Green Lantern is DC’s embodiment of the power of will, with that attribute captured in many iconic Green Lantern comic book stories. In the mythos of DC lore, the Green Lantern Corps was formed by the Guardians of the Universe on the planet Oa, who summon recruits from each sector of the universe to oppose evil throughout the cosmos. Upon being summoned into the Green Lantern Corps, a new Lantern is granted the most powerful weapon in the universe known as the Power Ring, which grants the wielder such powers as flight and space travel, universal translation of any language, and the ability to create constructs of pure emerald energy from virtually anything a Green Lantern can imagine.
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Many humans have taken up the mantle of the Green Lantern who protects Earth (and by extension sector 2814), most notably Hal Jordan and John Stewart, with others like Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, Simon Baz, Jessica Cruz, and Jo Mullein also becoming Green Lanterns. In addition to being a member of the Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern is also one of the founding members of the Justice League, with every Lantern going on many enthralling universe-spanning adventures both as a solo hero and a member of the League. Here are seven iconic Green Lantern comic book stories that every Green Lantern fan must read.
1) DC: The New Frontier
While technically a story the encompasses the involvement of the entire Justice League, DC: The New Frontier also places Hal Jordan firmly at the center of its story in his alternate origin as a Green Lantern. Set during the Cold War with stunning artwork designed to reflect that era, The New Frontier serves as an alternate re-telling of the Justice League’s origin story, with the heroes of Earth uniting to defeat a monstrous creature known as the Centre. The New Frontier zeroes in heavily on Hal Jordan as a pilot haunted by PTSD from his war-time experiences, and how he gradually becomes Abin Sur’s successor in the Green Lantern Corps. DC: The New Frontier has also been adapted into the great animated movie Justice League: The New Frontier, with both being essential stories for Green Lantern fans to dive into.
2) Green Lantern: Rebirth
Virtually every superhero experiences their obligatory death and resurrection story, and Hal Jordan’s arrived in the early 2000’s in Green Lantern: Rebirth. Years after Hal’s turn to darkness after being overtaken by the villainous Parallax, Green Lantern: Rebirth brought Hal Jordan back into action as a hero separated from his bond to Parallax, with Hal finally bearing his Power Ring as a seasoned member of both the Green Lantern Corps and the Justice League again by the end. Hal’s fellow Lanterns John Stewart and Kyle Rayner play pivotal roles in the story, as do many of the Justice League and Green Lantern Corps’ most most well-known members, with Green Lantern: Rebirth bringing Hal Jordan properly back to life in a true love letter to the stalwart space cop.
3) Green Lantern/Green Arrow – Hard-Traveling Heroes
Among Dennis O’Neil’s signature contributions to DC Comics was uniting the company’s two Emerald heroes as a duo, with Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen becoming a heroic duo in the book Green Lantern/Green Arrow. Pairing a wielder of the Power Ring with a purely human but highly skilled master of archery was a true pairing of total opposites, but it was really Hal and Oliver’s personalities and ideologies that made him a head-butting superheroic buddy cop duo, especially in the Green Lantern/Green Arrow story Hard-Traveling Heroes. With Hal’s tight-laced approach to justice running up against Oliver’s bleeding heart liberalism, Hard-Traveling Heroes is not only a great ideological riff, but the perfect snapshot of the Green Lantern/Green Arrow era.
4) Sinestro Corps War
No other foe has challenged the Green Lantern Corps like Sinestro, a fitting turn since he used to be one of their own, and Sinestro Corps War brings all the power of fear that its namesake wields. Sinestro Corps War acts as a follow-up story to Hal Jordan’s return in Green Lantern: Rebirth, with Sinestro forming his own Corps consisting of such villains as Parallax and the Anti-Monitor. Sinestro Corps War fully delivers on the epic scope of its title with an epic battle in the stars between Sinestro’s assembly of villains fueled by the power of fear and the Green Lantern Corps opposing them with the power of will. With hundreds of Green Lanterns giving their lives in the showdown, Sinestro Corps War is another powerful, epic must-read for Green Lantern fans.
5) Absolute Green Lantern
With how much DC’s Absolute Universe has set the comic book world on fire, recency bias simply isn’t a factor in ranking Absolute DC as one of the most enthralling DC Comics runs ever, complete with its own new take on the Green Lantern mythos. With the Absolute Universe an alternate reality sparked into existence by the energy of Darkseid, Absolute Green Lantern tells a new origin story for not one but multiple Green Lanterns, namely Jo Mullein, John Stewart, Hal Jordan, and Guy Gardner, who find themselves pulled into the realm of the Green Lantern Corps when a massive Lantern literally falls to Earth with the Green Lantern Abin sure released from within. It still may be in the single digits of its issue count, but Absolute Green Lantern is a superb re-imaging of the Green Lantern mythos that is an invaluable addition to both it and DC’s growing Absolute Universe.
6) Green Lantern: Earth One
Speaking of Green Lantern re-imaginings, DC’s Earth One might not have reached the heights of its potential, but it told some outstanding new origin stories in its time, both volumes of Green Lantern: Earth One being among them. In Green Lantern: Earth One, Hal Jordan is re-imagined from as a former pilot working as a space-faring miner for Ferris Galactic, with Hal happening upon the deceased Abin Sur and finding himself becoming the next inductee of the Green Lantern Corps. Green Lantern: Earth One delivers a wholly fresh new take on the Green Lantern mythology, re-working both Hal Jordan and John Stewart’s origin stories in unexpected ways, and standing as an eternal testament to the unrealized potential of DC Earth One (that Absolute DC has begun rectifying).
7) Blackest Night
The oath of the Green Lantern Corps tasks new Lanterns with combating evil in both brightest day and blackest night, and the latter forms the basis for one of the most seminal Green Lantern comic book stories ever told, Blackest Night. Like Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Night builds upon Hal’s return in Green Lantern: Rebirth, with the villainous Nekron reviving deceased heroes as soldiers in the Black Lantern Corps, with virtually the entire DC roster playing into the story and many of its core heroes pulled into the mix with many being forcibly transformed into Black Lanterns themselves. Arguably the most epic Green Lantern tale in DC Comics history, Blackest Night was instrumental in codifying the Green Lantern mythology into what it has become. Without question, Blackest Night is a foundational Green Lantern story that belongs in the collection of every Green Lantern fan.
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