Here we go, the top ten Green Lantern runs. I should make it clear up front that this is not the most historically important or influential Green Lantern runs, and it’s not some totally objective list of the actual best Green Lantern runs ever, because something like that is literally impossible for anyone to make, since every list is influenced by the personal opinions of the people making it. These are the runs that mean the most to me, and I strongly encourage you to tell me yours in the comments below this video. What are your top ten Green Lantern runs? If you don’t have enough, then what are your top three? Or maybe just tell me your number one favorite, and why it means so much to you. I look forward to hearing all of your opinions on the subject, but for now let’s get into mine.
10) Green Lantern by Ron Marz
Green Lantern #48-125
1993-2000
This run form the 1990’s is what got me into Green Lantern in the first place. The entire Green Lantern mythos was reset, and we got to learn all about it along side newcomer Kyle Rayner, a character built to explore the idea that any random person with enough willpower can become a Green Lantern. Despite the messy ways they’ve tried to retcon it since then, the fact remains that Kyle was never chosen, he got his ring by accident, and the everyman nature of his character and stories took one of DC’s most iconic properties and made it into something unique and different, and the perfect jumping on point for a ten year old kid like me, who’d never read a Green Lantern comic before. It didn’t hurt that Daryl Banks was committed to drawing the most detailed, diverse range of constructs ever to be seen in any Green Lantern book before or since. Honestly, the only reason this run is so low on the list is because I haven’t re-read most of these issues since the day they first came out, and I really have no idea if they hold up or my nostalgia is doing a lot to help it. Either way, there’s no questioning the importance of this run to me.
9) Green Lantern by Geoff Johns
Green Lantern Rebirth #1-6
Green Lantern #1-52
Blackest Night #0-8
2004-2010
I’ll be blunt: to me, Green Lantern does not feel complete without all of the concepts and characters introduced during the Johns run. I love the mythology, I love the Emotional Spectrum, I love all of the different Corps, I love exploring the different ways their powers work, and I absolutely love the tidal wave of new characters that flooded into Green Lantern as a result of it all. Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night are arguably two of the best Green Lantern stories of all time, and everything between them was also really good…including Secret Origin, which many see as the gold standard for where to start reading Green Lantern in general. The absolute height of Green Lantern’s popularity, at least so far, was this run. Positive word of mouth about the Sinestro Corps War made a lot of people start reading Green Lantern for the first time, and the building momentum surrounding Blackest Night made Green Lantern the center of the DC Universe for more than a year.
Everything Geoff Johns did, from the beginning of his run through to the end of Blackest Night, is a near-perfect long-form arc that’s incredibly fun and rewarding. The problem is that his run went on for another 37 issues after that. And don’t get me wrong, there’s some legitimately great stuff in those 37 issues…but Blackest Night felt like such a perfect ending for his run, and to me, the material that came after never lived up to the incredible buildup and payoff that we’d just experienced. And it certainly didn’t help that the actual end of the Johns run was all about the Rise of the Third Army and the Wrath of the First Lantern, two storylines that I really didn’t care for at all. If it had ended earlier, culminating with Blackest Night, this run would’ve been one of the best…but as it is, Geoff Johns hung around too long, and eventually lost me.
8) Green Lantern Corps Quarterly (by various)
Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #1-8
1992-1994
This book is a modern Green Lantern fan’s dream come true. An anthology series of oversized issues, each containing 64 pages of stories about different Green Lanterns all across the universe. Each story is usually self-contained, and takes advantage of that insular nature to explore a wide variety of different genres…this book has standard super hero fare, science fiction, comedy, horror, you name it. Some characters made their first appearances in this book, like Jack T. Chance, Ash the vampire hunter, and Laira (who’s story in the animated movie Green Lantern Emerald Knights is an adaptation of her story in Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #6). The series also spends a good deal of time following the Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott, as he deals with some major changes to the Starheart, the living magical being he draws power from.
Overall, the only downside to this series is the weaknesses of every anthology. It’s a big mixed bag of stories, characters, and genres by a big pile of different creators, so it’s pretty much a guarantee that not everything in there will appeal to any one reader. Also, not all of this material has aged well, and there’s some really cringe stuff that seemed fine back in the early 1990’s. Still, this is a must-read for anyone who wishes we had some kind of “Tales of the Corps” anthology book being published right now. Despite all of its faults, the only reason Green Lantern Corps Quarterly isn’t higher on this list is because everything else I’m going to talk about is just that good.
7) Red Lanterns by Charles Soule
Red Lanterns #21-34
2013-2014
There’s a misconception that a lot of people have about the Lanterns of the Emotional Spectrum. Most people think that the spectrum is split between good and bad emotions…positive ones like hope, love, and compassion, and then negative ones like fear, greed, and rage. But the truth is, that’s completely wrong, every single one of those emotions provides us with something good that we can’t live without, while still having the potential to cause trouble if we get too carried away. And I can’t think of a book that shows that better than Red Lanterns, specifically the run written by Charles Soule.
Up to this point, the Red Lantern Corps had been portrayed as a ravenous pack of mindless animals, lashing out at anything in their path, with only one or two characters possessing a rational mind. Soule reigned in the whole concept by reducing the Red Lanterns down to a small core group of characters, all of whom could speak like intelligent people, and went about exploring what kinds of things could possibly lead someone’s life to this point. The vehicle for this exploration is Guy Gardner, a Green Lantern sent undercover to infiltrate the Red Lanterns, only to find that he fits in better with them than he ever did with the Greens. Guy has always been defined by his massive ego and short temper, both of which stem from a massive inferiority complex that’s followed him through most of his life, as no matter how high he climbs there’s always someone higher to knock him back down. He brings the Red Lanterns new perspective, and helps them figure out how to use their anger for the good of themselves and others. Because if you can detect the angriest people in the universe, that means you know where to find the people who need your help the most, and the villains who most need to be stopped. Rage, when given direction, can be a force for good. Learning that lesson evolved the character of Guy Gardner to new heights, while turning his team into one of the most fun groups of Lanterns you could ever spend time with.
The only downside to Soule’s run is that the final three issues are devoted to the Godhead crossover which I don’t think was very good overall, and it let an excellent run end on a whimper…although the saving grace is the fact that everything Charles Soule was doing with these characters got wrapped up in issue 34, with a Futures End one-shot acting as an epilogue, so he still got to tell his complete story before the editorially mandated crossover ended his time on the book.
6) Sinestro by Cullen Bunn
Sinestro #1-23
2014-2016
This book is largely in the same boat as Red Lanterns, in terms of using new characters and a few fan favorites to flesh out a side of the Emotional Spectrum that’s usually viewed in a very narrow way, but I give this series more credit for achieving similar goals without even a single Human character on the main cast. Sinestro is one of the only alien characters in the Green Lantern franchise old enough and popular enough to anchor a book like this, without the help of a Human POV character…which is good, because this series represents a unique opportunity for Sinestro. The series takes place at a time when the Green Lantern Corps has disappeared from the universe. They’re gone, without a trace, and it’s left a massive power vacuum waiting to be filled. This is the moment Sinestro has always dreamed of, his every action has always been driven by the belief that the Corps is good and necessary but the Guardians don’t know how to run it properly. Now his own Corps can step in, and under his leadership, show the universe how effective a Lantern Corps can truly be…and the thing that really makes this story special is that he succeeds.
The Sinestro Corps was first introduced as the evil counterpart to the Green Lantern Corps, in stories that were always told from the perspective of the Green Lanterns, and always presented the Green Lanterns the good guys. But without the Green Lanterns around, what we’re left with is the actual ideology and methods of the Sinestro Corps. And I’d never go so far as to say that they’re a big group of super heroes…but some of them want to be. Just like some of them revel in the ability to inflict dominance and pain on others. And Sinestro himself is so committed to showing the universe that his brand of control is what’s best for everyone that it actually drives him to genuinely help people, albeit on his terms.
The Sinestro Corps is a fascinating exploration of what it means to have a morally and ethically grey police force that genuinely does enough good to be loved and accepted by the masses, without ever being presented as completely altruistic or heroic. The Sinestro series presents the idea of a Lantern Corps as something that’s messy and morally complicated, which not only makes the entire concept of a Corps more interesting, but it adds a ton of depth and story potential to a group that could very easily be written off as one-note bad guys. This series does more for the Sinestro Corps as a group than any other story ever has, and it stands as one of the best explorations of Sinestro himself.
5) Green Lantern by Judd Winick
Green Lantern #129-164
2000-2003
If Kyle Rayner’s adventures in the 1990’s were defined by the character being a rookie trying his best to live up to the staggering power and legacy of Green Lantern, then his adventures in the early 2000’s are him finally becoming confidant in himself and coming into his own. Writer Judd Winick helped to evolve Kyle to the next stage of his career as a hero, pushing him forward while also surrounding him with pieces of Green Lantern history, some of which had been lost since Emerald Twilight wiped the slate clean. John Stewart returned to active duty as a Green Lantern, Jade got her classic powers back, and there was a renewed focus on Alan Scott mentoring Kyle. At the same time, the Manhunters became a threat again, while the Weaponers of Quard gave a yellow ring to a new character, Alex Nero, giving Kyle his own Sinestro-esque arch enemy. Winick’s run strikes a careful balance between reveling in nostalgia for the past and focusing on building Kyle’s future, and it really does feel like all of these elements of the Golden and Silver Ages are there to help him advance. But the true strength of Judd Winick’s run comes from a pair of story arcs that have come to define his time on this book, as well as leave a permanent mark on the character of Kyle Rayner. These stories are “The Power of Ion” and “Brother’s Keeper”. The first of which is the story of Kyle ascending to Godhood and trying to figure out how to heal the world without losing his own Humanity, while the latter is the story of a very Human Kyle Rayner trying to justify to himself what he can and can not do in the wake of a close personal friend becoming the victim of a violent hate crime. Both of these stories explore what it means for an average person to have incredible cosmic power in the context of how that power could be used to change the everyday lives of normal people. At one point, Kyle was even toying around with the idea of just neutralizing all violence in the world, since becoming Ion meant that he literally did have the power to do it, but decided not to since it would be a step towards dictating the way people choose to live their lives, only for one of his friends to then be hospitalized from a random act of hateful violence. And the story smartly does not let Kyle take the high road, he wallows in anger and regret, and comes dangerously close to enacting a sort of vengeance he could never come back from. Kyle spends a lot of time in outer space after this pair of stories, and it’s because he honestly needed a break from the Earth and how horrible we can be to each other…and I can’t say I blame him, there are some days I’d also like to just fly straight up and leave the whole world behind for a while. And that’s the strength of Kyle Rayner as a character, these kinds of stories and reactions are why you give the ring to an average nobody int he first place.
Judd Winick reminded Kyle, and us, that no matter how brightly a Lantern shines, its light will still cast shadows, and that darkness will always be part of the job.
4) Green Lantern Corps by Dave Gibbins
Green Lantern Corps Recharge #1-5
Green Lantern Corps #1-17
2005-2007
Dave Gibbins spent his time on Green Lantern Corps introducing new, fan-favorite characters and ideas that would continue to be synonymous with the concept of the Corps to this day. This is the run that introduced characters like Soranik Natu, Princess Iolande, R’amey Holl, Isamot and Vath. It’s where we met Mogo’s partner Bzzd, where Stel and the Green Man got to have cool moments for the first time in ages, and Guy Gardner got to shine, having just recently become a Green Lantern again in the Rebirth mini-series. This run also saw the creation of the Corpse, the black ops division of the Green Lantern Corps that goes places no Lantern light can otherwise reach, dealing with situations so ugly that no super hero is properly equipped to handle them. So many great concepts and characters came out of this run, and every one of them quickly became something that I can’t picture the Green Lantern Corps without.
The Dave Gibbins run is a little odd, since it favors low stakes, sometimes whimsical character-driven stories as it slowly builds up to the Sinestro Corps War, and doesn’t have very many stand-out, memorable stories of its own that define it. There’s “The Dark Side of the Green” which is only three issues, and there’s the Green Lantern Corps Recharge mini-series. But beyond that, the back bone of this two year run is the incredible flood of new characters and ideas that continue to enrich Green Lantern today.
3) Green Lantern Corps by Peter J. Tomasi
Green Lantern Corps #18-47
2007-2010
As soon as Dave Gibbins stopped writing Green Lantern Corps, Peter J. Tomasi started, and this run was wild. It’s kind of hard for me to separate the two runs in my mind, since they’re back to back in the same series, and in a lot of ways Tomasi is using what Gibbins set up as the foundation for his own stories. Once again we have a heavy focus on characters, bringing in Kyle Rayner and focusing on the friendship between him and Guy Gardner. We’ve got extensive focus on new characters like Kryb of the Sinestro Corps, and Miri of the Star Sapphires. We’ve got the budding relationship between Sodam Yat and Arisia, which might actually be the best use of either of those characters pretty much ever. Their relationship is interesting because Arisia has a history full of so much gross baggage that writers desperately want to ignore, while Sodam’s story is largely about figuring out how to live a life defined by the past in multiple ways…because not only has his destiny been foretold by a prophecy, he’s also from an entire planet of xenophobic isolationists who hate aliens, which makes things really awkward when it comes to Sodam’s new job, friends, and girlfriend. And as you can probably already tell, the biggest difference between this run and the one that came before it is that there’s a much better balance of character and story. Tomasi knows how to mine internal character conflicts in a way that enhances external conflicts, which feed back into the internal ones and the whole thing just becomes one big feedback loop of awesome. Like when Mongul decides to take over the Sinestro Corps and then use it to invade Daxam, Sodam’s homeworld, forcing them to confront everything about Sodam’s past and relationships, while also charting a new direction for the Yellow Lanterns as we head into Blackest Night. The final year of this run is dedicated to Blackest Night and its buildup, and rather than weighing the book down, it enhanced it. Blackest Night created a powder keg of physical and emotional devastation that pushed the entire cast to their breaking points, and gave us some of my favorite moments from the entire event.
When I hear the words “Green Lantern Corps”, I think of this run. I think of the amazing things that were done with this massive group of incredible characters. For me, this is pretty much the standard for what I want Green Lantern to be. I want a big pile of amazing characters delving deeply into their personal relationships and emotional baggage while going on incredible off the wall cosmic adventures. For my money, no Green Lantern writer has delivered that for a cast this large as well as Peter J. Tomasi.
2) Far Sector by N.K. Jemisin
Far Sector #1-12
2019-2021
Far Sector is the story of rookie Green Lantern Sojourner “Jo” Mullein being assigned to solve a murder mystery in the utterly massive City Enduring. And what unfolds over these twelve issues is a story about isolation, corruption, drugs, politics, and what it means to push back against systemic problems that will likely never be corrected in your own lifetime. This isn’t really a superhero story as much as it is a return to the roots of science fiction being a tool to explore and interrogate the parts of society we take for granted, and the parts we should be working to change.
This series is a best case scenario for what can happen when you take an award-winning science fiction author, hand them an established comic book property, and let them tell their own story their own way. Before accepting this job, writer N.K. Jemisin didn’t have a history with Green Lantern beyond just generally knowing who John Stewart was because of the Justice League cartoon. And that’s usually a red flag to fans, we like to believe that anyone who’s going to take control of our favorite thing must have extensive knowledge of the lore and the characters and the history…except that N.K. Jemisin is an exceptionally good science fiction writer, and is capable of telling a great story anyway. She made the smart decision to set this story in a completely new location, and follow a brand new protagonist, pretty much erasing the need to reference anything from the eighty year history of Green Lantern. If anything, it worked a little too well, as I constantly see people who think Far Sector either isn’t cannon or takes place outside of the main DC Universe…which is wrong, it is cannon, and it does take place in the main DCU, the universe is a big place and this story just happened really far away from everybody else.
There are plenty of ways that Far Sector could have gone wrong, but what we got was a perfect storm of good decisions that came together to make something truly special. This series has been getting a lot of attention over the last few months, and I’m really happy that so many people who might otherwise not have read a Green Lantern comic are coming to this book and enjoying it. Far Sector should be the standard we hold Green Lantern solo books to, this is the level of character work and world building I want to see all the time. N.K. Jemisin may never write another Green Lantern story again, but her legacy is a line in the sand challenging all future writers to do better.
- Green Lantern Mosaic by Gerard Jones
Green Lantern Mosaic #1-18
1992-1993
This shouldn’t be a surprise, I did name my channel after it. Despite the problematic baggage that comes with it, this book changed the way I look at comics. It’s why I like John Stewart so much, and honestly it’s a major reason why I still love Green Lantern so much after all this time. It’s an introspective, existential exploration of how all the contradictory truths of a character that’s been around for decades can still come together to form one full person, and how having to live in multiple worlds means feeling like you never truly belong in any of them. I’m not going to go any deeper, because I’m still planning a few dedicated videos about this series, but suffice to say that my relationship to Green Lantern, to comics, to art and media in general would not be what it is today without Green Lantern Mosaic. How could I give the number one spot to anything else?
So that’s my top ten. Sorry if your favorite run wasn’t on the list, but now’s your turn to tell me all about why it really should have been. Go to the comments and gush about what makes you love your favorite Green Lantern runs so much, and let’s celebrate the things about this franchise that makes us happy.
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