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Post by Admin on Oct 11, 2005 23:33:15 GMT -5
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Post by Admin on Oct 11, 2005 23:38:26 GMT -5
Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Issue 0 Written by Scott Kruger Cover by Brandon Herren Edited by David Charlton
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Post by Admin on Oct 11, 2005 23:39:09 GMT -5
From the Book of OA:
>Data banks Open: reference point, file: .0001<
It all began over 10 billion years ago. The Maltusians were the most evolved and intelligent beings in the universe. A group of Maltusian scientists banned together and all but conquered disease and poverty... this was their first mistake. The Maltusians had gained immortality... but at a cost. They no longer had the ability to procreate. The women of Maltus unanimously decided to leave the world of their birth to colonize a far away planet known as Zamaron.
The men of Maltus doubled their dedication to the search of knowledge. A faction of 140 scientists created a time portal to peer into the far future or past. They called themselves "The Scholars". The moment the portal was completed a scientist, named Krona, activated it and began looking into the universe's history. He saw the beginning of the Maltusian race. He saw the pre-historic creatures that ruled the world long before the Maltusians... yet this did not satiate his lust for knowledge. He wanted... needed to see the beginning of everything. He set the machine to look into the beginning of time.
There, before him in the monitor... a hand holding in its palm, the universe. Krona gazed into the monitor intently as the open hand began to close around the universe. Krona watched transfixed as the hand slowly made a fist over the tiny galaxy. Suddenly the screen went white, and everything exploded.
The Universe itself shook at its very core. In an instant, entire civilizations were destroyed, planets exploded and stars went nova. Some future races would never be born, and some that were never meant to be, would eventually show signs of life.
Krona did not live to see punishment for his crimes against the Universe, nor would the universe learn just how wide spread the damage would be... For the multi-verse had been born.
>>>fast forward<<<
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Post by Admin on Oct 11, 2005 23:39:30 GMT -5
Chapter 2: The First Ring
>Data banks Open: reference point, file: 1.237.529<
3 Billion Years ago...
After the Manhunter project failed, the 126 surviving Scholars had abandoned the husk that was once Maltus. The surviving Maltusians remained on Maltus and began rebuilding. The Scholars exiled themselves to a planet in the astronomical center of the known Universe, known as OA, and set out to make things right once again. They needed to create a warrior that could end the menace the Manhunters had become to the Universe.
The Scholars, now calling themselves Oans, began using their vast knowledge of technology, to harness the power held within the core of the planet OA. A fraction of that energy was gathered and set into a jewel. That jewel was placed into a ring. The first ring of power was born.
The ring of power contained a portion of the infinite power of OA. It had no weakness, it could not be destroyed; it could only be altered, if needed. The ring could do anything its bearer desired. The only limits put upon it was the bearer’s imagination & willpower. Now they needed someone with great willpower to wear it. The Oans scoured the universe searching for the perfect individual to wear their ring... someone that could put an end to the Manhunter threat. They found a being known only as Parallax.
Parallax was given the ring and a mandate: Stop the Manhunters. He tracked the Manhunters down and one by one and destroyed them. He found the power housed within his mighty ring was more than enough to end their threat. It is unknown if he stopped them all, for the power he held began to corrupt him. The Oans watched in horror, as yet another of their creations began to wreak havoc on the universe.
Knowing the power of his ring came from OA, and that he bore but a fraction of it, he returned to the planet determined to destroy his Oan masters & claim all the planets power. The Oans were prepared. Deep in a hidden valley of beautiful trees and lakes the Oans constructed an enormous green power battery. The battery, shaped like a Maltusian vigilance lantern, tapped directly into the planet core... an unlimited source of power. The Oans, over the years, had learned how to tap that same energy, without the use of a power ring, in essence, becoming living rings of power. Half of them gathered around the battery, while the other half set out to lure Parallax to the battery.
The Oans that set out to lure him succeeded only in that, they were burned alive by the green flame of Parallax's ring. For their defiance, Parallax used the rings green flame to ignite the forest planet. Every living creature on the planet was annihilated except for the 63 remaining Oans. They had tapped into the main power battery, surrounding themselves in an impregnable emerald energy barrier.
Parallax found the battery, and the Oans, surrounded by the ash of the once great forest. He flew into the center of the battery as the Oans had hoped. They gathered all of their power and focused their will into the battery. The threat of Parallax ended with a scream and an enormous wave of emerald energy. The planet core had swallowed him alive. The strain of the energy transfer had a horrible side effect on the Oans. 27 of them were killed and the 36 survivors became weak and withered. The only remnant the surviving Oans found of Parallax was the indestructible ring.
Though the Oans could not destroy it, they could still manipulate the power in the ring. They made the ring vulnerable to the one substance in the universe that was more abundant than any other, the carbon based substance known as wood. As an extra precaution the Oans encased the ring in stone and sent it into the heart of a distant star known as Sol, never to be seen again.
The Oans decided, once again, to try and make amends with the universe. They declared themselves the Guardians of the Universe and set out to make things right...
>>>fast forward<<<
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Post by Admin on Oct 11, 2005 23:39:49 GMT -5
Chapter 3: The Corps
>Data banks Open: reference point, file: 7.356.972.12875<
The idea of the Green Lantern was a sound one. The Guardians decided to create a Corps of Green Lanterns to patrol the universe protecting it from any threat. However, they realized the need to control their new Corpsmen and limit their power. They created new rings, each with a jeweled center like the original; However, two flaws were put into each jewel... each would only hold a 24 hour (Earth time) charge. At the end of the 24 hours the ring would require a recharge. For this, the Guardians created a smaller replica of the great central battery. The miniature batteries would remain inside the central battery until a Green Lantern would summon it. The second flaw was a weakness to the color yellow. Yellow was chosen in memory of their brethren who had fallen at the hands of Parallax, whose skin hue was yellow. All was ready.
The Guardians divided the Universe into 3,600 sectors. Each sector began at OA, and moved outward in a cone shape. Each Guardian would oversee 100 sectors. One being would be chosen from each sector to wear a ring of power. That being, aside from having great willpower, was now required to be both fearless and honest.
At long last, the Maltusians of old, now the Guardians of the Universe, had created something that would stand the test of time. The Green Lantern Corps was born.
>>>End Inquiry<<<
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Post by Admin on Oct 11, 2005 23:40:31 GMT -5
Chapter 4: A tale of two fathers
It was a perfect day. The marine layer had burned off just before lunchtime and the temperature was a blissfully chilly 68 degrees with absolutely no wind. It was as if the powers that be knew Hal would be on a school field trip to Ferris Aircraft. The perfect day for all of his friends to see his father, Martin, fly.
He had been so excited that morning as he left for school that he had forgotten his jacket. A problem that his father was quick to remedy when the bus arrived at Ferris aircraft by giving Hal his old Air Force bomber jacket. Hal wore it proudly throughout the facilities tour before heading out for the grandstand to watch his father fly the F-4 Phantom. The plane was an older model fitted with an experimental engine. The grandstand faced West towards the ocean, with hangers to the North and the control tower to the South. There was a chain-link fence separating the stands from the tarmac.
Martin Jordan became a test pilot for Ferris Aircraft after retiring from the Air Force. It made Hal's mom nervous, but at least at Ferris, no one would attempt to shoot Martin down. Hal's mom sat in the grandstand with his two brothers (James & Jack) while Hal sat with his class as the F-4 flew over head breaking the sound barrier. Hal and his pals whooped and hollered while the girls in the class covered their ears with more than a couple shrieking in surprise. The jet raced low to the ground before heading out over the Pacific Ocean.
The announcer that spoke over the PA system was the owner, Carl Ferris. He stood in the grandstand control booth with his young daughter, Carol. He gave the crowd a play by play of every maneuver before it was made and between his descriptions the transmissions between Martin and the control tower were broadcast through the PA. The plane rocketed upwards, performed a loop and dove back towards the ocean.
"And now ladies and gentlemen, our pilot will pull out of this steep dive and fly directly over..."
>>Tower, we have a problem...<<
"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen..."
The transmissions between the tower, Mr. Ferris and Martin halted abruptly. The next few seconds the crowd spoke in a hushed murmur and Hal's mother fidgeted nervously. All of this went largely unnoticed by Hal who just sat in amazement of his idolized father. As the plane came closer and closer to the surface of the Pacific, Hal noticed that something was horribly wrong. The plane wasn't pulling up, and there was a trail of black smoke coming from one of the engines. In the grandstand control room Hal could hear Mr. Ferris shouting into a phone...
"EJECT! DAMMIT MARTIN, EJECT!!!"
But at the last possible moment the plane pulled out of its dive. The crowd went wild and Carl Ferris breathed a sigh of relief as the PA system crackled back to life.
"Ladies and gentlemen... Martin Jordan!" the crowd cheered again as the plane soared over their heads. Hal jumped off the bench and raced up the stairs toward the back of the grandstand to see what his father would do for his next stunt.
"Martin... put that plane down immediately! The stress that dive caused could tear you apart..." Carl Ferris spoke into a phone. The young girl standing with Carl looked in Hal's direction and waved at him. He smiled and waved back when the sound of another sonic boom shook the stands. Hal looked back in the direction of his father when the concussion hit, knocking him backward and shattering the glass in the grandstand control booth. Carol and the crowd below screamed.
In the instant that he looked away, the plane had plunged, nose first, into the ground. His father was gone.
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Post by Admin on Oct 11, 2005 23:41:03 GMT -5
The planet Ungara, sector 2814, 20 Earth years later...
Abin Sur had just arrived at his home when the order came through. He had not even walked through the door when the image of Appa Ali Apsa's head emanated from the jewel in his power ring. Abin knew that it was dangerous to have a family in this particular line of work. Yet he was betrothed long before Starkaor ever plucked him from his life (not that it was much of a difference, he was a captain in the Ungarian police force) and bequeathed him the ring of power. His wife and son would understand... he was Green Lantern, and had numerous responsibilities that could mean the matter of life and death for billions of sentient beings.
"Abin... we have gathered intelligence that shows Legion is moving towards sector 2815. We have not been able to raise Fentara due to a planetary catastrophe on his home planet. We need you to go to Graxos IV, find Fentara and both of you report to OA immediately."
The legion virus had all but decimated the Green Lantern Corps since its mysterious appearance in sector 1417 nearly 6 months earlier. The Guardians knew very little regarding the virus's origin, but knew that it attacked only Green Lantern's, turning them against the Corps.
"Understood Appa..."
"Abin, do not use your ring under any circumstance. That would only attract Legion."
"Understood, Appa." Abin replied with a slight bow of his head.
"Please, be careful Abin." The transmission ended as abruptly as it began.
"Off on another adventure, are you?" the familiar voice of Abin's wife Marin.
"I'm sorry, my love... I have no choice." He replied with a sigh.
"I understand... but at least say goodbye to Amon before you leave this time. He was most disappointed when you left last cycle." She pleaded.
"Of course" he smiled.
Amon Sur sat in the floor of his living quarters painting a portrait of some great beast that he had created. His son, though only 12 cycles in age, was an incredible artist and far more creative than Abin could ever be. If he was fearless, he would surely have made a wonderful Green Lantern, but Amon took after his mother, talented and far too emotional to ever be the protector of sector 2814. But that didn't matter to Abin, his son was perfect just as he was.
"Hey champ!" Abin shouted as he walked into the living quarters.
"DAD!!!" Amon jumped up and ran to hug his father. "I missed you so much!"
"Same here kiddo..." the two of them talked as long as Abin could spare about Amon's schooling and Abin's adventures in the stars.
Amon followed his father into the cruiser port that held Abin's old star-fighter from his days in the Ungaran Police Force. Amon continued to talk about school as Abin prepped the old ship for lift off. When the fighter was ready, Amon gave his father a small painting of Abin in flight, fighting another horrible creature with an odd dark circle on it's head. Abin placed the painting on the ships' console and hugged his family goodbye.
As the ship lifted off, Amon stood proudly watching his father fly off to save the Universe again. He hoped that someday he too could become a Green Lantern and go on dangerous missions with his father. Unfortunately, neither he nor his mother would ever see Abin again...
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Post by mockingbird on Jul 31, 2011 13:03:34 GMT -5
To let us know what you think of this issue, please visit the letters page here!
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