Fans of grim, galaxy-spanning war stories have a new comic to watch for. DC is launching Green Lantern: Doomed Cosmos, a six-issue Elseworlds series from writer Dan Watters and artist Kyle Hotz that reimagines the Green Lantern Corps as the last army standing against a human empire bent on conquering the universe.
DC unveiled the series on its official blog earlier this week, and the setup reads more like military science fiction than a typical superhero comic.
A Galaxy At War With Humanity
For centuries, the Empire of Humanity has swept across the cosmos, laying siege to world after world until all kneel before the human race. The heavily militarized Green Lantern Corps is the only force that dares to resist the crusade.
The Corps has never had a human fighting on its side, until Hal Jordan. Hal begins the story as a soldier of the Empire, but he is betrayed by his battle-brother Oliver Queen and left for dead on an alien world. The Lanterns rescue and deprogram him, turning him into the Corps' only human warrior and a powerful strategic weapon against his own people.
DC describes it as "a world where there is no joy and no peace to be found, only an intergalactic crusade and the few heroes still willing to stand against it." Hal's journey will take him through the burning ruins of this alternate universe and, eventually, to the shores of Hell itself.
Space Opera Meets War Film
The preview pages make the tone clear. These Lanterns wear bulky, scarred armor and wield heavy weapons, and it is easy to see why the look has drawn comparisons to the Space Marines of Warhammer 40,000. The pages also show the Corps battling Thanagarian forces and an armored army in the middle of a sprawling battlefield.
Hotz says he approached the series like a war epic:
"Visually, I am trying to walk the line between over-the-top space opera and the emotional beats of the story. Apart from being a Green Lantern fan from when I was just a little kid, my prep for this was really spending time studying some of the best war films. I want to get the feeling across that the Lanterns are beat up, tired, and certainly the underdogs. Their armor is cracked and broken, and their weapons are held together with tape and wire. These are soldiers nearing the end of their fight."
That focus on exhausted soldiers fighting a losing war puts Doomed Cosmos closer to stories like Starship Troopers or the darker corners of the 40K universe than to the colorful cosmic adventures Green Lantern is usually known for. Here, though, it is humanity playing the role of the relentless galactic empire.
Who Is Behind It
Watters is currently writing Nightwing and previously wrote Batman: Dark Patterns and Arkham City: The Order of the World. Hotz, who drew the 2024 Lobo Cancellation Special, is making his first longer DC project with the series. Dan Brown is the colorist and Steve Wands is the letterer.
Because it is an Elseworlds book, Doomed Cosmos exists outside DC's main continuity. That gives Watters and Hotz room to reshape familiar heroes, villains and worlds however they like, and DC promises that no hero's fate is guaranteed.
When It Arrives
Green Lantern: Doomed Cosmos #1 hits comic shops and digital retailers in three months (January 20th). The 32-page issue is priced at $4.99, with a main cover by Hotz, card stock variants by Bjorn Barends, Steve Beach and Ashley Wood at $5.99, and a Barends foil variant at $7.99.
Does a grim, war-torn take on the Green Lantern Corps sound like your kind of space opera, or do you prefer the classic cosmic version?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.