See what I did there? I referenced a prior post about the Hulk being like a bag of Skittles. Well, DC comics has done one better, well more than one. First we had the Green power ring. Then Sinestro makes a yellow power ring from the Antimatter universe. And in the story arc of Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War (great story by the way) we are introduced to the rainbow of Ring Flavors ranging from Purple to Black and many in between.

Starting with Green Lantern: Rebirth (an entry about this collection is forthcoming) going through Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Night, then Brightest Day, we have a long running quadrilogy concerning the intergalactic police force of the Green Lanterns. Normally these multi-year crossovers tend to get weighted down with their own intricacies and I tend to lose interest much like when I was reading DC’s Countdown and Final Crises and dont’ get me started on how Marvel is milking the Civil War/Dark Reign/Age of Heroes event.  I understand why they do it but so far   none have done it without bloating the story and manufacturing events of major importance with minor characters we haven’t seen since the Super Friends were getting good ratings on Saturday morning.

The Green Lantern Saga (I’ll call it that since it has four different arcs with different titles) actually does a excellent job of not getting bloated like a whale corpse washed up on Long Island.  Beginning with Rebirth, where Jordan is redeemed and returns as the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 (and as usual Bats doesn’t trust him, more on that in another entry), The Sinestro Corps War is the second act that brings about a shift in power in the universe and shows the shortcomings of the Guardians (but we have seen this before during the Emerald Twilight saga, that the Guardians are really just in it for themselves and their constant hold of power in the universe more so than actually wanting justice or order in the Universe).  Needless to say Sinestro comes back with the backing of Parallax and now an army of yellow ring wearing soldiers intent on bringing fear to the universe.

Oh and did I mention that the Anti-Monitor is tagging along so he can get revenge on our Universe because he got his ass handed to him the last time he showed up.

Throw in the Cyborg Superman, Superboy-Prime, and Parallax and you have a great story.

I grabbed to the hardcover collected editions of Volume 1 and 2 (they come in trade paperbacks as well) and read through them in a single evening late into the night.  An I must say that this is a great story.  We know that the Guardians aren’t the most perfect set of people out there, but in this series we see that they are even more susceptible of believing their own press as being the saviors of the Universe and hide, manipulate, and reinvent facts until they have their back against the wall.  Even  expelling dissenters.

Which is strange that they don’t allow their Corps to kill.  They consider themselves a police force, and at times cops have to take a life, even though they might not want to. But the Guardians, in all their self righteousness, handicap their force, even in the midst of a all out War and not just as police until the very final act of the series, when almost all is lost.

Did they not learn anything during Emerald Twilight?

So now the Corps turns from a quasi-police force into an Army.  Was this Sinestro’s ultimate goal?  Force the Guardians to change their directives?  I think it was a part of his motivations but more so to illuminate the hypocrisy of the Guardians who have ended up doing more harm then good as being the keepers of such vast power.  Anyone remember the Manhunters?

Now back to the bag of Skittles.  Now we have Green Lanterns, Yellow Lanterns, Red ones, Purple ones, Blue ones, and the list goes on.  Right now it seems during the current arc, Blackest Night, the Black Lanterns are getting top billing.  And I can’t wait until they get this series collected in July of this year.

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