The Green Lantern Corps are intergalactic police officers, using their rings to keep the peace in the universe. As part of the Emotional Spectrum, the Green Lantern Corps represent willpower, which each Corps member uses to power their ring; these rings in turn draw energy from the Central Battery on Oa. The rings must be recharged daily, or else their ability to form energy constructs, allow flight, and provide a protective shield stutter and die. In Future State, a so-far unspecified calamity has fallen on the Green Lantern Corps, and their rings have failed them.

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Each story in Future State: Green Lantern showcases a former member scraping by the best they can without their rings. John Stewart leads a a ring that can charge itself.

A great tragedy has befallen the Corps, but details on what exactly happened are scarce. It has left the Corps in shambles, and the rings, once one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, are now worthless, with even their basic translation features failing. This is not a good development, as the issue shows the forces of evil have not stopped and have in fact been emboldened by the Corps’ demise, even as individual fight on. Previous Green Lantern stories have focused on damage or impurities within the Central Battery, but none have depicted a Corps-wide loss of power for the span of time implied by Future State.

It all fits perfectly with the bleak worlds Future State has depicted so far. Within its first month, Future State has turned the DC Universe upside down, showcasing a dark and twisted world where tragedy has befallen some of DC’s greatest heroes. In this grim world, the light of the Green Lanterns has been dimmed, and their rings rendered useless, precipitating a new era of chaos not just for Earth, but for the galaxy at large.

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