Absolute Green Lantern #8 (2025)

Young Jo Mullein and her stern, conservative father Thomas move from New York to Thomas' hometown Evergreen after her parents' divorce. Jo befriends Hal Jordan, who Thomas does not approve of as he feels that Hal lacks any kind of discipline and has a different ambition every day. However, when Hal says one day that he wants to be a "space cop" , Thomas says that being a police officer is a worthy occupation. Seeking her father's approval, Jo decides to become a police officer when she grows up. As an adult, Jo joins the Evergreen Police Department as a deputy. Chief William "Bill" Hand introduces her to Mark Shaw, Guy Gardner and Renee Montoya, who Jo is immediately attracted to. Three months later Shaw leaves Evergreen PD for a corporate security job with Hector Hammond's company. After his farewell party, Renee flirts with and kisses Jo. She initially reciprocates, but then freaks out and pushes Renee away. Renee calmly says that she misread Jo's signals and walks away, but then immediately takes a job with the Coast City Police and leaves town without even saying goodbye to her co-workers. Jo learns that Hand is running a protection racket, extorting money from local business owners. When John Stewart refuses to pay Hand has him arrested on drunk and disorderly charges. Jo objects to this as she knows that the charges are false; she turns to Guy for help but he refuses to get involved and tells her to leave him out of it. Hand tells Jo that John doesn't understand how works in Evergreen and calls him "uppity". Disgusted by Hand's corruption and racism, Jo quits the department. Rita and her father both try to convince her to reconsider, and when Jo tells Thomas that Hand is a racist crook he refuses to believe her, claiming that Hand's family always treated her grandfather with respect. At Hal's encouragement, Jo leaves Evergreen and moves to Coast City. Away from Evergreen's culture of queer people keeping their identities hidden, Jo comes to terms with her bisexuality and tries to live openly. She goes to a lesbian club but feels awkward and sits alone at the bar. Cameron Chase approaches her, recognising that she is new in town and to being out. They talk and Jo admits that she has only ever kissed another woman once. She goes back with Cameron to her apartment and they have sex. They start dating, but Cameron's work with the Department of Extranormal Operations means she is often late to their dates or misses them entirely. Eventually Jo grows tired of this and decides to break up with Cameron; however, just as she is about to Cameron proposes to her and Jo spontaneously accepts. At Jo's insistence, Cameron pays for expensive 24 Karat solid gold wedding rings. After they get married, Cameron continues to spend most of her time at work, leaving Jo feeling neglected. One day she bumps into Renee Montoya on the street and they get coffee to catch up. Renee tells Jo that she is now working for the cold case division at the Coast City PD and that Bill Hand died of a heart attack some time ago, which Jo realises doesn't make her feel anything. Jo also tells Renee that she is married to a woman now. That night Jo texts Renee while Cameron sleeps next to her and they make plans to meet up. The two start an affair, but eventually the guilt becomes too much and Jo confesses to Cameron. Cameron is furious at Jo and accuses her of only ever doing what she thinks will make her feel good, and that even coming clean is just about filling a hole inside herself. Suddenly, Jo gets a call from Guy Gardner, who tells her that her father has died. Jo has to go back to Evergreen for the funeral and as she leaves Cameron demands that she hand over the ring, but Jo takes it with her. She reunites with Hal at the funeral, and when he asks her if she's heading back to the city she replies "Why?" Jo moves back to Evergreen and divorces from Cameron. She meets up again with John Stewart, who tells her that Guy has taken over as police chief and shut down Hand's protection racket. Jo apologises for not trying to do more to stop Hand when everyone knew what he was up to, and John replies that everyone felt helpless because of how brazen he was. He says that he sometimes wonders what kind of foundation the world is built on. Jo replies "nothing good" and he says that they need to find good where they can. He offers her a job at his architecture firm and she happily accepts. He toasts to new beginnings and Evergreen, stating that despite its flaws it is still a pretty nice place to live. In the present day, Jo asks Cameron to let her and the injured Hal into her apartment, and Cameron agrees.