Green Lantern: In Blackest Night

It's time for one of my patented "has nothing to do with the rest of the site" write ups! Made purely because I want to.

So, I've just finished reading the Sinestro Corps and like every other Green Lantern fan I'm eagerly awaiting the upcoming "In Blackest Night" story. In this story seven new corps will be revealed. I always loved those "imitation" Green Lanterns and GL organizations, so this is just so up my alley that I'm ecstatic for it. Green Lantern just has some of the best Mythos in comicdom and this story taps right into it.

What it's about:

It's a little hard to explain to anyone who hasn't read Green Lantern, but here it goes. The Green Lantern Corps is a bunch of space cops who patrol the galaxy using magic rings that can do anything they can imagine. Their bosses - the Guardians of the universe - are immortal and have been doing this for billions of years. It's been recently revealed that That their power comes from the center of the "emotion spectrum" and is derived from willpower (even though will isn't really an emotion ... just roll with it). The spectrum looks kinds like this:

Red - Hatred
Orange - Avarice
Yellow - Fear
Green - Will
Blue - Hope
Indigo (other blue) - Compassion
Purple - Love.

There's also an eighth corps comprised of zombies that seems to be a lack of emotion (which makes sense since this is about a war of light). Personally I'm expecting a while lantern corps too (all the colors combined), but we'll see.

Thusly ends my explanations. I'm about to delve into the wild forests of Green Lantern geekyness here and I can't lay the ground work out for everyone!

Now, as I've said earlier the different corps and alternate GLs fascinate me .... and there's actually been some "other" Corps before all this. So let's just examine them, shall we?

The Green:

We may as well start off in the beginning, right? Right.To start things off, the Guardians made rings to tap into the willpower "emotion." They're at the center of the spectrum and basically support the user's will (according to this story anyhow). The rings used to be vulnerable to yellow, but ... well, I'll get to that. They also have to be recharged every 24 hours. They have a connection to a database for translations, can self-replicate and do many complex things like time travel (but that was in the Silver Age).

They're also indestructible. And those that do get destroyed are considered to be something of a feat on the villain's part. But the Power Batteries are VERY destructible! In a recent issue a villain known as the Shark actually bit into one to destroy it! And in another issue another was destroyed during a tug-of-war." What the Hell, Guardians?

There's also a bit of inconsistency that happens when the Corps is destroyed. The first time it happens, the entire Corps is called to OA and they're rings are sapped dry by Sinestro (who's in the Central battery). Another time Parallax destroyed the battery in totality and rings everywhere disappear and batteries become useless.Only, not all the rings disappear And not all the batteries are entirely useless (Parallax tries charging at one). Plot hole!

This is the most common type of Green Ring .... which is only natural since the comic *is* called "Green Lantern." But they are hardly the only ones who tap the Green Lantern power!

Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern, had a completely different ring. While the Guardians' rings are (somehow) scientific in origin, this sucker is magic. Part of this is because the Golden Age GL had no ties to any corps ... this came in later. In the beginning it really was magic. Later on they merged everything and now it was the guardians who gathered all the magic in the universe (good and evil; they wanted order) into the Starheart. And the good part of the Starheart broke off and (eventually) became this ring.

There was some nonsense about it colliding with a Green Lantern named Yaulang Gur, but that story really didn't make any sense. I'll go into it later, though. Still, this collision fused it with the GL power and somehow gave it the exact same powers. Only it's weakness it to wood (go figure).

In the future the Green Lantern energy is tapped by a group of criminals who construct a satellite in the vicinity of the (now destroyed) OA. Apparently the energy has been floating around out there for a thousand years and Kyle Rayner goes in to stop them. They aren't the first to tap into the green power, but they are the first I know of to make their own neat little rings to do it. Apparently though, these rings can only make simple constructs.

In SEVERAL alternate realities there's a villain called Power Ring (of the Crime Syndicate) who has the exact same powers as Green Lantern. I've already written extensively about him some time ago. His ring is probably the best ring out of the bunch. Not only can it do anything a normal GL ring do, but it had neither a weakness to wood nor to yellow. And it didn't even need to be recharged! In fact, Power Ring's battery went bad out of disuse! Additionally, the power battery could ALSO be used like the ring! What a feature!

Unfortunately for ringy this ring was destroyed. And so was his battery. Yeah, the Secret Society of Super Villains destroyed it so they could get back home. And Captain Comet destroyed the battery because it turned people into monsters. But then ... it reappears just in time for his death. How? I dunno.

Power Ring was more like Alan Scott than Hal Jordan. His ring was not only lame looking, but also mystical. He was also unattached to any corps. Even though there's been four Power Rings in comicdon, none of them are active all at once and several aren't even in the same reality. At first Power Ring was exclusive to Earth-3, but the the Anti-matter universe also pooped out a Power Ring. Maybe because the Anti-Monitor ate Earth-3?

Still there's some irony to be found in examining Power Ring's history.
1) The Anti-Monitor (based on Qward and born on one of it's moons) destroyed Earth-3 (and the original Power Ring).
2) After Crisis DC tried (unsuccessfully) to retcon the Crime Syndicate into Qwardians. So Power Ring might count as "Qwardian Corps Plot #2". What are the others? I'll get to that ...
3 ) After the Crime Syndicate has been established as being from the Antimatter Universe, they attack Qward!

Kyle Rayner's ring. Supposedly the greatest of the guardian's creations. I'm showing a seldom-used variant that actually looks different than the standard design (from JLA / Specter). Apparently they were gonna redesign the ring, but the fandom spazzed on 'em. So they left it. Anyhow ... this ring had a LOT of different features than the Corps standard!

1) No Yellow Impurity. At the time, it was because Ganthet just made it better. Later it was learned that it was because the Yellow Impurity had been freed. But issues of the era *do* show it resistant to Yellow while other rings are not. It's a plot hole.
2) No 24-hour recharge. It uses power more logically. The more you charge, the more you have. The bigger the creations, the more power they consume. Charge only when you need to. That sorta thing. Later, Kyle modified it so that it is never without a small reserve of power.
3) Auto-return. It automatically returns to Kyle when he wills it. No more stolen ring! He doesn't even need to wear it to control it!
4) No database connection. Sort of. The ring is spotty when it comes to translations, depending on the writer. It also means it can't protect him from mortal harm (which the old rings could ... unless the writer wants the character to die or add to dramatic tension).
5) Works only for Kyle or past wielders (like Hal) of that specific ring. This can get past by using Kyle's DNA to "fool" the ring. In an issue of JLA where they switch bodies Steel gets trapped in Kyle's body and can't use the ring because his mind isn't Kyle's ... but this is the only instance that's used. And it works for Superman in DC 1 Million.

So what happens tot his wonder ring? Kyle loses it when he becomes Ion again! Yeah, no fancy explosion .... he just becomes Ion and loses it. The writers also forgot all the other special powers it had besides "no yellow weakness" because nothing is remarked on how special Kyle's ring is. Later on he gets a Corps standard ring. So all the bru-ha-ha over Kyle's special ring amounts to nothing in the end. Typical.

The green energy, will, is said to support rather than control. In 52, however, it was revealed that the Emerald Eye of Ekron as an "early will-powered Green Plasma weapon from the early days of Guardian technology."

BUT, under this new color = emotion thing we have going, there's a slight flub. Because if green is supposed to support than why the Heck does the Emerald Eye have a habit of taking over the mind. Moreover, it can teleport people, give powers to people, see anything, and change entire landscapes. It's actually really powerful. Unless you blind it, then it dies. Still, if will supports, then why does this thing take over? I wouldn't take notice of this, but the Green lantern angle was put into a really recent comic ... I don't think it belongs, personally.

The Qwardians also tapped their own version of the Emerald Energy to make their own Green Lantern Corps. This was "Qwardian Corps Plot #4." Well ... I'll get back to it.

The Red:

The power of HAAAAAAAATE! Okay, it's more of a magenta here, but that's because it's from an old comic with less colors available to it. THis is the first time a red power is seen. And the only time until now. You'd think there'd be more times, but no. This guy was made by Eclipso's satellite which splits the evil half from the good half of a man .... which is to say it makes a black-and-white "negative" clone of their evil half. Apparently this can also duplicate a power ring. Geez, Qwardians, hire Eclipso! Of course Eclipso doesn't take the ring from the clone for himself ... otherwise this would have been a much more interesting issue!

But, this is one of those Silver Age plot twists that happen right at the end of the book only to be solved five pages into the next (and not even all of those pages deal with the clone). LAME! Apparently the half-minute they've been separated have made thing "change" since the clone's creation. Since it's a chromatic opposite (red being the opposite of green) Hal figures a purple cloth (the opposite of yellow) will kill the thing. And it works. It even makes the cone disappear in it's entirety! No pesky body to bury, eh Hal?

The Yellow:

The Sinestro Corps, wielders of fear! Since the weakness of GL has always been yellow (mostly always anyhow), all evil villains are obliged to be colored yellow. This ring has changed allot over the years, in design. Before it was meant to look like a yellow Corps-standard ring. Later it had no symbol (not even the Sin Corps standard). It's also been worn by Guy Gardner.

This is "Qwardian Corps Plot #1." The Renegade Green lantern Sinestro, who used his power to become a dictator on his homeworld, was stripped of his power and sent to the Anti-Matter Universe. Specifically the world of Qward. I wonder why the Guardians ever did that. I mean ... they have science cells, don't they? Even a remote planet would have been less elaborate. Oh, well, the Guardians figured he might be humbled by all the evil there, but the Qwardians took a liking to him and made him a yellow ring so they could destroy the corps. There's actually been several of the rings and they have differing levels of power. This is attributed to different writers

1) The original ring worked by absorbing power from the Green Lantern Rings. When he had the ring Guy Gardner bummed charges from members of the Corps. These rings could be overloaded with power and break from the strain. Now that they have an entire Corps they yellow rings have their own yellow batteries.
2) During Guy's tenure with the ring it's explained that it's made from a rare element named "Qwardium" which the Qwardians used up making Sinestro his various rings. I guess the officer who said this was ill-informed.
3) Originally it was said the ring was composed entirely of impure elements not found in GL rings. Considering the current situation with Parallax, this is still true.
4) In one issue Hal was in Sinestro's body and the ring informed him that using it would cause the user to go insane. Not so universally true anymore, but you could make a case for it, I suppose.
5) These rings also have a database. Sinestro's spoke in his native language which Guy couldn't understand. Fortunately for him aliens all over the galaxy knew English.

In essence, these rings works allot like Kyle's ring did. They absorbed as much as they needed. But their couldn't absorb as much as Kyle's ring could before breaking, it seems. After Sinestro died the Qwardians tried to find a replacement. One of which was Fatality and, when she removed the ring voluntarily, it blew her arm off. Nasty!

Sinestro was not the only person to wield a Yellow Ring, though. Behold ... Bizarro Yellow Lantern!

I've already written about him. His ring was vulnerable to anything green (naturally). And look at that! He was made from an image on a monitor! First Eclipso makes a GL ring based on nothing and Bizarro makes one based on a TV monitor. It's not even pointing at GL himself! And what's with the symbol? Is it supposed to mean he's weaker than GL? Or is a candle the opposite of a lantern? Aren't Bizarros supposed to be the opposite? All the Silver Age symbol are like that. And I can't figure it out.

His power seems exactly like GL's (only weak against green) and nothing like the yellow power of Sinestro (because he can't absorb green energy). Which makes me wonder what'd happen if he fought Silver Age Hal Jordan. Anyhow, there's a new YL in the Sinestro Corps. Ironically, while the original YL was a coward the new one obsesses the ability "to instill great fear."

But this is hardly the first Sinestro Corps! No, there was a Sinestro Corps waaaaaay back in the day! Let's take a peek at the saga ...

Unfortunately, there will be no yellow batteries appearing in the issue itself. I like how Sinestro's blatantly labeling himself as evil, though.

He stole the central battery itself just like that! The Guardians were right there and they couldn't do anything to stop it!

Sinestro gives power to random thugs on Earth-2. And he's somehow made them into aliens while he was at it. The Sinestro Corps! Time for a battle royal!

And that's it! Alan Scott and Hal Jordan go on to kick Sinestro's bony ass in the next two pages, but that's the entire Sinestro Corps War right there! Wow. Hal and Alan really slowed down in their old age. And Sinestro got a whole lot tougher. If it was the Silver Age this whole "Blackest Night" business would be over in a snap. Hal would just fill the Black Lanterns with life from his ring and that's be it. It's be done.

As it stands, Sinestro's on death row because of his crimes. Only ... that's happened before. And it didn't turn out too good for the Green Lanterns.

It appears that the Guardians do not learn form their mistakes. Okay, to be fair, it was the Green Lanterns who executed Sinestro while the Guardians were away, but you'd think the Guardians would remember that little "total annihilation" thing that happened the last time they killed Sinestro. You know ... how he became a ghost, got into the central power battery, merged with the Yellow Impurity, and ended the Corps. That little incident.

And speaking of Sinestros and evil Corps it's time for ... "Qwardian Corps Plot #4." While the corps was destroyed by the above blunder, the Qwardians FINALLY find out how to make reasonable recreations of the Green Lantern rings. Because they're made of antimatter, they shock those wearing positive matter rings ... of course NOBODY WORSE positive matter rings while they were in production because the Corps was destroyed. So, naturally, instead of taking over the universe now that the only force who opposed them has vanished, they anticipate their return and instead give their rings to total morons to discredit the Guardians.

Whaaaaaat?

Okay, it's a funny story. And I do like it, as it's G'Nort's origin. But the Qwardians have really fallen far. Who leads these guys? And why didn't any of them use these evil rings they keep making? And who was the brains behind this hair brained scheme anyhow?

It's Qwardian's who worship Sinestro! And none of them have Yellow Rings either. And, do you see that big Sinestro sitting in the background? That's the Anti-GL Power Battery. And it breathes fire too.

...

Frankly I'm glad they got put into slavery when Sinestro finally took over Qward. Someone with BRAINS needs to run the show. Because, obviously, these guys don't have any!

The Yellow Impurity:

Before it became a gigantic space bug, the yellow impurity had a whole bunch of convoluted explanations.
1) Mostly it was noted that it was some vague substance that was necessary to make the rings work. In one instance it was removed from a ring and it ceased to function (I have to admit, this might be my faulty memory though).
2) In another case it was thought that the guardians could have made the rings ineffective against anything! This ties in with the Yaulang Gur story. In it the Lanterns aren't held back by any weakness and Gur became a tyrant. To humble him the Guardians made his ring weak against wood. He rebelled and was zapped by the Guardians. His battery melted and became a meteor that fell to Earth. In a subsequent story the Starheart meteor crashed into Gur and absorbed his powers and wood weakness. It's believed the weakness to yellow was just placed in afterwards.
3) To tie in with the above, some sources say the Guardians put the weakness into the rings so that no GL would ever become invincible. To show their faith in their servants the Guardians made OA as a giant yellow planet full of yellow buildings.
4) Another ideas was that the Guardians simply told the GLs that the yellow impurity existed and the gullible tools believed it.
5) In some cases willpower could override the impurity. Also, in some issues Hal would grabble with Sinestro's constructs when the artist forgot that Hal shouldn't actually be able to touch them. at all.

When Sinestro merged with the impurity Hal let it loose (it was contained in a spherical chamber) and the GL power everywhere was drained. Hal sealed it right back up once it looked like Sin had died.

The Purple:

Now, we all know that this is Star Sapphire's color of choice, but ... was it really the first time she used her gem as a ring? I say thee nay!

That's right, years before in the forgettable Action Comics Weekly Star Sapphire's inexplicable set her gemstone in a ring. A honking, oversized ring, from the looks of it. And it had the power to make constructs too. In purple-tinted color! Sapphire's primarily used it to cut things (like Katama).

Now, speaking of the Zamarons, why do you suppose they're so pissed at the Guardians? Well ...

Oh, Guardians ... you sly dogs. But we have never seen any babies, have we? Well, they are millions of years old .... Since this was the 80's there was no Viagra to help 'em out. I can only assume the Zamarons held a grudge ever since...

Well, they did come back to help raise the Guardian babies ... but that was in Kyle's book and nobody chooses to remember it at this point. Maybe they got mad that all those cute cuddly kids grew right back up into impotent old men in a matter of months? (And women too ... apparently some of the guardians had gender issues).

There was also an Oan Servant of Darkness made by Darkseid who harnessed purple energy. Somehow I don't think Darkseid tapped into the power of love to make him, though. It's not really distinctive (even if it looks cool), all the Servants of Darkness had purple energy. Notable, though, is the fact that, unlike the real guardians, this guardian clone was weak against yellow. A degradation of power?

The Black ... or possibly Blue:

Deaaaaaaath! Or laaaaaaaaack of emoooooooootion! Or hope. Whatever. This is "Qwardian Corps Plot #3." The Anti-matter Green Lantern Corps! Green being used in an ironic sense here (if you know your history it makes sense!). Okay, you know I'm actually kinda torn on this. I've always looked at this ring as black, because this was printed in a comic from the 70's with limited colors. And it shoots "black light" (not the actual black light, just light effects drawn with grey coloring). BUT, it could very well be blue.

The Qwardians spent 100 years perfecting their rings (during which time they made a few yellow rings for Sinestro and he stole the Central Battery from OA and made his own Corps of il-trained thugs). This time ... ACTUAL QWARDIANS would use their own weapon! Wow. Finally. These rings worked off black light (but not "a" black light, just light that's colored black ... or a slight blue because that's the color for black in old comics). These rings functioned like GL rings (even if they were only used to blast things in the comic), but they'd also kill anyone wearing a positive matter ring instantly and painfully (but not if they're wearing a force field, which makes these rings slightly less than useful). One drawback, though, Since a tremendous amount of willpower is needed to use these rings the bearers die after the 24 hour charge is up. Moreover, the bearers had to be genetically enhanced to have greater willpower (so they look like apes).

This Anti-Green Lantern Corps two different symbols. One was just a regular black GL symbol, but the other was more of a "twisted" GL symbol. Oddly enough, their rings are consistently drawn with the "twisted" GL symbol, even if their costumes are not.

So, these guys can kill a GL just by hitting them. You'd think a threat like this would last at least five issues. But, no. It lasted just the one. Apparently these guys have horrible aim; only three GLs actually died. This corps was beaten when the GLs destroyed their central battery (which was not as big as the OAn one, but was as tall as Hal Jordan).

After their defeat the Qwardians promptly forgot they ever bothered making these things (100 years of research down the tubes) and made a more perfect GL ring replica for the next Anti-GL Corps. Which they promptly gave to morons. And these rings have absolutely nothing to do with the Black Lanterns at all.

Other Notables:

They have absolutely nothing to do with the Blackest Night at all, but I feel the need to mention other unusual "Green lanterns".

"The Corps". Put into GL Secret Files #2. You see, after Kyle tried to restart the Corps the guys he chose as GLs kept together and got some new recruits in order to become freelance peacekeepers. See, THAT'S where that whole plot thread was going! And Jade? Well, it turns out she inherited her mother's plant powers. And Kyle's dad knew Hal was GL and sent Kyle a mysterious note saying only "I know."

Oh, wait. None of those things happened. Creative team change. Never mind. Forget I said anything. Nice symbol tho.

1) Jade. Her symbol looks an awful LOT like the Sapphire's love symbol, don't you think? She inherited her father's powers through the Starheart. Wood weakness. No recharging. A GL without the ring ... and she was the only one for a long while.
2) John. He ATE his ring to get his power. He ATE it. And became a guardian. I also think he went a little nuts. The last issue in the series was kinda hard to follow. Well, he must have been a second rate guardian because it all left him when Hal destroyed that central battery.
3) Probert. The guardians just GAVE him an internal power supply. He doesn't seem to have the versatility of a ring, but he threatens a Guardian into letting him keep it. He looses it too and I'm not sorry to see him go.
4) Parallax. ANOTHER non-ring GL. Sorta. I think we all know what he's about. What you might not know is that the original plot in GL 25 was going to have a fake set of Guardians, the birth of a non-demon baby by Star Sapphire, and Sinestro leading a ruthless GL sect with the fake Guardians. In it the Guardians reveal that they killed Hal's father to set events into motions to mold Hal into the ultimate GL. Hal goes inside the Central Battery and becomes the Protector and quits being GL. All that is not necessarily in the right order. I really think that costume was meant for the Protector and not Parallax originally. How different would GL be if they went with THAt story, eh?
5) Alan Scott quit being GL so Kyle could be the only one. Lucky for him his power became internal. And, eventually, he lost the wood weakness. Only to regain it and become old again later on. They really tried to revamp Alan, but how cool can he be when he's turned into a young man while still being married to an old woman?
6) Purgatory. Kyle gave some power to a legless man so he could have legs again. But he got greedy and made a deal with Neron to get flying and overall blasting powers.
7) Joe Gardner, a clone of guy. He has a power glove. How he got it and what powers it is unknown. In fact, since Guy is back to his retro self, you'll probably never see this guy again.
8) GL Predator. The Dominators somehow gave him yellow GL energy. Or something to combat GL. I dunno what he does aside from flying and blasting, but he's a match for Kyle; that's the point. He never actually makes anything, but I assume he can. Maybe. He has a symbol that looks allot like Jade's. Once again, the power's internal. Just like the other "Meta Predators" (except for Batman Predator who, I am assuming, is merely a normal Predator in a funny outfit).
9) Dark lantern. Kilowog. He was brought back by members of the Cold Flame to seek revenge on Hal Jordan's son (who was actually his power ring). I don't actually know what his powers are, but they might be GL-based. But he's a ghost. When he comes back to life he looks normal. See? Aliens can come back to life in comics too.
10) Ion. It seems ever single Earth GL except Guy internalized their power at some point. Here he absorbed the mutated energy mix of Parallax and Oblivion and became nigh omnipotent. At least there was no pretence that he was gonna keep it. Oh, except when he became Ion that second time because Jade gave him her power. Or because the Guardians appointed him as official Corps restart agent and somehow powered him up whist remaining unseen. Or did they put a giant green whale into him? Who knows.... The whale one is the most recent explanation of what the Guardians (and not Jade, despite all evidence to the contrary) did.

And, finally ...

The Effigy Corps! So THAT'S where they were going with Effigy!

Effigy is "Kyle Nemesis attempt #1". "Kyle Nemesis Attempt #2" was Nero. Effigy plays up the whole "random selection of a young adult everyman" aspect of Kyle's origin while Nero played up the "artist" aspect. Both are dark reflections of Kyle.

Anyhow, the Controllers, who're offshoots of the guardians, got a bright and totally original idea. They'd ditch the ring AND battery and ... make a HUMAN who could use GL powers WITHOUT them! Great hook, right? Nobody's EVER done THAT before, have they? All the power of a GL, but none of the weaknesses! Except for water. That puts out their flame. Oops. Maybe they just shoulda fed Effigy a power ring?

I don't understand why DC feels the need to make non-ring bearing GLs. Or Anti-GLs. Because the ring's what makes GL great. It's a big part of it. Take that away and you have just another overpowered hero. Every single attempt at a non-ring slinging GL has been lame. Even Jade's meandered all throughout her career. And she's the best of the bunch!

Still, these guys are a valid Corps. They have their own symbol and everything. There was allot of them. And they lasted more than one issue! TWO issues! That's better than the Anti-GL Corpses. But it turns out the Controllers lose worse than the Qwardians because they made their Effigies so in need of CONTROL-ing (get it?) that they are without wills of their own and so get beaten by Kyle easily.

So the Controllers just sorta ... put them back, I guess. Effigy showed up on Earth a-okay, so all the others are probably good. BAck to the drawing board, then? No need for people named the Controllers to keep tabs on their pawns? I guess not. Without anyone caring enough to pick up on this plot line Effigy is just sorta .... there. Oh, and Nero. He's just sorta there too. That "era" was so full os second-rate Sinestros ... I'm really glad they brought him back.