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michaeljoncarter · 1 year

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hi okay i just followed u and i actually would love to hear if u have recs or thoughts on the other spectrum of lantern rings bc i saw ur one post abt the red lanterns and. tbh i do not know much abt them. or any of the colors really? but u also seem like u’ve read a lot of them and i do actually want to get back into reading comics so i figured i’d ask!

i am like… weirdly invested in the emotional spectrum & all the different lantern corps as a concept and have actually been wanting to make a sort of "intro" post to all of it for a while now, so thank you for finally giving me an excuse!

not really gonna get into any of my thoughts about any of it just because if i let myself start rambling, this will spiral into a 200k word long monstrosity and never actually get answered so! recs!

the good news is 99% of this was introduced in one big saga, so it's actually pretty straightforward & easy to get into. apart from the greens, the only two that were sortakinda introduced before the whole war of light era were the star sapphires & yellow lanterns, but they were both originally pretty different to how they are now

honestly, the older version of the yellow ring doesn't really matter all that much when it comes to the current version. i'm still gonna put a couple things where it shows up, but you could definitely pick up later comics without reading them and not be lost if you'd like to skip

on the other hand, i would suggest reading at least a little about the original star sapphire before jumping into the war of light era because it builds on & references back to the older comics quite a bit

Sinestro/Yellow rings:

Green Lantern (1960) #7, #9

Green Lantern (1990) #83 - 85 for the introduction of fatality

Green Lantern (1990) #131 - 136

Star Sapphire & the Zamarons:

Green Lantern (1960) #16, #26, #41, #73 - 74

Superman #261

Green Lantern (1960) #129

Green Lantern (1960) #178 - 190 is where the predator (which will come back later) is introduced, but the fact that the predator existed pre-blackest night isn't something you need to know to understand its later iteration. it's really only ever mentioned a couple times in passing, and to be honest, this whole arc is just... really not my favorite. you can absolutely skip if you find you're not having a good time with it

Green Lantern (1960) #191 - 192

Green Lantern (1990) #83 - 85, again, for fatality

Emerald Twilight (Green Lantern (1990) #48 - 50) is also really important to read if you want to be able to understand like... anything that happens later

less importantly, i'd also suggest checking out the original ion arc (Green Lantern (1990) #143 - 150). you won't be super lost or anything if you don't, but it'll provide a little context about wtf this ion thing everybody's talking about is

and LASTLY, black lanterns were a thing before Blackest Night. Blackest Night & Brightest Day and like 99% of what's here is pretty heavily based on Tales of the Green Lantern Corps #1 - 3 & its annuals. you don't have to read that before jumping into Blackest Night (i think i'd actually recommend waiting and coming back to it later), but if you're interested, it's definitely worth checking out!

and now, with all that out of the way, we can get into the johns/tomasi era & the actual point of this post lol

pretty much every single arc here is constantly jumping between about 3-4 different books, but instead of linking to a bunch of different reading lists, i'm just gonna put all the individual issues so everything's all in one place & hopefully easier to use as a reference, if anyone wants to do that... so this is going to be an obnoxiously long post! sorry about that!

ok! first and perhaps most controversially, Green Lantern: Rebirth. the dreaded parallax retcon, but it's kind of the foundation of all of this, so it's a must-read when it comes to the whole spectrum.

again, if you only read one thing from the older comics, let it be Emerald Twilight (Green Lantern (1990) #48 - 50) because Rebirth will really not make much sense without that context

next, i'd recommend jumping ahead a little and going ahead to read hal's origin (Green Lantern (2005) #29 - 35). you can wait and read it later if you want, of course, but it's just kinda shoved in the middle of a different arc later, and i really think it makes things flow a bit better if you just get to it up front instead

the first part of the green lantern & green lantern corps titles (Green Lantern (2005) #1 - 20 & Green Lantern Corps (2006) #1 - 13) don't have all that much to do with setting up the spectrum or the other corps, so if you're eager to just get straight to that, you can skip that

but if not and you want to read everything, be sure and check out Green Lantern Corps: Recharge, which is what sets up Green Lantern Corps (2006), before jumping into it!

Green Lantern (2005) #17 - 20 is the Mystery of the Star Sapphire arc that kicks everything off. from this point on, it's pretty much non-stop arcs spanning multiple books and more tie-ins than you've ever seen in your life

it's all very fun, but it is, quite frankly, annoying as hell to read. like i said, i'm gonna be listing it all out, but i'm gonna separate everything by arc and put the names of each because most of these have been collected into TPBs or omnibuses & if you can manage to track down that version, i'd HIGHLY recommend reading it that way to save yourself some frustration

Sinestro Corps War:

Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps Special #1

Green Lantern (2005) #21

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #14

Green Lantern (2005) #22

Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Parallax #1

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #15

Green Lantern (2005) #23

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #16

Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Cyborg Superman #1

Green Lantern (2005) #24

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #17

Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime #1

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #18

Green Lantern (2005) #25

Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Ion #1

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #19

Green Lantern (2005) #26 - 28 and Green Lantern Corps (2006) #19 - 28 are the epilogue of the Sinestro Corps War, including the Ring Quest Arc, the introduction of the alpha lanterns, and the prologue to Rage of the Red Lanterns. also, if you want to read hal's revamped origin (Green Lantern (2005) #29 - 35) here instead, this is where it was originally placed

Rage of the Red Lanterns:

Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns

Green Lantern (2005) #36 - 38

Agent Orange & Tale of the Black Lantern:

Green Lantern (2005) #39 - 42

Green Lantern (2005) #43

Sins of the Star Sapphire & Emerald Eclipse:

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #29 - 32

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #33 - 38

BLACKEST NIGHT:

ok, this is the big one. pretty much everything that was running at the time of this event did a tie-in for it, and as such, there are a lot of issues in the full reading order that aren't super necessary to read, as all that really happens is you get to see which rings went to which characters

i'm gonna be putting the less important tie-ins in italics. you can skip them & come back later if you want

Blackest Night #0 - 1

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1 - 3

Green Lantern (2005) #44

Blackest Night #2

Green Lantern (2005) #45

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #39

Blackest Night: Batman #1

Blackest Night: Superman #1

Blackest Night: Titans #1

Blackest Night #3

Green Lantern (2005) #46

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #40

Blackest Night: Batman #2

Blackest Night: Superman #2

Blackest Night: Titans #2

Blackest Night #4

Green Lantern (2005) #47

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #41

Blackest Night: Batman #3

Blackest Night: Superman #3

Blackest Night: Titans #3

Blackest Night #5

Green Lantern (2005) #48

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #42

Justice League of America (2006) #39

Superman/Batman #66

Doom Patrol #4

Booster Gold (2007) #26

R.E.B.E.L.S. #10

Teen Titans (2003) #77

Adventure Comics (2009) #4

Outsiders (2009) #24

Blackest Night #6

Green Lantern (2005) #49

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #43

Blackest Night: Flash #1

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #1

Blackest Night: JSA #1

Justice League of America (2006) #40

Superman/Batman #67

Doom Patrol #5

Booster Gold (2007) #27

R.E.B.E.L.S. #11

Teen Titans (2003) #78

Adventure Comics (2009) #5

Outsiders (2009) #25

Green Lantern (2005) #50

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #44

Blackest Night: Flash #2

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #2

Blackest Night: JSA #2

The Atom and Hawkman #46

The Phantom Stranger #42

Starman #81

Power of Shazam #48

The Question #37

Catwoman #83

Weird Western Tales #71

Suicide Squad #67

Secret Six #17

Blackest Night #7

Green Lantern (2005) #51

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #45

Blackest Night: Flash #3

Blackest Night: Wonder Woman #3

Blackest Night: JSA #3

Green Arrow and Black Canary #30

Adventure Comics (2009) #7

Secret Six #18

Blackest Night #8

Green Lantern (2005) #52

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #46

Untold Tales of Blackest Night

Brightest Day:

there was a main Brightest Day book, but it's mostly just about the heroes resurrected in Blackest Night running around trying to figure out what to do now. you can read it if you want, of course, but it doesn't actually have much to do with the lantern corps, so we're ignoring it here

Green Lantern (2005) #53 - 62

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #47 - 48

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #1 - 7

Green Lantern Corps #49 - 52

War of the Green Lanterns:

Green Lantern (2005) #63 - 64

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #58

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8

Green Lantern (2005) #65

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #59

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #9

Green Lantern (2005) #66

Green Lantern Corps (2006) #60

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #10

Green Lantern Vol. 4 #67

War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #1 - 2

Sinestro & The Secret of the Indigo Tribe:

Green Lantern (2011) #1 - 6

Green Lantern (2011) #7 - 10

Red Lanterns:

Red Lanterns #1 - 12

New Guardians & the beginning of the white lantern kyle arc:

Green Lantern: New Guardians #1 - 12

Rise of the Third Army:

Green Lantern (2011) #11 - 12, Annual #1, #0

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #0

Red Lanterns #0

Green Lantern: New Guardians #0

Green Lantern (2011) #13

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #13

Green Lantern: New Guardians #13

Red Lanterns #13

Green Lantern (2011) #14

Red Lanterns #14

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #14

Green Lantern: New Guardians #14

Green Lantern (2011) #15

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #15

Red Lanterns #15

Green Lantern: New Guardians #15, Annual #1

Green Lantern (2011) #16

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #16

Green Lantern New Guardians #16

Red Lanterns #16

Green Lantern Corps (2011) Annual #1

Wrath of the First Lantern:

Green Lantern (2011) #17

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #17

Green Lantern: New Guardians #17

Red Lanterns #17

Green Lantern (2011) #18

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #18

Green Lantern: New Guardians #18

Red Lanterns #18

Green Lantern (2011) #19

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #19

Green Lantern: New Guardians #19

Red Lanterns #19

Green Lantern Vol. 5 #20

Green Lantern Corps Vol. 3 #20

Green Lantern: New Guardians #20

Red Lanterns #20

aaand this is unfortunately where things kinda start to go downhill imo--for the main green lantern book, especially. you can, of course, read everything if you want, but tbh Red Lanterns, Sinestro, and sometimes Green Lantern Corps were the only things i actually enjoyed reading & would really recommend from this point on, so i'm gonna be skipping a bit

Red Lanterns #21 - 23 is guy's red lantern coup d'etat arc, and Green Lantern Corps (2011) #21 - 23 is kinda build up to The Fatality Thing that comes in the Uprising arc, and then we get to Lights Out, which tbh i just straight up do not like, but we're gonna put it here anyway because it's important to a lot that comes later (unfortunately)

Lights Out:

Green Lantern: New Guardians #22 - 23

Green Lantern (2011) #24

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #24

Green Lantern: New Guardians #24

Red Lanterns #24

Green Lantern (2011) Annual #2

Uprising:

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #25 - 30 is kinda prologue to this, including some actually fun weirdness with von daggle & the more covert/espionage side of the glc

Green Lantern (2011) #31

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #31

Green Lantern (2011) #32

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #32

Green Lantern (2011) #33

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #33 - 34

Red Daughter of Krypton (one of my favorite arcs to come out of this whole thing <3):

Supergirl (2011) #26 - 29

Green Lantern (2011) #28

Red Lanterns #28 - 29

Supergirl (2011) #30

Red Lanterns #30

Supergirl (2011) #31

Red Lanterns #31 - 32

Supergirl (2011) #32 - 33

Red Lanterns #33, Annual #1, #34

the beginning of the long-running "sinestro trying to regain custody of his child" arc:

Sinestro #1 - 5

Godhead:

New Gods: Godhead #1

Green Lantern (2011) #35

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #35

Green Lantern: New Guardians #35

Red Lanterns #35

Sinestro #6

Green Lantern (2011) #36

Green Lantern Corps (2011) #36

Green Lantern: New Guardians #36

Red Lanterns #36

Sinestro #7

Green Lantern (2011) #37

Green Lantern Corps (Volume 3) #37

Green Lantern: New Guardians #37

Red Lanterns #37

Sinestro #8

Green Lantern Annual (2011) #3

Green Lantern Corps (2011), Green Lantern: New Guardians, and Red Lanterns all only had 3 issues left after this arc ended, and they're all... fine? i'd recommend reading them just because, y'know, why not? and then thaaat's pretty much it

after this, we're just left with the main title, which continues to be very meh imo, and Sinestro, which is actually pretty good. i'd say just stick with that, read Sinestro #9 - 23, and then join us all in Rebirth & hoping dc gets its shit together and actually does something interesting with all this again sometime soon

#ask #tiramisusam #LONG post #being a johns hater who's also super into all this is so tragic. feel like the comic book version of a class traitor #anyway!! sorry for taking like a week to answer this! and also for how messy it is lol #i didn't really get into rebirth because well. mostly because this was already SO LONG honestly #but also tbh i just don't like most of it #Green Lanterns wasn't bad (outside of how simon's characterized)#& that's pretty much the only compliment i have fr how things have been going since it started lmao #anyway umm. got kinda carried away here but hope it helps at all!

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