- Sometimes, John, we have to answer to a higher morality.
Green Lantern Special #1 is an issue of the series Green Lantern Special (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1988.
Synopsis for "With This Ring…!"
John Stewart visits Katma Tui's grave and, after reflecting on recent events, decides to quit being a Green Lantern. He takes off Hal Jordan's ring and throws it away, expecting it to go back to its owner. Immediately, some policemen surround and arrest him.[1]
Several weeks later, Hal Jordan assists the senate hearing regarding John Stewart's misplaced accusations for Green Lantern's actions, one of them being the plane crash during the fight with Star Sapphire. [2] The senate sends John into the custody of the state of department for extradition to an African nation that is accusing him of grand theft, again, a crime Hal committed instead.[3]
Weeks pass and John is at the municipal jail in South Nambia waiting for trial, where he meets an abusive guard captain called Gordon Holmes.
Hal tries every legal means to get John out of the situation but fails to find a way. Thus he decides to take action by himself. Hal charges his ring and flies off to Oa, where he finds Appa Ali Apsa and asks him for counsel. The Guardian tells Hal he no longer controls his actions, that he is the master of his own destiny now. Appa gives him John's power ring, which was found in the remains of the demolished central power battery.
Hal visits John in his prison cell in South Nambia and gives him his ring back so he can escape, but John throws the ring and leaves it in a corner of the cell and Hall gets out of the prison. Two guards walk in to offer John to confess so he can be released sooner. But he declines, and the guards torture him. After taking a lot of physical pain, he finally snaps and decides to use the ring to escape, destroying the prison and freeing the other inmates in the process. Among them, a killer named Lester Wills.
Weeks pass and John now lives in the house of Dorian Alexander, leader of the Subversive African Nationalist Resistance, who was also freed during the jailbreak. Dorian offers him to join the Resistance, and after thinking it through, John accepts.
Back in Coast City, Hal is confronted by Superman, who warns him to do something about John Stewart.
A week later, the Resistance plans a terrorist attack at a Harbor Festival. John threatens the funtionaries to blow up the tankers. Hal interferes and confronts John, resulting in a fight between both of them. Captain Homles discovers the bombs planted by the Resistance and warns everybody to evacuate, but a rebel sniper lead by Dorian kills him. The officers shot back, hitting and killing Dorian. The rebels detonate the bombs, and Hal and John stop fighting to protect the people from the explosion. John helps evacuate the diplomats, and he stumbles into the decision of killing them all to end Apartheid forever, but ultimately discards that idea, saying murder is not his way, and it would be against the "higher morality" he was trying to follow.
With the chaos now over, Hal and John talk. John realizes a lot of people died at the hands of the men he set free, so he decides he doesn't deserve to be a Green Lantern and hands his power ring back to Hal. But Hal reminds him that he received that ring because the Guardians deemed him worthy of it, so he encourages him to keep it. Both part ways and John heads to the stars to get his head straight.
Appearing in "With This Ring…!"
Featured Characters:
- Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) (Next in Action Comics Weekly #607)
- Green Lantern (John Stewart) (Next in Cosmic Odyssey #1)
Supporting Characters:
- Dorian Alexander (Single appearance; dies)
Antagonists:
- Captain Gordon Holmes (Single appearance; dies)
- Lester Wills (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Green Lantern Corps (Flashback only)
- Abin Sur (Mentioned only)
- Katma Tui Stewart (Flashback only)
- Kilowog (Flashback only)
- Salakk (Flashback only)
- Guardians of the Universe (Flashback only)
- Superman
- Star Sapphire (Mentioned only)
Locations:
Items:
- Central Power Battery of Oa (Mentioned only)
- Green Lantern Rings
- Green Lantern Power Battery
Vehicles:
Notes
- The events in this issue take place after Action Comics Vol 1 606 and before Action Comics Vol 1 607.
- John Stewart is seen next in Cosmic Odyssey.
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)