Glossary
Honor Guard
The Corps' elite.
The story
Above the 7,200 sector Lanterns stands the Honor Guard — an elite cadre of the Corps' finest, answerable directly to the Guardians and free of any single sector's boundaries. Where an ordinary Lantern patrols one slice of space, an Honor Guard Lantern goes where the crisis is: wars, invasions, cosmic disasters, missions too sensitive or too dangerous for the rank and file. They are the Guardians' troubleshooters, the Corps' special forces, and membership is the highest field honor a Lantern can earn.
The first of their number was Guy Gardner. During the Spider Guild's assault on Oa (Green Lantern Corps vol. 2, 2006–07, Gibbons/Gleason), Gardner led a desperate defense — rallying frightened trainees, holding the line, and turning the tide through sheer audacity. His reward was promotion to Lantern #1 of the Honor Guard, a rank with no sector designation: Guy Gardner belongs to the whole universe now. Other great Lanterns have held the title, but Gardner defined it — the Honor Guard as the place for Lanterns too effective, and too unruly, for ordinary duty.
The Honor Guard's missions read like a history of the Corps' darkest hours: the Sinestro Corps War, the Blackest Night, the War of the Green Lanterns. They operate with a latitude no sector Lantern enjoys — and a burden to match, for when the Honor Guard fails, there is no one left to call. It is no accident that the Corps' most famous mavericks end up here. The Guardians need Lanterns who follow orders; the universe needs Lanterns who know when not to.
Artwork: DC Comics — fan tribute.