The Green Lantern books have kicked off the new story arc ‘Lights Out’ pitting them against new villain Relic. And the stakes have never been higher. And the status quo has flown out the window!
SPOILER ALERT!
‘Green Lantern Corps’ writer Van Jensen describes the dire situation that the Green (and other colored) Lanterns find themselves in by stating “Things are looking pretty bleak for the Corps as we pick up the action in issue 24. The Battery is destroyed, which has destabilized the entire planet of Oa. Even worse, the Lanterns’ greatest strength — their power to make constructs — is useless against Relic, who has an army of robots that are designed to deflect and absorb spectrum energy. This issue, we see Hal and John forced to use their intellect and training in military tactics to come up with a very unconventional counterattack. It’s an intense battle, and not one that everybody is going to survive.”
That’s right, the heroes have lost their home base and their new enemy is immune to their amazing powers. Jensen further teased that ‘GLC’ will tie in to ‘Batman: Zero Year’, planting seeds for a rift between two of the main Lanterns, Hal Jordan and John Stewart.
But regarding the new villain, Jensen clarifies, “Relic is the best kind of villain, one that is completely justified (at least to himself) in his goal of saving the universe from the Lanterns. It’s just that he is willing to use whatever means he can — like destroying the Blue Lanterns and blowing up the Green Lanterns’ Central Power Battery — to achieve that goal. It’s easy to sympathize with Relic, even as he commits atrocities. And Relic is all the more interesting because his very existence ties directly to the existence of the Lanterns. All of the credit for Relic goes to Robert Venditti and Billy Tan, who created the character.”
Check out the first five pages of both ‘Green Lantern’ and ‘Green Lantern Corps’ #24:
What do you think? Things are looking pretty bleak for our heroes. Is Relic the greatest foe they’ve ever faced?
