For as long as the Silver Age incarnation of the Corps has been around, Green Lanterns have been defined by their willpower. The Guardian’s champions are chosen based on their ability to overcome great fear and inherent sense of justice. While every Lantern needs to be trained how to use their ring to its fullest potential, they never need to be taught how to get back up after getting knocked down. They’ve always been the heroes who will keep fighting on long past the day looks bleakest, being defined by their ability to commit to what they think is right. Then the Absolute Universe changed everything.
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In the Absolute Universe, there are no power rings that select worthy candidates from among the stars. The entire Emotional Spectrum is different, separated into four different levels. There is black representing chaotic action, red representing restraint from action, green representing correct action, and gold representing enlightenment. Sojourner Mullein is the Absolute Green Lantern, and Absolute Green Lantern #8 showed that she is nowhere close to the enlightenment she needs. That is the best thing that could have happened to her character.
A Woman Lost in Light
Issue #8 focuses on Jo’s life before the events at Evergreen, beginning with four panels that showcase her closest moments to the four levels of the Emotional Spectrum. Jo moved to Evergreen with her dad after her parents’ divorce and felt completely lost. Her father repeatedly told her that she needed restraint and to control herself to do the right thing, which led to her becoming a police officer. She got close with fellow officer Renee Montoya, and the two shared a kiss. However, Jo still hadn’t come to terms with her sexuality, so she pushed Renee away, who soon left town. Eventually, the corruption of police chief Bill Hand was too much, and Jo left town herself for a fresh start.
She moved to Coast City, where she met Cameron Chase. The two immediately hit it off, but Cam’s dedication to her job meant she kept blowing Jo off. When Jo was ready to call things off, Cam proposed, and the two got married very quickly. However, things didn’t improve, so when Jo ran into Renee by chance, she started a secret affair. The guilt was eventually too much, and Jo came clean, but Cam screamed that Jo only told her to make herself feel better. In that same conversation, Jo got a call telling her about her dad’s death. She went back to Evergreen, and we know the rest. What’s important here isn’t just the emotional turmoil of Jo’s life, but how every moment shown depicts her placement in the Emotional Spectrum.
The Start of a Journey Towards Enlightenment
Four important moments in Jo’s life reflect the Emotional Spectrum perfectly. Cam screaming that Jo only confessed to make herself feel better was black. Her dad telling Jo she needed restraint was red. Jo saying she wanted to do the right thing was green. Jo saying she understood nothing was gold. Jo was most enlightened when she was a kid, when she knew that she didn’t understand how the world or people worked. As her life got more complicated and chaotic, her understanding became more frazzled, going through every step down the ladder of light. She went from wanting to understand the world and do the right thing to having an affair to feel something. Jo is nowhere close to enlightenment, and it’s great.
In the main universe, Green Lanterns are chosen because they are ready and worthy to fight the good fight. Jo, meanwhile, is a living chaotic action. She lacks the understanding that the Absolute Oans want their warriors to have, and will have to learn how to master her own light through an emotional journey to save the day from the forces of evil. Structuring the Emotional Spectrum this way perfectly ties with Jo’s backstory to force her to have character development to become a Green Lantern. It tied her having a character arc with mastery of her powers, and that is a phenomenal way to connect Jo’s character to the narrative.
Main universe Green Lanterns, by their very nature, are not required to have character arcs to become Lanters. More often than not, they are chosen because of their capabilities, rather than their potential. Green Lanterns don’t need to change. Absolute Green Lanterns, meanwhile, have to grow to become stronger. They have to become better people through arcs of understanding, and it goes without saying that meaningful character development being baked into the structure of Absolute Green Lantern inherently makes it rife with potential for epic moments. This is such a unique twist on the Lanterns that opens the door for so much growth with new versions of our favorite space cops as we watch them become the people we know they should be.
One of the biggest criticisms of Absolute Green Lantern thus far has been the characters not acting like their mainline selves, especially with Hal Jordan. With the information revealed in issue #8, we can safely assume that Hal acting differently is extremely intentional, and he will join Jo on her journey to enlightenment and become the hero we all know.
Absolute Green Lantern #8 is on sale now!
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