I. Hate. The. Rainbow. Lantern. Corps. It is one of the dumbest concepts I have ever seen, and it dilutes some of the best villains in comics. Seriously...

Black Lanterns - These guys were marginally okay, and a curiosity to me, because almost twenty years ago, a comic loving coworker had suggested to me that Black Lanterns would be kick-ass villains. I kind of blew the idea off, because who needs another color power ring, but I did find GL #150 with a cover showing guys with black power rings, and gave it to him. Never thought I'd see something like Blackest Night. Still, it was basically an excuse for DC zombie covers, and it didn't seem that threatening. And now a White Lantern can negate them. Very odd.

Blue Lanterns are useless. Their only power is to augment Green Lanterns, kind of like the Game Genie for the Nintendo, and yet, Blue L's are hardly ever around.

Indigo Lanterns (Indigo Tribe, actually) are too busy being written as mysterious - I consider them to be the Phantom Strangers of the Corps - they don't really do much when they're around, yet viewed by all as very powerful.

Red Lanterns are...well...they're just kind of gross, frankly. I don't really want to read a comic that centers around a guy who pukes blood as a power. Why do people think this is cool?

Orange Lanterns. Their power is greed? There is only one orange ring, and only the greediest can keep it. And that power is focused to what end? Again, kind of a useless color for the rainbow of corps.

Green Lanterns - the name has never made sense to me, except in connection to Alan Scot, but I love the GL Corps. Their power is their will, and that makes sense - a strong will is needed in a hero, if he's going to face evil. So no problem, Green Lanterns.

Violet Lanterns are the Star Sapphires. Really? When Carol Ferris was the only Star Sapphire, she was fearsome, and there was apparently only one Star Sapphire. And it was hers, because her looks made her queen of an entire alien race - Zamarons. Granted, Carol's sole purpose with the gem seemed to be to get GL to marry her (stupid Sixties), and she never made use of the fact that she commanded an entire race of space amazons to any cool ends, like invading Earth, or out-cookie-baking the Girl Scouts. But the potential was there. Now, because Carol was always smitten with GL, the SS Corps' purpose is love - nevermind that the queen of the love corps was a villainess, which doesn't send a very loving message. So thanks for effing up Star Sapphire, Blackest Night.

Last, the Sinestro Corps...this should probably be a separate blog, but here goes. WHY is there an entire corps of these guys? Is it “Sinestro was fearsome, so an entire corps with the same power is even more fearsome?” Fail. Epic, cosmic, universal fail. Sinestro was fearsome because he was just. one. guy. One guy with a yellow power ring, and an army of ringslingers, 3600 strong, were AFRAID of him. THAT is a cool villain: One guy, one ring, one of a kind, all cool. But now that’s the Orange Lantern and his power of greed. Ooo, greed - his power is that he can't share. And Sinestro is a good guy now? And not “the last of the Green Lanterns,” or “the best of the Green Lanterns,” just “one of 7200 Green Lanterns” (because TWO guys to an entire space sector makes WAY more sense than just ONE). So not only did they dilute him by making an entire yellow corps, but they neutered him by putting him back in the GLC. It’s an interesting idea, because fans are curious to see how ruthless of a hero he’ll be – perhaps a more brutal enforcer of the green will than the guy with the goofy green hands of yesteryear. But face it, what everyone is really waiting for is the inevitable moment that Sinestro goes bad again.

And P.S., the reason it was called the Sinestro Corps, instead of the Yellow Lantern Corps, like all the other colors, is because Yellow Lantern could only evoke memories of the Bizarro GL, from the golden days of Bizarro World, and as much as I loved that character, nobody could take a corps with that name seriously.

Also, whatever happened to Mongul’s search for a ring of each color? They were clearly heading in an Infinity Gauntlet direction with him and the rings, and that seemed to just die out and go nowhere. Mongul’s search for one ring of each color seemed to be the ultimate destination of the Rainbow Corps idea. Not that I thought it was a good idea, but if you’re going to put it out there, follow through. Maybe they could revisit this idea, bringing about the deadly revamp of a long lost villain: Rainbow Raider!

There was some beautiful artwork to come out of the Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night, but that was about it. The Rainbow Corps is a bad, bad, bad idea, and I have yet to see a payoff to it. The only value to redundant characters (i.e. an entire corps with the same powers) is if one character doesn’t work, you can replace them with another character and put a different spin on it, via their viewpoints and motivations. That’s worked with the Green Lanterns for many years, but the villains should not be so easily replaceable. Great villains are not interchangeable villains. Interchangeable villains are called "henchmen," or in a more common lingo, “red shirts.” Hm, maybe “red lanterns” has a use after all.

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Actually the Orange Lantern is one of the most powerful as he runs on an entire central battery himself, allowing for powerful hordes of constructs.

Although DC turned Larfleeze(the main Orange Lantern) into something of joke. Don't know how his corps is doing currently.

And that doesn't make any sense - not your reply, but the fact that he can make "powerful hordes of constructs" because he's the only one drawing on the orange battery. Nero was able to do the same with a yellow ring.

I think the reclamation of Carol Ferris from villain to heroine is one the best stories DC has done in the past 10 years.  And that they included Fatality was nice as well.  

I'm a little divided on that. Considering that the focus has always been on Hal & Carol's will-they-won't-they relationship, it's nice to see her move over to heroine. It's all the stuff that surrounded her, that DC never made use of, that I think should have made her a great villainess, and would like to see them use. However, considering she was the queen of the Zamarons - basically space amazons - I think she would have made a far more interesting Wonder Woman villain, than GL.

Nice Blog, Your status update led me hear. Well done.

@Hawkeye446: lol, those things really work?! Awesome! Next status update: "Please send a check as large as you can possibly write to cbishop at...." ;D

@cbishop: It was humorous and fair so I thought, I may as well read it.

Lol, that may be hard without a name or address >_> :p

@Hawkeye446: Yeah, I didn't want the ball to get rolling too soon on that - the folks at the mailbox store might get miffed with me.

@cbishop: Bahaha, I see :D

This is rampant throughout comics. Yeah. Hulk is way cool. 19 Hulks? Not so much. There is a Spiderman Corps, a Wolverine Corps, a Punisher Corps, a Superman Corps, like two Batman Corps, a Flash Corps.. Each Marvel movie seems to end with a bigger nasteir version of the Protag as the Antag. *YAWN* Anyways: I so wish they would quit copying existing characters and just invent something (part of the problem is that the easy characters are taken so now they have to streeeetch and make a guy made of wood with psychic powers and acid for saliva to try and come up with something new. That's why almost all the newer mutants are stupid, just a mish mash of random s***). I really hate stuff like Hancock "What if Superman was a drunk" or Irredemable "What if Superman was a villian". It's terrible.

Awesome title

This is rampant throughout comics. Yeah. Hulk is way cool. 19 Hulks? Not so much. There is a Spiderman Corps, a Wolverine Corps, a Punisher Corps, a Superman Corps, like two Batman Corps, a Flash Corps.. Each Marvel movie seems to end with a bigger nasteir version of the Protag as the Antag. *YAWN* Anyways: I so wish they would quit copying existing characters and just invent something (part of the problem is that the easy characters are taken so now they have to streeeetch and make a guy made of wood with psychic powers and acid for saliva to try and come up with something new. That's why almost all the newer mutants are stupid, just a mish mash of random s***). I really hate stuff like Hancock "What if Superman was a drunk" or Irredemable "What if Superman was a villian". It's terrible.

Awesome title

hm, yeah I kinda like it to be honest.

hm, yeah I kinda like it to be honest.

I agree somewhat. I think SS should go back to just being a villainess of GL.

The Orange, Indigo & Blues should just go.

I actually like the idea of an evil yellow Corp. & the reds are so bad, that the enemy Green & Yellows have to work together to stop them.

But the others are just concepts to lead up to Blackest Night, they serve no purpose other than that. The idea is interesting, its just something that cant sustain itself. I mean, I like the idea of Oranges killing someone & "stealing" their form as ring constructs, but thats it really.

Plus, is there only one Orange Lantern? Or does Larfleeze just have all 7200 rings? Because, while the greed thing is hard to do, the idea that the entire Orange Lantern Corp is actually made up of 7200 individuals looking out for their own goal is interesting, because you would have a pokemon type story going were you would fight someone to weaken them enough to then "steal" their form. They would not be a corp of 7200 members, they'd be a a corp of 7200 corps.

Also, every lantern member has to have a strong emotional surge, but the yellow Lantern feeds on the fear they cause in others?

Also, the Indigo can tap into all colors, but get intoxicated by it?

Interesting concepts, but not something that can be sustained for 40 years of consistant stories.

But no, blues are just really greens in blue but with no real power. Hope & willpower are just concepts that could be interchanged.

I see the Rainbow corps getting hunted down & killed or merged back into a single "source of emotion" or some other goobly-gook. Crisis of Infinite colors

Regarding the Hulk. The emotional sprectrum would actually work better for Hulk IMO. If several people got radiated by the gamma accident, then his entire rouges gallerly could have just been made at the same time he was. Bruce's anger causes him to turn. But the other people could turn into slightly different monster forms based on a different trigger emotion. Though anger & rage is the easiest to write about.

Or, they could have just rebooted the Hulk, so that depending on which emotion he felt, turned him into a different form, with different abilites, strengths & weaknesses: One being able to fly maybe if he is too hopeful.

Each color lantern can be improved and revamped so that each of the color lanterns can support their own titles.

@COBRAMORPH: My personal opinion is that the emotional spectrum thing is a bad idea, attached to any character. It's too murky. One catalyst could produce multiple emotional responses, and it's hard to have a character whose entire motivation is solely one emotion. It doesn't even work for Green Lanterns. Sure, willpower is their main bit, but will isn't an emotion, and any emotion can focus one's will. I can kind of understand monopolizing the power ring concept in as many colors as possible, but to my mind, this is little more than a poorly disguised excuse for more action figures.

@colonyofcells said:

Each color lantern can be improved and revamped so that each of the color lanterns can support their own titles.

At the moment, I don't agree. I'd love to read your thoughts on how though.

As much as some of those Lanterns have their moments, I agree... The Sinestro Corps would've worked better as a less organized, possibly one-shot plan for Sinestro to combat the Green Lanterns with. It takes away from his character to give him a whole army to constantly be throwing at the GL's, that just makes him another like another Yellow Lantern. If he was just one man cleaver enough to give the whole Corps a legitimate challenge that could really instill fear in others. Making one among an army takes away the presence of his character, he's just an Anti-Green Lantern renegade then.

Now, as far as other Corps go, it just gets very repetitive. Why would Green Lanterns even need to bother when their enemies have the same/similar power rings and abilities? That's like the Hulk having most of his enemies equally brutish and strong villains, it just seems like short cut as far as writing goes.

The part that bothers me the most is the color spectrum concept, though... To me, it seems very overly dramatic to assume that emotional energy could be that physically powerful throughout the whole universe. Who's to say that every alien species has the same or similar emotional capabilities as human beings? Let alone the concept of lanterns, uniforms and rings. And that all emotional energy acts from a similar power as Green Lantern rings? Since when is "Willpower" an emotion? That would make more sense if will was just the trigger to activate the energy or something... Seems like the entire concept of the spectrum is pushing the suspended disbelief thing, even for comic books.

@Dracade102: That's pretty much exactly what I've been saying in the blog and comments. :)

@cbishop: True, but I felt I should weigh my opinion on certain details specifically from what you said in agreement. Don't even know why that little rant of mine was that necessary though, looking back at it...

@Dracade102 said:

@cbishop: True, but I felt I should weigh my opinion on certain details specifically from what you said in agreement. Don't even know why that little rant of mine was that necessary though, looking back at it...

Oh, don't get me wrong - a voice in agreement is always welcome. (Dissenters also welcome, but let's be honest: we want people to agree with our opinions, overall.) :)

Alan Scott started with magic similar to Aladdin's lamp so the silver age Green Lanterns have always been based on pseudo science that is just a disguise for the old magic origin. In greek mythology you begin with emptiness, then love so it is ok to base the Green Lantern pseudo science on emotional force. For Black Lanterns, I prefer all Black Lanterns to be based on reviving of dead villains who are evil and will serve Nekron who can be an old evil Guardian. Blue Lanterns just need a revamp so they can be useful on their own. The current Indigo Lanterns are all villains under mind control so they are also interesting.

@colonyofcells: Saying it's okay to base it on emotional force is one thing, making it work is another. That's the problem I'm having with the current rainbow of Corps. I think emotions are too intertwined to single one out and have it work like they're trying to make it work. I'd like to see something workable come of it, but for now, remain unconvinced.

there are actually a great deal of Orange rings. Larfleeze just hogs em all.

It doesn't bother me too much but the whole idea has always come off as poor writing, I can still remember when people were making jokes about the dumb ways the whole Rainbow Corps could go, not realizing that was actually all it was leading to all along (White Lanterns).

For me the worst part of is that of the rainbow, the three pre-existing teams don't actually make any sense in the context of the rainbow and just needed to be retconned to make any sense, then the four others are about as one-dimensional as you can get. Larfleeze is just a fun concept, but he didn't have to be his own corps, he could have been created as something else. The whole concept just seems too silly.

@Avenging-X-Bolt said:

there are actually a great deal of Orange rings. Larfleeze just hogs em all.

It has been shown that there are other rings, but it's unclear whether they are permanent things or merely constructs of Larfleeze's ring. Lex Luthor's ring was created to make him a deputy for 24 hours, and it can be reasonably assumed that the ring dissipated after that period (although that's not definite). Glomulus was also shown to be a construct-Corpsman posing as a ring, so this brings it into question whether the other orange rings are merely other costruct-Corpsmen in the form of rings. If so, then the only true ring is the one worn by Larfleeze.

Even if they're all permanent things though, if Larfleeze is hogging them, they effectively don't exist until some future story puts them into play. So for now, it may as well be said that there's only one orange ring.

@Nathaniel Essex said:

It doesn't bother me too much but the whole idea has always come off as poor writing, I can still remember when people were making jokes about the dumb ways the whole Rainbow Corps could go, not realizing that was actually all it was leading to all along (White Lanterns).

For me the worst part of is that of the rainbow, the three pre-existing teams don't actually make any sense in the context of the rainbow and just needed to be retconned to make any sense, then the four others are about as one-dimensional as you can get. Larfleeze is just a fun concept, but he didn't have to be his own corps, he could have been created as something else. The whole concept just seems too silly.

I have to agree on the "poor writing" judgment. I think the Green Lantern concept is poorly served by the Rainbow Corps idea, and what it has done to Sinestro is abominable. The idea of emotion driven characters to play off of would have been much better served with Captain Marvel, if the Seven Deadly Sins (aka Seven Deadly Enemies of Man) had finally escaped their imprisonment in the Rock of Eternity.

No offense, but I've seen The Archfiend make better arguments.

@SpideyIvyDaredevilFan26 said:

No offense, but I've seen The Archfiend make better arguments.

Meh, none taken. This was off the cuff, and more of a rant than a reasoned argument. I just don't like the other colors of Lantern Corps. <shrugs> I don't mind if others do though - it'd be pretty boring if we all liked the same thing. ;)

P.S. I'm not familiar with The Archfiend.

I had this posted as a list for awhile too, just playing with the site's options. Decided to delete that, so I'm pulling the comments over here: