WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the story "The Shadow Over Coast City" by Kenny Porter, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia, & Tom Napolitano from DC: The Doomed and The Damned #1, on sale now
The Green Lanterns are used to protecting entire sectors of galaxies, with their near-limitless power giving them the ability to deal with almost any form of threat. But even they sometimes need to call upon some backup -- which is why it's a good thing Hal Jordan just got a surprising friend to call upon.
Hal Jordan just got an unexpected magical ally in the form of Etrigan the Demon -- and even earned a promise for back-up from the hellish brawler down the line.
The story opens with Hal Jordan returning to his hometown of Coast City, discovering a seemingly mystical threat. However, his Green Lantern Ring confirms that the creatures escaped the Sciencells of Oa, so he rushes in to help protect a man being attacked by the creatures. But it turns out the man is actually Jason Blood, the human-side of Etrigan the Demon. Hal initially tries to convince Blood to leave the alien threat for him to handle, even calling him a "wannabee" hero. This prompts Blood -- who believes the threat to be a supernatural force -- to transform into Etrigan the Demon, who quickly unleashes his powers against the creature.
The two quickly get distracted fighting, arguing over whether or not which of them have jurisdiction over the threat. Things only get worse when Etrigan attacks the creatures trying to murder them -- including the ones who were formerly citizens of Coast City and were transformed by the strange beast into monsters themselves. Hal threatens to bring Etrigan to justice as soon as the creature is dealt with, but the creature soon proves more than capable of brushing off any attack either Etrigan or Green Lantern throws at it. Eventually, though, the two ended up deciding to work together, and quickly combine their knowledge to great effect.
Hal uses the Green Lantern archives to figure out the name of the demon, so Etrigan can perform a ritual to banish him from the corporeal world. While Green Lantern uses his ring to create constructs to represent light and torch, Etrigan can recite a spell that sends the demon back to hell and undoes all the transformations it brought on to the citizens of Coast City who'd been mutated into monstrous forms. The story ends with Etrigan and Hal making peace and agreeing that the other is a skilled fighter and hero in their own right -- and both offer to lend their services to the other if they're ever called upon.
Considering the vastness of the DC Universe, it's good to know that a sci-fi-centric hero like Green Lantern could recruit a mystical ally in the form of Etrigan. It would be interesting to see Hal bring Etrigan into the deep cosmos and throw his magical touch against hard-sci-fi concepts. Conversely, it could lead to Etrigan eventually bringing in Hal to help combat a magical threat, allowing both heroes to run into threats they aren't as conditioned for it. It's a useful friendship for either hero to have and could lead to some exciting twists down the line for both. The two head-strong heroes are surprisingly similar and should get more team-ups to explore that relationship.