Super TV: Green Lantern: The Animated Series

So, a little about my professional life. For those who don’t know, I work for the US Post Office. Due to the Christmas package demand, and at least one coworker that I’m 70% sure is intentionally skipping work, I’m averaging 11 hour days in the last week. And it’s only going to get worse. So, I might not have time to write too many posts this month, at least not until after the 25. But, I will try to get one or two of these buggers out before then. Also, given this limited time table, I haven’t had a chance to finish Luke Cage. My fault for not binging it earlier. Silly me. But, since I do want to write about something, I’ll shift my focus onto a show that I know didn’t get the credit it deserved, Green Lantern: The Animated Series. Let’s get to it.

It also had a really good opening soundtrack.

Green Lantern opens to a Green Lantern, just not Hal Jordan. This Lantern, M’Ten, is patrolling his sector of space when he detects a distress beacon. M’Ten responds, finding a small spaceship floating adrift. He encases the ship in a green energy bubble and prepares to free the pilot. Imagine his surprise when the pilot bursts forth from the ship, engulfed in red energy, and attacks. M’Ten is able to hold this Red Lantern, Razer, at bay… until his comrade Zilius Zox steps in. The two RL’s overpower M’Ten, killing him. Razer points out the futility of these sneak attacks of theirs, as the Green Lantern’s ring will just find a replacement, while Zilius rather gleefully points out that that just means that they’ll get to kill the new GL too. Who knew a guy that looks like a demented beach ball would be the glass half full type?

We then jump forward in time 18 months, and across the galaxy to Coast City, California, planet Earth. Test Pilot, and secret Green Lantern, Hal Jordan is testing a new prototype plane when an earthquake hits. Said quake causes a bridge to collapse, putting an oncoming train in danger. Hal sets the fighter jet onto auto pilot, and transforms into his GL form as he ejects from the plane. Do you think working as a test pilot becomes less fun when you can fly without a plane?  He flies in, creates a green energy construct of a bridge, and saves the train. Hooray! But, while Hal is out of the jet, it crashes into the side of a mountain. Billion-dollar jet, up in smoke. Less hooray. An hour later, Hal returns to his boss, Carol Ferris, frantically trying to set up a search and rescue party for him. Hal lies, claiming that the quake caused the plane to freeze up, and that he had to hoof it back to Ferris Air on foot. Bet he actually spent that hour at Caribou Coffee, or something. She’s relieved to see him alive, but she’s not too happy he crashed the jet. Shocking, I know. He suggests that they discuss things over dinner, she initially refuses but then relents, just as Hal’s GL Ring starts going off. His other bosses want a word, which is rarely good. Hal makes up a story about salvaging the black box from the downed jet, transforms again, and flies to the GL home world of Oa.

Once there, he greets his former GL Drill Sargent Kilowog and another GL, Salaak, who’s in charge of Audio-Visual displays, before being pulled into a tribunal. He’s in trouble because an alien diplomat claims that Hal punched him in the face. To which Hal responds, “I punched him in the stomach. I headbutted him in the face.” At least Hal is honest. One Guardian of the Universe, Appa Ali Apsa, clearly wants to see Hal punished. Hal explains that the diplomat was using his diplomatic immunity to run a slave ring, which another Guardian, Ganthet, points out has been substantiated by the local authorities. Hal’s trial is interrupted by M’Ten’s ring’s arrival. Salaak identifies it’s former wielder, which shocks Hal and Kilowog, as neither recognize the name. This is more notable for Kilowag, who’s in charge of basic training for all Green Lantern recruits. So, it’s simply not possible for a GL to exist that Kilowog hasn’t trained. Which is true, in normal Green Lantern space.

The main cast. From left to right: Kilowog, Hal Jordan, Aya,
and Razor. It's a good group.

The Guardians have Salaak pull up a map of the universe. They deliver some exposition about the GL Corps. The Guardians have the known universe sliced up into about 3600 sections of space, there is at least one GL per sector, and they protect peace and harmony using the Green Light of Will. Hal sums it up best, “This part we know.” Now we get to the new, and more interesting, stuff. M’Ten was what is known as a Frontier Green Lantern. The Frontier is made up of the sectors of space on the outer most edges of GL territory. Communications with the Frontier Lanterns is sporadic, at best, and it wouldn’t matter if it wasn’t. Frontier space is so far from the homeworld of Oa, that even flying at top speed, it would take a normal GL 18 months to reach it. Kind of hard to send back up when it takes nearly 2 years to get there. The Guardians also explain that, again due to distance, that the Frontier Lanterns only receive “limited” training from their power rings. While not directly stated, its heavily implied that this is the reason why Frontier Lanterns are getting hit, and so hard. Training via semi-magic ring not = to actual training from experienced individuals. M’Ten is just the most recent known fatality, dozens have been killed in the last few years, with their power rings either searching for new GL candidates or in route back to Oa. The Guardians are keeping the killings under wraps until they are sure what is going on. That’s the Guardians of the Universe for you, slow as molasses. In the arctic. Also, Appa Alli Apsa is of the, “I won’t believe there’s a problem until it is literally staring me in the face,” mind set, and seems to hold a lot of sway over his Guardian brethren.

Except one. Ganthet seems to side with Hal’s more “act now, think later,” mindset. Ganthet, seeing things are going to quickly devolve into a pointless shouting match, suggests that they all “take a coffee break.” While on said coffee break, Ganthet takes Hal and Kilowog on a quick tour of Oa’s more private sections, namely the hanger that houses the Guardian’s latest invention, The Interceptor. The Interceptor is rumored to be the fastest ship ever developed. It can travel through warp space, and needs an AI to calculate how to safely travel at such high speeds. It could, in theory, reach the Lantern Frontier in a few minutes. How convenient. Now, obviously, the other Guardians wouldn’t allow their new vessel out just yet, but, we also know that Hal isn’t known for his patience, either.

Later that night, Hal and Kilowog break into The Interceptor. Hal had planned on going alone, but Kilowog had guessed his former student's plan and assumed correctly that Hal would forget to bring spare GL batteries. Hal and Kilowog are introduced to the ships AI. Hal names her Aya, and, the after the introductions, convinces her to try a new game. It’s called… Joyride. They blast off, and just barely escape the Green Lantern’s security force. They warp across the universe, and interrupt a Red Lantern attack in progress. The RL’s are incredibly powerful, and actually start to overpower Hal and Kilowog. Hal is able to blast them after tapping into The Interceptor’s power core. It’s fueled by the Green Energy from the Central Power Battery on Oa. It gives Hal a minor boost. They save the Frontier Lantern, named Shyir Rev, and plan their next move.

Red v. Green? It's a Christmas themed battle!

The RL’s also return to their mothership, the flying asteroid Ysmault and their master, Atrocitus. Some arguing ensues, Zilias blaming Razor for the flub up, and Razor claiming their mission failed because Hal and Kilowog are much better GL’s then the locals. Atrocitus doesn't care for the bickering and threatens to kill them both if they fail again. Thankfully for the baddies, another chance emerges quickly. Razor is able to use a drone to track The Interceptor and then attack the GL’s. Said attack doesn’t do much, other than break the ships “Warp Coil” and plant a tracking device. The Warp Coil is what lets them travel at hyperspeed, thus stranding them in The Frontier. So not an ideal end to this mission. Rev takes them to his homeworld to repair the ship. Hal and Kilowog are able to have a moment of levity with Rev and his family. All the aliens have a good laugh at the silliness of Hal's secret ID hang up. Kilowog explains it best, "That thing on his face is called a mask. He wears it just in case some human sneaks aboard The Interceptor, while we're in space mind you, and goes 'oh my gosh, the Green Lantern from my planet is Hal Jordon. I'm telling everybody!" Keep in mind, being a GL in most of the universe is one of the highest honors a being can receive. Why keep that a secreet, am I right? Unfortunately, the moment of peace is rudely interrupted by the arrival of the Red Lantern's warship.

Atrocitus, being something of a Dangerous Irate Cruel Killer, drops a giant bomb onto the planet, and gives the inhabitants an hour to hand over Hal, Kilowog, and Rev. The team breaks into two, Hal takes on Atrocitus, and Kilowog and Rev try to stop the bomb.  Neither side is particularly effective. Atrocitus, with minor help from Zilias, overpowers and beat the snot out of Hal. Kilowog and Rev are able to reach the bomb's core, but Razor distracts them for too long to disarm it. Rev is able to form a construct, stopping the bomb from going off. Unfortunately, it's like holding a grenade without the pin. It won't well. Rev elects to keep the bomb from going off long enough for Kilowog to evacuate the planet. Razor returns and looks like he’s going to finish off Rev, but the FGL convinces the young RL that wholesale slaughter isn’t a cause worth fighting for. Razor flies off, leaving Rev to his fate.

Hal and Razor meet in the wreckage of the planet. They do battle, but it becomes clear that Razor isn't giving it his all. Hal quickly realizes that, in actuality, Razor is looking to be executed for his crimes. Hal, while furious at Rev’s death and the planet’s destruction, instead yanks off Razor’s ring, stripping him of his powers, and encases him in a GL bubble. Kilowag and Hal transport Rev’s people to another planet, watch Rev’s ring fly out to find a new host, and wonder as to what they’re going to do next. Stranded in the far reaches of space, all aide almost two years away, with one Prisoner of War and no means of holding him long term. Not a great end to their "quick" mission to the Green Lantern Frontier.

Green Lantern: The Animated Series is an excellent dip into the Green Lantern mythos. Hal is a hoot, being at times noble, and other times a cocky arrogant jerk. They also cover the fact that he seems to be compelled to flirt with anything that even remotely appears to be a humanoid female. Not going to lie, was a little surprised to see that. He gets into a lot of trouble with his “act firsts, think later,” mindset but it always seems to work out in the end. He’s the sort to give anyone a second chance, if there willing to work for it, like Razor does. Kilowog is also a lot of fun, he’s the straight-laced drill sergeant that mellows out a bit as the series goes on. I’m also surprised that his rather depressing backstory was left in as well. Kilowog is from a planet called Bolovax Vik, while he was away on a mission, the planet was obliterated. Billions of Bolovaxians were killed including Kilowog’s mate and children. This is a fate worse than death for a Bolovaxian, as they were a highly communal race. So yeah, he’s lonely, heartbroken, and is hellbent on stopping world ending disasters like the one that befell his world. He and Hal buttheads on tactics a number of occasions, but it’s clear that both characters respect the heck out of each other. He’s openly hostile to Razor, at first, but they later develop a respect for one another.

He's only slightly less red then he is angry.

Now let’s move on to the original characters for this series. Razor the Red Lantern is the Vegeta of this series. What do you mean that you don’t get that reference? Oh right, not everyone watches anime… Okay, quick digression. The long running series Dragonball has a habit of making major antagonist into heroes after their initial introduction. One of the best examples is Vegeta, originally introduced as psychotic mass murder that obliterated planets for fun, later became a begrudging but indispensable hero. Well… anti-hero. Razor follows a similar arc. He’s introduced as a vengeful young man, hellbent on revenge. GL Shyir Rev convinces him that fighting without a cause is just dangerous, and, later, interactions with Saint Walker the Blue Lantern convinces him that his rage is destructive more to himself than anyone else. He’s actually a character that actively tries to better himself as the series progresses, which is rare for cartoons, just saying. He also forms an… odd romance with our next character, Aya.

Aya is introduce as the AI of The Interceptor. She’s a very curious creature, constantly seeking out information that will help her better understand organic lifeforms and what it means to be a Green Lantern. Yeah, despite being a machine and not being chosen by a Green Lantern Ring, Aya considers herself to be a full-fledged member of the corps. In order to better fulfill the GL duties, she quick assembles a body for herself, using the Green Energy of Will to form the ‘softer’ bits like her face and hands. She pretty much drags Razor into being a hero. She puts it best, “it doesn’t matter what you want,” when Razor admits to wanting to be held prisoner so he could see visions of his late wife. She follows an interesting arc. Not going to spoil it, other than saying she is much more than a pretty face.

The villains are also pretty cool. For the first half of its only season, they did battle with the Red Lanterns, specifically the evil Atrocitus. The lord of rage has a powerful voice, a commanding presence, and more rage then a barrel of monkeys. What? A bunch of simians stuffed into a tight space, I’d be angry too. He’s also got a number of great quotes. “I am wrath. I am hate. I am righteous vengeance.” “When I saw that you only needed a nudge to become a truly hateful creature, I sealed your fate.” “When last we met, human, I had just concurred Oa. Now you find me… better rested.” Just to name the top three. He’s simplified from his comic incarnation, downplaying the tragedy in his character and playing up the sadistic and cruel side. He regularly beats on his minions, namely Zilius Zox. The evil beach ball is something of a punching bag. The Reds are slightly toned down from their comic incarnation. No mention of Red’s being mindless beasts, or their parasitic rings replacing their hearts and their blood with red energy. In fact, the only major downside of the RL’s ring in this universe is that it looks like it’s INCREDIBLY painful to remove the ring.   

All fall before the Anti-Monitor

Part two introduces a much, much more powerful foe. The Anti-Monitor. This sun consuming destroyer was banished to another dimension before the series start, where he devours every star. Upon his return, he reactivates the original servants of the GL corps, the Manhunters. These insane machines were originally trustworthy guardians of order, but later concluded that emotions were the root of all evil. And thus those who possess them must be destroyed. They slaughtered the home sector of Atrocitus, Zilius, Razor and the other RLs. So, yeah, not a great combination. Together the machines devastate the GL corps and consume more stars. Why? To fuel a trip back to the very beginning of time. In the DC canon, this is like the single greatest taboo that a cosmic being could break. Hal and co do their best against him, but lose a few friends along the way.

Overall, this was a great show that was unfortunately cancelled too soon. It introduced many a Green Lantern, from the bigs like Hal, Kilowag, Tomar Rey, and Mogo, to the smalls, like Ch’p the Space Squirrel and Salaak. They also introduce a majority of the other Lantern Corps, like the Red Lanterns, the Blue Lanterns, the Star Sapphires, and the Orange Lantern. Heck given that they also introduce Sinestro, and the yellow element that would later fuel his evil Sinestro Corps, they’d have only needed another season or so to do a Blackest Night adaptation. How awesome would that have been? Sure, they’d have had to tone down the violence and the zombies, but it still could have been awesome. And, despite being cut off early, it does end on a high note. I wish the story could have continued, but the ending is still fitting. I recommend this for anyone that likes the Green Lantern Corps, or is curious about this part of the DC Universe. Next time… I have a few ideas, we’ll see what gets finished firsts. 

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Villain Profile: Black Hand

I was originally going to finish this off with a member of the Sinestro Corps, but after looking through the character list I learned that, really, the only memorable member of the Sinestro Corps is Sinestro himself. Well, that’s not true, there have been a few memorable characters that have donned the Yellow Ring, The Anti-Monitor, Mongul, and even a version of Batman, but these are all characters that have been known before and after their inclusion in the Corps. So, instead of doing an SC member that not a single person knows like Arkillo or Amon Sur, I’ll instead cover the character that was responsible for one of the biggest DC Stories in recent years, the “Blackest Night,” and someone I've mentioned a couple of times this week, Black Hand.

And the dead shall rise.

Pretty much from the get go, William Hand was a pretty messed up fellow. His parents were coroners, and it would seem that the Hands career had a pretty severe psychological effect on their son. William was obsessed with death, to the point where it’s heavily implied that he… well, suffers from necrophilia. If you don’t know what that is, good for you, don’t look into it. For those that do know what that is, yeah, Will Hand is a pretty screwed up SOB. As a cherry on top of his messed up Sunday, he developed a habit of referring to corpses as “pretty.” At first, Hand tried to control his less than normal impulses by getting into taxidermy. Show of hands, anyone else think that this makes about as much sense as a car thief becoming an auto mechanic to stop thinking about stealing cars? Yeah, that’s what I thought. His parents finally caught on to their son’s… special issues when he killed the family dog so he could turn it into a creepy ornament. From that point on, Hand spent the rest of his developing years in psychiatrist’s offices. Rather than trying out the techniques that his shrinks suggested to ‘cure’ himself, he just learned to hide the most obvious signs of his disturbing predilection, and just accepted his place as the Hand’s black sheep.

A few years later, the alien Atrocitus was brought to Earth by the Green Lantern Abin Sur. Atrocitus was able to escape the GL and set about tracking down the one prophesized to initiate the end of life in the Universe, a being simply known as The Black. Atrocitus built a device that tracked down the Black, revealed to be William Hand. He attacks Hand, believing that the “black power” is literally in Hand’s flesh, but is stopped by Green Lantern Sinestro and Sur’s successor, Hal Jordan. During the fight, Hand is encouraged by a “mysterious voice” to steal the device that Atrocitus used to track him down. Hand steals the device and then runs off while the two GL’s fight Atrocitus. A short time later he breaks into a hospital morgue and tries to steal a body. Before he can get away with the body and do something horrible with it, he’s stopped by a security guard. Hand uses the device to kill the guard. He rather creepily states that “the death was good.” Creepy little weirdo.

Well, we're boned.

The voice that commanded him to steal Atrocitus’ device very quickly takes over Hand’s deeply disturbed mind, making him hate Green Lanterns. He takes one of his parent’s body bags and fashioned a costume out of it, becoming Black Hand. It’s a somewhat disturbing in joke about him being the Black Sheep of the Hand family. Apparently Hal’s about as dense as the civilians of the DC universe, as he never realizes that William Hand whom Atrocitus attacked with an energy absorbing weapon, and Black Hand who uses an energy absorbing weapon are the same person. Come on, Hal, they both have Hand in their name. He couldn’t have made this easier if he tried. After several years of causing crimes, getting caught, escaping, and then doing disturbing things to dead bodies, Hand’s destiny finally arrives. While being transported to prison, Hand is hit with a surge of energy that kills his guards, allowing him to escape. He starts having visions of a dead world called Ryut and a Black Power Battery. Hand wanders across a desert, hearing Death calling out to him, instructing him to reclaim the souls of all those that died in the DC Universe. Hand finally arrives to his family home, and... cleans house. And by that I mean he murders his parents and brothers, and then kills himself. The evil Guardian of the Universe, Scar, arrives and states that the deaths of the Hands “pleases him,” and regurgitates a Black Power Ring. The ring flies to Black Hand and reanimates his body. Hand swears to use his new power to extinguish the light for his new master.

He spies on Hal Jordan and BarryAllen as they pay their respects to the recently fallen Batman, at his unmarked grave. Once they leave, he digs up Batman’s body while reciting the Black Lantern Oath. “The Blackest Night falls from the skies, / The darkness grows as all light dies, / We crave your hearts and your demise, / By my black hand --- The dead shall rise!” He takes Batman’s skull, and proclaims that no one escapes death. He then uses Batman’s skull for two reasons, 1.) To demoralize the DC Universe’s heroes, and 2.) To create more Black Lantern Ring. Black Hand’s army quickly grows, as fallen Heroes and villains are revived to serve the Black Lantern Corps, and others fall at the Black Lantern’s hands. Every time a Black Lantern kills someone and removes their victim’s heart Kali Ma style, it causes the Black Power Battery on Ryut to increase in power by .01%. Once it finally hits 100% the Battery teleports to Earth, right on top of the Hand Mortuary. On the ashes of Hand’s former home, Hand’s master, Nekron, rises. His revival causes more Black Rings to fall, and even living heroes are now vulnerable to their influences. So long as they’ve died and returned to life at least once. The Flash and Hal Jordan just barely escape when the Flash jumps the two of them two seconds into the future.

Not sure if this is worse or better than that
Venom pic I used in Mac Gargan's post.
Either way, more nightmare fuel.

Black Hand and Nekron are ultimately defeated when Hal Jordan unites with the Entity, the physical embodiment of life itself. The new White Lantern uses his powers to transform and revive several heroes and villains as White Lanterns, Black Hand included. Why is that important? Black Hand was essentially the “Entity” of the Black Lantern Corps. The GL’s have Ion the being of Will, the Sinestro Corps have Parallax the being of Fear, the Red Lanterns have the Butcher the being of Hate, and so on. By reviving Black Hand, the Black Lantern Corps was deprived of its Entity. Black Hand barfs up several more White Lantern Rings, reviving more heroes and further weakening Nekron and the Black Lanterns. They’re weakened to the point that the Anti-Monitor, a powerful cosmic being trapped within the Black Power Battery to be used as a power source, escapes and destroys Nekron. As the dust settles, Black Hand is taken by the Indigo Tribe and transformed into one of its members. And so the bringer of Death is imprisoned, for now.

Black Hand has drawn power from a number of different sources. His original weapon was an energy absorbing device designed by Atrocitus. The device absorbs energy from either a Green Lantern power ring, or from the residual energy left on items that were manipulated by a GL’s constructs. This weapon was eventually replaced by a Black Power Ring. The Black Ring gives Hand the standard Lantern Corps powers, flight and Hard Light constructs. It probably would give him the ability to create a protective aura around himself, if, you know, he wasn’t an intelligent corpse. The ring lets Hand regenerate at an absurd rate, healing him if he’s decapitated or destroyed. The black ring is rooted to Hand’s hand, making it all but impossible to remove. Once he was revived, he was forced into being an Indigo Tribe member, giving him all the powers of an Indigo Tribe.

Black Hand has never been used outside the Comics. Most likely because of the graphic subject matter involved with the character. Hard to show a character that is so grossly obsessed with Death and Decay. It seems like Green Lantern: The Animated Series might have tried to adapt the story, what with including all but two of the Lantern Corps, and various characters implying that a greater threat is coming. If so, it’s a shame we couldn’t have seen it. Although, such hints could just be my wishful thinking. He is an unlockable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, but they don’t delve into the characters origin.

Black Hand is a deeply disturbing character. His obsession with Death does make him the perfect character to be the Avatar of Death itself. It is interesting to note that Black Hand was originally a D-List, gimmicky criminal. He was reworked after “The Infinite Crisis” into the sadistic, death obsessed sociopath that would gladly kill all live in the Universe.  And, I mean, he’s a super powered Zombie. What’s not to enjoy about that? He’s the Bringer of Doom, the Destroyer of Life, the very Avatar of Death itself, Black Hand, the original Black Lantern. Next time, The Flash Season 2 opening review.

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Hero Profile: Indigo-1

Today we’ll be looking at Indigo-1, the leader of the Indigo Tribe. Their Light is the Indigo Light of Compassion. One of the biggest questions surrounding this character is, is she really a hero? The nature of her Light really does make one question the actions of the wielder, and if one can be forced into being a superhero. But enough of a preamble, let’s get to it.

That staff is one of the most dangerous weapons
in the universe. Simple, but effective.

The leader of the Indigo Tribe was once named Iroque. Not much is known about her history except that she was once a very selfish, conceited person, and that she is somehow connected to the death of Green Lantern Abin Sur’s daughter. Which makes it a little weird that the two somehow became friends after that, but then she became a very different person when she donned the Indigo Tribe Ring and Staff. I’ll go into greater detail in a bit, but the short version is that the Indigo Light of the Emotional Spectrum forces its host to feel compassion/empathy over all other emotions. So someone who is a cold SOB before having the ring becomes the most caring and sympathetic feeling person in the universe.

We’re first introduced to Indigo-1 and her tribe just before the start of the Blackest Night. She and her tribe are walking across a desert somewhere in Sector 3544 when they see a Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps Warrior fighting in the distance. The two have an intense battle for several minutes before breaking off. The GL was injured, and the SC flew for cover. Indigo-1 and her tribe came upon the injured GL. He warns the group to stay away from him, so as to not attract his attacker’s attention. Which is pretty noble, when one considers he was bleeding out at the time. Indigo-1 says something to the GL, but it is in an unknown language. The GL tries to get his ring to translate what she said, but her dialect is not one that the GL’s ring could translate. When you consider the fact that Green Lantern rings are connected to the book of Oa, which has nearly every language in the DC Universe catalogued within, you can probably understand why this freaks him out a little. Indigo-1 kneels down beside the GL, places her hand on his heart, and says “Will.” This somehow causes her to draw energy from the GL, which Indigo-1 uses to create a simple hard-light construct, which she then uses to smother the GL. He struggles for a bit before passing out and dying. The Sinestro Corps member then comes out of hiding, and tries to blast her into oblivion with Yellow Energy. Indigo-1 doesn’t flinch, her staff absorbs the SC’s energy, her power ring then exclaims “Fear,” and creates a Yellow Light construct of a horrible monster that causes her attacker to flee.

Like most Lantern Corps, it's
a very diverse group.

A short time later, the Blackest Night occurred. Heroes and villains from across the DC Universe are given by Black Lantern power rings, transforming them into the zombified Black Lantern Corps. Sensing the impending doom, Indigo-1 and her immediate number 2, Munk, travel to Earth to aid the heroes GL Hal Jordan, The Flash and The Atom, who were being mobbed by Black Lanterns. Using Hal’s Green Energy as a battery, Indigo-1 obliterates the Black Lanterns and then teleports the group away to the Hall of Justice. While there, Indigo-1 explains a bit about what’s going on. It’s the pretty standard “In the beginning there was darkness” story. Darkness fought light, darkness shattered light, which then became the seven lights of the Emotional Spectrum. Red for rage, Orange for greed, Yellow for fear, Green for will, Blue for hope, Indigo for compassion, and Violet for love. She then explains that only through combining the seven lights together could they hope to defeat the Black Lanterns once and for all. So the plan is to get one lantern from each group together and combine their lights to hopefully create the White Light of creation, and destroy the Black Lanterns. Easy-peasy. Hal goes with the Indigos, while the Flash and Atom stay back to try to keep things sane on Earth. They quickly gather Carol Ferris of the Star Sapphires, Sinestro of the Sinestro Corps, and Saint Walker of the Blue Lantern Corps. The last two, Atrocitus of the Red Lantern Corps and Agent Orange aka Larfleeze, are on Larfleeze’s world of Okaara, fighting each other.  Atrocitus wanted the Orange Central Power Battery to augment his own power. They’re distracted by a group of Black Lanterns, and are then saved by Indigo-1 and the other Lanterns. The Seven Lanterns, Munk had left a short time ago to reinforce Oa, travel to the planet Ryut where the Black Lantern Central Power Battery was held. Unfortunately, the Lantern had already been moved. Where you might ask? To Earth. Where else? They follow the Lantern to Earth and “Let their powers combine,” as Kwame from Captain Planet used to say. Unfortunately, their combined light proved insufficient to destroy the BL Power Battery. Things took a turn for the even worst when the Black Lantern Leader, Nekron, revives more heroes and villains into Black Lanterns, and is even shown converting living people into Black Lanterns. Apparently those that “cheated” death, i.e. just about any character in comics that has died once and been brought back, are susceptible to Nekron’s rings. Wow, they’re screwed. They’re able to hold things off long enough, somehow, for “the Entity” to appear on Earth. The Entity being the physical embodiment of life itself. Hal fuses with the Entity, revives several Black Lanterns, transforming them into White Lanterns, and then uses their power to revive the villain Black Hand, who was Nekron’s candidate “tether” to the living world. Without Black Hand, Nekron is defeated and the Black Lanterns ultimately destroyed. After that, Saint Walker is the first to note that Indigo-1 and the rest of her tribe are gone. We then see a long line of Indigo Tribe Members traveling across the universe, with a shackled and chained Black Hand at the tail end. And thus another member is added to Indigo-1’s tribe.

Indigo-1 and the rest of her tribe draw their power from the Indigo Light of Compassion. They have a Power Ring, but instead of having a Lantern, they have a staff that recharges their ring. Indigo-1’s ring gives her the standard Lantern Powers; flight, shield projection, language translation, and the creation of Hard-Light constructs. Indigo-1 and her tribe also have their nifty staves, which can absorb energy from other Lantern Corps and redirect it for the Tribesmen to use. They can also teleport vast distances, and heal others, provided they are compassionate. The trade up is that those they heal are forced to feel the pain they’ve inflicted on others. So there’s some pluses and minuses to their powers.

Don't mess with her, it get's messy.

Let’s talk about the biggest minus of the Indigo Tribe. As part of their bonding ritual, the perspective Indigo Tribe member is forced to feel nothing but compassion. The ring blocks out all other emotions, transforming its host into a being of compassion. Because of this, perspective members need to be as amoral and selfish as possible. Why? Because if they are even the least bit compassionate beforehand, they’re unable to “shut-out” the other emotions. Which makes using the staff, the Indigo Tribe’s primary weapon, much more difficult. The staff, which lets them absorb other Lantern Energy and repurpose it, works because the Indigo Tribesmen is immune to the emotion they are absorbing. Without this immunity, they’d be overloaded by the overwhelming emotion they’re trying to absorb, be it rage, love, or hope. So yeah, not feeling anything else is kind of important.

Like the other Lantern Corps, Indigo-1 and the rest of her tribe need to recharge their rings by placing their ring in their staff and reciting an oath. Interestingly, their oath has yet to be translated into English. It reads, “Tor lorek san, bor nakka mur, / Natromo faan tornek wot ur. / Te Lantern lo Abin Sur, / Tann lek lek no—Formorrow Sur.” Pretty intelligible, but we can assume that Abin Sur is rather important to the Indigo Tribe.

Indigo-1 and her tribe haven’t had an appearance in film or television. I assume that had Green Lantern: The Animated Series continued beyond the first season we would have seen the introduction of the Indigo Tribe, and possibly an adaptation of “The Blackest Night” story, but alas, it shall never be.

  She was a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham. She and the most iconic members of the other six Corps were captured by the alien supercomputer Brainiac to shrink Earth and add it to his collection. Through the course of the game, Batman and the Justice League overload the machine, which transports Indigo-1 and the others back to their home worlds. The player goes to the Indigo home world of Nok, controlling Martian Manhunter, Cyborg and The Flash. To their surprise, Indigo-1 and her tribe are rioting and destroying stuff. We learn that when Indigo-1 was transported back to Nok, the Indigo Central Battery was damaged. Without the Indigo light, Indigo-1 and her Tribe reverted to their previous, violent and selfish personalities. The Battery is repaired by the end of the level, and Indigo-1 travels with the others back to Earth to save the day. It’s an enjoyable level and game.

From what I’ve seen of Indigo-1 and her tribe, she’s an interesting character. Her history, criminal and possible killer turned superhero, is rather interesting. You don’t see too many characters that are “forced” into being superheroes. Some heroes are forced into being villains, but the inverse is rare. And, when one considers how her ring is influencing her personality, it does make you wonder how heroic Indigo-1 really is. Is she really heroic, given that she’s being ‘forced’ to feel different than she really wants to. Something to think about, if nothing else. She’s the compassionate nomad, the sort of purple sort of blue sort of hero, the leader of the Indigo Tribe, Indigo-1. Next time, I’ll be looking at the bringer of Blackest Night, William “Black” Hand.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_Tribe#/media/File:Indigo01.jpg

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_Tribe#/media/File:IndigoTribe_01.JPG

 http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/greenlantern/images/4/4d/Indigo_1_leader.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20091128202623