“I read the new 52’s Green Lantern books, and I’m totally lost! Someone help please??”

Is this you? If so, look no further! The mighty (and good-looking) Snes is here to save the day, in it’s most confusing day!

In 2011, DC comics relaunched its entire comic series, and started off from scratch. What they DON’T tell you, is not every series is new. Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: New Guardians, and Red Lanterns are actually a continuation of a story that started back many years ago. It can be quite confusing, as there’s actually a lot of required reading to fully understand these series. So to ease the confusion, here’s my Green Lantern reading order!

Secret Origins:

While this was published later than some of the earlier stuff, it’s a more modern retelling of how Hal Jordan, became the Green Lantern, and how he started out.

Emerald Twilight:

Shows the death of Hal Jordan. As a bonus read, New Dawn is the aftermath of this, and shows the new Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner.

Rebirth:

Technically, you could start with Rebirth, and slowly piece together the history. Rebirth explores the return of Hal Jordan.

No Fear/GL Corps: Recharge:

No Fear is about Hal Jordan trying to re-establish his life on Earth, and facing some new threats. Recharge is about the re-establishment of the GL Corps and how they make their return.

Revenge of the Green Lanterns/ To Be a Lantern:

Revenge, is almost exactly what is sounds like: Some GL want to take revenge on Hal Jordan. To be a Lantern pretty much just helps establish what it takes…..to be a Lantern.

Wanted: Hal Jordan/ The Dark Side of Green:

Wanted, is two main stories, the first being about Hal dealing with guilt about being caught in prison; and the second, about the mysterious Star Sapphires. Dark Side of Green, explores more tales about the GL Corps, and shows more about the missions the GLs go on.

Infinite Crisis:

This was DC’s major cross over event, that helped to re-establish the universe. Although not a GL specific book, it’s helpful to read, because it introduces who Superboy-Prime is, and you could say, it somewhat leads into the next entry.

The Sinestro Corps War:

This is a BIG one, because it’s a crossover event in the Green Lantern universe. You can find it in two volumes, or as one large collection. It also has Tales of the Sinestro Corps, which isn’t needed to continue reading, but it does give you an interesting insight into this new Corps.

GL Corps: Ring Quest:

Ring Quest happens in the aftermath of the Sinestro Corps War. As I mentioned before, it was a massive event, so there’s a lot of “cleaning” up the Green Lanterns need to do.

Sins of the Star Sapphire:

This is where the War of Light starts to form a lot more. Rebirth gave birth to the idea, and Sinestro Corps War really gave it meaning. Now Sins starts the shaping process. The story is about the GL Corps, trying to make peace with a group of aliens, who capture the Sinestro Corps members, and force them into being Star Sapphires.

Rage of the Red Lanterns:

Hal Jordan meets an alien named Atrocitus, who has formed the Red Lantern Corps, and is fulled with rage, and worst of all, wants Sinestro. Also introduces Saint Walker!

Agent Orange:

This is directly after Rage, and has Hal Jordan meeting with an alien, banished by the Guardians of the Universe, long ago. This alien: Larfleeze, holds the only Orange Power ring.

GL Corps: Emerald Eclipse:

Eclipse explores more “clean up” from the Sinestro Corps War, as Mongol tries to take over the Corps

Okay, this is where things get REALLY confusing. Sadly, DC has no idea how to create a collected edition for this cross-over event. Unless you want to hunt down, and collect all the single issues, then you’re going to be lost. Sinestro Corps War, though included other DC characters, could be contained in two volumes, as it was released within the two Green Lantern books. It was simple. Blackest Night was not. There was so much going on in this massive event, that there are many trades for this! I’ll try to explain as much as I can how and why it’s confusing, and how you can read it in the correct order, if you so wish.

ALSO, it’s worth nothing that some Characters in Blackest Night are absent, or have returned. Although you can figure this out in the context later on, if you want a complete back story, check out Final Crisis. Obviously, Blackest Night was a major crossover, and there was going to be some serious changes to an established continuity. As such, there are other minor moments when you might think “when did that happen?” You’d pretty much have to read the entire run of that series (the one before 2008), or just assume it did happen, and move on.

There are 6 trades that contain the collected Blackest Night series. There are some single issues that are collected in a different trade, from that series, and will be in italics. I know there are more tie-in issue’s but these are from the official DC reading order, so I have them in here.

The 6 trades are:

Blackest Night (Core story, Issues #0-8)

Blackest Night: Green Lantern (Green Lantern, Issues #43-52)

Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps (Corps, Issues #39-46)

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps

Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 1 & 2

Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns

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Blackest Night:

Green Lantern #43 – Blackest Night: Green Lantern.

Blackest Night #0 – Blackest Night.

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1-3 – Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps.

Blackest Night #1 – Blackest Night.

Green Lantern #44 – Blackest Night: Green Lantern.

Green Lantern Corps #39 – Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps.

BN: Batman #1-3 – Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 1

Blackest Night #2 – Blackest Night.

Green Lantern #45 – BN: GL.

BN: Superman #1-3 – Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps Vol. 1.

Blackest Night #3 – BN.

Green Lantern #46 – BN: GL.

Green Lantern Corps #41 – BN: GLC.

Adventure Comics #4-5 – Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps.

JLA #39-40 – Team History.

Suicide Squad #67, Secret Six #17-18 – Secret Six: Danse Macabre.

Booster Gold #26-27 – Booster Gold: The Tomorrow Memory.

Blackest Night #4 – BN.

Green Lantern #47 – BN: GL.

Green Lantern Corps #42 – BN: GLC.

BN: Titans #1-3 – BN: BLC Vol.1.

Teen Titans #77-78 – Teen Titans: Child’s Play.

Superman/Batman #66-67 – Superman/Batman: Night and Day.

Doom Patrol #4-5 – Doom Patrol: We Who Are About To Die.

Starman #81 – Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns.

The Question #37 – Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns.

Catwoman #83 -BN – RotBL.

Blackest Night #5 – BN.

Green Lantern #48 – BN: GL.

Green Lantern Corps #43 – BN: GLC.

BN: JSA #1-3 – BN: BLC Vol. 2.

BN: Wonder Woman #1 – BN: BLC Vol. 2.

Green Arrow #30 – BN: RotBL.

Adventure Comics #7 – BN: RotBL.

Weird Western Tales #71 – BN: RotBL.

Power of Shazam! #48 – BN: RotBL.

The Outsiders #24-25 – Outsiders: The Hunt.

Blackest Night #6 – BN.

Green Lantern #49 – BN: GL.

Green Lantern Corps #44 – BN: GLC.

The Atom & Hawkman #46 – BN: RotBL.

BN: The Flash #1-3 – BN: BLC Vol. 2.

BN: Wonder Woman #2-3 – BN: BLC Vol. 2.

Green Lantern #50-51 – BN: GL.

Green Lantern Corps #45 – BN: GLC.

Phantom Stranger #42 – BN: RotBL.

Rebels #10-11 – REBLES: The Son and the Stars.

Blackest Night #7 – BN

Green Lantern #52 – BN: GL.

Green Lantern Corps #46 – BN: GLC.

Blackest Night #8 – BN.

Blackest Night #53 – BN: GL.

Now these is official reading order DC gave out to understand/ capture the “full” story. If you’re just picking up the trades (as this guide is based of), you only REALLY need: Blackest Night, Blackest Night: Green Lantern, and Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps. You can surely pick up the other trades, but these three will give you the main and core story.

As for reading order, I’d suggest reading Blackest Night first, and then Green Lantern, and finally Corps. OR, you can try using the reading order and going back and forth between the trades.

Brightest Day: Green Lantern

After this massive event, you can read all of Brightest Day, which is collected into 3 volumes. If you want to stay to the specific Green Lantern story, read Brightest Day: Green Lantern. There are SOME details that are explained in the 3 core Brightest Day volumes, but it is somewhat explained in the context of Green Lantern: BD. If you want to read them all, I’d suggest reading the first two volumes of Brightest Day first, and then Green Lantern: BD, and finally, volume 3.

Green Lantern Corps: Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns, Emerald Warriors, The Weaponer:

These are actually 3 trades all together, that take place meanwhile Hal Jordan is off in Brightest Day. Though not needed to complete the story, it’s the next step for the Green Lantern Corps, if you’re following that series as well.

War of the Green Lanterns:

As teased in the final pages of Brightest Day, War follows the story of all the human Green Lanterns, as they fight against a Guardian gone mad.

War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath:

Aftermath isn’t really needed to complete the story. The ending of War can lead straight into the New 52. If you really want some closure to the story though, go ahead and read this.

Green Lantern New 52:

Obviously, from here, it’s the simple task of finding and reading Volume 1 first, and then Volume 2, ect. This series focuses on Hal Jordan, and picks up right after War/War: Aftermath.

Green Lantern Corps New 52:

Same as with Green Lantern, this covers Guy and John and other members of the GLC. If you’re reading more GL series and want to keep up with them at the same time (since they DO cross over), you might just want to read all Volume 1s first, before reading Volume 2.

Green Lantern: New Guardians:

This is the series that follows Kyle, as he has to work together with Lanterns from the other Corps.

Red Lanterns:

This is all about Atrocitus and his Red Lanterns, and then makes the switch to being about Guy. (Read it to make sense of the whole thing).

Green Lantern: Wrath of the First Lantern:

This is a giant-sized GL crossover trade. While these issues are also Included in all 4 GL Vol.3 books, this trade has them all in order, and I suspect the same thing will happen in Lights Out. So if you’re getting the trades as they come out anyway, you’ll get to read the story, as confusing as it might be, being that each part takes place in a different series.

Well, that’s really everything you need to know about the Green Lantern reading order. I hope you enjoyed, and this helped someone!