The coming Third Army event has been building for some time now and following the September “Zero Month” event which acts as a prologue to the Third Army story DC will launch the Green Lantern crossover event with four interconnecting covers by Ivan Reis, one for each book in the Lantern family. The image above and comments from the writers of the four titles provide some interesting hints at what’s to come.
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| Sinestro’s vision |
Something that leaps out about Reis’ image, besides Carol Ferris’ less than glamorous new Star Sapphire duds, is the design of what we can assume are members of the Third Army. While they all seem to be the same species the color choice of white and green is interesting given the fact that the Guardians, prior to wearing robes with the Green Lantern logo on them, wore robes with the White Lantern logo on them. The combination is also all the more intriguing when you consider Sinestro’s vision back in
Green Lantern #6 where a Guardian is shows with a white ring hovering above his hand. This could all mean absolutely nothing but the implications are that the Third Army has ties back to ancient times and the Guardians’ as yet defined connection to White Lantern energy.
Of course conspicously absent from the covers are Hal Jordan, Sinestro and the Indigo Tribe. Looking at Sinestro’s vision once again there’s the implied notion that Black Hand kills them during the upcoming “Revenge of the Black Hand” story that is just getting ready to begin, a notion that is being supported by the bloody logo cover to the Green Lantern annual which promises that “Everything changes here! EVERYTHING!”
While there’s no doubt going to be some major events in that annual it’s more likely that at least one of them survives the battle with Black Hand to use Abin Sur’s Indigo Tribe to defeat the Third Army. A closer look at the vision and it wouldn’t be too hard to think that Sinestro might be snuffed out since Hal’s not actually the Green Lantern of Sector 2814, but it’s intentionally nebulous enough to create doubt for readers everywhere. While I find it hard to believe that Geoff Johns would rid the comics universe of either one of these iconic characters, you just never know.
The vision and the appearance of the
“new guy” indicate that he is indeed the one chosen to be the new Lantern of our sector of space. This is supported by a comment from Geoff Johns on the
DC Blog about the event.
“Absolute power corrupts absolutely–and the Guardians time is finally here. The Lantern titles spent the first year of DC COMICS-THE NEW 52 re-establishing themselves, but it all comes back together with year 2 starting with GREEN LANTERN #0 and leading into October’s #13’s – which share an amazing cover by Ivan Reis. In October, the Guardians’ Third Army rises to replace the Green Lantern Corps – but how is horrifying and why will change the Guardians and their ancient mission forever. As we discover what the Third Army actually means, our strongest Lanterns are targeted for absolute destruction. From Atrocitus to Guy Gardner to our newest Green Lantern from Earth – who may have been wrongly chosen – all their darkest secrets and failures will come to light. What is Sinestro’s ultimate fate? Who is this new Green Lantern and why was he chosen? What is the Third Army? What with Atrocitus sacrifice to take on the Guardians? What will Larfleeze give up to find the one thing he wants? What happens to Guy Gardner when he’s targeted after Hal Jordan? And, most importantly, who is the First Lantern?” – Green Lantern writer Geoff Johns
While
Newsarama believe this character to be the First Lantern, I think Johns’ comments pretty much invalidate that. More than likely the First Lantern is not even in this image and will be much more alien in appearance, tying back to ancient times as well. I still maintain that the
First Lantern has already appeared in the books during the “War of the Green Lanterns” storyline. The mysterious new Green Lantern is still just that, a mystery, although there’s a part of me that wants to stick to the idea that it’s William Hand although I know it’s incredibly unlikely at this point.
Peter Milligan offers an interesting piece of information about how Red Lanterns plays into the event.
“The Red Lanterns are continuing their mission to bring bloody vengeance to an unjust world when they run into (or are run into) a mysterious enemy with no mouth and a curious resistance to death. One Red Lantern succumbs to this new adversary, while Atrocitus finds a way to fight back – which entails returning to a place of great pain and associating with an ancient nemesis.” – Red Lanterns writer Peter Milligan
Rankorr’s absence from the image suggests that he might be the one to fall victim to this new mouthless adversary, but more interesting is the thought of Atrocitus’ journey and whether this might be leading to the return of Krona, or is there a bigger connection to be made between him and the First Lantern?
It’s easy to say that regardless of how all of these connections may or may not pan out, Green Lantern fans are in for a fantastic journey!
Source: DC Comics Blog, Newsarama
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