16 Years On, DC Just Set Up The Return of A Criminally Underrated Team

The New Guardians are one of DC’s most interesting superhero teams. While the original version introduced in 1988 is remembered in infamy, the new rendition is much more entertaining. The New Guardians were a team composed of one Lantern from every Corps in the Emotional Spectrum, barring White and Black. The team was founded as a result of the Blackest Night and “War of Light” events to create a team that transcended all of their individual groups and protected the universe together. They wanted a new era of peace between all their Corps, and for a while, they achieved it. Now, sixteen years after their spectacular reintroduction, the Absolute Universe is trying its hand at the team.

Absolute Green Lantern is one of the most ambitious of the current Absolute titles. It has completely reimagined the Emotional Spectrum as tiers of light that represent understanding and wisdom, with black being the lowest level, and yellow or gold being the highest. Not only is this comic building a grand horror-themed space epic with Sojourner Mullein at its center, but it has secretly been building a grand reintroduction of the New Guardians. As of Absolute Green Lantern #11, the team is just a few issues away from their debut, and all the puzzle pieces are laid out.

The Gathering Lanterns

Issue #11 revealed that Hal Jordan was still connected to the Oan levels of light, despite being purged of the Black Hand. He had a dream of Tomar-Re, who rejected the words of Oa, which Hal woke up repeating. Hector Hammond used Hal’s connection to the Black Hand to track him and the rest of Jo’s group to their hiding spot, where he unleashed his new Black Hand creature. Right before that, Kari used her psychic powers to study Jo’s ring, experiencing six different visions. Each one was brief and color-coded, representing a different emotion. Importantly, Hal was pink, Sinestro was a pale yellow, and what is presumably a Manhuter was blue. Unfortunately, Kari also saw Simon in the color black.

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The monster smashed its way inside and killed Kari, then tossed Simon Baz across the room, knocking his mask loose. With Jo’s ring buried in the rubble, the survivors took off at a run. Up on the moon, John and Guy emerged from the Green Lantern, discussing how, out of 2814 people tested, a single digit amount would graduate as Lanterns. Then, the red anomaly, Tomar-Re, arrived, declaring his intent to take over either the world or the fledgling Lantern crops.

The New Guardians and Tomars

The second incarnation of the New Guardians was a team manned by the best representatives of each emotion. They were each exemplars of their respective Corps in every regard. The Absolute version of this team is clearly not going to follow that trend. In fact, Jo and Tomar-Re are both anomalies who buck the usual rules and expectations of their levels of light, and it looks like future teammates will be following the same trend. Kari’s vision of Hal showed him repeating that he was a Tomar, an anomaly, as he bathed in pink light. Given that Hal is still connected to the Black Hand, this implies that he will become the first Tomar of that level of light. Instead of embracing entropy, he could face the void with love.

Then there’s the Manhunters, who appear in visions in blue light. In the Prime Universe, blue light means hope, but the Manhunters are cold faces of steel, meaning that the blue level of light likely is about emotionless control in the Absolute Universe. A Tomar of the blue light, then, could embrace hope to control this light. So far, between Tomar-Re using his rage to push his power and Sinestro using enlightenment to instill fear, it appears that Tomars embrace the opposite of what their light normally represents. 

The Absolute New Guardians, much like their Prime counterparts, will likely be made of varying levels of light and embody different emotions. However, instead of exemplifying their Corps, they will be outliers that break the mold. They will not be warriors chosen to protect the universe. These New Guardians will be people whom Oa never planned to give power to, but who took it themselves to save the day. They will be agents of rebellion, and in the Absolute Universe, that’s the best thing they could be.

Absolute Green Lantern #11 is on sale now!