Tangent Comics: Tales of the Green Lantern 1

From DC Database

Tales of the Green Lantern

"When next we gather, it will be at the graves of other than I... those dead who must arise one final time to know their rest... and then my light will shine. For I am the Green Lantern."

--Green Lantern

Contents 1 Summary 2 Credits 3 Synopsis 4 Notes 5 Trivia 6 Recommended Readings 7 Related Articles 8 External Links 9 References

Summary

Volume: 1
Issue: 1
Month: September
Year: 1998

Credits

Editor in Chief: Jenette Kahn
Head Writer: James Robinson
Writers: Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and John Ostrander
Cover Artists: J.H. Williams III, Mick Gray and Alex Bleyaert
Pencilers: J.H. Williams III, Mike Mayhew, Wade Von Grawbadger, Georges Jeanty and Ryan Sook
Inkers: Mick Gray and Drew Geraci
Colourists: Lee Loughridge
Editors: Eddie Berganza

Synopsis

Cast of Characters:

• Green Lantern
• Bane
• Booster Gold
• Creeper
• Etrigan
• Jason Blood
• Kilowog
• Madame X'al
• Manhunter
• Pooch
• Ra's al Ghul
• Sargon the Sorcerer
• Zatanna

Locations:

• Earth-97

• Ancient Atlantis
• Czechoslovakia
• New Atlantis
• The Place of Emerald Hue

Items:

• The Green Lantern
• Mystical Orb

First Appearances: First appearance of all characters
Final Appearances: Booster Gold (dies in this issue); Kilowog (dies in this issue)

Synopsis: The Green Lantern of Earth-97 walks through the ruins of an ancient Necropolis. She introduces herself, but elusively claims to have three separate origin stories, not any of which may actually be the truth.

Brightest Light
In one account, the Green Lantern iss an archaeologist and explorer named Lois Lane. She is recognized across the globe for her tough-minded attitude and her achievements. A billionaire playboy named Booster Gold hires Lane to explore the underwater ruins off the coast of Tampa, Florida. Florida had been devastated by a nuclear attack – an attack that also affected the once prosperous community of New Atlantis. Lane explores the undersea region of New Atlantis' forebearers, and discovers a community of mutated life forms known as the Sea Devils. The Sea Devils at one time were normal Atlanteans, but the ravages of nuclear radiation transformed them into monstrous, pitiable creatures. Touched by their plight, Lane refuses to pirate their riches. She returns to Gold's yacht and tells him that she will not exploit the Sea Devils' existence. Booster orders his first mate, Kilowog, to murder Lane, whereupon he tosses her body overboard into the sea. The Sea Devils gather Lane's remains and bring them inside an ancient undersea castle. There, she makes contact with the souls of all those who died in the Florida conflagration. The spirits mystically channel the power of the Green Lantern into her, and Lois is brought back to life to avenge their deaths. With the Sea Devils at her side, the Green Lantern lays waste to Booster Gold's yacht.

Darkest Light
In another account, the Green Lantern is a brutal warmonger living in post-war Czechoslovakia. Calling herself Darkside, she has escaped justice at the hands of the wartime tribunal and has yet to stand trial for her actions at the Czech death camps. Darkside lords over her terrain with a mystical orb of power. A cybernetic vigilante known as the Manhunter fights against Darkside's forces and hunts many of her cohorts for crimes against humanity. At some point in Manhunter's own past, she had tracked a woman (whom she believed to be Darkside) to an apartment in New Atlantis. She murdered her, only to discover later that the woman was in fact Darkside's twin sister. Due to Darkside's skills at necromancy, her sister's spirit appears on the earthly plane and beckons Manhunter to avenge her death. Her spirit accompanies Manhunter to Czechoslovakia where the power of the Green Lantern succeeds in destroying Darkside's mystical orb. With the power gone, Darkside herself ceases to exist. All of the power that was once at her command channels into the spirit of her sister who becomes the new keeper of the Green Lantern.

Know Evil
In yet another account, the Green Lantern is actually a necromancer named Zatanna. Zatanna desires inclusion in an occult organization known as the Dark Circle – a coven led by powerful warlocks such as the Creeper, Etrigan, Bane, Sargon, X'hal and Ra's al Ghul. Cult leader Etrigan tells Zatanna that if she can retrieve the fabled artifact known as the Green Lantern, then her place within the Dark Circle is assured. Zatanna is consumed with desire and spends the next three years, tracking down the elusive lantern. She eventually finds the lantern in the ruins of a moldering cemetery. Using the magic at her command, she summons the spirits of the dead to attack the lantern's current keeper, but she mis-speaks the spell and the angry spirits turn against her. Her body dies, but her own spirit is still trapped within. The keeper of the lantern reveals himself to be an aging pirate named Jason Blood. Blood promises to set Zatanna's soul free, if she agrees to carry on his task, and become the new Keeper of the Lantern. Zatanna agrees, and the power to resurrect the dead passes down to her.

Notes

• This issue is divided into three chapters:

• Part I: Brightest Light
• Part II: Darkest Light
• Part III: Know Evil

• This version of Green Lantern, and her supporting cast, are indigenous to the Earth-97 reality. Although separated from the mainstream DC Universe, characters from the DCU have interacted with characters from Earth-97 on occasion.

Trivia

• The Green Lantern has made appearances in Infinite Crisis and Ion.

Recommended Readings

• Infinite Crisis #6
• Ion #8
• Ion #9
• Ion #10

Related Articles

• Green Lantern
• Tangent Comics

External Links

• Tangent Comics article at Wikipedia
• Tangent Comics solicitation

References

• None

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