The Parallax creature.
Art from Green Lantern: Rebirth #3 by Ethan Van Sciver.
Parallax is a fictional comic book supervillain in the DC Comics universe. Created by writer Ron Marz and artist Darryl Banks for Green Lantern (vol. 3) #48 (January 1994), Parallax was devised as the new supervillain identity for former Green Lantern protagonist Hal Jordan.
After further changes for the Hal Jordan character over the subsequent years (sacrificing his life in order to reignite Earth’s Sun in the 1996 crossover storyline Final Night, and Jordan’s soul subsequently became the newest host of the Spectre in the 1999 miniseries Day of Judgment), 2004's Green Lantern: Rebirth once again cast Jordan as a heroic Green Lantern and explained Jordan's villainous career as the result of the influence of an alien parasite. Furthermore, with Parallax’s exposure, the Green Lantern Corps are no longer vulnerable to the yellow color. In 2009, Parallax was ranked as IGN's 92nd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.[1]
History[]
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In 1994, the Green Lantern books were becoming less profitable, so DC Comics decided to do away with Hal Jordan, hoping to replace him with a new character Kyle Rayner, in order to attract new readers to the failing title. The storyline began in Green Lantern (vol. 3) #48 (January 1994). Following the complete destruction of his home town Coast City by the villain Mongul, Hal Jordan descends into madness. Jordan went on a rampage, destroying the Green Lantern Corps, killing his friend Kilowog and all of the Guardians except for Ganthet. Hal Jordan became Parallax.
In the 2004/2005 miniseries Green Lantern: Rebirth, written by Geoff Johns, and penciled by Ethan Van Sciver, it was revealed that Parallax was actually a demonic parasitic entity dating back to the dawn of time and born from the yellow of the emotional spectrum. The parasite was the sentient embodiment of fear, traveling from world to world and causing entire civilizations to destroy themselves out of paranoia.
The Guardians of the Universe imprisoned Parallax within the Central Power Battery on Oa using fear's opposite energy, willpower, along with the aid of fear's opposite entity, Ion. Parallax had lain dormant for billions of years, its true nature hidden by the Guardians to prevent anyone from trying to free it. Being yellow in color, Parallax eventually came to be referred to as simply "the yellow impurity."
This was the reason why the rings were useless against the color yellow: Parallax weakened its power over the corresponding spectrum; hence, only someone with the willpower to overcome great fear could master the power ring. Thus, when recruiting new Green Lanterns, the Guardians were careful to look for recruits that were largely fearless. When the renegade Sinestro was later imprisoned in the Power Battery himself, his Qwardian yellow power ring tapped into Parallax's power and awakened it.
Kyle Rayner becomes Parallax's newest host. Art by Ethan Van Sciver.
Since Sinestro hated Hal, Parallax chose Jordan as its tool to free itself. Parallax apparently spent years influencing Jordan, causing him to experience increasing self-doubt as well as causing his hair to prematurely whiten at the temples. Jordan's grief over the destruction of Coast City let Parallax influence Jordan's subsequent murderous activity, his apparent killing of Sinestro (actually a hard light construct) and Jordan's destruction of the Central Power Battery.
After word got out that something amiss was happening on Oa, a task force (as shown in the Emerald fallout series), which consisted of Guy Gardner, Wonder Woman, Captain Atom, Alan Scott, The Martian Manhunter, Ferrin Colos of the Darkstars and Ice, ventured to Oa to discover the cause of Guy Gardner's visions of its destruction that were brought about by him wielding Sinestro's power ring. As a result of the central battery being destroyed, Guy Gardner's power ring, which fed off of residual Green Lantern energy, became more powerful. While on Oa, the task force confronted Hal. He made short work of all the heroes save for Guy, who fed off of Hal's ever-increasing power. At first it seemed like Hal and Guy were evenly matched until Hal's power swelled and he quickly defeated Guy, destroying his yellow power ring.
Since Parallax was gone from the Oan Power Battery, the final power ring conferred to Kyle Rayner did not have any weakness against yellow. Despite being possessed by Parallax, the positive aspect of Jordan's personality would resurface occasionally, eventually leading the infected Jordan to use Parallax's powers to reignite the Sun during the event known as The Final Night and later aiding the universe's greatest heroes to stop the rogue angel Asmodel from raising Hell to Earth and Heaven on Day of Judgment . Jordan's infected soul later bonded with The Spectre, who eventually ejected Parallax from Jordan. The Spectre itself left to move onto the next human host. Ganthet guided Jordan's soul back to his own body, preserved after Jordan reignited the Sun.
His soul and thoughts finally gaining clarity for the first time in years, Jordan was resurrected, again taking his place as a Green Lantern.
Together, Kyle Rayner and fellow Green Lanterns John Stewart, Guy Gardner and Kilowog (reborn thanks to Kyle) freed Ganthet, whom Parallax had possessed after his expulsion from Jordan's soul. They imprisoned the parasite back in the Central Power Battery on Oa.
Despite this re-introduction of the "yellow impurity", which is now referred to as the Parallax Fear Anomaly, the power rings' weakness against yellow no longer applies, as experienced wielders are now able to consciously recognize its source, and overcome the fear associated with it. It is still, however, a considerable weakness for new GL recruits, who are ignorant of the impurity's nature or of how to combat it. During training, new recruits' rings may falter at times against yellow objects, and/or when a recruit is experiencing panic or fear, as seen with Soranik Natu.[2]
Sinestro Corps[]
Parallax upon absorbing both Rayner and Jordan, revealing its true color. Art by Ivan Reis.
Sinestro's Sinestro Corps captures Kyle Rayner with the intention of making him Parallax's new host. Sinestro reveals to Kyle the existence of Ion. Sinestro also informs him (and the reader) of a retcon that Ion is actually an energy entity that needs a host, similar to Parallax, and it is now attached to Kyle's soul. Sinestro removes the Ion entity from Kyle, who is immediately taken over by Parallax. Parallax then clothes itself in a new uniform (which appears as a combination of Kyle's original Green Lantern costume and the costume Hal Jordan wore as Parallax) and returns to Qward with the Sinestro Corps.
Parallax becomes a herald of the reborn Anti-Monitor alongside Hank Henshaw, Superman-Prime and Sinestro himself.[3] After the massacre of several Green Lanterns, Parallax leads an assault against Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner, and brings them to Qward.[4] The "Lost Lanterns" arrive to rescue the captured Lanterns. During the battle, Parallax murders Jack T. Chance after making him experience his repressed fear of his abusive family.
During his possession by Parallax, Kyle witnesses everything that Parallax does, including his murder of Jack. Kyle and Parallax confront each other in a room constructed by Kyle’s memories. Kyle changes into Ion and fights Parallax and later conjures a power ring and his original costume. After fighting Parallax for a while, Kyle stabs Parallax with a pencil and regains his self-worth when he sees a painting that his mother painted several years ago. Kyle walks into the painting and ends up in a field walking towards a bright, green star.[5]
Later on Earth, Parallax is about to kill Hal’s brother and family when Hal confronts him just before his power ring runs out of power. Hal then tries to free Kyle by reminding him of how fearless his mother was even on her deathbed in an attempt to expel Parallax from Kyle. Parallax then absorbs Hal into himself; this twofold increase of his powers upon combining the strength of both of his hosts turns him his natural yellow color and develop a costume that more closely resembles the one he wore when Jordan was his only host. Soon after, Guy returns to Parallax with the painting, along with Hal's aid, allowing Kyle to fight Parallax from within, and the two manage to escape from Parallax. Now in its original form, Parallax begins to attack Hal, Guy, John and Kyle. Ganthet and Sayd arrive and imprison Parallax within the Earth Lanterns' four Power Batteries.[6] The effects of Parallax within the four Power Batteries has yet to be revealed.
In Green Lantern #41, it was revealed in the third part of the Agent Orange Arc that Parallax was once sealed in a box that Larfleeze had stolen from the Guardians of the Universe. The box was returned to the Guardians in exchange for the orange light of avarice.
Powers and abilities[]
Parallax has immense fear-casting and mind-control powers, strong enough to easily scare and control the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman, except those who are capable of understanding and conquering inner fear such as Kyle Rayner and Bruce Wayne. Strangely, it was unable to control Alan Scott even though he experienced fear from Parallax (Abin Sur explains that in humans fear is an intellectual, which may have something to do with the ineffectuality of Parallax's powers[7] and the fear entity itself mentioned that Alan's power differs from the fear entity, the Guardians, and the Green Lantern Corps as they derive their powers from emotional spectrums[8]), although he did experience a fever which led him increasingly weakening during Parallax's attempts. It can take possession of someone's body when they feel even the slightest fear. Parallax is also capable of creating solid light constructs, such as creating a convincing duplicate of Sinestro for Hal Jordan to kill. Parallax can create both green and yellow objects or creatures.
Alternate versions[]
In Booster Gold (vol. 2) #2 (2007), one panel shows an alternate timeline where the Sinestro Corps are formed years earlier than they should have been. In this alternate timeline, Tomar-Re is Parallax's host.
References[]
- ↑ Parallax is number 92 IGN. Retrieved 10-05-09.
- ↑ Green Lantern Corps: Recharge #4 (December 2005)
- ↑ Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special #1 (Aug, 2007) DC Comics
- ↑ Green Lantern (vol. 4) #21 (2007)
- ↑ Tales of the Sinestro Corps Presents: Parallax (2007)
- ↑ Green Lantern (vol. 4) #24 (2007)
- ↑ Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn #1 (December 1989)
- ↑ Green Lantern: Rebirth #6
External links[]
- Parallax Entity at the Comic Book DB
- Alan Kistler's profile on Green Lantern
- The Origin of Parallax at DCComics.com