The War of the Green Lanterns is hitting shelves next month, and the question on most Lantern fans' minds is, "what is this story going to be about anyway?" The arc will start in March and it will continue through May. So far, all that's been released is the teaser picture below.
== TEASER ==
Zardor
If you haven't been reading Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors, then you're missing out on a non-lantern corps related threat: Zardor. For the past few years, all the battles in the Green Lantern books have revolved around one color lanterns fighting some other colored lanterns. In Emerald Warriors, the Green Lanterns are facing an enemy with an immense amount of power: The power of telepathy.We've seen numerous telepaths in comic books over the years, like Hector Hammond, for example. Yet, what sets Zardor apart from many of them is that he is a physical threat. Zardor is intelligent, a telepath, and he's willing to throw down in a fist fight. What makes him an even bigger threat is that he has a plan, "Control the Corps... Control the universe!" He's already started taking over Green Lanterns, and one of those Green Lanterns is Sodam Yat. Sodam Yat, aside from being a Green Lantern, essentially has the same powers as Superman making him a very dangerous enemy. We've seen a bit of the power Zardor has when he took control of a few lanterns and they fought Guy Gardner, Kilowog, Arisia, and Bleez. Zardor has shown the ability to control strong lanterns and multiple lanterns at once. Could he be behind this War?
Lost Lanterns
The group of lanterns has faced even more hardships since Blackest Night. A few of them have been killed and others had to face Cyborg Superman as he controlled the Alpha Lanterns. They may not be united, at this point, but who's to say that other forces can't unite what's left of this group and refuel their rage to the man who left them for dead years ago, Hal Jordan?
Krona
Krona is responsible for the creation of the multiverse, in a sense. In addition, he helped create the Antimatter Universe, which in turn gave Sinestro the ability to have his ring forged by the Qwardian, Weaponer. Krona has been obsessed with collecting the emotional entities during the Brightest Day storyline, and in Green Lantern #62, he succeeds. How does this tie-in to the War of the Green Lanterns though?Krona is a singular, villainous force with immense power. He is, for all intensive purposes, invulnerable and immortal. He has already shown control over the embodiment of the orange light, Ophidian combine with Hector Hammond, and who's to say he can't do that with the other entities? We've recently seen Parallax take over the Flash, so maybe Krona will use these entities on other lanterns to spark the war.
Whatever the cause of this coming war, one thing seems certain: this war is all about control. Sure, we've seen tension between certain Green Lanterns with Ganthet and Guy Gardner because of their blood pact with Atrocitus, but with two villains (three if you count Cyborg Superman's hold over the Alpha Lanterns, but chances are he's dead for now) having the ability to control other lanterns, it looks like this war could be less about tensions between fellow lanterns and more about influence. To make this war worthwhile, Krona and Zardor should be working together to maximize the threat. Can their influence refuel the Lost Lantern's rage? Will the emotional entities take over key Lantern Corps members? What role will Sinestro and his new second hand man, Weaponer, play in this war? While the story seems to be unraveling, there are so many unanswered questions. What do you think will happen? How will this war get started?
~Mat "Inferiorego" Elfring is a comedian, writer, teacher, comic store employee, and a Qwardian.
Follow Mat on twitter: @ inferiorego