DC Reveals the Death of a Green Lantern

In June, DC Comics celebrated 80 years of Green Lantern with a 100-page, prestige format anniversary issue. The issue included stories about the many Green Lanterns who have sworn the oath over the past eight decades, written and drawn by some of the best-loved Green Lantern writers and artists. While the Green Lantern Corps expands across the universe, Earth has produced an unusual number of corpsmen. While that number has grown to half a dozen at least in recent years, there will always be four core human Green Lanterns in the DC Comics Universe for many fans. The Green Lantern 80th Anniversary Super Spectacular concludes with a story from Robert Venditti and Rafa Sandoval that peers into those Lanterns’ futures, revealing which of them meets his ultimate end first. SPOILERS for Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 follow.

The story sees Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Kyle Rayner coming together for their annual meetup. They’re all older now, perhaps retired and allowing the new generation of Earth Lanterns like Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz to take the lead in defending sector 2814.

They keep making a point of noting the importance of the numbers four: four legs on a table, four walls in a house, four seats in a Mustang GT. But their fourth member is missing. Guy Gardner is absent.

They share some old Green Lantern war stories, most of them ending with Guy doing something ridiculous. They each have their theories about why Guy behave the way he did. John knows it was because Guy drawing attention to himself kept his friends safe.

In the end, they go to visit Guy and finish the saying. They were the four corpsmen, but now Guy is gone.

There are no details about Guy’s death, and as a story set in the future, there’s no way of knowing if this future will ever come to pass. But the story shows how the Green Lantern old guard handles the loss of one of their own.

Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 is on sale now.

Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1
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(W) Geoff Johns, Mariko Tamaki, Peter J. Tomasi, Jeff Lemire, Robert Venditti, Dennis O’Neil, Sina Grace, Charlotte Fullerton, Ron Marz, James TynionIV, Others (A) Ivan Reis, Fernando Pasarin, Darryl Banks, Mike Grell, Rafa Sandoval, Others (CA) Liam Sharp

In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil could ever escape their sight! The Green Lanterns are celebrating 80 years of keeping the DC Universe safe. Join us to see tales of all of the universe’s most legendary Green Lanterns: Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, and appearances from other cosmic favorites! A legendary lineup of creators including Geoff Johns, Peter J. Tomasi, Jeff Lemire, Ivan Reis, and others will be keeping the galaxy glowing bright! PRESTIGE FORMAT.