Green Lantern #1 (2023)

The galaxy is undergoing some serious changes. The Guardians of Oa have vanished and, in their absence, the United Planets have seized control of the Green Lantern Corps. Having declared Sector 2814 a liability to universal safety, the United Planets have reassigned the Lanterns of Earth to different sectors. Only one Lantern has quit in protest and returned to Earth to put his life back together. A mine collapses and a group of miners are left trapped beneath tons of rubble, with one of them suffering terrible injuries in his legs. One of them tries to lift his friends' spirits, until a green light begins illuminating the mine. It's Hal Jordan and he has come to save the day. Sometime later, Carol watches the news about Green Lantern's return from his office. She has no reason to be happy, however, because she knows that Green Lantern's return means that Hal is back, as well. Carol is having trouble securing a contract that could help fix Ferris Aircraft's financial problems and Hal's return only puts unnecessary pressure on her already stressful life. As she leaves her office on an assignment, she comes across Hal, who is waiting for her at the parking lot. Carol is not in the mood for Hal's cocky attitude, telling him that she is dating someone else, but Hal is interested in something else: a job. Hal says that he is ready to focus on his job on Earth and that he is Carol's best pilot, something that Carol reluctantly accepts and she tells him to come to Ferris Aircraft tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, in a bar, the patrons celebrate Green Lantern's return to Coast City, but a stranger sitting alone in a booth does not share that sentiment of joy. He hides beneath a dark brown cloak, with only his purple skin and yellow eyes peeking through. Sinestro has returned, as well. One month earlier, Hal sits on top of his brother's trailer, alone and staring at the night sky. He remembers his last conversation with Kilowog, who was surprised that Hal would go from flying across the stars to just staring at them from the ground. Telling the United Planets where they could stick it for grounding him seemed like a bold idea at the time, but now, Hal is left with nothing except his brother's trailer and $50 in his bank account. Hal doesn't get more time to feel sorry for himself, however, as his radio begins playing an urgent message: an armored criminal is attacking downtown and the police are evacuating the area. Knowing what he has to do, Hal speeds off in his truck. Sure enough, this new criminal, Steel Fury, is too dangerous for conventional police officers to handle, so Hal rams Steel Fury with his truck. The attack barely grazes Steel Fury and Hal hits him with a metal rod, which also proves ineffective. Hal realizes Steel Fury is wearing Manhunter armor and tells him to take it off, but Steel Fury blasts Hal with a laser beam. He arrogantly explains that he got the armor on the Internet and couldn't get it to work until the armor powered up all by itself. He continues to blast Hal with more energy, only for the beam to harmlessly bounce off Hal, who shows his ring and manifests his uniform. In the present, Hal performs a flight test with a drone. Although he does a much better job than the other pilots, he still has trouble with the drone's controls and ends up crashing it and costing Ferris Aircraft a lot of money. As Hal gets out of the simulator, Carol berates him for failing to follow orders. Hal is unhappy that he is not flying a real plane and is instead stuck playing a video game, but Carol tells him that contractors like Ferris Aircraft have phased out manned vehicles in favor of drones. Only pilots from the military use manned jets and even they are on their way out. Hal apologizes for the mess he made and Carol is unhappy that Hal never really thinks about the consequences.