In any earlier story from yesterday we revealed Geoff Johns teases concerning The White Lantern and for an upcoming story (arc?) involving DC’s first Green Lantern.
As a result of musings by DC executive editor Eddie Berganza and by Comics Nexus regular readers / posters Mark Poa and M.C. Brown, we have updates for this story.
First, with regards to the reveal of the White Lantern at the end of Brightest Day, Eddie B had this to add:
Eddie Berganza says the ending of Brightest Day is shocking — and will challenge people’s perceptions of what they think they know about the White Lantern.
Ok, why does DC keeping raising expectations around the reveal of the White Lantern? I hope the payoff is as impactful as they say and that there is some “sense” to why the person assumes the mantle (beyond “shock” and “awe”).
UPDATED: Will the White Lantern be or become a villain?
Secondly, readers Mark and M.C. remind us that Rori Dag since 1969 has been viewed as DC’s first Green Lantern from Green Lantern #67 (from that book’s second story). So, the question is whether Geoff Johns will continue with this interpretation in the post-Infinite Crisis “New Earth”.
Now technically, the reveal of Rori Dag happened at least two Earths ago if you consider the mid-1980s Crisis of Infinite Earths (COIE) collapsed the multiverse into one “New Earth” and in recent years Infinite Crisis (IC) created a new multiverse and a New (New) Earth.
That said, current DC editorial does seem to acknowledge Rori’s role as a founding GLC member:
Rori Dag
When the Guardians of the Universe decided to use living beings as their agents after the failure of the Manhunter robots, they awarded Rori Dag the first Green Lantern power ring and he watched over Sector 1234 until his unknown death.
Online sources indicate that he also popped up as one of the dead masses during Blackest Night in the Black Lantern Corps.
However, as I said to Mark and M.C.:
Rori would appear to be the first GL, but there’s no telling whether Geoff will honour that or create a proto-GL or whatever and then acknowledge Rori and the other real GL pioneers. I think its 50-50 that its Rori, but we’ll see. It really depends on how / what Geoff wants to tie Rori or his new proto-GL to (for a future storyline set in modern day). Geoff rarely does retro or flashback stories w/o coming back to them. See GL: Secret Origin and the Atroticus, etc.
Now, for folks keeping score, there is someone from Rori’s home planet currently in the GLC. His name is Rori Stroh. And here’s his deal in DC’s words:
Rori Stroh
Rori Stroh was born on Rojira, one of the most advanced scientific civilizations in the universe. Rori’s parents named him after Rori Dag, one of the founding Green Lanterns, and Rori Stroh does his best to live up to his namesake. His ongoing experiments with black holes have caused waves in the scientific community, some claiming he is playing with forces bigger than the Guardians themselves. If they let themselves feel emotion, the Guardians would find this humorous.
It says there that Rori Dag was a founding GL not “the” founding GL, so time will tell. And, looks like through evolution Rori’s people have… lost their noses? :)
So, what do you think of all this? Who will be DC’s White Lantern and who (is or) will be DC’s first Green Lantern?
