Here are my picks for the top five most iconic covers featuring Hal Jordan (with iconic being determined by what covers are most established and most recognized when it comes to Hal Jordan, with a preference towards covers that are homaged a lot). This is not a BEST cover list and due to the very nature of icons, very few (if any) recent covers will be on the list. A notable exception to the rules is that I don't count covers from a character's first appearance (which isn't applicable to all characters, of course, just those who appeared on the cover of the comic they debuted in), as those tend to be automatically iconic so they're boring. Here's a list of all characters featured so far.

This one was a toughie, so I asked Green Lantern writer Geoff Johns for help putting the list together, and he was kind enough to help out with some excellent suggestions. The result is a first for these lists - all five of the covers have been homaged at least once!

Enjoy!

First off, while I'm exempting first appearance covers from the countdown, it's only fair, I suppose, to share them here before the countdown begins, so here is the first cover appearance of Hal Jordan from his debut story, Showcase #22...

Artist: Gil Kane

5.

Artist: Brian Bolland

This is the first use of the now-iconic "Hal and a bunch of Green Lanterns stick their rings up in the air" cover that has been used a lot since, most recently on a Dave Gibbons Blackest Night cover (and most notably on Walt Simonson's Green Lantern #200 cover).

4.

Artist: Darryl Banks

About as close to an "instant classic" as you can get - this cover preceded Banks becoming the ongoing Green Lantern artist, a spot he held for...damn, almost 100 issues!

3.

Artist: Brian Bolland

This is the first cover to feature the iconic "Hal leading a whole pile of Green Lanterns into battle" (something Bolland himself would use soon after in the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps #3) motif AND it is the first cover to show Hal with more than one power ring AND you could argue it's the first cover to really show the Green Lantern Corps as a corps rather than a battalion.

2.

Artist: Gil Kane

Can't have a most iconic Hal Jordan list without a Gil Kane cover!

This brilliant Hal/Sinestro cover has been homaged twice recently, including Alex Ross' Justice - if Alex Ross is homaging you, that's a pretty darn good sign that your work has reached iconic status.

1.

Artist: Neal Adams

This one is almost boring featured here - it's just most likely the most famous Green Lantern cover by one of the (if not THE) most famous Green Lantern artists of all time.

Thanks to the Grand Comics Database for the covers!

And, of course, thanks to Geoff Johns (check out his website here) for helping me figure the list out!