Warning: contains spoilers for Green Lantern, Season Two#12!
One of Green Lantern's oldest and most unsettling enemies - the evil, misshapen telepath Hector Hammond - has not only taken control of his power ring but now his actual comic book. The villain, known for his over-sized cranium, interrupted Hal Jordan's desire for a vacation on the medieval fantasy world of Athmoora, appearing as the tyrant who's enslaved the planet and invited a series of Jordan's enemies to help spring a trap for their old emerald adversary. Proving he's strong enough to bend Hal's ring to his will, previews for the next issue of Green Lantern Season Two show him seemingly addressing the audience so he can tell his side of the story, snatching even the narrative itself out from under his foe.
Created by John Broome and Gil Kane in Green Lantern #5 (1961), Hector Hammond was a criminal who suffered the major downside of receiving new powers due to exposure to a meteorite. Gaining impressive telekinetic and telepathic powers, Hammond's new abilities came with the cost of a deformed head due to his growing brain, causing immobilization and the loss of his ability to speak. Despite these limitations, he became an enemy of Hal Jordan and eventually other DC heroes as a member of the Royal Flush Gang and the Secret Society of Super Villains. After participating in Green Lantern-centric events like Blackest Night and Brightest Day, Hector Hammond would regain his ability to talk thanks to extraterrestrial examination and experimentation, but his goal to destroy Green Lantern remained the same.
In Green Lantern, Season Two #12, writer Grant Morrison and artist Liam Sharp show a powerless Hal Jordan wielding an emerald sword against an army of Hammond's minions while Hector breaks the fourth wall to commandeer the reader's attention, claiming, "This is my story, not his! This is the tale of Hector Hammond!" He proceeds to tell a heavily edited version of his origin story, painting him as an unlucky individual who gained extraordinary abilities and now has the power and resources necessary to kill a superhero. He mentions his infatuation with Hal's longtime love interest Carol Ferris and then pushes that memory aside, blaming Jordan for turning him into a monster and celebrating that now he is both the master of the mind and willpower. Check out the preview pages from DC Comics below:
Writer Grant Morrison's Hector Hammond appears aligned with the changes made to the character in 2008's Green Lantern: Secret Origin, which saw Hammond unsuccessfully pursuing Carol Ferris and getting his powers thanks to exposure from the meteorite powering the deceased Abin Sur's spacecraft. His powers help him learn Hal Jordan's secret identity, and his defeat following their first battle began their famous enmity. Artist Liam Sharp brings to mind the detailed, ethereal paintings of Morrison's acclaimed former collaborator Dave McKean as Hector Hammond tries to convince the readers that he is the hero and Hal Jordan the villain. He wants it clear that this is an act of revenge and with Jordan's ring in possession, he has the perfect opportunity to do something that he believes anybody would want to do.
What's striking is how precisely Morrison skewers Hammond as a venal, egotistical creep, letting him take the wheel only to expose the fact that far from some ambitious vision, his evil comes from nursing old grudges and obsessing over his own wounded entitlement. It's the perfect contrast to Hal's grander sense of heroism, but while Green Lantern has faced greater odds than this and still managed to come out on top, Hector Hammond clearly won't make things easy in this epic finale that promises to touch on plot points from the entire run of the intergalactic series. Green Lantern, Season Two #12 will feature a main cover by Liam Sharp and a variant cover by Juan Gimenez, and will hit stores March 9.