This is for Gaff1229's project regarding original takes on the Green Lantern character. It took me a good long while to come up with an idea, but while listening to old-time radio I was inspired to make an homage to classic crime fighters like The Lion's Eye, Sam Spade and The Shadow. After all, the Green Lanterns are cosmic police, so why not a detective of the old school?

In 1944 Harry O'Neill finds himself in disgrace. Kicked off the force on trumped-up charges of corruption, told to turn in his badge, he resorts to private investigation as a means of income. But fortunes change when an assignment from an invisible benefactor brings him to a crashed spaceship buried in the basement of a classy hotel (of all places)! The ghostly forces therein explain to Harry that they guided him there since he happens to be one of the most fearless men on Earth, and as such is worthy of cosmic power with which to patrol the dark alleys of space. So now, Harry doesn't mind so much that he's off the force. He's been promoted to a higher branch of law enforcement, and his new superiors give him the latitude he needs to bring justice in his own way. From the shadows of Coast City to the dark sides of distant worlds, Harry works in his own inimitable style. It's not much different from the old days, really - crime is crime, and it falls to him to cast the light of justice.
He would wear a ring, but it ain't his style. Harry O'Neill still carries a badge.