Green Lantern's Darkest Story Just Took on a Devastating New Meaning
Warning: contains spoilers for Green Lantern #3!
The Green Lantern Corps is in chaos, as countless heroes have lost their powers thanks to the destruction of Oa's Central Power Battery. But the moment is even darker in the context of a classic Green Lantern story, which suggests a demonic influence may have taken pains to ensure that as many Green Lanterns as possible died as a result of this recent calamity.
The story in question is 'Tygers,' written by Alan Moore with art by Kevin O'Neill, and published in the anthology comic Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2. The narrative follows Hal Jordan's predecessor Abin Sur as he attempts to investigate a crash landing on the planet Ysmault - a world formerly ruled by black magic, and now home to a race of demons forever bound in unnatural forms by the Guardians of the Universe. Though Abin Sur is wary of the demons, Qull of the Five Inversions offers to answer three questions about the future with no expectations in return, setting the fabled Green Lantern on the road to ruin.
Abin Sur's fate is sealed when Qull reveals that he will die due to a failure of his power ring, "perhaps while you are unprotected in a hard vacuum, or engaging an enemy." Abin Sur takes the warning to heart, deciding to use a mechanical ship for longer journeys to conserve his ring's energy. Years later, Abin Sur enters a cloud of radiation that disables his ship and prevents him from using his ring. Knowing he would have tested the cloud first if he had been traveling by ring, Abin Sur hears demonic laughter all the way down to his fatal crash landing. Sadly, Green Lantern #3 reveals much of the Corps just suffered a similarly lethal fate, as their rings cut out while traveling through space or trapped in perilous situations. But was this Qull's plan all along?
While tricking Abin Sur into the circumstances that would cause his death is already a diabolical ending to the story, it's possible 'Tygers' also planted the seed for many more deaths. In Green Lantern #3, John Stewart is only rescued from dying in space by the sacrifice of Green Lantern Amanita, who uses his body to create a protective layer around Stewart. The alien who eventually rescues John Stewart chides him for his carelessness, saying, "Should've had some backup tech, no? A life suit at least. Space kills, John Stewart."
In fact, the Green Lantern Corps has developed a culture that's strongly against supplementing their rings with other technology, with pressure put on Simon Baz to abandon the firearm he originally carried in case of ring failure. While Abin Sur's fate isn't given as the reason for this, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest Green Lanterns of all time, and it makes sense that his death - and the part that his alternate technology played in it - helped to shape the Corps' attitude to taking even slight precautions against the failure of their power rings.
It's likely the Guardians' desire for complete control also influenced the Corps' view of supplementary tech, but as thousands of Green Lanterns hang lifeless in space - and others like Guy Gardner find themselves stranded on alien planets with no weaponry or protection - it makes a terrible sense that Qull didn't merely influence Abin Sur to take precautions that would guarantee his death, but also intended to establish him as a cautionary tale that would leave other Lanterns overly dependent on their rings on the day the Corps finally fell. Qull's predictions have returned before - most notably in the Sinestro Corps War - and with DC's Infinite Frontier combining all past continuities, it's possible that Green Lantern may yet reveal the demonic villain knew exactly what he was doing when he tempted Abin Sur into hearing his terrible prophecies.