‘Future State: Green Lantern #1’: What’s a Green Lantern Without Their Ring?

Writers: Geoffrey Thorne, Ryan Cady, and Ernie Alabaster / Artists: Michael Atiyeh, Sami Basri, and Clayton Henry / DC Comics Future State: Green Lantern #1 is here, and the Green Lantern Corps is.. no more?! In the first of two issues exploring the possible futures of some notable Green Lanterns, we get a small anthology with three stories led by John Stewart, Jessica Cruz, and Guy Gardner. But these aren’t the Green Lanterns we’ve come to know and love. After the Central Power Battery goes off, the Lanterns have no juice in their rings, and they’re stuck in the far reaches of space.  The first story is “Last Lanterns” featuring John Stewart and an elite squad who were in the middle of mapping new sectors of space when the power battery went offline. They’re now stuck in the middle of a foreign planet’s war.  This is a really dope setup, and it features a grizzled, take-no-shit John Stewart. My mans has got a full zaddy beard and he’s dreaded up. And his weapon of choice in this post ring life? A literal laser sword. Dude has all the steez. 

On top of the cool premise, what I really liked about this story is that it centered John as a leader, something we don’t see very much for a character who has a background as a Marine. He led his elite squad of former Lanterns valiantly, and I can’t wait to read more in the next issue. This just unlocked my dormant need to have John Stewart not just featured in more books, but with agency as well.  The second sto…