The Guardians of the Universe were descendants of a race called Maltusians who settled on the planet Oa. Creatures of greatly advanced mental prowess, they had left their homeworld of Maltus, which had become a cold and barren wasteland. Ever striving for advancement and to solidify their place as the greatest beings in existence, the Guardians decided to create for themselves an army of powerful protectors. This quest was not without its glitches, and the Guardians had to deal with such considerable failures as the Manhunter project. Instead of building their police force, they opted to recruit members from hundreds of different alien races. The Green Lantern Corps was born.
For three billion years, a group of heroic figures has protected the universe, divided into 3,600 sectors by the Guardians, with the planet OA at its center. Rori Dag was the first GL to be given a power ring, a construct created by the Guardians to channel willpower. Each ring can allow its wearer to fly, create "hard light" constructs limited only by his imagination, pass through solid objects, translate the most foreign of languages, travel through time... In short, its power is limitless, save for a necessary "impurity" which renders it vulnerable to the color yellow. This was probably for the Guardians' peace of mind, a failsafe to prevent their greatest achievement from becoming the death of them.
Little did they realize that the best of their Green Lanterns would indeed be their downfall. Hal Jordan of Earth was always a controversial figure among his green brethren, but he had ultimately gained the respect and admiration of the Corps and of the Guardians themselves. The Green Lanterns had already been facing tough times when Jordan went insane, killing off most of the remaining Lanterns and all but one of the Guardians. That lone Oan, Ganthet, was able to salvage enough energy to create one final ring which went to Earthman Kyle Rayner. The legacy of the Green Lantern was to continue, but the Corps was gone, maybe forever.
Hal Jordan has sinced worked very hard to atone for his sins. And Kyle Rayner has come into his own as Green Lantern. An encounter with a past version of Jordan left Rayner with a power ring that could be replicated and Rayner attempted to rebuild the GL Corps, but failed miserably. Later, his subconscious conjured up an all-new Corps, but they disappeared when Kyle realized they were being kept alive through his ring alone. Recently, Kyle came to possess the full power of the Guardians' Oan power battery. As the omnipotent Ion, he "rebirthed" the Guardians on a new Oa.
The Hall of Fallen Green Lanterns
DISCLAIMER: GREEN LANTERN and all related elements are the property of DC Comics. TM & © 2005
