Rise of the Third Army: An Introduction

With the launch of DC’s New 52 in August 2011, there was a lot of discussion over what existed from the old DCU to the new version of things. Now that the first year is over, several story arcs have played out over several families, most notable the Court of Owls story arc within the Bat-family. But remember the Green Lantern family of titles, which is still having its main title helmed by Geoff Johns, the architect of the New 52. It was only a matter of time before the fan got turned on and something got thrown into it within the GL family of titles, and thus was Rise of the Third Army born.

So what is this story arc about?

For those unaware of the past of the Green Lanterns, the Green Lantern Corps is the second force that the Guardians of the Universe (those little blue midgets, as they have been so affectionately called) have created. Their first army was made up of robotic creatures known as the Manhunters, as in “No man escapes the…” The Manhunters were a failed experiment, as they soon went out of control and started finding fault in every living thing (depending on whose story arc you choose to believe and whether or not certain elements survived the universal reboot). The Manhunters were shelved, and a second wave was created.

The Green Lantern Corps had the Guardians take all of their innate abilities and place them into a central battery on the planet Oa. The battery searches for those individuals in the universe who have the capacity to do good and entrusts them with a ring – a ring that controls the color spectrum of green. In the olden days, the color yellow was a detriment to these individuals (yeah… I know… A superhero could be brought down by a Crayola crayon…) Over time, the yellow impediment was removed and a virtual rainbow of lanterns was discovered, their only weakness being the impact or loss of their respective emotion; in the case of the green, willpower. The challenge though, was that those who took control of these rings and the lantern power were still only mortal and all (most?) still had their innate free will. The Guardians see this as a weakness, and as a result they have decided to end their creation, the Green Lantern Corps, as well as every other lantern in the universe, and replace them with a new group: The Third Army.

I won’t go into detail over the current story arc here – that will be for reviews with each part in the story arc to follow – but you now have a brief introduction on what to expect with this new crossover. You can look for this story to encompass the following issues:

• Green Lantern Annual #1 (ComicBooked.com has previously reviewed this issue, but I’ll also be covering it as part of this series)
• Green Lantern #0 (an interlude)
• Green Lantern #13, 14, 15 & 16
• Green Lantern Corps #13, 14, 15 & 16
• Green Lantern New Guardians #13, 14, 15 & 16
• Red Lanterns #13, 14, 15 & 16

Let’s just say that the main Green Lantern title is not without its controversy right now, what with the apparent death of classic Green Lantern Hal Jordan. He’s still kicking which leads us to believe that he will have a major role in this arc as it all comes to a head.

Look for some reviews on each issue as it comes out here on Comic Booked.com!