The time is finally here, we’re looking at the first issue of a new Green Lantern series written by Geoffrey Thorne, with art by Dexter Soy and Marco Santucci, colors by Alex Sinclair, letters by Rob Leigh.
And we’re starting off with Oa filled with people, because the Guardians agreed to host a gathering of the newly formed United Planets. If you don’t know, the United Planets is basically just the United Nations in space…a large number of worlds throughout the galaxy agree coexist peacefully in the interest of creating a galactic community that can benefit everyone. It’s a concept that originated in the Legion of Super-Heroes, and something that Brian Michael Bendis did when he took over the Superman books was tell the story of the United Planets being founded in the present day, the idea being that if all of these worlds are supporting each other, it becomes a lot more difficult and risky to make a move against any one of them, thus preventing global catastrophes before they can happen. But the question is, if the galaxy is learning how to unify and take care of itself, where does that leave the Green Lantern Corps?
The way the galaxy runs is fundamentally changing. A big part of why the Green Lantern Corps has always been able to operate the way it does is because nobody else ever really had the means to do the job…well, except for the brief time when the Sinestro Corps completely replaced the Green Lantern Corps as the police force of the universe, but we’ll talk about that another time. The rise of the United Planets gives everyone a new perspective on the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps, because their authority isn’t really…real. The Guardians decided all on their own to be in charge of bringing order to the universe, and then started building a private police force. Everyone went along with it because it was working out pretty well, and there wasn’t a better alternative. Except now there might be. The United Planets has already rejected the idea of appointing the Corps as their officially sanctioned law enforcement, opting instead to build out their own brigade, calling into question weather or not this new future the galaxy is heading towards has a place in it for the Green Lanterns at all.
There are plenty of people here who say no. Sinestro is in attendance, and makes a firm argument that the Guardians are responsible for more tragedy than they could ever hope to balance with good deeds, and that allowing Oa to join the United Planets would poison the entire organization. Sinestro describes the Guardians as beings who say they mean well, but leave a trail of devastation in their wake, which is illustrated perfectly by the gathering of sorcerers right outside the meeting hall, who came to protest the Guardians crimes against magic. See, billions of years ago, the Guardians gathered up as much random magic as they could find, and sealed it away in a vessel called the Starheart…they figured that magic is too chaotic, so getting rid of it would make the universe more orderly. But to beings in tune with magic, what the Guardians did with the Starheart stole something vital from the universe, disrupting the natural order in favor of enforcing their own version of order instead. And while the Guardians address the gathered representatives of the United Planets, delivering a humble speech acknowledging their flaws and mistakes, expressing a desire to join the United Planets as the galaxy takes this massive step forward into tomorrow…the city on Oa is torn apart by the truth of Sinestro’s words. An ancient weapon built by the Guardians has been found and unleashed, its only purpose to consume all chaos and disorder. But to achieve that goal, it does unspeakable damage to anything in its path, ripping a city to shreds in the pursuit of order. John Stewart figures out that the only way to deactivate the weapon is to have all the Lanterns power down and refuse to fight. Not only does this illustrate the danger presented by the Guardians, but it also forces John to realize that the Green Lantern Corps is in fact a source of chaos and disorder…that every time the Guardians build something with the intention of making the universe a better place, it becomes something destructive. It happened with the Manhunters, it happened with this newly discovered weapon, and now John is confronted with the idea that the Green Lantern Corps is no different. And this is coming at the very moment that he universe is getting ready to decide whether or not Green Lanterns are even necessary.
…and for everyone worried that this book was going to be all John Stewart all the time, stop it. This issue checks in with everybody. John, Simon, Keli, and Guy are all on Oa, along with five thousand other Green Lanterns ordered to be on-site for the United Planets Assembly. The Guardians are trying to get to the bottom of the mystery of Teen Lantern’s gauntlet, but all they can tell is that it doesn’t draw power from the Central Battery, and nobody from Oa made it, despite it sharing design elements with Krona’s gauntlet. With so few Green Lanterns still out in the field, Hal, Jessica, and Kyle are each assigned a critical planet to protect until the Green Lantern Corps can be fully mobilized again. Hal and Jessica are already in place to set up their Future State stories…Hal is protecting Earth, while Jessica is headed for Sector 0123 to protect the moons of Oishiha, which is right around the location of the Sector House she was trapped in during Future State Green Lantern. Nothing surprising about either one of those. Kyle’s assignment, on the other hand, has me interested.
Kyle was sent to protect Raggashoon, a city on the planet Rashashoon, home to a brothel that’s known to take in refugees and give asylum to wanted criminals. And while there’s plenty of story potential there, the planet itself might not matter as much as where it is, because it puts Kyle right next to the Vega System, meaning he could be in the perfect position to run into Larfleeze, and maybe even the Omega Men. Kyle went through hell with that group the last time he was in Vega, so returning there and seeing them all again could expand on what I think of as the most significant character growth Kyle’s had in a decade. And hey…Future State showed us the possibility of Jessica using a Yellow ring, and we know from his White Lantern training that Kyle can use an Orange ring, and Larfleeze literally has piles of Orange Lantern rings just lying around…so what if we see a plot line about Kyle and the Omega Men raiding Larfleeze’s sanctuary to steal a ring? I don’t know that it’s going to happen, but in my mind you don’t put Kyle Rayner in the Vega System without having a plan based on what happened to him the last time he was there, especially when the rest of this issue goes so far to dig deep in into Green Lantern history, as well as the history of the DC Universe at large. Member worlds were voting on whether or not Oa could join the United Planets, and every single named world is something straight out of DC history. Everyone who voted against letting Oa join the United Planets included:
Hykraius, the eventual home world of Legionnaire Tellus, a gas giant covered by an ocean of methane gas, populated by telepaths.
Daxam, the home world of Monel, where everyone gains the same powers as Kryptonians when exposed to a yellow sun. Most Daxamites are highly xenophobic, so their presence in the United Planets is very, VERY surprising.
Jekuul, the planet settled by General Zod and his family back during Robert Venditti’s run of Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps, which eventually becomes the New Krypton.
New Korugar, the new home world for Sinestro and Soranik Natu’s people after the original Korugar was destroyed during Wrath of the First Lantern.
…
The planets who voted in favor of letting Oa join the United Planets included:
New Colu, the world that’s produced all the Brainiacs. Original Colu was destroyed during Justice League: No Justice.
Tamaran, the home world of Starfire’s people.
Bismoll, the eventual home world of Legionnaire Matter-Eater Lad, where all food is toxic.
Graxos IV, the home world of Green Lantern Arisia Rrab, as well as the site of a hospital for the criminally insane.
…and this is my favorite…
Myrg, the planet ruled by Derby “Doiby” Dickles, best friend and driver to Alan Scott back in the 1940s. The Princess of the planet Myrg chose Derby to be her king, so he accepted the job and renovated the planet to look just like Brooklyn.
I’m sure most of these were just fun easter eggs for people like me to geek out over, but if even a hand full of these locations became relevant to the story down the road, it opens up so many cool possibilities. This vote essentially maps out a galaxy full of friends, enemies, and unique environments for our heroes to traverse with or without their powers.
And it’s not just planets and the plot lines they could potentially represent. There’s so many little details throughout this issue, like John and Simon wearing dress uniforms inspired by Kryptonian clothing, since Superman and his son were the ones responsible for starting the United Planets. The other Green Lanterns gathered in the meeting hall are wearing red cloaks reminiscent of what the old Green Lantern Honor Guard used to wear. Even the Sinestro Corps got dressed up for the occasion, and their formal uniforms look pretty cool. But my absolute favorite reference in this issue came on page eleven, when the characters talk about events that happened during the short-lived series Green Lantern Mosaic. It should go without saying that book means a lot to me, and I’ve gotten used to it sinking further and further into obscurity and irrelevance, considering that it ended in 1993 and has only ever been mentioned I think twice since then. So to read this page, and have the Guardians and John just directly talk about the events of Mosaic…I was beside myself, I couldn’t believe it. That series did more to explore and define the character of John Stewart than most of the rest of his publication history combined…the fact that Geoffrey Thorne is aware of it, and so blatantly included it, makes me very curious to watch the person he presents John Stewart to be. DC told us that, post Death Metal, everything that ever happened counts…and this makes me believe that. This is the first time I can look at John Stewart in a current comic book and think of him as the same character I read about all those years ago, undertaking that soul-bending journey of self-discovery. Anyone who doesn’t think John Stewart is interesting enough to carry a solo book needs to go read Green Lantern Mosaic, digest it, sit with it, and then just try to look at the character the same way ever again.
This issue isn’t all callbacks and references, though. Some of it’s legitimately new, and I can’t end this video without going over all the brand new characters Geoffrey Thorne has introduced so far. I don’t know that all of them will play a big part as we go forward, but I’m certain some of them will, and all of them received enough focus in this issue to make them worth pointing out just in case. There’s Ameyra Khalan, Captain of the United Planets Brigade. She has respect for the way John tries to do his job, but is incredibly eager to push the Lanterns out of the way so her Brigade can prove its worth. Peya Fel, Sixth Abacrix of New Colu. The issue frames her as holding a position of leadership among the United Planets, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot more of her as the fledgling coalition tries to build itself up into a self-sufficient entity in the universe. Then there’s Pfuzex, a character who may only be significant for being one of the first aliens Keli meets…but again, they devoted an entire page to her getting to know this guy, I wouldn’t rule out seeing him again. Someone I absolutely hope comes back is Yridian, a Master Opener from the Sorcerer’s World of Zerox, home world of Mordru, and a planet that touches every magical dimension including Hell, Gemworld, The Dreaming, and a ton more. She’s the one responsible for unleashing the Guardian weapon, and her vendetta against the Guardians mixed with her desire to return the captured Starheart magic to the universe has a lot of potential.
…and if all of that wasn’t enough, in the middle of everything, John meets a mysterious stranger who claims to have studied the Book of Oa, and offers a new perspective on the Emotional Spectrum. This stranger believes that it’s wrong to think of the spectrum as a collection of emotions, because not only does it fail to properly account for the power of Life and Death, from a certain point of view emotions like greed and hope are less emotions and more choices born out of strong willpower. It’s an interesting take, and I don’t even know if I agree with it, but I love the fact that we’re now having that conversation. Back when the spectrum was first introduced, half the fun was figuring out how it all worked, so if we’re opening it back up to interpretation, I’m here for it.
Also, if I’m forgetting something major and someone out there knows who this character is, please tell me. I don’t think we know him, I think it’s someone new, or at least the future version of someone we know or something. But if I’m wrong, tell me in the comments.
And that’s it, that’s issue one. I thought this video was going to be a lot shorter, but there was so much good stuff packed in there that I never expected to see. Honestly, the worst thing about this issue is the cover…both covers, actually. I don’t like the Bryan Hitch variant covers for this series so far, he makes the characters all look weird. This issue is so wildly different from what we got in the John Stewart portion of Future State, I would say that if Future State made you doubt this book, or made you not want to read it at all…you don’t have anything to worry about. All of the things people were afraid of, based on Future State, are not here. What is here…is pretty good.
A few days before the release of this issue, Geoffrey Thorne gave an interview talking about his goals for this book, and one of the things he’s chosen to focus on is questioning aspects of Green Lantern lore that we take for granted even though they don’t make sense…things like a sector being far too big for even two Lanterns to protect, which makes you question how much the reputation of the Green Lantern Corps is responsible for maintaining order instead of the direct actions of the Lanterns themselves. And I have to say that so far, it’s proving to be a very interesting road to go down. The big threat facing the Lanterns is the possibility of their own irrelevance, and the slow realization that maybe they never were the peacekeepers they believed themselves to be. I love thinking about this stuff, I think the United Planets are a perfect, natural choice for a wild card to shake up everything in a way we’ve never seen before, and I for one can not wait to see where this goes.
But now I want to know what you think. How did Geoffrey Thorne do on his first official issue? Did Future State affect your experience with this issue? And am I alone in wanting to see those Sinestro Corps dress uniforms stick around? Let me know in the comments below. You can follow Mosaic Comics on Twitter, and the script for this video is available at MosaicComics.blogspot.com, links in the description below.
Thank you all for taking the time to watch. My name is Dan, we’ll talk again soon.
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