Green Lantern FAQ

[Fenix]

BY Fenris1

Ya got to Love this....

Been a Green Lantern (Hal Jordan Green Lantern fan) for over twenty years and had never ever thought that Predator may of had something to do with Hal's evolution into Parallax. That really makes me think thanks for the insight.

Of coarse that is a little understandable, I was angry over Mongul and Hank Henshaw and their destruction of Coast City, I was especially angry at Hal's snapping and then some would be washed out artist just being handed the ring...Not really a big fan of Kyle's

I love this forum though this forum is great .


BY LoneWolf21

quote: Originally posted by Bored at 3:00AM
The Predator has never been seen again, although an army of Predator-like demons was seen on Qward in the Anti-Matter Universe.


I got a stack of comics as a gift not too long ago, mostly back issues, and one of them Superboy and the Ravers #16 (hey, the person who got the comics for me new I liked Superboy) has Predator in it, or if what you say is true, one of them, although the dialogue from one of the characters made it sound like it was the one from previous stories, but then again, since I'm not really familiar with the character at all, I could be wrong.



BY Bored at 3:00AM

I could be wrong. I haven't read that Superboy story, what happened in it?



BY LoneWolf21

I'm not really familiar with most of the books cast, but here goes, The Predator shows up apparently juming out from the afterlife, using the character Half-Life (who's body is a mix of his human body and ecto-plasm, so, for example, part of his face is flesh and blood, the other part is just his skull surrounded by green stuff) as a gateway (Blame a mystic ceremony and Klarion Witch Boy), and is pretty much composed of ectoplasm himsef, for lack of any proper body. His look sort of reminded me of a Kree Warrior, truthfully. Anyway, upon his arrival, Kalibur, who's apparently Qwardian himself (and a misft at that, since he's more of the "honorable warior" type, compared to the rest of the planets "kill and conquer all!" type) pretty much freaks out (his exact words are "That Voice! Everyone on my world knows that voice from their blackest nightmares! It is a foot soldier from the deepest pits of Qward's hell! A demon called the Predator!", the same panel also has an asterik reference to Green Lanter issues #41-#42) although he isn't scared witless, as he does try and attack him (as useless as that is, he's not really solid after all), and in the end Half-Life and the current wearer of the "H for Hero" belt (using a mystic setting) banish him from their plane of existence, presumably back from whence he came, although apparently the next issue takes place on Qward, so for all I know he may come back, or they may end up fighting a platoon of them.

[Fenix]

Random Dude 22

1) How are sales for JLA Adventures? I hope it's doing good. Any continuity with the cartoon? Is it drawn like the cartoon?

2) So wait... I know John Stewart got a lotta people killed when he and Martian Manhunter went on some mission (can you give me the specifics on that?), but how does it rank (i guess in quantity?) to the "slip ups" that Kyle and Hal have made in their tenures as GLs?

3) I kinda get the idea of what the "fans" think of the different GL's, but what do the JLA think of each individual that has been a part of the team. For instance, i have a clear idea of what the animated JLA members may think of the animated John Stewart, but what comic-world JLA members think of John Kyle and (i guess) Hal is unclear to me.

So if i were to say that: The JLA (of TAS fame) view GL Stewart as a 'sometimes overly serious but good-natured team player, un-afraid to take command', then how would you complete that sentence for the comic book JLA in regards to Kyle, (cbook) John, and Hal?

4) Who is Faith? Or has she not been in the GL book recently?

5) So Stewart is remaining GL in the JLA? Or is that gonna change? Or is that dependent on how long he lasts on the cartoon? And wasn't he getting a solo book written by Bryne? And, on the subject of the cartoon, when do new eps start?

6) And what is this 'Mosiac' thing again? Or is that word synonmous with jibberish and i don't know what i'm talking about?

7) Katma-Tui is dead in the comics right? How did that happen?

Can't think of anymore. Hope someone can answer them.

Thanks in advance!

[Fenix]

BY Bored at 3:00AM

1) Sales for all of DC's Animated books have never been great, despite the fact that they're better written and drawn than 75% of DC's "mainstream" books that nobody but hardcore fans seem to enjoy. The Animated books are set in the cartoon continuity and drawn in that style.

2) John & J'Onn were assigned to protect the planet Xanshi from an evil being spawned by the Anti-Life Equation. John decided that he could handle the threat by himself and zapped J'Onn away so he wouldn't get hurt. Upon confronting the baddie, poor John discovered a planet killer bomb--painted gold (which John's ring was useless against). The bomb exploded, billions of Xanshi were killed and J'Onn swore to never forgive John for making him witness another world's death.

Its a screw-up roughly on par with Kyle & Hal's death tolls. Kyle gave a power ring to the first guy he bumped into and allowed the populations of several solar systems to be murdered. Whereas Hal wiped out the GLCorps, thereby leaving the universe defenceless against countless baddies who no doubt killed plenty.

3) Since John has just been introduced into the JLA, he hasn't really developed any strong relationships with anyone yet, but I'd say the comic book JLA view Hal and Kyle like this:

SUPERMAN: Was very close friends with Hal and was the first to forgive him. Has a very fatherly relationship with Kyle.

BATMAN: Doesn't trust or like Hal mainly because he's the only major hero who isn't affraid of him. Mentors Kyle a little bit mainly so he doesn't turn into Hal.

WONDER WOMAN: Were very close Pre-Crisis because they both had connections to the Air Force (she even protected Hal's secret ID from dirty Sentors once). Post-Crisis, they didn't really know each other. She seems to think Kyle's a shmuck, but tolerates him.

THE FLASH: Wally looks up to Hal as a beloved uncle because he was his mentor's best friend. Originally hated Kyle, but they have since become good friends.

J'ONN J'ONZZ: Was close with Hal because he was the only member of the JLA completely conforntable hanging around aliens. Mentored Kyle for a bit.

AQUAMAN: Didn't get along with Hal at first, but they eventually came to respect each other. Seems to have little patience for Kyle.

GREEN ARROW: Was Hal's other best friend. Hated Kyle, but now tolerates him.

4) Faith was a JLA character, not a GL character. She will be moved over to John Byrne's Doom Patrol comic.

5) John's membership in the JLA is currently dependent on the cartoon. He's not popular or well-defined enough at this point to stick around without it and many creators (and fans) would rather use Hal or Kyle at this point. However, all this could change if a writer comes up with a characterization of John that makes him more popular. Currently, he's viewed as the token black character.

The new cartoons start in July.

6) Mosaic was a brilliant GL series from the early nineties that starred John. It was written by Gerry Jones and really pushed the boundaries of what a GL comic could be. Unfortunately, it didn't catch on with the fans and was cancelled.

7) Katma Tui was murdered by Star Sapphire after she was possessed by The Predator, an demonic parasite.

[Fenix]

BY Bored at 3:00AM

GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1) WHO IS THE CREATIVE TEAM?

Geoff Johns is writing. Ethan Van Sciver is drawing. Peter Tomasi is editing.

2) WHEN IS GL: REBIRTH COMING OUT?

October 2004, which will be followed by a brand new monthly GL series. The current GL series will end with GL #81

3) IS HAL JORDAN COMING BACK AS GL?

Pretty much, he'll have a ring and the whole bit. Hal & The Spectre parted ways in JSA #60

4) IS HAL REPLACING KYLE RAYNER?

No. Contrary to what many believe, Hal's return does *not* mean that Kyle has to leave. Just because Kyle's introduction stupidly required $#it-canning Hal, that doesn't mean that DC will make the same mistake twice. Kyle Rayner will still play a major role in GL.

5) WHAT ABOUT JOHN STEWART, GUY GARDNER & ALAN SCOTT?

Again, just because Hal is coming back does not mean the rest have to go. What is being introduced is similar to the way things were prior to 1994, when multiple Green Lanterns all co-existed very nicely. John will remain as the JLA's GL. Alan will remain as the JSA's GL.

[Pennyghost]

I think in the old thread I kinda made a remark how the Green Lanterns seem to have a tendency to be unlucky in love. And somebody posted a great rundown listing all the Green Lantern relationships that ideed ended up rather unhappy.

Any chance that post is still around?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Wow. Thanks for recovering this thread Fenix, I thought it was lost forever.

As to Pennyghost's question about GLs being unlucky in love, here's the rundown:

ALAN SCOTT: Fought/flirted with a female criminal named Harlequin who was secretly his own secretary, Molly Mayne. She eventually revealed her alter ego to him over forty years afterwards. Molly & Alan finally married and Molly has since sold her soul to Hell in order to preserve her youth like Alan had, forcing Alan to fight his way through the Underworld in order to retrieve it.

Alan also had a tragic first marriage to the original Rose & Thorn, who faked her own death and hid his children from him. When Alan, Rose and their twin children were finally reunited decades later, Rose committed suicide in front of them. Their son, Obsidian, inheirated his mother's mental problems and nearly killed both his father and sister on multiple occasions.

HAL JORDAN: Like Alan, Hal fought/flirted with a super-villainess named Star Sapphire who was secretly his own boss, Carol Ferris. On the day Hal was about to propose to Carol, she dumped him and got engaged to another man.

Heartbroken, Hal wandered the country, going from job to job and woman to woman. Amongst his various failed relationships were to Eve Dormeus, Olivia Reynolds (who later switched sides to become a lesbian), Dorine Clay (who turned out to be exiled space princess) and Rose Hardin (who later became John's girlfriend).

In the GLCorps, Hal locked lips on a several occasions with both Katma Tui and jailbait hottie Arisia. Both Katma Tui and Arisia were brutally murdered.

After quiting the Corps for her, Carol was stalked, kidnapped and possessed by The Predator, who warped Star Sapphire into a murderous psychopath obsessed with making Hal suffer. Hal spent the remainder of his life dealing with this relationship, although he did have a few brief flings with Power Girl and a couple others.

JOHN STEWART: John was originally shown to be quite the cad in his early appearances. He was often shown bedding various foxy ladies then kicking them to the curb whenever the Guardians came a calling--his fling with reporter Tawny Young was particularly telling. He agreed to an exclusive interview with her, banged her, then dumped her.

Once he met Katma Tui, his trainer within the GLCorps, things changed for John and he became a one woman man, eventually marrying her. However, Katma was soon murdered by Star Sapphire, which drove John into a self-destructive cycle that he's never fully recovered from.

Since then, he's had a couple failed relationships, but nothing special. He is currently dating some blue chick he met when he was a Darkstar.

I'll get to Guy and Kyle later today....

[Bored at 3:00AM]

GREEN LANTERN ROGUES GALLERY FAQ

There's too many villains to list, so I'll stick with the biggies. If I missed one you want to know about, just as ask and I or someone else will fill you in...

VANDAL SAVAGE

This million year old cave man turned immortal despot first bumped into Alan Scott during World War 2. Savage claims he was Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan and Napoleon. Savage soon moved on to challenge the entire Justice Society, but he started off as a GL baddie. Savage has been around the DCU longer than almost anybody so he's had a hand in a hefty part of all the bad things that have ever taken place throughout Earth's history from the Illuminati to Christ's crucifiction to bringing the Nazis to power.

SOLOMON GRUNDY

When a kindly name named Cyrus Gold was murdered, his corpse was dumped into the mysterious waters of Slaughter Swamp outside Gotham City. Decades later, Gold was reborn as a virtually unstoppable hulking, white skinned giant dubbed Solomon Grundy. After Grundy's rampage was stopped by Alan Scott, the beast developed a pathological hatred of him that has remained with him throughout his various incarnations. Each time Grundy is destroyed, he comes back slightly different from the last--sometimes stupid and gentle, sometimes violent and brutal. Grundy's the ultimate wildcard.

SINESTRO

This tall, lean and red-skinned David Niven lookalike has always been Hal Jordan's numero uno baddie. A former member of the Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro was expelled from the Corps for abusing his power ring and enslaving the people of his homeworld, Korugar. He was also exiled to the hellish Anti-Matter Universe of Qward, where he managed to survive and prosper by striking a deal with the Qwardians to conquer the our Universe with a prototype yellow power ring. Sinestro clashed with Hal Jordan again and again, their battles escalating each time until Sinestro was wiping out entire solar systems--prompting the GLCorps to execute him for genocide. However, that didn't stop him from coming back again and again to cause even more trouble. He's easily one of the most dangerous guys in the universe. It was later revealed that Sinestro had trained Hal Jordan as a Green Lantern--adding a new wrinkle to their animosity.

THE WEAPONERS OF QWARD

The rulers of the Anti-Matter Universe, where evil reigns supreme. The Qwardians have dedicated themselves to conquering the DCU and have come very close to accomplishing that goal on a few different occasions--most notably during the Crisis on Infinite Earth, when their master, the Anti-Monitor, led them in a massive assault that destroyed the Multiverse and killed billions of people, including Hal Jordan's best friend, Barry Allen

SONAR

Dictator of the small Eastern European nation of Mordora and self-proclaimed Sultan of Super-Sonic Sound. Inventor Bito Waldon intended to put his impoverished country on the map by blowing up several American cities with his sonic bombs, but was foilded by Hal Jordan. Promoting himself from terrorist to world leader, Sonar eventually took over both Mordora and the entire Soviet Union until he was overthrown by Justice League International, led by his archenemy Hal Jordan. Strangely, when Hal dropped out of the hero biz, Sonar gave up the villain biz and only appeared once more--at Hal's funeral to pay his respects. A second, more loopy, Sonar later appeared who squared off against Kyle Rayner ever once and awhile but he was so incompetent a Girl Scout Troop could probably take him out.

HECTOR HAMMOND

One of the DCU's most powerful telepaths and telekenetics. Blessed with incredible mental abilities by a mysterious meteorite, Hammond was also cursed with a huge head and tiny little body that could no longer move. However, when he first appeared, he was a dashing, yet evil, entrepreneur trying to woo Carol Ferris, the girlfriend of Hal Jordan--leading to his inevitable showdown with Green Lantern. His mind is now so powerful, he can manipute people and objects light years away.

THE SHARK

Once a simple tiger shark swimming along eating its dinner, it happened to swim through some radioactive waste dumped into the ocean when Aquaman wasn't looking. As a result, the shark was catapulted through millions of years of evolution in seconds and emerged as a cunning humanoid with a taste for human brains and some nifty mental powers to boot. The Shark could actually project fear into his victims' minds.

BLACK HAND

Armin Hand was the black sheep of this thoroughly respectable family. Hand somehow got hold of a device that could absorb energy from a Green Lantern's ring and manipulate it anyway he wanted. Because of this, Hand was a pretty formidable foe since any power Hal would use against him would be thrown right back at him. Black Hand's power reached its peak when a whopping seven GLs were stationed on Earth. However, Hand was defeated by Kilowog, who took everything the villain threw at him and then pummelled the crap out of him without using his ring at all.

THE MANHUNTERS

Billions of years ago, the Guardians created these androids to act as their servants prior to the creation of the GLCorps. However, under mysterious circumstances, The Manhunters rebelled against their programming and tried to wrest the Guardians' power for themselves. Luckily, the Manhunters were thwarted, stripped of their weapondry and exiled to the furthest reaches of the universe. Slowly, The Manhunters regrouped and began infiltrating thousands of different worlds across the cosmos. On Earth, the Manhunter Cult has been operating for at least a thousand years and had hundreds of sleeper agents working secretly to advance their cause.

THE STARHEART / THE EMPIRE OF TEARS

When the Guardians first decided to dedicate themselves to protecting the universe, their greatest foes were the monstrous Empire of Tears, a group of evil sorcerors and magic users whose influence spanned two galaxies. In an epic war that lasted thousands of years, the Guardians finally defeated the Empire of Tears and imprisoned them within the very soil of their throneworld, Ysmault. The Guardians then sealed all their enemy's magic into a mystic orb they called The Starheart and sent it into an endless orbit of the universe. Unfortunately, all that magic merged and acheived a form of sentience. The Starheart managed to split off a fragment of itself into a green meteorite that later collided with a dying GL named Yulan Gur. This Starheart fragment eventually became the lantern that empowered Alan Scott.

FATALITY

This femme fatale is the last survivor of the planet Xanshi, the world John Stewart failed to save from complete destruction. Trained in the deadly arts by the Warlords of Okkara, Fatality swore vengeance upon all Green Lanterns and has been hunting them down and killing them ever since. When finally arriving on Earth, Fatality came to blows with Kyle Rayner and learned that John Stewart was the GL she had been seeking all along. Fatality has since tried to murder Stewart on numerous occasions.

[Calamas]

I think in the old thread I kinda made a remark how the Green Lanterns seem to have a tendency to be unlucky in love. And somebody posted a great rundown listing all the Green Lantern relationships that ideed ended up rather unhappy.

Any chance that post is still around?

I know this old but I’m new here, so bare with me. In response, regarding Hal, the following were mentioned: Eve Dormeus, Olivia Reynolds, Dorine Clay, and Rose Hardin. There was another whose name I could not remember until it was mentioned casually in a later reply: Kari Limbo. Perhaps she was omitted because her fate did not end in death or disfigurement. She’s worth noting because she was involved with both Hal and Guy Gardner--and while certainly not tragic, their romance falls under “unlucky in love.”

Kari--a gypsy, I believe--came into Hal’s life after Guy was “killed” by a defective power battery, atomized before Hal Jordan’s eyes. It was Hal’s duty to inform Kari, who was Guy’s girl friend or fiancée, I don’t remember which. Over the course of the next year or so, they fell in love. In the end, it turned out Guy was not killed, but somehow projected into the phantom zone, and was now a mindless puppet of Sinestro. The Weaponers of Qward may also have been involved, but I’m not so sure on that. Again, time and a faulty memory.

After the usual super-heroics, Guy was left comatose and Kari left Hal to care for her first love. It was generally well done.

This is also of note because, while Denny O’Neil played this out, independently and simultaneously--almost to the month--David Michelinie was wrapping up the long-running Tony Stark/Bethany Cabe romance in the exact same way in Iron Man. O’Neil’s appeared first, but like I said, not by much. Bathany’s husband, also thought dead, turned up alive but a wrecked man, and she nobly left Tony to tend to him.

[Nate Grey]

So who were some of Guy's love interests?

[Bored at 3:00AM]

So who were some of Guy's love interests?

Kari Limbo and Ice were Guy's only real love interests beyond whatever poor bimbos he managed to have sex with him. Guy dumped Kari immediately after he recovered from his coma--which is pretty heartless even for Guy considering she gave up marrying Hal to stay at his side while he was a comatose vegetable for years. Kari was finally killed with the rest in Coast City. Ice was killed during the godawful JLA period between the departure of Giffen & DeMatteis and the arrival of Morrison.

John's love life was equally pathetic and sad. His wife, Katma Tui, was murdered by Star Sapphire so she could piss Hal off. His next girlfriend, Rose Hardin, was still in love with Hal and his latest girlfriend, a former Darkstar, just dumped him.

Hal's had more ill-fated romantic relationships than anyone in the DCU that I can recall. In addition to his off-again/on-again romance with his boss/super-villainess Carol Ferris/Star Stapphire, he dated Olivia Reynolds, who later became a lesbian (ouch!), vapid rich girl Eve Doremus and exiled space princess Dorine. He was engaged to Kari Limbo, but was dumped at the altar. He also locked lips with blue collar cutie Rose Hardin, GL Katma Tui and elfin jailbait Arisia. Then there was his one-night stand with Power Girl and god knows how many other women during his globe-trotting military career. Hell, between Hal and Oliver Queen, I don't think there's a woman in the DCU they haven't been involved with in some way or another.

In comparison, Alan's faired okay. He only fathered a pair of kids with a super-villianess, who then faked her death and stole his children from him. He later ended up marrying an old foe of his, The Harlequin, who had actually been his secretary all along.

Basically, Green Lantern + Romance = Disaster

[Gauss]

Ice was killed during the godawful JLA period between the departure of Giffen & DeMatteis and the arrival of Morrison.

I could have sworn I saw Ice, or someone who looked like her, take a tumble with Metamorpho and Obsidian down from the JLA Satellite in Morrison's opening arc. Since they survived, are we talking about a different Ice?

And while we're on the subject: Kyle's first girlfriend Alex got killed and stuffed in a refrigerator. She came back later but turned out to be a figment of his imagination created by the ring, who promptly faded out (or was sacrificed to stop Oblivion, I really wasn't paying attention at this point). He then proceeded to date and get dumped by both Donna Troy and Jade (the latter after getting literally stabbed in the back by one of the new female Guardians, who'd grown up way too fast and became the chalk-white woman referenced earlier).

[Bored at 3:00AM]

My original FAQ is kinda out of date now, here's an update....

WHO IS GREEN LANTERN?

Along with Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and The Flash, Green Lantern is one of DC Comics' most popular and longest running super-heroes.

Although many different characters have been Green Lantern, the concept is pretty much the same; a guy gets a ring that can do whatever he wishes and he fights evil with it. To power the ring, he has to charge it from a battery that looks exactly like a green lantern...hence the name.

HOW MANY GREEN LANTERNS HAVE THERE BEEN?

There are five main Green Lanterns on Earth, but there are thousands upon thousands of Green Lanterns from countless different worlds across the DC Universe.

WHO WAS FIRST?

In 1940, Mart Nodel (with help from Batman co-creator Bill Finger) came up with ALAN SCOTT, a blond do-gooder who was chosen by a mysterious lantern during a train crash to fight evil with a magic ring as the "Green Lantern".

Green Lantern helped form the Justice Society of America, comics’ first super-team, and remained one of DC's most popular heroes until the late 1940s, when most costumed crime fighters pretty much disappeared.

WHO CAME NEXT?

In 1959, editor Julie Shwartz asked John Broome & Gil Kane to revamp Green Lantern. Adapting the old pulp space opera epic "Lensman" into a superhero, Broome & Kane created fearless test pilot HAL JORDAN, who was chosen by a dying alien to protect Space Sector 2814 as a member of the interstellar Green Lantern Corps.

Like the original GL, this new hero formed his own super-team, the Justice League of America and also became one DC's most popular characters until the late 1960s, when Marvel Comic's flawed and less idealized heroes began to dominate the comics industry.

HOLD ON, WHAT'S THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS?

Founded by the immortal Guardians of the Universe, The GLCorps is pretty much like the Jedi Knights from Star Wars or the U.S. Marshals in the Old West. They patrol their sector of space and keep the peace. Sometimes, the Guardians will send a Green Lanterns on a specific mission alone or they would team up with other Green Lanterns from alien worlds. Originally, there were 3600 of them, one Green Lantern for every sector of space and one Guardian supervising every 100 GL. Currently, there are two Green Lanterns for every sector, doubling the ranks of Corps to 7200 members. Their main headquarters is an ancient planet at the center of the cosmos called OA, where the Central Power Battery is, a giant lantern that powers all the smaller ones across the universe.

OK, HOW'D GREEN ARROW GET INVOLVED?

Facing stiff competition from Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Steve Ditko’s superheroes at Marvel, DC Comics’ Julie Shwartz decided to try something different with Green Lantern in 1970 and teamed Green Lantern up with an outspoken superhero named Green Arrow, who bumped heads and sparred, both verbally and physically, with Hal as they traveled around the country and dealt with the real life social issues that were brewing in America throughout the sixties and early seventies. Written by Denny O'Neil and drawn by Neal Adams, GL/GA was a turning point in comics’ history. However, despite great publicity and critical acclaim, the book was cancelled and GL/GA became a back-up feature in The Flash until finally getting their own book again a few years later. After that, the comic pretty much remained one of DC's better selling books for years to come.

WHO ARE THE OTHER GREEN LANTERNS FROM EARTH?

In 1972, O'Neil & Adams introduced a new Green Lantern named JOHN STEWART, an angry young black man who refused to wear a mask and always spoke his mind. John was chosen by the Green Lantern Corps' founders, the immortal Guardians of the Universe, to serve as Hal Jordan's back-up. Eventually, John took over as Green Lantern full time when Hal quit the Corps for the love of his life, Carol Ferris. Never a perfect hero, John has made quite a few tragic mistakes in his career and has gotten a mixed reception from fans, but his popularity is growing more and more with each year. Currently, John Stewart is resident Green Lantern of the Justice League, in both the comics and the cartoons.

In 1985, a fourth Green Lantern made a name for himself, GUY GARDNER. Guy was originally introduced in the mid 1960s as another man who could have been chosen to be GL instead of Hal. However, after Guy finally got his chance to be a GL when Hal was away in space, his lantern blew up and put him in a coma, causing him severe brain damage. As a result, Guy was a loose canon whose personality ranged from homicidal maniac to arrogant loudmouth to child-like boob and back again. Currently, he's a mix of all three. Guy's creation was kind of a collaborative effort by Steve Englehart, Howard Chaykin, Joe Staton, Keith Giffen, JM DeMatties & Kevin Maguire. Some people love him, some hate him. Few ignore him. Guy was the Green Lantern during the “Bwa-Ha-Ha!” era of Justice League International. He currently appears in the Green Lantern Corps comic series.

In 1994, the GL franchise had fell into a creative slump and, in a still controversial move, DC decided to ditch all their old Green Lantern characters and create a younger hero to assume the mantle. New writer Ron Marz and artist Darryl Banks were given the job of creating KYLE RAYNER, a young hip artist living in New York City who got his ring and lantern from Ganthet, the last survivor of the Guardians of the Universe.

Just like Alan and Hal, Kyle became one of DC's most popular characters and joined Grant Morrison & Howard Porter’s revamped JLA in 1997. Although openly despised by some fans and pros, the Green Lantern comic, with Kyle Rayner as its star, became one of DC's best selling books.

WHO'S THE GIRL WITH GREEN SKIN?

That's Jenny Hayden a.k.a. "JADE", she's the long-lost daughter of Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern. Jade was born with a power pulse in her hand that gives her the same powers as her father, but without the need for a ring or lantern. Jade was created by Roy Thomas and Jerry Ordway for the Infinity Inc. comic in 1984. She was once romantically involved with Kyle Rayner and is currently a prominent member of the Outsiders.

WHAT DOES A POWER RING DO?

Pretty much anything the ring-slinger wants it to. It responds to will power though, so some things are more difficult to do than others. Mainly, it gets used to create weapons, tools and objects made of emerald light like flaming swords, giant boxing gloves, big manga robots and buxom bimbos. Each GL has a different style. Alan’s creations are usually surrounded by the magical green flame that powers him. Hal’s creations tend to be more simple and practical to the task at hand, although he often favors a big green boxing glove due to his love of the sport. John, an architect, creates extremely well designed and structurally impregnable constructs. Being an artist, Kyle's creations tend to be more elaborate and fanciful than most, often displaying his fondness for Japanese animation. Whereas Guy’s creations lean towards scantily-clad women, beer and big shiny guns.

HAS GREEN LANTERN APPEARED OUTSIDE OF COMICS?

The Hal Jordan version had his own cartoon in the sixties and was also part of the Justice League of America cartoon during the sixties and the Challenge of the Superfriends (which was basically the Justice League with a different name) during the seventies.

A Green Lantern who was a combination of both Kyle Rayner and Hal Jordan appeared in one episode of the Superman cartoon in the nineties. Basically, the character looked and acted much like Hal but had Kyle's name, youth, job and Peter Parker-style wise cracks. This version of Kyle Rayner has gone on to appear on the Justice League cartoons on a few occasions.

And, most recently, John Stewart (also mixed with several elements from the Hal Jordan version) is currently appearing in the new Justice League cartoon. The Kyle Rayner GL from the Superman cartoon was explained as John's back-up, just as, in the comics, John was for Hal during the seventies and eighties.

Alan Scott also appeared on Justice League as the Green Guardsman. Originally, the episode was to feature the Justice Society, but it was changed at the last minute to the Justice Guild. Although the costume is a little different, that *is* Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern.

There’s also tons of GL merchandise out there, including T-Shirts, life-sized Power Batteries, rings and various action figures of Alan, Hal, John, Guy, Kyle and even a few of the alien Green Lanterns.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

GREEN LANTERN FAQ: PART DEUX

WHY DO GREEN LANTERN FANS ARGUE SO MUCH?

Green Lantern was the unfortunate victim of a creative tug-o-war between different editors at DC Comics during the eighties and nineties. Although it was selling well, the long-running Green Lantern comic was ended in 1988 so Hal Jordan could star in another editor's weekly comic anthology.

When this experiment at weekly comics failed miserably, the old editor regained control of the character and spent the next year fixing everything the previous editor had done. Still, this relaunched Green Lantern comic was a huge hit for DC and spawned three different spin-off titles.

However, when a new editor took over the Green Lantern books, the quality took a nose dive and so did the sales. In less than two years, the Green Lantern franchise went from a best seller to moderate seller.

Trying to drum up interest in the book again, DC decided to turn Hal Jordan into a homicidal madman, killed off the Green Lantern Corps & The Guardians of the Universe, blew up Oa, turned Guy Gardner into a shape-shifting alien and stuck John Stewart into a team of grim n’ gritty GLCorps clones called Darkstars. Meanwhile, Alan Scott was made young, given a new costume, lost his ring and was re-named "Sentinel" for a few years. All so Kyle Rayner could be the one and only Green Lantern of the DC Universe.

While fans and creators argued passionately over this creative direction, DC slowly began to back-track. Alan Scott regained much of his age, his original costume and reclaimed his name in the pages of JSA. John Stewart returned as Green Lantern thanks to his appearances in the Justice League cartoons. The planet Oa was rebuilt and the Guardians were resurrected thanks to Kyle Rayner and Hal’s friend Tom Kalmaku. Meanwhile, Hal Jordan was killed off and then brought back as a ghost, The Spectre. When this idea completely failed to interest readers, DC Editorial finally decided to bring Hal Jordan, along with Guy Gardner, back as Green Lanterns once again. Shortly afterwards, the Green Lantern Corps was restored to twice its former size.

As a result of all this, resentment over the creative directions GL has taken over the past 15 years lingers still for some fans. Whoever the GL is, there's always some segment of their fandom who feels their getting shafted or not getting enough of the spotlight. And now that DC has five different GL characters to juggle, this will no doubt continue to be a sort spot for the foreseeable future.

Tread lightly, lest ye awake the dark side of GL fandom....

HOW DID HAL, GUY & THE CORPS COME BACK?

I would strenuously suggest picking up Green Lantern: Rebirth for the full story on that. It’s a really fun story that tells you everything you need to know about the Green Lantern world and all the characters that inhabit it. However, if you really can’t be bothered to pick it up, here’s the general gist of the story:

***BEWARE TONS OF “GL: REBIRTH” SPOILERS BELOW***

Since the 1959 revamp of GL, the primary weakness of the power rings was the Yellow Impurity, a flaw within Oa’s Central Power Battery that made it powerless against anything yellow. In Rebirth, Kyle Rayner learned that the Yellow Impurity was in fact an ancient fear parasite known as Parallax that had been imprisoned within the Central Power Battery by the Guardians billions of years ago, whose existence had been kept secret and transformed into legend.

When Sinestro, the renegade Green Lantern, journeyed within the Central Power Battery, he managed to reawaken the dormant Yellow Impurity and had it slowly infect his archenemy, Hal Jordan. As a result, the once fearless Hal Jordan began to doubt himself and grew more and more uncertain of his role as a hero. This mental manipulation by Parallax came to a head when Coast City was destroyed by the alien tyrant Mongul. The pain and guilt of failing to prevent the murders of Coast City’s 7 billion people allowed Parallax to warp Jordan’s mind and unleash him upon the Guardians and their Green Lantern Corps. When the unhinged Hal Jordan merged with the power of the Central Battery, he unwittingly grafted the Yellow Impurity onto his soul and allowed Parallax to erase all knowledge of its existence from Ganthet’s mind, the only survivor of Hal Jordan’s bloody rebellion.

Even after Hal had asserted enough control to sacrifice his life to reignite the Sun, Parallax still remained a part of his soul and followed him into Purgatory, where it then plotted to assume control of The Spectre, Heaven’s Spirit of Vengeance. When The Spectre bonded with Hal Jordan in an attempt to eradicate Parallax from within, it too was overwhelmed by the fear parasite.

With its existence revealed at last by Kyle Rayner, Parallax attempted to wrest control over not only John Stewart, Guy Gardner and Kilowog, but Ganthet as well. During this final battle, Ganthet was able to restore Hal’s soul to his body, allowing him to lead the Green Lanterns to victory and imprison the Yellow Impurity back within the Central Power Battery.

***END SPOILERS***

If that sounds interesting to you, do yourself a favor and pick up the story. The art by Ethan Van Scriver is gorgeous. And if you like the writing of Geoff Johns, he’s at his continuity fix-it man best here. And for those of you who’ve never read a GL story before, this fills you in on everything you need to know along the way.

[Paul Newell]

Well I did a big clean out Bored...I've moved everything else to THIS THREAD in case there's anything you want rescued or added back here.

[ducklord]

I've got one or two:

The little blue guys call themselves the "Guardians of the Universe," but does the Green Lanten Corps' territory really span the entire universe, some non-trivial percentage of it, or just the Milky Way galaxy?

While we're at it, how are the 3600 Green Lantern sectors divvied up? Are they more or less the same shape, or are they grouped around population centers or what?

Making trouble,
Mike