Mr. Black Lantern and Mr. White Lantern

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This was a picture I wanted to make during Christmas, but I was too busy enjoying my presents. I'm not to bothered by the delay, though, because I've noticed that making holiday-themed pictures out of season is the norm on DeviantART, plus this picture only very vaguely has anything to do with Christmas.

I just thought it would be a neat idea to have Black Hand of the Black Lantern Corps and White Lantern Kyle Rayner singing songs about themselves in the style of Snow Miser and Heat Miser, since the Miser Brothers were polar opposite siblings who hated each other, and polar opposites that are antagonistic towards one another is a common theme with the different Lantern Corps, the White and Black Lanterns being the most notable examples.

Black Hand's real name is William Hand. He was the son of a pure Christian family, but he was the black sheep because he had a rather depraved obsession with death and corpses. He eventually became a minor Green Lantern foe named Black Hand, whose only shtick was that he would redirect the energy from Green Lantern's ring and make a lot of puns. Then the Blackest Night storyline came and Black Hand committed suicide only to be revived as the leader of the Black Lantern Corps by the death entity Nekron.

Kyle Rayner was a Green Lantern introduced in the mid-90's, when Green Lantern Hal Jordan appeared to go renegade because the Guardians of the Universe wouldn't let him use his ring to revive his razed hometown Coast City, which was demolished by Mongul and Cyborg Superman. Hal Jordan was so furious that he became the villain Parallax (it was later retconned that he was actually possessed by a yellow fear entity named Parallax), nearly destroyed the Green Lantern Corps, and got killed.

Ganthet, one of the few Guardians of the Universe who wasn't a selfish, callous, and shortsighted jerk, gave the last remaining Green Lantern power ring to Kyle Rayner, who was then given the duty to rebuild the Green Lantern Corps by recruiting replacements for the deceased members and luring the surviving members out of hiding. Eventually, Hal Jordan was resurrected and rejoined the Green Lantern Corps. As with Guy Gardner and John Stewart before him, Kyle Rayner coexisted with Hal as a fellow Green Lantern.

I can't really say I approve of anything done by the New 52 (My biggest complaints are Wally West no longer existing, Superman and Wonder Woman being a couple, Beast Boy being red instead of green, Nora no longer being Mr. Freeze's wife, and the Golden Age heroes being heavily altered and existing in a separate continuity), but I consider Kyle Rayner becoming a White Lantern to be one of the few things that the New 52 did right. Green Lantern Simon Baz, Teen Titans member Bunker, and Red Lantern Rankorr may be new characters in the New 52, but I like them because they never existed before in the Post-Crisis or Pre-Crisis universes.

On the other hand, there may be some of you who believe that Kyle Rayner becoming a White Lantern makes him a Marty Stu. We all have a right to our opinions, but I don't remember anyone saying that it is okay to be rude to the people who disagree with you. Anyway, the circumstances were that Kyle Rayner attracted rings from the other six main Lantern Corps, and after mastering all of the colors of the emotional spectrum, he became a White Lantern.

I will fill out the rest of this description with histories on all nine Lantern Corps, just because.

The Green Lantern Corps was the first Corps we ever learned about. The Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott was not really a member, but he has a vague connection to it. Alan Scott's origin was that an enchanted meteor (in Post-Crisis continuity retconned to being a fragment of the Starheart, a rock the Guardians trapped all the excess magic in) fell to Earth centuries ago and was eventually carved into a lantern shape.

Alan Scott eventually got the green lantern and had it with him on a train. An accident occurred that killed most of the trains' passengers, but the magic lantern protected Scott and he survived. Alan Scott then chipped off a piece of the lantern and made it into a ring that enabled him to fly and create constructs of anything he could imagine, but was powerless against anything made of wood. The wood weakness made the swamp zombie Solomon Grundy a very formidable adversary of Scott's, because his undead body contained plant matter.

The Guardians created the Green Lantern Corps after their first intergalactic law enforcement team, a group of robots called the Manhunters, went berserk and killed a lot of people in Sector 666 (it was eventually revealed that the Manhunters were really reprogrammed by a renegade Guardian named Krona). The Green Lanterns patrol the 3600 known sectors of the universe and are each armed with a power ring that enables flight, translating languages, survival in the vacuum of space, and creating constructs of whatever the wearer could think of. The power ring's one flaw was that it was powerless against yellow objects, but more modern comics establish that the yellow weakness is only a problem for rookie Lanterns, with more experienced Green Lanterns having no problem with yellow objects.

Every power ring is recharged using a Lantern-shaped power battery and by reciting the Green Lantern oath: In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil's might beware my power- Green Lantern's light! To ensure that the individual power batteries never run out of energy, they are all connected to a central power battery on planet Oa.

Hal Jordan was the first human member of the Green Lantern Corps introduced in the Silver Age when it was decided to revive the Green Lantern title. He was a test pilot until he was recruited by dying Green Lantern Abin Sur of the planet Ungara to replace him as Green Lantern of sector 2814. It was later revealed that Hal was actually one of two worthy replacements. The other candidate, Guy Gardner, ended up becoming Hal's backup and later an Honor Guard, or a Green Lantern who isn't bound to a sector and can fight evil anywhere he wants. John Stewart became Hal's backup after Guy fell into a coma, but both Green Lanterns stayed with Jordan.

Green Lantern power rings are powered by will, so only the bravest and most determined can join. The will entity is known as Ion.

The Star Sapphire Corps was found by the Zamarons, an all-female race that splintered from the Guardians. They were technically the first introduced after the Green Lantern Corps, but they weren't revealed to be a Corps until after the Sinestro Corps was founded. The Star Sapphire Corps used violet power rings, represented love, and many of their members were female and wore revealing outfits. Their oath read as follows: For hearts long lost and full of fright, for those alone in blackest night. Accept our rings and join the fight. Love conquers all with violet light.

The most notable Star Sapphire was Carol Ferris, who was Catwoman to Hal Jordan's Batman, since she was both a villain and a love interest to Hal. There was also a Golden Age Star Sapphire, but she was an enemy of the Golden Age Flash Jay Garrick. Her existence was retconned to be a chosen champion by the Zamarons until Jay Garrick defeated her. The love entity is known as the Predator, ironically, and is apparently male.

The Sinestro Corps was the very first Lantern Corps introduced after the Green Lantern Corps and the first to be explicitly stated to be a Lantern Corps. Using yellow power rings that are powered by fear, the Corps' namesake founder and leader was Thaal Sinestro, a former member of the Green Lantern Corps who was kicked out by the Guardians for abusing his power to conquer his home planet Korugar. Given a yellow power ring by the Weaponers of Qward, Sinestro for a while was the archenemy to Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps in general. Then in 2007 he had the idea that having his own Corps would make him fare better with the Green Lanterns, so he recruited the most feared criminals in the universe, like the child-snatcher Kryb and the serial killer Romat-Ru.

The Sinestro Corps' oath went like this: In blackest day, in brightest night, beware your fears made into light. Let those who try to stop what's right burn like his power- Sinestro's might! When the oath is recited by Sinestro himself, "his power" becomes "my power". The fear entity is Parallax, as mentioned earlier.

In the New 52, Sinestro has reformed and rejoined the Green Lantern Corps. Arkillo has become the new leader, with the Corps planning to change their name and make Sinestro pay for betraying them.

Then there was the Red Lantern Corps. Red Lanterns were fueled by rage, specifically rage that is invoked by slights and the desire to get even with those responsible. Atrocitus, founder and leader of the Red Lanterns, founded the Corps because he was the sole survivor of the Manhunters' destruction, and was so angry that he wouldn't let the Guardians get away with their mistake. Very few Red Lanterns are able to use their rings to make constructs, and their rings replace their hearts, making it extremely fatal to try removing them.

The Red Lantern oath is: With blood and rage of crimson red, ripped from a corpse so freshly dead. Together with our hellish hate, we'll burn you all- That is your fate! Cleaned-up version used in unfortunately short-lived Green Lantern animated series: With blood and rage of crimson red, we fill men's souls with darkest dread and twist your minds to pain and hate. We'll burn you all- That is your fate.

The rage entity is known as the Butcher. In the New 52, many of the Red Lanterns have been wiped out. Among the survivors are Bleez, Rankorr (a human recruit whose real name is John Moore), and Guy Gardner (who is really pretending to be part of the Corps to protect the Green Lanterns).

One of the most infamous Corps would have to be the Orange Lantern Corps, which only has one member. That one member is Larfleeze, a greedy thief who ended up obtaining the power of the orange light of avarice when he tried to steal from the Guardians.

There is only one member because the orange light is most powerful when channeled through a single user and the nature of greed would prevent multiple members from wanting to share the power and would make them fight each other. There are other members other than Larfleeze, but they are actually constructs of people that Larfleeze killed in his quest for power. The most notable of the constructs is Glomulus. It has also been said that if Larfleeze ever gets killed, his killer will replace him as Agent Orange.

The oath for the Orange Lantern Corps wasn't revealed until after the New 52: What's mine is mine and mine and mine and mine and mine and mine! Not yours!

The avarice entity is named Ophidian. For obvious reasons, Larfleeze's power battery is really a small and portable central power battery.

One of the more benevolent Lantern Corps is the Blue Lantern Corps. Blue Lantern rings are powered by hope. The Corps was founded by the Guardians Ganthet and Sayd and is led by Saint Walker.

The Blue Lantern oath is read thus: 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.

The hope entity is known as Adara

The last of the Lantern Corps was the Indigo Tribe, which was different for having power batteries shaped like tribal staffs instead of lanterns and for having an oath that is only spoken in an untranslated language. The Indigo Tribe was founded by the same Abin Sur that named Hal Jordan has his successor.

The Indigo Tribe's rings are powered by compassion, but most of their members were irredeemable monsters who have been forced to feel compassion. It is possible for those with genuine compassion to join, however, since John Stewart was once a member.

The Indigo Tribe stands for being the only Corps with an untranslated oath: Tor lorek san, bor nakka mur, Natromo faan tornek wot ur, Ter Lantern ker no Abin Sur, Taan lek lek nok- Formorrow Sur!

The Indigo Tribe's compassion entity is the Proselyte.

The Black Lantern Corps and the White Lantern Corps were introduced in the Blackest Night storyline, my favorite DC Comics storyline.

The Black Lantern Corps, as stated earlier in this description, was founded by Nekron and led by Black Hand. The central power battery was fueled by the reanimated corpse of the Anti-Monitor. Black Lantern rings latched onto the corpses of deceased heroes, villains, and civilians and resurrected them as zombies that feed off all seven emotions and make the living into Black Lanterns by tearing their hearts out and killing them, their ultimate mission being the termination of all life.

There was even a Black Lantern oath, though Black Lanterns didn't seem to need to recharge their rings: The blackest night falls from the skies. Darkness grows as all light dies. We crave your hearts and your demise. By my black hand, the dead shall rise!

Black Lanterns rarely used their rings to make constructs, they were only shown doing so if they used weapons in life (Captain Boomerang, Arnold Wesker Ventriloquist) or if they were deceased members of the seven Lantern Corps (Yes, Larfleeze's constructs became Black Lanterns, too).

As shown with The Spectre, Deadman, and Solomon Grundy, not even the undead were immune to the black rings. Nekron also claimed that Superman, Superboy, Wonder Woman, Hal Jordan, Green Arrow, Barry Allen, Animal Man, Donna Troy, Bart Allen Kid Flash, and Ice came back from the dead only because he let them. He managed to convert all of them into Black Lanterns except Barry and Hal.

It was eventually understood by Ganthet and the leaders of the seven Lantern Corps that they needed to unite the powers of the seven colors in order to defeat the Black Lanterns. In response, the Corps leader's rings were duplicated and searched for a temporary deputy.

Ganthet took up the powers of the Green Lantern Corps since they were busy dealing with the Black Lanterns in space, Barry Allen was deputized into the Blue Lantern Corps, the Atom briefly joined the Indigo Tribe, Wonder Woman's Black Lantern ring was overpowered by a Star Sapphire ring because of her love for Earth, Aquaman's widow Mera became a Red Lantern, Scarecrow gained a Sinestro Corps ring, and Lex Luthor gained an orange ring.

Unfortunately, the deputizing didn't work because Lex was consumed by greed and stole Scarecrow's yellow ring, then endangered Mera by trying to steal her red ring.

Then the White Entity of life came and created the White Lantern Corps by restoring the resurrected heroes to life and giving white rings to Hal and Barry as well, Hal Jordan pointing out to Nekron that while he gave the heroes the option of coming back to life, he has no real power over them because they were the ones who made the choice to come back from the dead.

Following Blackest Night was Brightest Day, which was about 12 members of the Black Lantern Corps being revived as White Lanterns and being tasked to clean up the mess made by the Black Lanterns. The 12 White Lanterns were Deadman, J'onn J'onzz, Jade, Captain Boomerang, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Osiris, Maxwell Lord, Reverse-Flash, Aquaman, Hawk (Hank Hall), and Firestorm.

Like the Black Lantern rings, the White Lantern Corps resurrected the dead, but by actually bringing them back to life instead of making them murderous zombies that feed off emotions. Unlike the Black Lantern rings, a White Lantern ring can't bring just anybody back to life, as proven when Deadman was unable to use his to resurrect Don Hall, who was also immune to the Black Lantern rings, oddly enough.

Unfortunately, there is no oath for the White Lantern Corps.

And the White Entity was shown to not be completely good. Deadman was eventually dead again, and the White Entity resurrected Hawkman after he was killed again but had Hawkgirl stay dead, much to Hawkman's anger.

In the New 52, Swamp Thing ended up replacing the White Entity as the entity of life and resurrection and Kyle Rayner became the only remaining White Lantern. Simon Baz once took Kyle's White Lantern ring, but it rejected him for failing to restore Korugar from its destruction.

The New 52 has been mainly hit-or-miss, but only time will tell if it will remain as the main continuity. The New 52 wasn't the first reboot of the DC universe, and it likely won't be the last, and not just because of all the backlash it has recieved.

All mentioned characters, items, and organizations (c) DC Comics