So if recent rumors and reports are to be believed, DC Comics will soon publish Zero Issues during the month of September. Supposedly covering “stuff that happened before issue #1. Year Ones, flashbacks, origins.” We all know that the lantern titles were generally unchanged from the Flashpoint effect on continuity also known as The New52. So with that in mind, the four lantern books have an opportunity that most series don’t, a chance to run wild with a brand new story that adds depth to what is currently happening. Below, you’ll find loose ideas for what I’d love for Geoff Johns, Peter Tomasi, Tony Bedard and Peter Milligan to accomplish with each Zero issue.
Geoff Johns is currently telling stories where Sinestro is the central figure and Hal Jordan is the secondary character in Green Lantern. Assuming the upcoming “Revenge of Black Hand” arc takes us into September, and also assuming that both Hal and Sinestro live that long, it would be very interesting to finally get to Sinestro’s Secret Origin. Why not use this opportunity to prelude into the story that has been promised for the last 4 years? Johns wants to maintain a good “buddy cop” yin/yang relationship with Hal & Sinestro so let him run wild with Sinestro’s past while Hal Jordan deals with what’s going on in the present.
We’ve seen Johns switch characters from lantern to lantern before, but rarely do we get to see him expound on real emotional moments that he’s created in most of these characters origins. Atrocitus’ family is slaughtered, Martin Jordan’s plane crash, Saint Walker’s family tragedy, and even Larfleeze’s family has been separated. Geoff Johns puts characters through the emotional wringer. I would love to see Abin Sur and Sinestro’s relationship, as I believe it provides more info on a character we know little to nothing about and gives us a reason to sympathize with the unforgivable Sinestro. Spend the issue showing their similarities and differences and “humanizing” them both. Create the bromance that everyone assumes they had anyway. And if that happens to involve them easily defeating random space smugglers while Hal is brutally tortured by Black Hand in the present, then so be it.
Obviously we have no idea what lies ahead with the AlphaWar or even the outcome of impending John Stewart’s trial. Still, we know no matter how trigger happy Tomasi gets with other lanterns, he won’t be killing Guy Gardner or John Stewart…at least by September. So at least we’ll still have our two main characters to work with. Unlike Johns’ Green Lantern, I think it would be a mistake to visit the past with a Zero Issue. Here, we need to see “A Day in the Life” issue. It was only recently when Tomasi referred to Green Lantern Corps as a “war book.” If that’s the case, then we should see more of the tame stuff. Every day shouldn’t be the mission of a lifetime, even for people patrolling enormous sectors of space. GLC #7 and #8 both relaxed a bit from the usual action heavy stories, and both were generally well received, so we know Peter is capable of writing it. I’m not asking for a return to Earth where Guy Gardner once again finds himself unemployed, but rather a look at what gets these guys by when the only threat is something a local cop could handle.
Maybe this would be a perfect time to take a break from John & Guy? Lantern fans are always clamoring for more of The Corpse, so why not give Keith Champagne a ring and plot some over-the-top action secret assassin story? We all know how much Isamot Kol loses limbs, so why not put that into a story. Have him go on a solo adventure, seemingly die per usual, but the twist ending…no more GLC for you Kol. You got what it takes. “We live in the places that are too dark for the light of the Corps. We handle the jobs too dirty for the green. Welcome to The Corpse.” Then keep the Corpse away for another year or two. They’re supposed to be secret right? It works. Just play around with the other 7198 lanterns is all I ask.
This book is probably hardest of them all to find a central short story to tell. New Guardians has already had to deal with characters shifting in and out of the book and returning with information received elsewhere keeping it from standing on its own. And because this is “The New52” universe, its hard to tell what information about one particular character, Kyle Rayner, is still considered relevant and true. Was Kyle ever a Justice League member? Should that be the focus? I’d rather it not be, as that doesn’t add to the character or drastically improve the series by answering that question.
What I would like to see is a story that can answer questions about Kyle’s past while still furthering Tony Bedard’s current and future stories. What would that be? Well we got a glimpse of it during War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath but I’d love to see how Kyle Rayner and Soranik Natu are dealing with their breakup. Kyle has been busy fighting giant angels while Soranik hasn’t been seen since. I would imagine Kyle dealing with it a lot better than her as he was the one who wasn’t “all in” anyway. Still, if Tony has time for Kyle to relax a moment, it would be great to see him interact with just a normal Earth woman. One of the highlights of New Guardians came in the first issue when we get to see Kyle before the ring. I’m just a sucker for the normality amongst the mayhem. Toss in some Fatality, will they/won’t they/they probably shouldn’t tension and wallah!
On the other side, we’d check up on Soranik and how the resident doctor lantern is dealing with the breakup after her memorable final scene with Kyle. Even the love crazy Miriam of the Star Sapphires could drop by since she and Natu have a history. I know Bedard wants Soranik to have a new love interest that’s completely different from Kyle, so why not start that adventure here!? All these Zero Issues should be preludes to something grand that also gives us a chance to breath in between space odysseys. Maybe split up the book into a five chapters with 5 characters? Hey, I’m not writing this thing, I’m just laying out the pieces for Tony to put together. It’s his job to take my genius and make it undeniably genius.
Hands down, this zero issue has to be about Bleez. The focus of this series has shifted from Atrocitus’ apparent depression to Jack Moore’s transformation and now its about a cast away angry mutation that is kinda sorta out for revenge…It would be great to see this series start anew with centering this book on a character that needs a purpose. Bleez has a horrific origin which justifies her rage and Milligan has just handed over the Red Lantern Corps to her, but since he’s done that they haven’t done anything different and she hasn’t strayed from Atrocitus’ motivations whatsoever.
Let Bleez impress us. She’s shown brief glimpses of being powerful(remember the blood bullet from Emerald Warriors?!), and while she’s appearing in New Guardians, she’s one of an ever expanding cast. In RL, we should see why Bleez is the better or worse choice to run the corps. Considering the next arc of the book is entitled “Death of the Red Lanterns”, if she makes it to September’s Zero issue, there wouldn’t be a more perfect time to showcase this character and define her beyond her brutal history. Blood. There should probably be some blood in there too. And a cat because everyone loves that cat.
That’s really it. Four simple guidelines for the four lantern titles. I could want more, but realistically this is the expectation level. Solid stories featuring characters growing. The countdown to zero begins now.