boys, a newspaper blows by, and Superman sees the headline: Cyclone destroys Florida neighborhood. Government rebuilds. Superman has an epiphany… the boys are only getting involved with crime because they live in the slums. If he tears down the slums, the government will build new and modern housing. It’s logical, right?

So Superman starts demolishing the slums. The police move in to stop him, but can’t, so the army is called in. They try to machine-gun Superman, with no success, so they call in bombers, who end up finishing the job that Superman started and wrecking the slums! It’s hilarious. And the government does indeed rebuild the area, while Superman enjoys his job well done.

Overall: I laughed and laughed, both at Superman’s “logic” and his demolition of the slums. Not to mention the way the boys enjoyed the same type of torture that breaks munitions manufacturers and hardened thugs. What a crazy story.

[Dominic]

Yeeeeah, and that is why I am not a fan of the Silver and Golden Ages of comics.


And, now for a Bronze Aged blast from the past:

Captain America (the Captain):
"The Captain" reprints Gruenwalds famous "John Walker" run of "Captain America" that ran from '87 to '89. I have read parts of this run over the years, but never the whole thing. The basic plot is that Steve Rogers is forced to give up being Captain America. While Rogers treks around the US and finds himself (conveniently losing the bike and van that he picked up in the early 80s in a fight with a super-powered hippy), the Feds assign John Walker and Lemar Hoskins the roles of Captain America and Bucky. Souls are searched. Spirits are tested. Principles are affirmed. Hijinks ensues.

Walker (later renamed USAgent) is one of my favourite characters. The idea is that he is a flawed Captain America. He may have 10 times the strength, but he does not have the temperment for the role. There are several scenes during "the Captain" (to say nothing of elsewhere in Gruenwald's run) where Rogers gains an advantage based on the reputation of his "brand". Even the bad guys know that he will play fair with them, and that can work to Rogers' advantage. While Walker is not a monster, he is far from heroic. Gruenwald presents Walker as being able to admit that much to himself, but not others.

Unsuprisingly for a defining run of comics, there are some notable moments.

Cringe worthy:
-black Bucky: When Marvel made the new Bucky black, they accidently opened a can of worms. For some reason, readers took offense to the idea of a grown (black) man being depicted in a sidekick role once held by a little (white) kid. Never mind that fact that "buck" is actually a slur in some parts of the US. I recall reading Marvel's real response to the controversy years ago. (It basically came down to "boy is our face red".) That is not included here. But, the in-story pages that deal with and reconcile the problem are included. (The on-page solution is pretty much the same as the real solution. Bucky gets renamed Battlestar and people move on with their lives.)

-black Captain America: At one point, while he considers resigning from the role of Captain America, Steve Rogers is shown thinking about what the consequences might be. At one point, he muses that the Commission (the guys who are pushing him to resign) might let "anybody be Captain America". This line of thinking is accompanied by an image of a clearly black Captain America. The real world logic for this is obviously that the best way to establish that a different guy is wearing the Captain America costume is to change the colour of his skin. But, the practical result is a scene that appears to show Steve Rogers cringing at the idea of a black man wearing the suit. (Not sure if Marvel got any mail over that. But...yikes.)

-Reagan the snake: Yup, this is where the infamous "Steve Rogers v/s Snake Reagan" scene happens. Gruenwald is not overtly anti-Reagan. But, I am not sure this part is unavoidably necessary for the story. Besides obviously dating the story to the 80s, there are also references to Reagan leaving office "in January", which places roughly a year and half's worth of comics (running from '87 to 89) as happening in late 88. Extrapolate from that and apply to the rest of 616 Marvel as you eill.

-Gruenwald's politics: I am not sure which way Gruenwald leaned. Comics are typically associated with the left, particularly more poltical comics (Adams/O'Neil on "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" being a text book example). But, Gruenwald is harder to pin down. "Squadron Supreme" has definite libertarian over-tones to it. The Watchdogs (significant foils in "the Captain"), are clearly based on the worst elements of the American right. And, Walker is clearly supposed to be the product of a conservative upbringing.

However, Walker is portrayed more as a tragic figure than a monster. In contrast, Nomad is written to as a lefty in "the Captain" (and later in Herdlings' "Nomad" series). And, put simply, Nomad is an asshole. If I had to guess, I would say that Gruenwald drafted every scene with Nomad as an answer to the question "what is the most jerk-ass thing that somebody could say or do in this situation". I do not normally hate on comic characters for their role in a story. But, damn if Gruenwald did not make me hate Nomad. Nomad is a jerk in *every* scene he appears in. I really have no idea why Gruenwald did this. But, damn.


Marvel references:

In the 80s, Marvel was arguably at its most cohesive (partly because of Gruenwald). There were stories written just to reconcile and back-write over mistakes. In the wake of DC's "Crisis on Infinite Earths", Marvel deliberately pushed internal consistency. Ironically, they borrowed a tactic from "Crisis on Infinite Earths", the "red sky" cross-over. A "red sky" cross-over is when events from one title spill over in to another title. The main character(s) of the other book respond to the spill-over, but rarely address the main cause.

Over the course of "the Captain, there are two such events. The first is the appearance of one of Apocalypse's horsemen in the mid-west during "Fall of the Mutants". This chapter does not add much to the over-all run of comics. And, it involves D-Man and Falcon inexplicably surviving what was otherwise established to be a devastating (and unsurvivable) attack. The other was a reference to "Inferno" (one real-time year later for those keeping count). None of the characters are shown to be in NY at the time. But, there are several scenes that reference "Inferno". In terms of "the Captain", "Inferno" ads nothing. But, the references are a good example of how comics should handle big events without having them consume other books.


Another memorable cross-over was the beginning of the rift between Captain America and Iron Man. The original "Armor Wars" ran concurrently with "the Captain". And, there are enough thematic similarities (main character being driven to break with legal and social structure...) to justify the cross-over.



By all rights, this volume should have me singing and dancing. But, alas, it is not all good.


Several years before "the Captain", the Red Skull was killed off in "Captain America" #300. I knew that the Skull returned during "the Captain". I knew that the explanation for the return was going to irk me. But, oi, I was still suprised at how bad it was.

I have no way of knowing how much of the Skull's return was back-written, but damn if it does not read like a text-book back-write involving clones and body-swapping and oi..... The Skull's return reads like a shoppig list of "everything wrong with comics". Not only is the Skull's return stunningly bad, but Gruenwald felt the need to reveal that the Skull had something to do with pretty much everything that had happened to both Rogers and Walker. (Does this mean that Gruenwald was using the Skull as a proxy for himself? I dunno.) The end of the Captain establishes that the Skull was behind (deep breath): the Watchdogs, at least some Scourge activity (which likely involves all sorts of other back-writing but I already posted about that), the Sweatshop (the only thing on this list I am wholly unfamiliar with), the Resistants, the Commission and some other stuff.

Despite the strong high concept of "the Captain" and Gruenwald's articulate handling of it, the Skull's inclusion sullies the over-all volume.



Grade: C

[Sparky Prime]

Another cool find at a used book store...

Green Lantern #50
Emerald Twilight part 3: The Future
Cover Date: March 1994
Hal faces off against Sinestro, whom the Guardians have released from imprisonment and given a Green Lantern ring to be their last line of defense. Hal is still armed with the extra GL ring's he'd taken from other Corps members on his way to Oa, but Sinestro suggests they make it a fair fight or that Hal will always wonder if he could best him in a fair fight. Hal tells Sinestro he really doesn't care but takes off the extra rings to show he doesn't need a crutch and thinks the Guardians must be insane for letting Sinestro out. The battle goes back and forth between them until Hal get's close enough where they start fighting hand to hand. Sinestro claims both of them are finished, which Hal doesn't understand, saying he'd won and that he should have done this a long time ago, killing Sinestro by breaking his neck. Approaching the Central Battery, Hal is confronted by Kilowog, who tells him he killed the Corps. Hal says he didn't kill them, explaining he left them enough power to survive. But Kilowog continues that if Hal takes the power from the Central Battery, those in space or in a fight somewhere will die, which Hal hadn't considered before. Kilowog starts fighting him, telling Hal he's not evil like Sinestro and still has a chance to stop, but Hal cannot stop and kills Kilowog with a blast from his ring.

Finally the Guardians themselves confront Hal, telling him that he will be punished for his crimes. Hal doesn't believe they'll punish him however, claiming they've stood aside for so long they no longer know how to act for themselves. Hal knows that he's crossed a line, but says it's too late for him or the Guardians before he flies into the Central Battery. The Guardians feel they cannot stand by and do nothing, but Hal was right, they don't know how to act. Instead they and elect Ganthet to do something and transfer their energies to him and shield him from the exploding Central Battery. Hal Jordan is now Parallax. He walks by the bodies of the Guardians and when he notices a discarded GL ring, Hal crushes it with his foot and flies off. Ganthet soon emerges and forges one last Green Lantern ring and swears all they stood for will live on. Traveling to Earth, Ganthet finds Kyle Rayner in an ally and gives him the ring only telling him that he will do and to do what he must. A homeless man's reaction reassures Kyle he wasn't seeing things, although Kyle isn't sure if that's actually good or bad thing. Putting on the ring, he becomes Green Lantern.

--Sinestro obviously feels Hal hasn't really won anything with him being on the verge of destroying the Corps and becoming an even worst villain than Sinestro ever was. This is also touched on again in Rebirth, which retcons that the Sinestro Hal kills was actually a construct created by Parallax and together they had helped caused the fall of Hal Jordan. This is also long before the retcon that the rings are programmed to prevent the Green Lanterns to kill (until the Sinestro Corps War) so it's interesting to see Hal killing Kilowog with a blast from his ring. Seems odd that the Guardians don't actually do anything to even try and stop Hal. And what's Ganthet's decision? Choosing someone else and not telling him anything... Because a rookie has a better chance than the veteran Lanterns Hal already defeated? Never mind he's now got all the energy from the Central Battery.
Overall, it is a very interesting issue. Hal clearly shows he knows he's crossed the line - and then some. But he's desperate to fix things and the only way he feels he can do that is with the power of the Central Battery.

Green Lantern #51
Changing the Guard
Cover Date: April 1994
Kyle is in his first battle with a guy calling himself Ohm. And Kyle is not doing so great at it, having absolutely no experience with the ring or understanding of how it works. Flashback to the night before, Kyle having just received the ring goes to show Alex, his (currently ex-)girlfriend. Kyle explains something big happened to him and shows her he is now Green Lantern. Alex is shocked but tells Kyle he's got to be pulling a dumb stunt. Kyle admits he doesn't understand it, but he feels this is their chance to do something with their lives. He can save lives with the ring, and as a photographer Alex can take pictures of him for the newspapers. Alex agrees to the plan but explains she hasn't fully forgiven him yet.

The next morning, Alex wakes Kyle telling him a guy in a suit of armor is on a rampage. Her paper wants pictures of the action and she doesn't feel she can let Kyle out of her sight, and tells Kyle not to get involve. But Kyle doesn't wait long to use the ring and proceeds to get knocked around for it. Figuring out how to use the ring, Kyle is able to knock the guy out and cut him out of the suit. The crowd cheers for him as Alex drags him away. Later on the beach, Alex tells Kyle he should create his own costume to suit his own identity since the other costume feels like it belongs to someone else. Agreeing with her, Kyle creates his first unique GL costume. Elsewhere, Mongul escapes Slab prison, vowing vengeance against Superman the one called Green Lantern...

--This I have to say was a fun issue. I really like Alex's reactions to Kyle explaining how he became the Green Lantern. A story about a little blue man in a red dress giving him a ring in an ally would sound crazy. It's also fun to see Kyle learning how to use the ring. He's pretty natural at it once he realizes all he has to do is imagine what he wants to do. This is somewhat retconned in the New 52 with Ganthet sticking around a bit longer to actually tell Kyle how to use the ring, but otherwise nothing really major was altered. Kinda surprised there is no mention of what became of Hal after he left Oa. Although we know this was building up to Zero Hour when Hal uses his new found power to try and alter things.

[andersonh1]

Yeeeeah, and that is why I am not a fan of the Silver and Golden Ages of comics.

I love Golden Age Superman. He's got personality, beliefs, and buckets of self-confidence. I've gotten more entertainment and enjoyment out of those old stories than anything modern that I've read recently, with the possible exception of Superior Spider Man. In some ways, he reminds me of Otto playing hero, with Superman being a little more dialed back obviously.

Another cool find at a used book store...

Green Lantern #50
Emerald Twilight part 3: The Future

Green Lantern #51
Changing the Guard
Cover Date: April 1994

Nice find. I've still got issue 50, but I'm not sure about 51. Does 50 have the glow in the dark cover? My copy does, but it's never worked very well. THAT was an interesting 90s gimmick. Forget 3D covers, make mine glow in the dark!

I quit buying GL with issue 50, but I may have picked up the first few issues of Kyle's run from my brother. I know I read them. I look back at these issues now, and it still seems like so many established bits of GL continuity were ignored to make the story go where the editors wanted it to go. The Guardians could have drained Hal's ring of energy, as the Old Timer did to John Stewart earlier in the series. Or they could have taken on Hal themselves rather than continually sacrificing novice GLs, who clearly weren't up to the job. And then to watch them sit around and do nothing while Hal sucks up the power in the battery is just bizarre. Kyle is (as Ron Marz himself said he intended) more than a little stupid at first, but he has come a long way since then. I like him now, though I obviously didn't like him at all at the time.

Did you ever read the annual where Kyle and Hal change places? They literally switch lives somehow, with Kyle working for Carol Ferris and her company and putting up with the Guardians, while Hal ends up falling for Alex and rescuing her from Major Force, thus preventing her from being stuffed into the fridge. It's post-Zero Hour, I think, and maybe after Parallax View. It's all undone at the end of course, and the two go back to their normal lives and timestreams, but it's still interesting to watch the two characters switch places.

[Sparky Prime]

Nice find. I've still got issue 50, but I'm not sure about 51. Does 50 have the glow in the dark cover? My copy does, but it's never worked very well. THAT was an interesting 90s gimmick. Forget 3D covers, make mine glow in the dark!

I'm not sure... It does have some texturing to it so I guess it could have glow in the dark stuff on there. Kinda like that idea more than 3D covers.

Did you ever read the annual where Kyle and Hal change places? They literally switch lives somehow, with Kyle working for Carol Ferris and her company and putting up with the Guardians, while Hal ends up falling for Alex and rescuing her from Major Force, thus preventing her from being stuffed into the fridge. It's post-Zero Hour, I think, and maybe after Parallax View. It's all undone at the end of course, and the two go back to their normal lives and timestreams, but it's still interesting to watch the two characters switch places.

I haven't come across that, no. Sounds like an interesting story though.

[andersonh1]

Since I mentioned it, here it is:

Green Lantern Annual #4 "Year One" theme
1995
"Shared Lives"

Hal Jordan/Parallax enters Alan Scott's home and steals his power battery. Alan offers to help, but Hal isn't listening and leaves. Meanwhile Kyle Rayner and Donna Troy are having lunch, unaware of what's going on. Hal visits Guy Gardner's bar during Guy's shapeshifting "Warrior" days, and steals his battery, because "You don't need it any more Guy. I do." Hal goes to the old hanger at Ferris Aircraft while Kyle is doing some sketching at home. They both charge up at the same time and end up switching lives and uniforms (and grey-haired Hal looks odd in Kyle's original uniform!)

Kyle is taking Hal's place in an early story fighting the Invisible Destroyer, and and of course Kyle is mocking the guy's name and overblown 60s dialogue. Kyle beats him in a fight without too much effort, while being confused by the Destroyer's intention to nuke Coast City, because Coast City is gone. Meanwhile Hal appears in the middle of a kiss with Alex, and is more than a little confused about what's going on. Alex goes to slip into something more comfortable and turns back up in some skimpy lingerie, leading Hal to make a hasty exit, since this isn't his life or his girlfriend. He doesn't understand exactly what's happened, so he figures he'd better go somewhere and figure things out.

Meanwhile, Kyle figures out he's gone back in time and switched lives with Hal when Pieface/Tom Kalmaku treats him like an old friend and Carol Ferris starts ordering him around. Kyle messes with her and then heads to Hal's locker to find his power battery.

Hal decides that even though he doesn't quite understand how the switch took place, but he's Green Lantern again, and maybe that's all that matters. He heads back to Alex's apartment and flips out when he sees Major Force attacking her. He wipes the floor with Major Force and prevents Alex from being killed. In a similar scene to the one in which Kyle discovers his power battery, Hal picks up the misshapen lump of metal that Major Force brought and it shapes itself into the battery.

Back to Kyle, who is contacted by the Guardians who order him on a mission. Kyle blows them off and leaves, trying to figure out how to get back to his own life.

Meanwhile, Hal is having another awkward conversation with Alex, who of course, thinks he's her boyfriend due to the switch, and is trying to talk him into staying with her, sensing that something is wrong. Hal reluctantly agrees, but then decides that "this world needs a hero, and that's me!" He's giddy with the idea of being Green Lantern again, and ends up charging his ring at the same time as Kyle once again... and they both revert back to their lives.

In the end, both Hal and Kyle meet at Alex's grave, and Hal expresses the desire to save her, even though she's dead. "Nothing's written in stone," he says. "Epitaphs are," Kyle insists. Hal promises to find the power he needs and then he'll be back, while Kyle promises he will be too.

Overall: It's Freaky Friday with Green Lantern. It's a fun story in a lot of ways, though how the two characters switch places is never really explained. Hal was messing with time during Zero Hour, so that might have something to do with it, though the story never comes out and says as much. Kyle's lack of deference to the authority of the Guardians and Carol is fun, and the "what might have been" with Hal rescuing Alex from Major Force is an interesting sequence of events. You'd expect Hal to be more interested in a good looking woman, but even in his crazed days as Parallax he's decent enough to feel awkward about making out with Kyle's girlfriend, however strange the circumstances. It's power and being a hero that gets him fired up.

[Sparky Prime]

And ironically enough I found that issue today myself. You're right, it's odd seeing Hal with the grey hair wearing Kyle's costume. Also found some other issues that I have yet to read.

[Sparky Prime]

Green Lantern #0
Second Chances
Cover Date: October 1994
Hal and Kyle battle each other in a time warp that sends them to Oa after the events of Zero Hour. Hal explains they'd been outside of time when the universe recreated itself, the time warp took them back to a place Hal knew he could regroup having drained so much of his power, and tries to absorb the power at Oa's core but finds he needs a ring or a battery to channel it. Kyle fights to stop him but Hal breaks down, explaining his reason for all of this was to undo the destruction of Coast City and be the hero again. Kyle relates having lost Alex.

Kyle decides to hand over his ring, thinking maybe Hal has changed, but immediately Hal goes for the power at Oa's core once again. Kyle tries to talk him out of that plan, but Hal turns on him. Kyle ends up in a crypt where he's able to surprise Hal by pushing one of the cases over on him and gets his ring back. Hal's not concerned however, having regained some of his power and offers to restore Alex to life if he allows him to continue. Kyle considers it but rejects the offer. With no other options to stop Hal, Kyle uses his ring to destroy Oa. Kyle emerges from the destruction believing Hal to have perished.

--I really like that this issue established why Hal didn't simply just try again after he failed to bring back Coast City with Zero Hour. Although he's still incredibly powerful as Parallax. It's a nice touch seeing Kyle being able to relate to Hal. He understands the loss, but the two certainly don't see eye to eye on how to handle that loss, with Hal refusing to let it go. This issue also establishes the destruction of Oa and Kyle being the last GL, at least until he'd bring back the Corps.

Green Lantern #63
Parallax View The Resurrection of Hal Jordan
Cover Date: June 1995
Ganthet and Hal Jordan have both shown up at Kyle's apartment asking for him to turn over the ring. Hal explains he just went somewhere else when Kyle destroyed Oa, but now he just wants to be Green Lantern again. Ganthet wont allow that, saying that he intends on giving the ring to someone worthy of that power, which Hal no longer is. Kyle however refuses to give it to either of them. A fight breaks out and Ganthet quickly teleports away knowing full well Kyle will need help to defeat Hal. Hal eventually gets the upper hand, but Ganthet returns with several members of the Justice League.

--No surprise Hal could survive the destruction of Oa when Kyle did. Although what I found most interesting about this issue is Ganthet returning to take the power ring back. That quickly goes by the wayside with Hal showing up, but Ganthet saying he intends to give it to a more worthy bearer seems odd. If he thought there was someone more worthy, why did he choose Kyle in the first place? For a wise omnipotent being, seems pretty boneheaded to give the ring to just anyone like that. Well the New 52 would eventually give an explanation, Ganthet explains he saw the potential in Kyle to use the full spectrum. That makes some sense considering how powerful Parallax was, but seeing as Ganthet still only tossed him the ring with absolutely no explanation still doesn't speak well of the Guardians actions.

Green Lantern #64
Parallax View The Resurrection of Hal Jordan part 2
Cover Date: July 1995
The battle is renewed with the collection of heroes to fight Hal. But Ganthet can see even those that he brought are not enough, and he once again teleports away. Eventually, Kyle is the last man standing but Hal overcomes him and takes the ring. Ganthet returns with Superman, but he is also overcome by the power of Hal's constructs. Finally Hal faces Ganthet, who angerly asks if by wanting things to be right means to batter his friends and destroy everything he'd once stood for. Hal realizes he can use Ganthet's power to resurrect Coast City. Kyle hits Hal with a pipe, and says powers or not, he will keep fighting him. Hal finally realizes things cannot go back to the way it was, he returns the ring and Ganthet merges with Parallax who leaves Earth. Kyle has proven himself as the Green Lantern and is welcomed by the gathered heroes, once they wake up. Meanwhile, Hal is at some unknown location in the universe, seemingly trapped in his own imaginations of protecting Coast City.

--Thus Kyle proves himself to be worthy of the ring, and Hal's rampages as Parallax comes to an end. He'd eventually come back, but not until Final Night where he sacrifices himself to reignite the sun. Not sure why Ganthet decides to merge with Parallax in the end. Even if Hal has finally seen the error of his ways, it seems like a really bad idea to just give him the power he'd need to alter history again. And for what? There's no reasoning given behind his decisions here.

[andersonh1]

I've got all three of those issues myself. For awhile there I'd buy GL whenever Hal would make an appearance. There's a crossover in issues 100-106 where a younger version comes into the future and stays for awhile, and eventually Parallax shows up to return his younger self to his proper place in time. It's a good storyline.

My main gripe with issue 0 (apart from Marz taking a shot at Hal fans with Kyle's internal monologue at the end) was the way Kyle blew up Oa without ever checking to see if anyone was living on the planet. He'd never been there before, and only saw a few square miles of the place, if he even saw that much. It still seems like a very reckless decision on Kyle's part.