Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns

So. Everyone keeping track of the schedule goings-on? Most of the FC books seem to be falling into place to conclude by the end of January, so that they can be "reflected in the books starting in March"--hmm; there seems to still be a safety cushion built in there. LEGION OF 3 WORLDS, on the other hand, appears to have fallen off a cliff; #3 is now due out in mid-January (and #4 in late December, but I imagine that'll get fixed sometime soon), and #5 still isn't on the schedule. Although if the lightning rod is going to tie into FLASH: REBIRTH, it's going to have to be out by April, isn't it?

If FINAL CRISIS is, as Morrison puts it, "a doom-laden, Death Metal myth for the wonderful world of Fina(ncia)l Crisis/Eco-breakdown/Terror Trauma we all have to live in," then RotRL is as metal as it gets--although, as several people have pointed out already, it has next to nothing to do with FC proper. (Johns made the claim that "you'll see events in FINAL CRISIS have motivated the Guardians...," but any reference to that seems to have not made it into the final script.) I'm surprised, though, that after taking such pains to explain or at least cue everything about the Legion in Lo3W, Johns has basically written this issue as a slightly longer issue of GREEN LANTERN for people who've been following it already.

Pg. 1:

Between #1 and #2? I guess that means that the GL storyline this "prologue" cliffhangers into happens between those issues too. Which means, as the sloth mugged by a gang of vicious snails put it, it all happened so fast! Except wasn't the deal in FC #1 that the Alpha Lanterns had cordoned off the planet, no one gets in or out, etc.? So what are Hal and John doing zooming off to outer space? Or do they get the "space cop" exception?

[ETA: As fcfanatic points out, at this point Hal's scar from FC #1 should be visible, and it's not. What's interesting is that most of the close-ups of Hal's face in this issue specifically don't show his left temple--and the ones that do almost all have some kind of patch of shading in that area. I suppose it's possible that Davis put the scar in there, and Hope didn't know it was supposed to be there... or maybe everyone just forgot/didn't know.]

Also, I've updated the timeline.

"Inversions" has to be a reference to Qull of the Five Inversions from "Tygers," the Alan Moore/Kevin O'Neill story in TALES OF THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS ANNUAL #2 that keeps on giving. [ETA: This point is explicated at greater length in the recent GREEN LANTERN #33--they're the survivors of the Massacre of Sector 666.]

Pg. 2:

For Atrocitus and Sector 666, see notes for DC UNIVERSE 0, pp. 15-16.

Ysmault is another throwaway thing from "Tygers."

The Guardians' android police force was the Manhunters--the kind created by Jack Kirby that first appeared in 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL #5, rather than DC's many other flavors of Manhunter. According to GREEN LANTERN #33, they went all "the crime isss life, the sentence isss death" on Sector 666.

Pg. 3:

Man, that oath may scan right, but it's sure ungainly--"so freshly dead"? Wouldn't "ripped from a body freshly dead" seem more natural? (Answer: yes, but then it wouldn't be able to include the extremely metal word "corpse".) Nice how the page's layout echoes the design of the Red Lantern insignia, too.

Pg. 5:

Jim Jordan, created by John Broome and Gil Kane, first appeared in 1961's GREEN LANTERN #9. (Note the "Kane St." in the background of the first panel; "Dooley Ave." probably refers to Kevin Dooley, who was editing the series during the "destruction of Coast City" period.) Cowgirl (Jillian Pearlman), created by Geoff Johns and Ethan van Sciver, first appeared in 2006's GREEN LANTERN #4.

Coast City's population would make it the fourth-largest city on the U.S. of Earth-Prime, bigger than any but New York, L.A. and Chicago. Not bad for a place that was a ghost town only a couple of years ago.

Pg. 6:

Korugar, Sinestro's home planet, first appeared in 1961's GREEN LANTERN #7.

Pp. 7-8:

"The last time the Guardians thought they stopped Sinestro...": This is not quite accurate: in 1988's THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #223 and thereabouts, Sinestro was sentenced to death, and managed to survive by putting his "essence" into the Central Power Battery. (Which made it stop working.)

Parallax, uh... Yes, right! Parallax. Next question, please?

Pg. 9:

This scene follows up on a plot thread from GREEN LANTERN #27. This Guardian was burned by the Anti-Monitor in GREEN LANTERN #25 (which is also where A-M got, uh, de-husked), and that sure looks like a Black Lantern/Black Hand insignia in his (or her?) eyeballs.

Ash, created by Ron Marz and Tony Harris, first appeared in 1993's GREEN LANTERN CORPS QUARTERLY #7.

Pg. 10:

Zamaron is the home planet of the Violet Lanterns we saw in DC UNIVERSE 0. And... now Scardian has yellow-lantern eyes.

Pg. 13:

Wouldn't executing a recidivist perpetrator of genocide count as deterrence as much as punishment?

Pg. 16:

Bleez and Vice are both new. Ranx, the Sentient City, is yet another "Tygers" bit, although it showed up at length in the course of the Sinestro Corps War. Laira, in the bottom panel, was created by Ruben Diaz and Travis Charest, and first appeared in GREEN LANTERN CORPS QUARTERLY #6.

Pg. 17:

I don't think we've seen space sector 543 before, although the Vega system has been established as being in sector 2828. The Controllers, created by Jim Shooter, Mort Weisinger and Curt Swan, first appeared in 1967's ADVENTURE COMICS #357. Okaara was mentioned a bunch in Marv Wolfman and George Pérez's early NEW TEEN TITANS stories, and the Warlords of Okaara first appeared in person in TALES OF THE NEW TEEN TITANS #4. (Ah, the days when Pérez was drawing two comics a month...) And what light is it? It sure looks like orange light, representing greed, hence the "No! It's mine!"--which I believe we also saw back in DCU 0.

Pg. 18:

That would be Salakk, not Saalak; created by Marv Wolfman and Joe Staton, he first appeared in 1982's GREEN LANTERN #149. Kilowog, the big guy in the middle panel, was created by Steve Englehart and Joe Staton, and first appeared in 1986's GREEN LANTERN CORPS #201, but stole my heart with the cover to GREEN LANTERN CORPS #208. I cannot for the life of me remember what the Lantern who looks like a 100-sided die is named. [ETA: Chaselon. Thank you, rwe1138!]

Pg. 19:

Anyone want to guess what Hal's question was going to be?

Pg. 20:

Arx, created by Dave Gibbons and Patrick Gleason, first appeared in 2006's GREEN LANTERN CORPS #1.

Pg. 24:

The Red Hairball Lantern is apparently called Dex-Star, although if he's named this issue I overlooked it. I thought the Sinestro of Sector 3 was Bedovian, but I don't think the hairball victim here is him.

Pg. 30:

Saint Walker, not to be confused with Christian Walker, first popped up in the "War of Light" image in GREEN LANTERN #25.