Customer Reviews

The Final Night

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Hal Jordan is the Green Lantern that we all remember from our childhood as he was THE Green Lantern from the 60s to the mid 90s. Hal had been the greatest of the Green Lanterns but when his home town was destroyed he went over the edge seeking revenge. In the Final Night the rogue Hal Jordan storyline comes to an end.

The story is about a great cosmic entity that devours Stars and has come for Earth's Sun. All of Earth's greatest champions unite to help the sun fight off the entity to no avail. Several attempts are made with no progress being made against the Sun Devourer. Many believe that this will be the end of the world as Earth enters its Final Night. Could a fallen champion return and save the day? That is where Hal Jordan comes in.

This book is hurt as this was a major storyline that ran through the individual titles of the DC super heroes and therefore a lot of the story within the trade is lost to the titles that are not reprinted here. The story does not really pick up until Hal Jordan makes his appearance towards the end. So while the story may be somewaht lacking in completeness it is a very dramatic piece as many of the characters realize that for all of their powers and abilities they are helpless against this cosmic threat.

Get this if you are a Hal Jordan fan and want to see his return to being the hero he was always meant to be.

Those word will forever inspire all who reads this to give it all they got with no fear of personal consequences.
A being so powerful to block out the sun and starts to consumes it. None of earth (on eath, off, and even from different time)greatest superheroes could stop it. (Yes even Superman failed) Every means to stop or devert it falls to failure. And in the end, a once hero, now labeled by his peers, a supervillan is called by his succesor: Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner)to help.
This so-called supervillan is Hal Jordan going by the name of Parallax.
Bacially blacked balled by the world for the "Zero Hour" incident, he is face with the decision that would decide the future of not only earth but the entire galaxy if the Sun-Eater prevails. The story give you early hints his fate but it still hold you to every word. At the end he proves that he's still a hero, still the greatest Green Lantern as he recites that famous oath;
In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night..No evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might. Beware my power....

Green Lantern Light!!!!!

DC came out with this comic event in 1996. It is largely written by Karl Kesel (an inker who trained himself to write) and drawn by Stuart Immonen (whose art improved leaps and bounds AFTER this story). Ron Marz put in his best written Hal Jordan story and Mike McKone's earlier art in this book shows how much he's improved today in books like Exiles and Teen Titans (he used to draw all his characters with very short legs!!!).

Anyway, on to the story itself. The plot and main story about an entity(?) called the Sun-Eater about to devour the sun is pretty blah! All it does is set up the story of how all the DC superheroes, including a team up between the Legion's Brainiac-5 and Lex Luthor (in homage to Silver Age Brainiac-Luthor team-ups) failed to prevent the end of all existence as we know it. Then in comes Hal Jordan/Parallax. And the story starts to get REALLY good. Especially the part when Hal goes and make peace with all his loved ones before his final sacrifice (Guy Gardner, the late Ollie Queen, Tom "Pieface" Kamalku and Carol Ferris).

The last scene of Parallax triumphantly undo the effects of the Sun-Eater and recharge the sun while shouting out his oath, "In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night..." is an awesome sight to behold. And you'll never read the words of that oath in the same way after that. It's that kind of scene in mainstream comics that give you that kind of tingling feeling in your spine and makes you say "WOW"!

Final Night starts off with a menace known as the sun eater that has struck the earths golden sun. As the justice league along with a vast aray of other heros and villians try to conquer it the Sun Eater continues it's destructive purpose. About half way through it is revealed that the sun will go Nova in 24 hours and envelope the entire solar System. It is at this point that Kyle Rayner (Green Lantern) seeks out Parallax aka Hal Jordon.

Parallax is the former GL Hal Jordon. After the events of the Coast City (Return of Superman) Hal Jordon went to the guardians for help. THey said no and he rebelled resulting in the end of the GL's short of the final one, Kyle Rayner. The result of Jordons victory resulted in him becoming Parallax, a human with the powers of the gods. After unsuccessfully trying to regain the GL ring, he disappeared from the light, until this.

Kyle seeks out Jordon for help to defeat the sun eater. After some soul searching he agrees to do so and in the end it is definite closer to his open ended story.

Overall this story is good however it is more for those who grew up reading GL and were Hal Jordon fans.

The Final Night is at first one of your standard summer comic book crossover events. When a creature known as the Sun Eater extinguishes the Earth's sun, the entire planet begins dying. Superheroes who at first take the apocalyptic threat lightly find that the Sun Eater is not so easily stopped and that they too seem doomed. This is in many ways a standard story designed to drum up sales by featuring as many superheroes as possible. Then Hal Jordan shows up, and the standard story changes.

Of all the Silver Age heroes, no one got a worse treatment than Hal Jordan in the 90s. Deemed too one-dimensional for modern readers, he went through a series of events that did lasting damage to his legacy as a hero. Superman's enemies destroyed his home city, driving Hal insane and causing him to destroy the Green Lantern Corps, giving up his role as Green Lantern and becoming the nigh-omnipotent Parallax in the process. In a few years, Hal went from being an iconic hero to a murderous villain. Writers intended him to come off as sympathetic and misunderstood, but he really came off as a murderer and a psychopath with a few whiny diatribes to justify his actions.

Halfway through Final Night, Hal's replacement as the Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner, seeks him out to help save the Earth. Hal knows from the beginning that he can destroy the Sun Eater, but that the process will likely kill him. He spends most of his on-panel time going through the shattered remains of his life, visiting friends that he left behind, his old lover Carol Ferris, and the grave of his best friend Oliver Queen as he comes to terms with what he must do. We know from the time he starts walking down memory lane that he will sacrifice himself in order to save the day. The story isn't about suspense; it's about one of the DC Universe's finest heroes coming full circle and giving up everything to save the world. This comic does what six years of DC writers failed to do: it makes Hal Jordan sympathetic again. It reinforces the fact that despite all the wrongs he has committed as Parallax, he is still a hero.

Of course, no one stays dead in DC Comics. Hal returned three years later when he became bonded with the Spirit of God's Vengeance in the Day of Judgment crossover. Then, in Green Lantern: Rebirth, he finally returned to life and took up the mantle of the Green Lantern again, bringing hope and light back into the DC Universe. Some might argue that these later stories weakens the impact of the Final Night; I don't agree with them. While we know now that Hal eventually comes back, the story here does not entertain the notion that he will ever return. Hal gives his life knowing that many people will remember him as a villain and a murderer. He gives everything to do the right thing, knowing that most people won't even know that he saved them. The weight of Hal's decision remains real in this story, regardless of whether or not he has returned since.

Basic Storyline is that the Earths sun is getting sucked up by an alien species. No matter what the planets super heros seem to do they cant stop it. Near the end Kyle finds Hal (Parallax) near the end of the universe and asked him to save his home planet. After doing some sould searching Hal decides to help, but in the end must give all the energy he has to do it. Killing himself to save a planet full of those who see him as a murderer. A great way to end the life of Hal Jordan, the greatest Green Lantern.

It is not even near three books with death and return of Superman, but it has great ending. You don't have to know lot about DC history before events in this book. Three and half stars , maybe...

To disclose my bias, I love crossovers. I think Final Night is worth a look even for those who don't. The story was one of the best post-Zero Hour events involving a great sneak-up-on-you surprise (Ferro).

We all know who the Sun-eater was, right? A 30th Century menace it took Ferro Lad's sacrifice to destroy. In the post-Zero world, the Sun-eater shows up in the 20th, and there's no superbomb to blow it away.

Ferro, a 20th century character, makes a genuinely dramatic entrance into the story. Everyone must know by now that it's Hal Jordan/Parallax, and not "Ferro Lad," who takes the bullet. That occurs in simultaneously dramatic and sentimental style. Surprisingly, even Jordan's subsequent re-emergence as the Spectre does not diminsh the meaningful conclusion of the Final Night story.

You have to have this one if you're a DC or Hal Jordan fan.

Every summer, DC Comics puts out a miniseries as part of a big crossover event. These generally involve gratuitous fights, leering villains, forgettable plots, a contrived reason for Superman not to be involved, and a sacrifice of some no-name hero.

Final Night isn't like that.

The premise is simple enough; weird stuff causes the sun to go out, and only a fraction of the heat and none of its light escapes. Many of DC's more forgettable heroes make surprising comebacks, and the primary focus is on the characters' reactions to the events. The most memorable scenes involve the unlikely team-ups of heroes and villains (the rescue effort is led by Lex Luthor).

It also, rather obviously, revolves around a partial redemption for the former Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. Emerald Night, Ron Marz's contribution to the work, is often ham-handed and self-contradictory (Jordan's attitude flip-flops from page to page, sometimes insisting he never changed, sometimes the opposite). Still, it is one of Marz's better works, and a generally positive take on a character he had a hand in destroying.

The book is sometimes fatalistic, sometimes humorously off-base, but an excellent diversion from the usual in any comic.

I was hoping this would be really good considering the talent involved. Kesel, Marz, Immonen, & McKone and all talents that I enjoy today. Looking back at their work here from the mid-nineties am glad their work has evolved. Here we are given the problem of something that eats the sun called the Sun-eater. Makes sense. However, the danger always seemed a little generic and not terrifying as it really would be. The book was also short considering the premise. I was disappointed by the overall "hokeyness" that turned me off of DC Comics back then. Overall, there is no real reason to check this out other than getting a look at some comics veterans early work.