Green Lantern Corps

The Green Lantern Corps is a fictional, intergalactic police force of Green Lanterns that existed in the pages of DC Comics, chosen to patrol the vast reaches of the Universe, fighting evil whever it could be found. It was founded by the Guardians of the Universe in the early stages of their existence, and it has lasted for over three billion years despite suffering rebellions, murder and collapses from within and without.

Contents

1 Publishing history 2 Fictional history 2.1 Origins 2.2 Structure 2.3 Decline, fall, and rebirth? 3 See also

Publishing history

Many believe the Green Lantern Corps was modeled after the Lensman science fiction series of E.E. "Doc" Smith. There were many parallels between the two: both were intergalactic law enforcement agents chosen for their high moral character and willingness to do good, and empowered with an awesome weapon of alien design that also had safeguards against abuse and evil trickery. However, John Broome, who wrote the Silver Age Green Lantern stories, and Julius Schwartz, who edited those stores, have both denied any connection. Broome and Schwartz claimed to never have read the Smith stories, although Schwartz admitted that as an SF fan, he had of course heard of them.

Comic book writers were attracted to the concept of an intergalactic corps made up of Green Lanterns from various alien races. An occasional backup series in the Green Lantern comic book series, Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, featured guest writers who often penned short stories about the idiosyncrasies of individual alien Green Lanterns, who might never be heard of again.

Fictional history

Origins

In the early days of the Universe, natives of the overpopulated planet Maltus (sometimes spelled Malthus) evolved into immortals of great power. They subsequently settled the planet Oa and declared themselves the Guardians of the Universe and enemies of evil after one of their own, the renegade scientist Krona, performed a forbidden experiment that had terrible consequences for the Universe at large.

Exactly what those consequences were have varied with different versions of the stories; originally, it was supposed to have unleashed Evil in the first place. Later, it was attributed to have created the Antimatter Universe of Qward. Later still, it was used as the explanation for the existence of parallel universes in the DC Universe (and the creation of the Monitor), which eventually led to the rearrangement of Time itself, as seen in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Finally, it has been stated that it accelerated entropy, shortening the duration of the universe by a billion years.

Some of the Guardians, however, disagreed on how to deal with the chaos that had been unleashed. One group, calling itself the Controllers, separated itself from the others and favored using more violent methods to achieve their ends (a later interpretation says they left over a disagreement on how to use the Manhunters - see below). They would later found the Darkstars organization. The female Oans, feeling no need to involve themselves in the situation, also left, becoming later known as the Zamarons.

To enforce their will and guard against alien menaces of all sorts, the Guardians had created a legion of robotic sentinels called the Manhunters. However, the Manhunters eventually came to resent their servitude. They rebelled against the Guardians, eventually breaking away and forming their own robotic society where they pursued their own agenda (which often included interfering with, and foiling the plans of, the Guardians).

Chastened by the failure of the Manhunters, the Guardians decided that their newest force of soldiers for good would consist of living beings, ones who had free will and strong moral character. To arm this new legion of celestial knights, the Guardians created the Power Rings, rings of inconceivably-advanced technology that allowed their wearers to project green beams of energy that had the power to do literally anything, provided the one wielding the ring had the force of will to achieve his goals.

When recharging thier weapons, Corps members recite an oath. This oath can differ from Corps member to member but the most popular seems to be:

In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight! Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power.. Green Lantern's light!

a notably different version, created by a blind power ring holder, was:

"In loudest din or hush profound, my ears catch evil's slightest sound. Let those who toll out evil's knell, beware my power: The F-Sharp Bell!"

The Power Rings were invincible against anything except objects of the color yellow. The Guardians often stated that the Rings' weakness against yellow objects was due to a "necessary yellow impurity" that allowed them to process the green energy, though scholars (and comic book fans) often speculated that the "impurity" was actually designed as a mental safeguard, to prevent any member of the Green Lantern Corps from thinking himself or herself (or itself) invincible and above the rule of law. This thinking has been proven incorrect. The Battery, in addition to being a source of power, was a prison as well. The prisoner, within the Battery, was a fear elemental (Parallax) that weakened the Battery's control over the yellow coloured portion of the plasma-light spectrum. This was one of the reasons that members of the Corps were expected to be fearless. It was an attempt to prevent the fear elemental from engineering an escape.

Structure

The Corps was a volunteer organization of 3600 Green Lanterns, with each assigned to an individually numbered assigned sector of space (Earth, home to Hal Jordan, is in Sector 2814). Heavily-populated Sectors like 2814, also required a backup Lantern who was expected to ready to be called to duty in the regular Lantern's absence on short notice. Each member had a great deal of autonomy as to their methods in their jurisdiction, subject to review by the Guardians if they felt the Green Lantern in question has abused his/her assigned authority. Also, the individual Lanterns were responsible for arranging their replacements if they were near retirement or death. If the Lantern died before that obligation was met, the Guardians would personally go out into the field to recruit a replacement.

Each Green Lantern upon recruitment would receive a power ring, a power battery shaped like a lantern with which the ring is recharged and a uniform. The default uniform design for humanoids was a green section covering the torso and shoulders, black arms and leggings, green boots and a chest symbol of a stylized Green Lantern icon on a white dot. Lanterns were allowed to customize their uniforms as long as the colour scheme and the symbol was present. Lanterns were also allowed the option of a secret identity as a security measure and it is implied that the Corps were instructed to honor that choice by taking care not to expose them.

Upon recruitment, a Green Lantern is expected to uphold certain principles of his duty. This principles include:

1. Protection of life and liberty with the assigned sector
2. Follow the orders of the Guardians without question
3. Noninterference with a planet's culture, political structure or its population's collective will
4. Act within local laws and obey the local authority within reason. Presumably, The Guardians' orders can overrule this when necessary.
5. Not acting against anyone or anything unless they are proven to be a threat against life and liberty.
6. Refusal to use the equipment, resources or authority of The Corps for personal gain
7. Must show respect cooperate with other members of the Corps and the Guardians.
8. Show respect for life which includes restraint of force unless there is no alternative.
9. Give top priority to the greatest danger in the assigned sector
10. Uphold the honor of the Corps.

To enforce these principles, the Guardians closely monitored the activities of the Lanterns. If they felt a violation of Corps regulations occurred, they would summon the offender to Oa and hold a trial in which the charges were read and the Lantern was allowed to explain his/her actions. If the Guardians were not satisfied by the explanation, they had a number of disciplinary options which include:

• Probation
• Personal supervision by the Guardians on Oa
• Temporary exile from the Lantern's homeworld
• Ritual Trial of Endurance - a Lantern must attempt a dangerous passage through the Anti-Matter Universe
• Expulsion from the Corps.

The Corps headquarters was on the planet of Oa, in the center of the universe. The main features include a great hall with a raised dais for the Guardians to meet in conference as well as other formal functions. There were also training facilities for Lanterns who requested formal training in their rings, and holding cells called Sciencells for particularly dangerous criminals. The most prominent feature was the Central Power Battery, a giant size version of the Lantern's power batteries that channeled the energy of the Guardians and amplified it, to feed energy to the individual power batteries. It was vital to maintain security on this device since major damage to it would preclude recharging the power rings -which required energy every 24 Earth hours- thus robbing the Corps of their primary weapons.

Decline, fall, and rebirth?

The Green Lantern Corps patrolled the DC Universe for over three billion years. In that vast length of time, only two Green Lanterns rebelled and fell into evil: Sinestro, the rogue Green Lantern, and Hal Jordan, driven insane over the loss of his home, Coast City and the heartlessness of the Guardians. A third rogue Green Lantern, Universo, was briefly shown to exist in the future epoch of the Legion of Super-Heroes, but multiple retcons have long since eliminated this possible future.

The Green Lantern Corps ranks were decimated by Hal Jordan during his madness, its power source, the Main Battery extinguished, and Oa destroyed, removing the original power source for the rings. However, recently Oa was reconstructed by Hal Jordan's old sidekick Tom Kalmaku followed shortly by Kyle Rayner, the current Green Lantern of Earth, resurrecting the Guardians (as children) using the power of Jordan's own ring. The planet and its new guardian, the resurrected Green Lantern Kilowog, now await worthy candidates to come and be trained, so it is possible the Corps may return.

The resurrections did not stop with the Guardians, Oa, or Kilowog. It was discovered that Hal Jordan had committed his crimes while possessed by the fear elemental Parallax. Once Parallax had been exorcised, the Battery was re-ignited on Oa. The Guardians (no longer children due to rapid aging) returned to Oa to re-imprison Parallax. With the restoration of the Green Lantern Battery of Oa, the Guardians began the re-construction and expansion of the Corps.

See also

• Green Lantern Corps members