Abin Sur (New Earth)

Abin Sur was a Green Lantern from Sector 2814, the predecessor of Hal Jordan.

History

Originally a history professor on the planet Ungara, Abin Sur was soon appointed Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814 in the mid 1860s. As a child, he became best friends with Ruch Ehr and later, by association, Munni Jah. The two of them were a couple and Abin secretly loved Munni, but never overtly spoke of this.

Recruited by the Green Lantern known as Starkaðr, he is known to have come to Earth on several occasions. In the Old West, he teamed up with a Henry Lee Jordan, an ancestor of Hal Jordan, to battle an alien named Traitor (who was responsible for the death of Starkaðr).^[2]

During World War Two, he briefly encountered Starman and Bulletman when the three battled an alien being under the control of Mr. Mind.^{[citation needed]} After the disbanding of the JSA, he visited Earth once more in pursuit of the genocidal criminal Tybalt Bak'sar, where he encountered the Martian Manhunter.^[3]

The Prophecy

Abin would importantly learn about a prophecy that concerned the fate of the universe, known as the Blackest Night. His curiosity of the Blackest Night led him on a journey to the planet Ysmault, where he interrogated its inhabitants the Five Inversions, who had foreseen the prophecy.^[4] Qull of the Five Inversions told Abin about The Black, a complete antithesis of the Emotional Spectrum, that will consume all life. Abin's questions also foretold him about the War of Light, the downfall of the Green Lantern Corps, and as well his death, when his ring fails him at a critical moment, but will be succeeded by his successor that will be the greatest amongst his contemporaries.^[5]

Abin's discovery of the prophecy of the Blackest Night was also previously written in the Book of Oa.^[6] However, the prophecy was believed to be a lie concocted by their enemies, the Guardians of the Universe in which the passage on the Blackest Night was later removed from the Book of Oa. Only two Guardians, Ganthet and Sayd, as well as a Zamaron tribe, would take his discovery seriously.^[7][8] Regardless of the Guardians' inaction, Abin sought to find a way to counter the prophecy from happening.

Death

While on patrol, Abin was attacked and pursued by the being known as Legion while on its way to Oa. Badly injured and with his space ship seriously damaged, he made an emergency landing on the nearest habitable planet (Earth) and began using his power ring to search for a successor to wield the ring after he passed on. The ring settled on Hal Jordan as the most suitable replacement right before his death.

For a brief time during Zero Hour, he was pulled to the present, where he assisted the Darkstars in their battle against Entropy before being returned to his own time.^[9]

In the afterlife, Abin Sur assisted Swamp Thing (Alec Holland) in rescuing his daughter Tefé from Hell.^[10][11] It was later revealed that part of his very own soul was being tortured in Hell while his spirit was acting as a companion to Hal Jordan during his brief stint as the Spectre. Eventually, he freed himself from Hell and assisted Jordan on several spiritual adventures and metaphysical dilemmas. Eventually, Abin Sur engaged in the Karamm-Jeev Descent, an Ungaran form of reincarnation, and was reborn as Lagzia, the daughter of Sur's old friends Ruch Ehr and Munni Jah.

During some point in his life, Abin sired a son, Amon Sur, who grew up to become the man in charge of the Black Circle crime syndicate. Amon was angry at his deceased father for abandoning him for the Green Lantern Corps, and decided to take his anger out on all Green Lanterns. Amon was eventually stopped by Abin's successor's successor, Kyle Rayner and a second-generation Guardian of the Universe called Lianna.

Blackest Night

 Main article: Blackest Night

The Blackest Night inevitably came to pass, in which Abin Sur's body was resurrected as a Black Lantern along with his sister Arin. The Black Lantern siblings confronted and battled Hal Jordan, Sinestro, Star Sapphire, and Indigo-1 on Korugar.^[12] Abin engaged against his successor and attempted to break his morale by recalling Jordan's role in destroying the Green Lantern Corps under the influence of Parallax and failing to save Coast City; however, Jordan came to terms with his past actions. Ultimately, Abin and Arin were destroyed by the combined powers of the Lanterns.^[13]

Powers and Abilities

Abilities

• Indomitable Will: Abin Sur possessed an exceptionally strong sense of will, a required trait for induction into the Green Lantern Corps.
• Historiography: Abin Sur was an expert on the history of the planet Ungara.
• Pedagogy: As a professor of history, Abin Sur was able to disseminate information of educational value to large groups of people.
  

Paraphernalia

Equipment

• Green Lantern Power Battery

Transportation

• Abin Sur's Starship

Weapons

• Green Lantern Ring
  • Energy Construct Creation
    • Force Field
  • Energy Projection
  • Flight

Oath

"In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil's might,
Beware my power...Green Lantern's light!"

Notes

• Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-One era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and should be considered apocryphal.

Spaceship

In the Silver Age comics, as the abilities of Hal Jordan's power ring began to show it was capable of practical long range space travel, that raised the question of why Abin Sur needed a ship.

Pre-Crisis explanation

In the story "Earth's First Green Lantern," Jordan revealed that he wondered that himself and asked his ring to explain.

The ring told the story of how Abin Sur discovered a parasitic energy being species that fed on sapient beings' "I-factor," a substance that enabled inventiveness, attacking civilizations and stalling their development. Sur captured them to stop their destruction, but one of their numbers had escaped and vowed to free his brethren. To do so, he tracked down Sur's planet and created a disaster to force him to appear to stop it. Since Sur did not mask himself, the being recognized him immediately and followed him to his home. As Sur neglected to charge his ring before going to sleep, he was unable to stop the being from taking control of him.

With the being in control of his body and about to force him to go and free his fellows, Sur tricked the being into thinking that he would not be able to do so because the ring would be low on power after the trip there while in reality, the ring's charge is purely time-based. The being decided to have Sur take a ship to the destination, but before leaving, Sur managed to get a hold of his invisible power battery. On the ship, Sur piloted the ship and waited until he moved into a green colored planetary radiation belt which allowed Sur to charge his ring without the being noticing. Thus armed, Sur battled and captured the being. However, during the fight, the ship wandered into Earth's radiation belt (which was apparently yellow colored in the Earth-One universe). With his ring useless, Sur lost control of the battered ship and crashed. Mortally wounded, Sur sought out his replacement and drew Jordan to him.

According to Jordan, this account prompted him to keep a secret identity as a security precaution, to carefully navigate around Earth's radiation belts and presumably make a point of usually keeping his ring charged to prevent similar sneak attacks.

Post-Crisis explanation

In Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2, writer Alan Moore pointed out an odd discrepancy in Hal Jordan's origin story: why would Abin Sur, capable of flying through space on his own, need a spaceship? He answered this question with a story of how the hero once visited Ysmault, a prison planet for an ancient race of demons, the Empire of Tears, vanquished millennia ago by the Oans.

While there, Abin Sur met a demon named Qull of the Five Inversions, a humanoid with a gaping mouth in his chest and a tongue-shaped head, crucified by three glowing spikes topped with the symbol of the Green Lantern Corps. This unholy messiah predicted the hero would die when his power ring ran out of energy at a critical moment, while he was fighting an opponent or unprotected in hard vacuum. Abin Sur, worried by this prophecy, began using a starship for interstellar voyages, as an additional safeguard.

A decade later, fleeing his enemy, his spaceship collided with a girdle of yellow radiation around Earth that rendered his starship and his power-ring useless within moments. Had he relied on his ring alone, he realized, he might have tested the planet's magnetosphere before rashly entering it. Thus, while Legion may have wounded him, it could be argued that it was Qull that was actually responsible for Abin Sur's death, having sown the seeds of doubt in the Green Lantern's mind.

Trivia

• Abin Sur was once called The Only Law West of Andromeda.^[2]

Related

• 121 Appearances of Abin Sur (New Earth)
• 17 Images featuring Abin Sur (New Earth)
• 6 Quotations by or about Abin Sur (New Earth)
• Character Gallery: Abin Sur (New Earth)

Footnotes

Green Lantern Corps member This character is or was a member of the Green Lantern Corps, chosen by the Guardians of the Universe to act as their sector's Green Lantern and to protect it from interstellar threats with a Power Ring. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Green Lantern Corps members category."

Black Lantern Corps member This character is or was a member of the Black Lantern Corps. Those who have died may wield the Black Power Ring, symbolizing their lack of both life and emotion. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Black Lantern Corps members category."