But when judging him based on the core merits one finds in a Green Lantern, he’s still the cream of the proverbial crop after all this time.
That’s not to say Hal is a perfect person; far from it, he’s actually quite flawed.
It’s thanks to Hal Jordan that the modern Green Lantern mythology came to be, with his introduction in 1959 being one of the major character revitalizations of the Silver Age… but that’s not why he’s #1 on this list.
From his corruption as Parallax to his stint as The Spectre to his rebirth and rise back to prominence, Hal has had the most intricate and compelling journey of all the Green Lanterns.