Emerald Dawn did a lot of good things; removing the 'born without fear' angle, making Sinestro Hal's mentor in his early career, and the death of Martin Jordan as a defining element of Hal's youth. It brought back the space cop angle and brought the Corps aspect to the forefront of Hal's origin. (Most of Hal's SA stories are primarily about him, Tom and Carol...with only periodic use of the Guardians and the other GLs.)
ED made a few mistakes, though: It Peter Parker-ified Hal (fit with its own "with great power..." tragedy bit). It made him even whinier than he was in the mid-80s. It scaled back Kilowog into a drill instructor stereotype.
But on the whole it was rollicking tale, with a great final battle on Oa.
Secret Origin doesn't have as much cool GL-related stuff in it, but it did a smart thing in keeping everything good about ED, but making the story much more about character and transformation. The characters are much more nuanced and complex - from Hal to Carol, Sinestro and even Abin Sur. S.O. also incorporated a new villain and incorporated pre-existing villains into the mix.
But the best GL origin? DC New Frontier. By a frickin' country mile.
I prefer Secret Origins over Emerald Dawn. Not a fan of the Hal as a drunk driver thing.
Well said for everything that ED did right the things that it did wrong simply ruined the story for me, SO doesn't make the same mistakes and from start to finish a better story.
I like BOTH versions and think they both have a lot to offer. I like SO more than ED. I think both have their flaws, and either version has little things that were done better than the other.
Mostly, why I like SO more is that I don't like the Hal as a drunk driver subplot, and I think Legion was a pretty lackluster villain. But a lot of ED was truly kick ass, and Johns was smart to reuse some of the things that Jones added to Hal's origin (Hal witnessing his father's death, Sinestro as Hal's mentor, etc).
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