Every Wednesday from here until July 15th, the release date of DC Comics’ Blackest Night #1, we here at IoM will be presenting a history of each of the corps involved in the upcoming battle, as well as some background on the major players and the storylines leading up to the big event!
We started with the Green Lantern Corps, then followed up with the Red Lanterns and the Sinestro Corps! This week, we focus on our attention of the light of hope in the galaxy, the Blue Lanterns!
During the Sinestro Corps War, Guardians Ganthet and Sayd were expelled from the Guardians of the Universe for their individuality (they have chosen names), feeling emotions (forbidden among the Guardians), and for speaking about the War of Light prophecy in the hidden chapter of the Book of Oa. They tell Hal Jordan about the coming Blackest Night, then head to the planet Odym.
On the planet Odym, they harnessed the blue energy of hope and began to create another intergalactic police force to aid the Guardians of Oa and the Green Lantern Corps in the upcoming battle against The Blackest Night. The blue power rings and batteries are created from their hope for the future. There are only six (6 1/2 really) members of the Blue Lanterns Corps – Saint Walker, Brother Warth, Brother Hynn, Sister Sercy, Ganthet and Sayd.
During the Red Lantern Corps’ ambush of Sinestro’s prison transport back to Korugar for execution, Hal Jordan was infected by the rage the Red Lantern’s pure anger because of his hatred for Sinestro. Saint Walker used his Blue Power Ring to purge Hal Jordan from the poisoning of the red rings with his blue power rings.
Hal Jordan returned with Saint Walker to Odym, where he met Ganthet and Sayd. He learns that the power of the Blue Lantern can amplify a Green Lantern ring above its maximum power level, but prolonged contact with the Central Blue Battery for too long will cause the green ring to explode. While they are there, Warth joins the Blue Lantern Corps, and Jordan is offered the opportunity to lead them. He declined, but ventured with the Blue Lanterns to a planet that was on the verge of being destroyed by a dying star that was about to explode. Walker and Warth channelled the hope of the millions of people on the planet’s surface, and used the energy to reverse the age of the dying star and turn it into a new star that wouldn’t burn out again for another billion years. Walker and Warth explained to Jordan that their Blue Rings do not need to be recharged, and that as long as there are beings that believe in the power of hope they will never lose their power. Hal Jordan is told that it is his destiny to join the Blue Lantern Corps and become their leader and that Sinestro will play a larger part in the war to come, and that the fate of the universe rests on the survival of Sinestro.
They venture to Ysmault to free Sinestro. While Jordan tried to free Sinestro, the Blue Lanterns battle Sinestro Corps and Red Lanterns. The Sinestro Corps’ power rings drained of all power, because the power of fear is useless and holds no power against the power of hope. The Blue Lanterns then used their power to purge the Red Lantern’s of the rage and hatred.
Red Lantern Laira, once a Green Lantern herself, attacked Jordan, but he tried to talk to Laira, and reach the part of her that was still in control. Just as she began to gain control of her emotions, Sinestro killed her. Blinded by rage, Jordan attacked Sinestro, only to have Atrocitus put a red ring on him in his state of rage.
Because he wore both a green and red ring, Jordan was not under full control from either. Saint Walker tried to help Jordan, but Atrocitus revealed that without an active Green Lantern and Green Lantern Power Ring near, a Blue Lantern is near powerless. Saint Walker gave Jordan a blue power ring, and it overrode and destroyed the red ring. Jordan became a hyrid Blue/Green Lantern.
They leave the planet and return to Odym, where Jordan confronted Ganthet and Sayd. He is told that his blue power ring can only be removed when he embraces the emotion of hope, and that no one, not even the Guardians, have the ability to remove it. While the Blue Lanters continue to recruit new members, Atrocitus uses his blood rituals to determine the location of the Blue Lantern Corps homeworld.
All Blue Lanterns are armed with a blue power ring, that has control over the emotion of hope. The ring has the ability to heal wounds, neutralize the corruptive effects of the Red Lantern rings, recharge a green power ring to twice its maximum power level, and drain the charge of yellow power rings. The blue rings are unique since they act on the psychosis of their targets, rather than normally creating offensive or other effects as other power rings do. When Hal visits Odym and sees the Blue Lantern Power Battery, he is warned not to get too close, as his ring will absorb too much of the raw power and explode. A blue power ring feeds off the hope of other beings, as shown when Saint Walker and Warth use their rings to reverse the age of a dying sun 8.6 billion years and their rings feed off the hope of the billions of alien beings who witnessed the act. Geoff Johns has stated on ComicBloc that “the Blue Lanterns are the most powerful Lanterns…but there’s a catch to it all…“.
The Blue Lanterns’ power rings are revealed to have one major weakness: despite being the most powerful rings of any corps, the Blue Lanterns must be near an active Green Lantern power ring to tap into their rings’ full power. Otherwise, the rings are only capable of the default abilities of flight and the generation of a protective aura. According to Ganthet, this ability is intended to reflect how hope is nothing without the willpower necessary to take action, forever tying the two Lantern groups together. Blue rings are capable of registering the insincerity of their wielders, such as when Hal Jordan hoped for world peace in an attempt to make the ring work, the ring registered his insincerity and continued to ask him what he hoped for before it would work.
“In fearful day, in raging night,
With strong hearts full our souls ignite,
When all seems lost in the War of Light,
Look to the stars–
For hope burns bright!”
Thanks to the Wikipedia entry on the Blue Lantern Corps and the DCU Wiki Entry!
Read the history of the Blue Lantern Corps in the stories below!