Green Lantern Franchise: What Would YOU do?

[HsssH]

Canon or not, I haven't really see anyone try to do anything like that for DC.

[EmeraldGladiator]

If I were the editor of the Green Lantern franchise and was charged with making it the best division in the business here is what I would roll out:
Green Lantern: Emerald Gladiator (Hal centric title) written by Geoff Johns drawn by Ivan Reis (callback to the high water moment of the franchise. Geoff gave me rebirth and the SCW two of my favorite epics of the modern era and Ivan is one of along with Banks my favorite all time GL artists)
Green Lantern Corps: written by DnA (responsible for Marvel cosmic becoming a thing) drawn by Rafa Sandoval all members are usable but a very cosmic title dealing with L.e.g.i.o.n. the Vegan system, New Gods all parts of DC cosmic. They could revitalize DC cosmic like they did Marvel Cosmic.
Green Lantern: written by Hickman in the Gerard Jones (GL vol 3) style a 3-4 issue arc spotlighting one of three different Lanterns but tying into a larger storyline, for instance Hal Jordan drawn by Darryl Banks, John Stewart drawn by MD Bright and the third slot can rotate between Jo (Pacheco), Guy (Staton), Jessica and Kyle (Banks again).
Green Lantern Corps Quarterly: Let Morrison be the spiritual godfather of this, the best (Starlin) and brightest bringing new ideas to the Corps but just like before have an Alan Scott slot in every issue (maybe my Roy Thomas).

I can't imagine the scope and grandeur that a summit of Johns, Hickman, DnA and Morrison could come up with for the GL universe but it could rival and maybe even surpass the Bat corner of DC. They all excel at building universes so them bouncing ideas off of each other would be scary. Getting the GL franchise back to it's position as a top property in the business.

[NathanS]

Canon or not, I haven't really see anyone try to do anything like that for DC.

Or to make more of an apples-to-apples comparison, there is no map or even fan map for Marvel's cosmic stuff, for the exact same reason that there is none for DC. And heck I can point out a MASSIVE issue with that non-canon Star Trek map that is obvious at a glance.

It's 2d.

Space doesn't work like that. Why shouldn't say the Ferengi space be partial or fully 'above' or 'below' Federation space? The reality is even Marvel's shared world-building is when you take it as a whole simply far too loosy goosy to stand up to rigors of mapping and would likely only get in the way of the kind of stories being told. Never mind DC's shared world-building which has, outside of like a few eras, always been leagues behind Marvels.

[skyvolt2000]

That’s not true at all, as a proud owner of the Star Trek encyclopedia I can testify these are all well known facts

I own one too and that one said it was done to keep certain things vague for future stories. That map does not seem to include the Delta Quadrant.

In other words there is nothing set in stone for Star Trek.

While Green Lantern has made it known we got 3600 sectors. So you could do one for them way more than one could be done for Star Trek.

[Zero Hunter]

No but they should. I really want to know how much territory the GLC actually cover. That’s the kind of worldbuilding the franchise needs.

If I am remembering right at one point it showed that the sectors all start at Oa in the center of the universe and then expanded in a pie shape from there so the sectors get bigger the further out you go. I think honestly most Green Lanterns never even explore their entire sectors, and most usually stay within a a certain area of their homeworld unless something big happens further out. I kinda doubt the Green Lanterns even patrol half the universe to be honest since the universe is such a vast place.

[ducklord]

I found this cool link from the Unofficial DCU guide that lists 3600 + space sectors. (I think the info comes from the book of OA)

https://www.dcuguide.com/w/GLCWP_Sector_Guide

For instance: Space Sector 2682 contains Thanagar & Rann, sector 1416 Zamaron and Sector 2828 Larfleeze (26 light years away from earth).... so I see what you mean about mapping it out.

So many of the space sectors are vacant though that it would be cool if they tried some sort of condensed map....but as you say, the universe is well....very expansive.

That's a cool guide that does a great job of covering the canonically listed sectors, and their planets.

But it definitely highlights some of the issues with the Sectors. For one thing, if Vega's only 26 light years from Earth, what is it doing in a Sector other than 2814? Similarly, Thanagar's always been in the Milky Way, so why is *it* in a different sector then 2814? I mean, I know that Earth is important 'n' all, but how many sectors have been bent to strategically intersect with this one piddly galaxy out of 100+ billion?

[NathanS]

If I am remembering right at one point it showed that the sectors all start at Oa in the center of the universe and then expanded in a pie shape from there so the sectors get bigger the further out you go. I think honestly most Green Lanterns never even explore their entire sectors, and most usually stay within a a certain area of their homeworld unless something big happens further out. I kinda doubt the Green Lanterns even patrol half the universe to be honest since the universe is such a vast place.

In the 80s Hal got slapped hard for caring too much about Earth and it was stated most GL's have their homes in some station in space to not favor any one planet over any other. The real answer is the writers didn't think about it too hard when they decided there were 3600 GLs it just sounds like a nice number. The Vega system is a great example of how little thought is put into this stuff making any kind of spacial sense. For the first few appearances of the Omega Men they couldn't make up their mind if the Vega system is a galaxy or a solar system!

As if those are remotely comparable things! imagine filling out an area with factions, having a talk about massive invasions, and not being sure if all this is taking place in a single street or a whole damn content. At some point, they settled on it being the largest most crowded Solar system ever with like... five different species having evolved there, at minimum, and upwards of 30 worlds! None of this makes ANY SENSE.

[EmeraldGladiator]

In the 80s Hal got slapped hard for caring too much about Earth and it was stated most GL's have their homes in some station in space to not favor any one planet over any other. The real answer is the writers didn't think about it too hard when they decided there were 3600 GLs it just sounds like a nice number. The Vega system is a great example of how little thought is put into this stuff making any kind of spacial sense. For the first few appearances of the Omega Men they couldn't make up their mind if the Vega system is a galaxy or a solar system!

As if those are remotely comparable things! imagine filling out an area with factions, having a talk about massive invasions, and not being sure if all this is taking place in a single street or a whole damn content. At some point, they settled on it being the largest most crowded Solar system ever with like... five different species having evolved there, at minimum, and upwards of 30 worlds! None of this makes ANY SENSE.

Sounds like the perfect explanation as to what the other earth Lanterns are up to when what ever the Lantern being spotlighted is doing their thing on earth or on a particular mission. The wonder vastness and difference of the cosmic side of the DC universe has been unexplored for quite some time. There was a little work on it when Starlin was doing a bunch of Rann Thanagar Captain Comet stuff but Green Lantern Corps is the perfect vehicle to expand DC cosmic.

[NathanS]

I mean... sort of? That really only raises further questions. Why is 2814 the only sector with like 7 Lanterns? Why are they all from Earth? And the issue is... it's still clearly sidelining them. The harsh reality is these are books for human beings on Earth. shockingly the most popular stuff is the one that involves Earth. Cosmic stuff has ALWAYS been less popular and depended on a writer like Jim Starlin who just loves working with it and will grab any chance to do so no matter how at best 'okay' the sales are and sticking around long enough to really make an impression. We've seen mounting demand for Earth focus stuff from GL for this very reason. And even at its most cosmic Geoff John always tried to tie Earth in a center point for that reason.

The reality is this... GL makes zero sense if you think about it too hard and the only way to make it make sense would be to rebuild it from the ground up.

[Captain Nostalgia]

That's a cool guide that does a great job of covering the canonically listed sectors, and their planets.

But it definitely highlights some of the issues with the Sectors. For one thing, if Vega's only 26 light years from Earth, what is it doing in a Sector other than 2814? Similarly, Thanagar's always been in the Milky Way, so why is *it* in a different sector then 2814? I mean, I know that Earth is important 'n' all, but how many sectors have been bent to strategically intersect with this one piddly galaxy out of 100+ billion?

Thanks, yes I agree with you.

That's why I'd like to see DC try to map out it somehow so we get a sense of visual space. They do need to add all 3600 sectors, just the relevant ones (Ie where Thanagar & Rann, Zamaron & Korugar, & OA are located relative to one another, the place where the Dominators are hiding out Larfleeze's liar, Mongul's home world, where Krypton use to me, the unexplored region, Quard & anti matter universe if it's on the same plain of existence ect)

[D.Z]

Hal Jordan as the last GL of Earth 0.

[ducklord]

Thanks, yes I agree with you.

That's why I'd like to see DC try to map out it somehow so we get a sense of visual space. They do need to add all 3600 sectors, just the relevant ones (Ie where Thanagar & Rann, Zamaron & Korugar, & OA are located relative to one another, the place where the Dominators are hiding out Larfleeze's liar, Mongul's home world, where Krypton use to me, the unexplored region, Quard & anti matter universe if it's on the same plain of existence ect)

While that might make some sense in the local area of the Milky Way galaxy, where about 99% of the action takes place (seriously, it's got all of the Legion Worlds, the Dominators, the Khunds, Vega, Polaris, Rann, etc.), the rest of the universal map would look pretty sparse ("Oh look, there's sector 2813, home of Krypton, Xudar, and, um... moving on...). And, given the vassssssst distances between galaxies (let alone sectors), their relative positions are less important, cosmically, than the simple bookkeeping of remembering which planet is *in* which sector. I mean seriously, if you browse that GL page, most of sectors we've seen only have one or two established planets in them.

So yeah, maybe a rough map for the Milky Way (perhaps finally establishing which GL sectors coincidentally intersect it), but not so much for the rest of the cosmos.

[NathanS]

Of course, I recall a letter page replay where they mentioned.... either Rann or Thangar as a 'border world's That is Lanterns patrol a set sector of space, and a planet's orbit can mean it spends time in more than one sector. This is clearly just a... ridiculous way to manage anything in space. Which again mostly comes down to the writers just kind of treating space as a vast unmoving flat map. And also not quite getting how BIG it is. The main thing of course is in general you want most things happening in sector 2814 so the MC lantern(s) can be involved in the action. At the same time, you want to pay lip service to other sectors also being meaningful hence things like "just stick the world that dies as part of backstory there."

But once and while having 'no that sector is off-limits to our MC(s)' can also make for a good story, or your not planning to involve a GL anyway so it makes good excuses and having a big important thing happen in another sector make it feel more real. So Thanagar is another sector... well also being in the milky-way galaxy. If the GLC were, as treated as true, meant to be patrolling the whole damn universe this makes zero sense. Again it's the sort of thing that would require rebuilding from the ground up, and a bunch of editors to sit down and plan out on a high level to make work. the easier thing is for them to wave their hands and go 'shhhhhh, don't think about it.' There's likely a very good reason Marvel's closest equivalent, The Nova Corps never claimed as lofty a position as policing the whole universe nor ever set down 'and each member can only act in a set section of space.' When trying to make this work from both a 'makes sense' position and a 'let writers tell their story' position they get in each other's way.

[Stanlos]

1 earth green lantern is more than enough ( i don’t care who) the others can change lantern color or be forced to retire.

Does the Lantern of the sectir have to be an earther? Sur was alien so why not have the Wog or Kho or another alien be it and maximize message board fury?

[j9ac9k]

I don't think we need to have anything mapped out. For me, they just need to make up their mind what's in 2814 and what isn't. That's really the only thing that would matter for most stories.

Then establish which GL patrols certain important sectors/planets like Thanagar. (RIP Isamot Kol) As long as that's consistent I don't think we need a map.