The Green Lantern Corps, the linchpin of intergalactic peace in the DC Comics Universe, are among the most powerful and resilient force for good in the universe. Earth (otherwise designated as Sector 2814 by the powerful Guardians on the planet Oa, source of the Green Lantern's power) has seen its fair share of powerful champions, from Alan Scott, to John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner, just to name a few. But one of the most famous and powerful of all the Green Lanterns is none other than Hal Jordan. When it comes to balancing his Earthbound duties with his interstellar ones, though, Hal could use some pointers from his fellow corps members.
The premiere issue of From Beyond The Unknown opens with one of the Guardians of Oa chastising Hal Jordan for being derelict with his interstellar patrols, and focusing primarily on Earth and Earthbound threats. At the same instance, the alien menace Bolphunga appears, dropping out the sky, being pursued by three long, cybernetically enhanced alien beings. Calling themselves the Gloom, they have chased Bolphunga to Earth, where they are prepared to kill him for perceived crimes against their people. Having been alerted to their presence, Hal stops them from executing Bolphunga, but not before suffering their own wrath against him.
The Gloom easily subdue both Hal and Bolphunga, rendering Hal's power ring useless against their advanced technology. Rendering both of their targets unconscious, the Gloom abscond with both of them to the remains of the planet Xadar. There, the lead Gloom explains not only Bolphunga's guilt at destroying Xadar, but Hal Jordan's culpability as well. With the power ring trapped behind a near-indestructible dome, the Glooms relay how Bolphunga had razed one planet after another after a bounty, eventually destroying six entire planets in search of just one single target. With nothing left, the survivors of Xadar constructed robotic suits, designed for combat, and uploaded their consciousnesses in order to make it their life's mission to not only kill Bolphunga, to also make all the Green Lantern Corps account for the crime of letting the planets under their jurisdiction be ignored to the point of being destroyed.
The blame is laid clearly at Hal's feet: while Bolphunga had been running amok, he had been on Earth with the rest of the Justice League, helping to take down an Earthbound threat. He hadn't cared enough to see what might be troubling other worlds within his sector. As not only the Guardians of Oa, but the Glooms themselves point out, Earth has plenty of other heroes with which to handle any threat it might face. Eventually Hal does manage to escape the Gloom's clutches, and sends both the criminal, and the Glooms' to be locked away at Oa. But here he faced, firsthand, the visible, physical effect of his dereliction of duty. He apologizes for the destruction of Xadar, and the other planets, and the issue ends with Hal turning down returning to Earth to face a threat to the Justice League, instead returning to his patrol of his sector.
This is not the first time that a Green Lantern allowed a planet to be destroyed, although this effect is related more to Hal's insistence, as the Glooms say, "to put his species first" above others. While Hal is probably best known as a superhero on Earth, his role is more of a peacekeeper for a galactic sector. He's more police officer than superhero, and his antics on Earth have dire consequence for others on other planets. His dereliction of duty might have the payoff of being a hero on Earth, but it's at too great a cost. By putting his personal glory aside, and putting aside his pride as well, and thinking of the meaning of the ring, and his Oath, Hal Jordan realizes that he could be a great superhero, or a great peacekeeper, but sometimes those two roles aren't the same.