THE RAINBOW CONNECTION

YOU THINK YOU GOT IT SO BAD, GREENIE?

Yesterday was a good day. It was sunny and warm outside; with just a little breeze to help keep the heat down. Some birds were chirping in the tree branches. A few puffy clouds scattered the otherwise clear blue sky. It felt like all the lively goodness of spring was just about to pop out into the world. I was out in all this colorful splendor for the better part of the day, but I eventually got a little hungry, so I decided to run home and make a nice little tuna melt for myself. I got in there (the kitchen, I mean) and chopped up some onions and some green peppers: put them in a bowl. Sliced half a tomato. Then, I opened a can of albacore tuna and mixed all that junk up in some poppy-seed dressing. I had a packet of that stuff left over from one of those pre-made salads you can get at the corner store. After adding a little crushed pepper to the mix, I scooped it all onto a couple of slices of toast and covered it copiously with pepper jack cheese. Nuked them for a minute. Pulling those slices from the microwave: the cheese covering those mounds of seasoned fish flakes flowed into a glorious, mouth-watering glaze. Not only was this pleasant to look at, but that tuna melt was indeed, also quite delicious. I scarfed it down with a handful of chips and a large cold glass of premium apple juice. Once I had finally completed that tasty meal, I laid back on my couch to read a few comics that I had been meaning to catch up on. Green Lantern Corps. Guy Gardner and the gang of jade warriors from a thousand worlds had been neck deep in trouble from other ring wilders of various colors and I was anxious to find out how their conflicts would ultimately lead up to the Blackest Night saga. You have the Yellow lanterns, led by the fiendish Sinestro, of course. But, now there were blue ones and red ones and purple ones, oh my! Each color representing some aspect of the emotional spectrum that the ring-wielders are drawn to…or perhaps obsessed with. What a marvelous palate of extraterrestrial shenanigans this lantern saga has developed into! The old stories with Hal and the gang just making up green force beams or cartoony constructs to defeat their generic foes seems quaint in comparison. The inclusion of all the other colored lanterns with their various cultures and motivations opened up the narrative possibilities in a way never before conceived.

It wasn’t that long ago when there was only just the Green Lanterns and the Corps, created by the Guardians of the Universe to police every sector of known space. The Sinestro Corps War introduced the concept of another group of rival lanterns, fighting the Green Lanterns for universal supremacy. Since that event, many more of these ring-wielder groups have cropped up; setting the stage for a very complicated cross-faction conflict. Here are the various colored lantern groups:

Red Lanterns: emotionally driven by rage. Atrocious, the first Red Lantern, created a power battery out of the crystalized remains of the former Five Inversions (first seen in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2) as a tool for revenge against his hated enemy, Sinestro. Yah, nobody like that pink melon-head. The Red Corps grew as other creatures were selected for their propensity to harbor blind hatred or extreme anger. Even Hal Jordan (because he really is just a raging posing as a cardboard box) was selected to be a member of this group once. Fortunately for Hal, these crimson dudes are so bent on mean behavior, they wind up to be about as crafty as a bag of rocks. They are also quite easily identified by the stream of gooey blood usually spurting from their mouths at all times. Gross.

Orange Lanterns: ruled by avarice (greed). Larfleeze, or Agent Orange as he is more stupidly named, is apparently the singular member of this “group”. Possessing a powerful energy battery for himself, he consumes other creatures and uses their essence as constructs for further assimilation. Many years ago, The Guardians of the Universe formed a pact with Larfleeze: insuring him they would not interfere in his actions as long as he remained in the Vega solar system. Since then, all Green Lanterns were forbidden from entering this area of space. As criminal and evil entities gained knowledge of this “safe-zone”, they began utilizing it whenever fleeing from potential capture by a Corps member. Since peace treaties are rarely any fun, Green Lanterns have often broken their masters’ promise and entered the system to perform some various good-doing. Recently, the Guardians have called an end of the truce…because they are .

Yellow Lanterns: manipulators of fear. Sinestro was once hailed as the greatest Green Lantern in the universe. He let this moniker get to his massive fuchsia football of a head and began to implement martial rule over his home planet and others in his assigned sector. Discovering their prized enforcer had gone bonkers, the Guardians banished Sinestro from their membership and they have been adversarial with each other ever since. Recently, Sinestro developed his own crew of malevolent misfits to counter the Guardians’ own force. Sinestro’s agenda is to overthrow the Guardians and rule the universe under a grip of fear.

Green Lanterns: powered by the force of will. After the Guardians of the Universe failed to police their domain with a unit of robot sentries, called the Manhunters, they resorted to a more “humane” method by recruiting live beings found to embody great courage. Hal Jordan, a fairly bland human being, was selected for inclusion into the corps after an alien named Abin Sur crashed his spaceship on earth. Since this first contact, there have been at least three other humans selected to be a part of the Guardians police force: Guy Gardner, John Stewart and Kyle Rayner. Since each space sector is normally protected by only two lanterns at any given time, Guy and Kyle have been making their home on the Guardians’ planet, Oa as Honor Guard members. There are many other alien races that comprise the whole of the Green Lantern Corps. Most notably: Kilowog from Bolovax Vik, Salaak from Slyggia, and Mogo as himself. I am not making this up.

Blue Lanterns: exuding hope. Created by the rogue Guardian, Ganthet, to counter Sinestro’s fear agenda. During the recent rise of the Yellow Lanterns, Sinestro enlisted a group of villainous creatures to challenge the Guardians’ Green Lantern “space cop” program; attempting to usurp their authority with intimidation and a fear-mongering presence. Sinestro employed more of a military tactic with his force and willfully murdered anyone who stood in the way of his plans. Concerned that their own Corps would be decimated by such a brutal affront, the Guardians agreed to authorize lethal force for the Green Lanterns to employ. Ganthet and his girlfriend disagreed with this decision and separated themselves from their peers, creating (in their minds) a more sensible solution to fear in the form of hope. Blue Lanterns have the power to augment a Green Lantern’s power levels, but besides this complimentary effect, they are mostly ineffective.

Indigo Lanterns: bound by compassion. Not much is known about this tribe of ring bearers other than their primus is named Indigo-1 (natch). These compassionate souls are featured more prominently in future Green Lantern stories.

Violet Lanterns: possessed by the power of love. The alien Zamarons are the female counterparts to the traditionally all-male Guardians of the Universe. Rather than focus on their intellect as the Guardians had done, Zamarons chose to improve their physical attributes. Their unused mental abilities were fashioned into a crystal called the Star Sapphire, which was adorned to whoever the Zamarons chose to be their queen. For some reason, they usually pick one of Hal Jordan’s girlfriends for the role. Since that never works out too well (because Hal is a and won’t be kept by no extra terrestrially powered super babe), the Zamarons finally decide to split the power of their Sapphire into special rings, similar to that of the Oan Green Lanterns, and create an army of lesser powerful warrior women. It’s all for the love, apparently.

Geoff Johns and company, the architects behind this multi-colored corps idea, created a vast tapestry of vivid characters and imaginative settings within the Green Lantern mythos. Their tightly woven plot of various factions interacting across the universe is far more compelling than any of the Green Lantern stories of old. It’s not just a natural extension of the age old “power ring” fantasy, but also an impressive endeavor that was executed with great flair, skill and imagination. I may not have had much interest in the plight of Hal Jordan or his little blue overlords in the past, mostly because the concept always seemed a little trite and underdeveloped. Boring dude suddenly becomes slightly more interesting because he is graced with a magic ring that can virtually create anything he imagines, and yet he is usually burdened with silly limitations (thwarted by the color yellow? That’s just dumb): not really my cup of tea….or glass of juice, as it were. Anyway…so, I was sitting on my couch, eating this wonderful tuna melt that I created (yes, I am back to espousing the details of my personal food consumption preferences). With all those different ingredients melded together in mounds of mushy goodness, swishing around in my mouth, I got to thinking. There were all the green bits and red bits and yellow bits combining together for such a tasty treat. I know that I could have just taken a fork to a naked can of fish on its own and that would have been perfectly fine. I could have just eaten some cheese. I would have been nourished, sure. But, the combination of all the flavors that I put together made for a much more enjoyable experience. Kind of like how the Green Lantern comics are a lot more enjoyable now that there are more different kinds of characters mixed together….hmmm.

After finishing my meal, I was entirely satisfied. The afternoon sun streaming through the window blinds provided a soft glow for which to read my comics under. But, as I delved into the multi-colored adventures of all these amazing characters, I began to grow a little sleepy. All the words on the page turned into a garbled language soup, so I dropped the book down and turned over for a little comfy rest…and then proceeded to fall asleep. Blink. When I awoke from this admittedly refreshing slumber, I found myself in the dark. It was like: really dark in the house. I groggily rose from the couch and wandered outside. The cool breeze from earlier in the day was still rustling through the trees, but the sun had long since set. A slight chill ran down my back. I stared out into the blackened sky and wondered: what happened to the day? It was so beautiful out not so long ago. How could it have ended so quickly? Oh yah: I stupidly slept half the day away. Bonk. All the wonderful colors brought out by the light had passed into muted shadow. It was all a rather sad, and melancholy moment, actually. All I could do was go back inside, shut the door and find a reasonable way to get through the night.

(still…that tuna melt was the bomb!)

February and March reading:

The Blackest Night Epic!

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1-3

Blackest Night: Batman #1-3

Blackest Night: Superman #1-3

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1-3

Blackest Night: Titans #1-3

Green Lantern #44-52

Green Lantern Corps #39-47

Booster Gold #26-27

Blackest Night #0-8

Sleep tight.