Green Lanterns 9 Spoilers!

[Tony]

Best thing I read this week. Absolutely brilliant. Sam's been doing such a great job with the personal lives and motivations of our heroes and I enjoy it but this...

I think this was the best origin of a villain in, I don't even know. From the time he gets saved by Hal, to growing up never making the grade, to his obsession and training, finally almost getting what he always wanted only to have it slip away...mesmerized. 1 Issue and I feel like I get this guy. If we lived in a world like the DC universe I could see this exact story playing out.

I have no idea who the first lantern is other than he reminded me of the Emperor. Anything I need to know about or just he's a bad guy?

[SkyMason21]

Really happy with this issue. The scene when the ring appeared and left him was cold. Loved how messed up that was.

Only thing I know about Volthoom is that he was in the power ring from Earth 3 that Jessica had before she was a Green Lantern.

[napolid]

Quality of writing this issue was better than usual. Really enjoying this run.

[poroto678]

Really happy with this issue. The scene when the ring appeared and left him was cold. Loved how messed up that was.

Only thing I know about Volthoom is that he was in the power ring from Earth 3 that Jessica had before she was a Green Lantern.

Well, he also was the First Lantern, the villain in Geoff Johns' last arc, which finished with GL #20. I think that this Volthoom is different from the earth-3 volthoom.

[jbmasta]

Really happy with this issue. The scene when the ring appeared and left him was cold. Loved how messed up that was.

Only thing I know about Volthoom is that he was in the power ring from Earth 3 that Jessica had before she was a Green Lantern.

That scene takes place between GL Annual #1 (introducing Rise of the Third Army, the storyline leading into WotFL) and Green Lantern #0 (published between issues #12 and #13 as part of the Zero Month event exploring the revised backstories of characters).

I'm thinking that the Volthoom at the end of this issue is the First Lantern, the one who was the main antagonist of the final Johns GL storyline Wrath of the First Lantern. This version of the character was about digging into members of all the Lantern Corps emotionally, twisting their histories in order to gain the power to manipulate reality itself. I'm guessing that he's trying to obtain the Phantom Ring to regain power, but needs another to act on his behalf to achieve it.

[Frontier]

It was interesting getting Frank's backstory and seeing what kind of effect the Green Lanterns had on him. None of the other GL's necessarily chose to become GL's, they were chosen, so where does that leave someone who wants to become a Green Lantern like his heroes? You almost kind of feel bad for the lengths he went to in order to become like Hal, John, Guy, and Kyle.

It also makes him a good contrast to Simon and Jessica given we have someone who's always wanted to be a Lantern against the two newest GL's who still aren't as sure of themselves.

I wonder if Frank is going to find out that Simon is the one who stole his big chance to be a Green Lantern?

Actually, I wonder...is it just because of how glitchy the ring was that it ended up redirected towards Simon, so it was simply all luck that it attached itself to him instead of Frank, or was there something special about Simon (as has been reinforced numerous times) that made it come after him instead?

[Tony]

It felt to me like the ring realized he wanted it for the wrong reasons. Not to do good, but to be special and have people look up to him. I read it as a character issue. I'm sure we'll learn more in the coming issues. I was not aware he had actually appeared before. I may pick up the first lantern trade if the story stays this strong just for background.

[jbmasta]

Is it the thirst for power itself that makes men unfit to wield it?

- Radu, Son of the Dragon (Big Finish Productions, 2007)

Don't forget that at the time, that ring had only just been reintegrated into one (Sinestro made a second ring for Hal since he'd just been dishonorably discharged from the Corps), with Hal and Sinestro giving different messages. Problem is, both messages played back at once, so it could be Frank more like Sinestro in terms of personality, while Baz was more like to Hal.

[PyroTwilight]

I'm hoping Frank gets to become a hero. I can tell it's obviously just meant to be setting up his bad guy motivations but I really want not every person who wants power to simply be the bad guy.

As for Volthoom I'm HOPING they tie the E-3 Power Ring Volthoom (PRV) and First Lantern Volthoom (FLV) together. I've assumed for a while that they meant to and only now got around to it.

As FLV first appeared before the Guardians of the Universe in a astronaut suit that had a sort of reversed/evil designed American flag on it similar to flags the Crime Syndicate worlds have had in the past.

I'm assuming time travel and reality jumping will explain this guy was always the same Volthoom.

Plus both Volthoom's largely focused on drawing power from others tending to use fears as their way of doing so.

[J. D. Guy]

I'm hoping Frank gets to become a hero. I can tell it's obviously just meant to be setting up his bad guy motivations but I really want not every person who wants power to simply be the bad guy.

As interesting a change of pace as it would be, it's kind of unlikely. This may be the side of me talking that got a little burned on August's lack of a proper Heel Realization, but I don't know. Him being a kind of antithetical Hal doesn't help.

Though there is a chance that he could have a positive turn around when all is said and done, it would likely come at the cost of his death.

[AcesX1X]

i agree. i thought that sam humphries really outdid himself with this issue and i hope he keeps up this work.

[Frontier]

And I think this is the first time the New 52 Justice League International's existence has been acknowledged in years .

[Blackest Knight]

Quality of writing this issue was better than usual. Really enjoying this run.

i agree. i thought that sam humphries really outdid himself with this issue and i hope he keeps up this work.

I'm a hardcore GL fan and Humphries' writing on Green Lanterns has been more chaotic and mediocre than in the first 2 issues as this run has progressed. But I echo all the praise here for GLs #9. Wow, what an improvement!

The villain is new, unique and interesting in both concept and in execution. Frank Laminski sounds like the sort of GL villain other writers and artists can have a lot of fun exploring for years to come. Robson Rocha's art was also stronger this issue with clearer narrative that was easier to follow yet also slicker.

This arc is off to a promising start!

[K. Jones]

Volthoom is Volthoom. He's always the same dude, though it's only snippets of dialogue that ever confirm it, or hints.

When we meet Volthoom in Johns' Green Lantern run finale, he's the First Lantern, the final "big mistake" the Guardians have kept secret since the dawn of time. The flashbacks reveal that he was a cosmic traveler (humanoid, possibly already immortal) who visited Krona when he was witnessing the Big Bang, so his being there predates the Guardians turning into Guardians (like back when Ganthet was still six feet tall). But the hints already begin - because Volthoom wears an astronaut insignia/flag that looks like the American flag but goes from right-to-left instead - a hint that he's from Earth-3. The Inverted Good-Evil Universe.

Either way, he appears to have helped the Guardians harness the Emotional Spectrum, but to cover it up or because he went mad with power, he's sealed away as the First Lantern, only to escape during the fall of the Guardians at the end of Johns's GL run. But there's like a line about how defeated, Volthoom is imprisoned or smashed or sealed or parasitically combined with his own "First Power Ring" and sent back to the Universe he comes from - Earth-3. We don't know how much he had to do with things like drawing the attention of the Anti-Monitor or leading the Crime Syndicate to Earth-0 for Forever Evil.

And when we next see him, he's a little bit Flashpointed, but he's the demonic force possessing Power Ring's power ring, and when Sinestro slaughters Power Ring, Volthoom tries to take over Jessica Cruz, too, but after Darkseid War she overcomes him. So he's a pretty good personal "archvillain" for Jessica.

Anyhow - I've really got to catch up on this title.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

Just read it:

I LOOOOOOOOVE that this was essentially a treasure trove for continuity hounds. First, they finally gave an identity to that nameless pilot that Hal saved in the Flaming Spear some 57 years ago. I love that. He pretty much has the exact same dialogue too. And they even referenced John's original debut from back in 1971 (Jeremiah Clutcher). This is awesome! And I thought the writing was top notch. I had been disappointed with the run a few issues ago, but if Humphries keeps this up, I'm hooked.