- Sometimes you follow a road for years and then it drops off in front of you. Where all your destinations used to be, now there's just a hole. A lot's dropped out from under me in fifteen years. Fifteen years since I crash-landed that plane, since I picked up the ring from the desert floor. The "Guardians of the Universe" and the Green Lantern Corps. Tomar-Re, Katma-Tui, and a dozen other friends on a dozen different planets. Carol Ferris and the aircraft company that bears her name. An engineering group called the gremlins, who won't talk to me anymore. Jets. When you start on them, the roads stretch away endlessly into the countryside. But then you top the last ride and you find nothing but the hole. And when you reach the hole, there's nowhere to go. Nowhere--and everywhere!
- — Hal Jordan
Green Lantern (Volume 3) #1 is an issue of the series Green Lantern (Volume 3) with a cover date of June, 1990. It was published on April 17, 1990.
Synopsis for "Down to Earth"
It's been 15 years since Hal Jordan first found the fallen spacecraft of Abin Sur, and was given his Green Lantern Ring.
Hal visits the headquarters of Justice League of America to see if there is anything there that might inspire him to rejoin the team. When he arrives, it becomes clear that many of the League members would like him to replace their current Green Lantern, Guy Gardner. The playful antics of the League members, and more specifically, Guy Gardner's bad attitude, convince him that the League simply isn't the place for him. Truthfully, Hal feels that too much time spent around super-powered people has been wearing on him.
So, Hal embarks upon a journey to reconnect with himself, as a non-powered human. He recalls earlier years in his life, like his cross-country trip with his friend Green Arrow, fondly.
Meanwhile, John Stewart is suffering from a nervous breakdown due to his actions, which led to the destruction of the planet Xanshi. Unable to deal with his guilt any longer, he flies to the ruins of the planet Oa.
Hal's travels take him to the town of Hope Springs, West Virginia, which had been called Desolation when last he'd been there. He tracks down a woman he'd met there named Rose Lewis-Hardin. Rose had only met him as the Green Lantern, and therefore has no idea who Hal is. Even so, he offers to help her with the farm work for some room and board. In the meantime, he befriends Rose's young son, Toby. Hal senses a romantic tension between himself and Rose, but he is content to let nothing come of it.
Eventually, Guy Gardner shows up, and bullies Hal into competing with him once again, and the two engage in a ring-powered arm wrestling match. Unfortunately, Rose witnesses their argument, and despite Hal's assurances that he is just a man, she believes that he can never be anything but a super-hero. As such, she asks him to leave.
Appearing in "Down to Earth"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Appa Ali Apsa (Flashback only)
- Green Arrow (Flashback only)
- Green Lantern John Stewart
- Justice League America
Other Characters:
- Rose Lewis Hardin (First appearance)
- Toby Hardin (First appearance)
- Oberon
- Priest (Appears only as a corpse)
Locations:
- Sector 0
- Oa
- Central Power Battery of Oa (In ruins)
- Oa
- Sector 2814
- Earth
- Asia
- Beirut, Lebanon (On a TV or computer screen)
- North Korea (On a TV or computer screen)
- North America
- United States of America
- Los Angeles, California (On a TV or computer screen)
- New York City, New York
- Hope Springs, West Virginia
- United States of America
- Asia
- Earth
Items:
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in the Green Lantern: The Road Back trade paperback.
- The Green Lantern cast recently came off of a stint from the anthology series Action Comics (Volume 1). Hal Jordan was last seen in Action Comics #642.
- John Stewart inadvertently caused Xanshi's destruction in Cosmic Odyssey #3.
- The town of Hope Springs first appeared in Green Lantern (Volume 2) #77, but at that time it was known as "Desolation".
- Despite Hal mentioning that he had met Rose Lewis-Hardin when he was last in Hope Springs, she does not appear in the story depicting that visit.
Trivia
- Hal Jordan's hair begins going grey with this issue.
See Also
Recommended Reading
- Green Lantern Recommended Reading
- Green Lantern (Volume 1)
- Green Lantern (Volume 2)
- Green Lantern (Volume 3)
- Green Lantern (Volume 4)
- Green Lantern (Volume 5)
- Green Lantern (Volume 6)
- Green Lantern (Volume 7)
- The Green Lantern (Volume 1)
- The Green Lantern: Season Two (Volume 1)
- Green Lantern Corps (Volume 1)
- Green Lantern Corps (Volume 2)
- Green Lantern Corps (Volume 3)
- Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors (Volume 1)
- Green Lantern: New Guardians (Volume 1)
- Green Lanterns (Volume 1)
- Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps (Volume 1)