Green Lantern Just Abandoned the Franchise’s Most Beloved Lore

The Emotional Spectrum was a notable addition to the Green Lantern mythos but changes to the franchise put a new spin on the fan-favorite concept.

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Warning! Spoilers for Green Lantern #9 ahead!

The addition of the Emotional Spectrum reinvigorated the Green Lantern franchise, but have the agents of light finally broken through its constraints? Since its introduction, various members of the Green Lantern Corps have augmented or expanded their powerset by dabbling with the alternate energies. However, the current ring bearers seem primed to leave this notable part of Green Lantern history behind.

The first reference to the Emotional Spectrum comes from Geoff Johns, Ethan Van Sciver, and Prentis Rollins’ Green Lantern: Rebirth #3. The concept added to the Green Lantern mythos by retroactively making the Corps’ willpower-based energies the center of a larger source based off of the electromagnetic spectrum. While the additional light sources wildly varied, both in terms of personalities and power, the interconnection between the new corps’ was seen as a highlight of Johns’ run on Green Lantern. But since Johns’ run, newer writers have added their own touches to the Spectrum.

Green Lantern #9 by Geoffrey Thorne, Marco Santucci, Tom Raney and Maria Lavra Sanapo features John Stewart fighting an epic battle with Esak of New Genesis, who is stealing the life sources of innocents to power a cosmic weapon. Though defeated, John is able to survive a powerful attack from Esak’s enforcers, something another citizen of New Genesis, Lonar, credits to John being an Ascended. Lonar tells John that he draws cosmic energies, but has been limiting himself to the one most familiar to him. For John, this is obviously the willpower that has fueled Green Lanterns for years. But it’s Lonar’s mention that the force most familiar to John was misunderstood by the Guardians as being part of the Emotional Spectrum. In essence, Lonar hints the light of willpower is not merely a part of the Spectrum but something much more grand and mysterious.

The idea that John has achieved a new level of power shouldn’t come as a surprise as the current Green Lantern series started off making wild changes to the Emotional Spectrum and the larger mythology of Green Lantern. With John now able to potentially power himself from other cosmic energies, and Teen Lantern operating without a traditional power ring, the days of relying on the Green power of Will and its connection to other similar-colored Corps is, at a minimum, vastly different from before. Of course, even before these radical changes, other writers have altered the Spectrum in their own ways, such as the addition of the Ultraviolet Corps or the Legion of Super-Heroes’ Gold Lantern. Emphasizing the Spectrum as being only a part of a grander, magical system is simply the latest change to the concept.

By moving away from the Emotional Spectrum, writers are downplaying a fan-favorite addition to the lore of the Green Lantern series. But in doing so, they free themselves to tell stories without the rules and restrictions that were set by writers in the past. Either way, it’s bittersweet for fans to have to say goodbye to this notable part of the Green Lantern mythos.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/green-lantern-abandoned-franchises-most-beloved-lore/