Green Lantern 75th Anniversary: Top 5 Fridays: Green Lantern Story Arcs

Welcome back to the final Green Lantern 75th Anniversary: Top 5 Friday. It's been a long month full of reminiscing of Heroes, Villains, and moments of the Green Lantern's 75 years of comic book history. It has been quite a ride as it should have considering the size and scope of the Green Lantern Mythos. It only seems right that we end the themed Top 5's by counting down the Top 5 Green Lantern Story Arcs. As usual this is my list, and if you don't see a story arc you liked I apologize. Enough babbling! Lets finish this!!

5: Green Lantern: New Guardians (Volume 1-2)

As much as I loved Kyle becoming the White Lantern, the storyline leading up to it had me intrigued so much more. This is a story-arc that created one of the teams I always hoped could happen in the DC Universe; one lantern from each corps united to fight a larger enemy. The dynamic of this team truly reflects on the personalities of each member. With their styles of fighting, and emotion they draw from it creates an amazing team up that we haven't seen since the Blackest Night...only this time it looked like we'd get the epic team up on a monthly basis.
Of course this changed, and eventually we got the White Lantern Journey which was awesome in itself. That being said, it would have been so cool to see this team up happen again...If Kyle could stop being a kidnap victim to the Omega Men.

4: Emerald Twilight

This was one of the first Green Lantern stories I ever owned, and also my first introduction to Hal Jordan....yeah not the best first intro to him but I still found this story amazing even after all this time. I never thought I could feel so bad for a Lantern I never really got to know before. This was a man who thought he was the failure of his family, now expanded to the failure of his city. No one ever expected him to fall further than he did. What we were met with was a brutal battle that panned across the cosmos, leading him home to the place he became the Lantern he was.
It is an emotional, action packed journey into the fall of the most famous Lantern, and I'll gladly read many more times.

3: Blackest Night

Like you didn't expect this on the list.
Blackest Night is one of those epic events that despite being an enemy to just one hero, it expands to the size of the entire friggin' universe. It was the first time the Lantern Corps actually teamed up to face a threat and it is still talked about to this day as one of the greatest Lantern stories. I will always remember the moments of pure action, like the Lantern deputy recruitment(MORE BLUE LANTERN FLASH PLEASE!), Moments of dread, such as the Resurrection of the Dibny's and control over the Spectre, and of course the the climax leading to the creation of the ultimate Lantern Corps. I don't think I really need to defend my decision further than this, as it still stands taller than most DC stories today.

2: Green Lantern/New Gods: Godhead

Since the start of the New 52, there is one other group I found interesting that always seemed like a background group. This group is the New Gods of New Genesis. We see how powerful the Apokolips gods are, we often forget on the other side of the spectrum is a world full of heroic ones. So to see them go to war with the Lantern Corps is amazing within itself.
The story might not be as emotional as Emerald Twilight, but it definitely shows how powerful and resourceful the Lanterns are, and not just Green. Almost all the lanterns have their moments of epicness in this crossover event, especially when it comes to Black Hand and Kyle Rayner. Its a war I won't forget any time soon!

1: Green Lantern: Rebirth

You know that giant storyline that Geoff Johns dominated in his run writing Green Lantern? Well if you know the story of Hal Jordan, most would know that by the time Johns stepped onto the scene, Hal has been died, and turned into the Spectre. DC realized how much Hal was loved, and ordered him to return. Johns decided to take it a step forward and decided to expand the universe.
Blackest Night may have united the corps, but if Rebirth never occurred, the entire Lantern Mythos would just be a one color road, rather than the rainbow road it has grown to. It would be just green with the occasional yellow, and Kyle would remain the sole Earth Green Lantern, rather than the team we have today. It shows that no matter the background, once a Lantern, always a Lantern.

That's it for the Green Lantern Anniversary Top 5 series! What was your favorite story arc? Leave a comment and I'll see you next time!