The Johns Era

The story

In 2004, Geoff Johns did the impossible: he brought Hal Jordan back from the dead — and in doing so, rebuilt the entire Green Lantern mythology from the ground up. Green Lantern: Rebirth revealed that Hal's fall was the work of Parallax, the living embodiment of fear, imprisoned in the Central Power Battery. Redemption wasn't a retcon; it was the key that unlocked everything.

What followed was the most ambitious saga in Green Lantern history. The Sinestro Corps War (2007) introduced the yellow light of fear as a full Corps. Then came the rest of the emotional spectrum: red rage, orange avarice, blue hope, indigo compassion, violet love — each with its own Corps, its own oath, its own entity. The War of Light built across years of comics toward Blackest Night (2009–10), the dead rising against the living, and War of the Green Lanterns (2011), the Corps turned against itself.

Johns closed his run with the Wrath of the First Lantern (2013) — Volthoom, the first being to wield the light, the destruction of Korugar, the execution of the Guardians, and the rise of the Templar Guardians. Nine years, one vision, and a mythology that will define Green Lantern for generations.

Key series

• Green Lantern: Rebirth #1–6 (2004–05)
• Green Lantern (vol. 4) #1–67 (2005–11)
• Green Lantern Corps (vol. 2) #1–63 (2006–11)
• Blackest Night #0–8 (2009–10)
• Green Lantern (vol. 5) #1–20 (2011–13)

Key characters

Green Lantern: Rebirth (2004) #1 — cover artwork. Ethan Van Sciver (cover pencils and inks); Peter Steigerwald (cover colors). Artwork source & details.

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