Johns unleashes 'Wrath of the First Lantern' crossover

Brian Truitt, USA TODAY | USATODAY

Geoff Johns has introduced Red Lanterns, Orange Lanterns and other color-coded heroes and villains into Green Lantern lore.

Before all those, though, was the First Lantern, the major player in one of Johns' biggest galactic tales yet.

The "Wrath of the First Lantern" story line kicks off in February's Green Lantern issue 17 and continues in Red Lanterns, Green Lantern Corps and Green Lantern: New Guardians. The arc centers on this old, powerful and bizarre force and his role in the fates of Hal Jordan, Sinestro, John Stewart, Guy Gardner and the newest member of the Green Lantern Corps, Simon Baz.

"I don't want to say he's a villain or a hero," Johns says of the First Lantern, who was introduced in DC Comics' recent Green Lantern Annual. "He's just a being who's targeting our main lanterns, our guys, to see if there's a way that maybe the universe could improve if they made different choices in their lives.

"You'll see why he's called the First Lantern within the story," the writer adds, "but he's someone who's going to take a look at every one of our heroes and main characters and really tear their life apart and rip them open in a way we've never seen before on a very cosmic scale."

Dovetailing out of the current "Rise of the Third Army" crossover arc, "Wrath of the First Lantern" — Johns' most personal Green Lantern story since the event series Blackest Night, he says — is an emotional examination of all the flaws and the lives of the main Green Lanterns.

It will also explore who the First Lantern is, what he wants, where he's from and what he means to the DC Universe. And according to Johns, he's unlike anyone who's ever come before.

"He's a very different ancient powerful character who has a very odd and disturbing point of view on the universe and on humanity and life, and where life can go wrong or go very good," Johns explains. "He's really not a guy who's motivated by revenge — not completely — or by power.

He has it all — he's a being who's just very, very inquisitive about life and the choices we make."

The story line focuses on Simon Baz, but like the new Lantern and his effect on his new teammates, the First Lantern's actions will ripple throughout the cosmos.

There is no black or white for him — there's just life, Johns says. "People go down paths and people change and people react certain ways, and he wants to understand why these decisions are made.

"But what he's doing and what his ultimate goal will be is going to tie into the very beginnings of the Corps and ultimately reveal where the Corps is going to go."

An old Green Lantern favorite will play a role in the story line — "Probably one of the lesser expected characters but a character people will recognize," Johns teases — and fans will learn what happened to Hal and Sinestro, two guys guys in for some big changes as they're woven back into the story line.

But "Wrath of the First Lantern" will be a very emotional arc for those guys as well as for all the Green Lanterns.

"It's almost like the butterfly effect: One decision that one being makes can have an entire change and effect on the universe itself," Johns says.

"The First Lantern really is an examination of everything we do, every choice we make, ultimately results in things that can affect the other side of the universe."