Description

Green Lantern: Ganthet’s Tale                   Trade Paperback
Writers: John Byrne & Larry Niven
Artist: John Byrne
Colorist: Matt Webb
Letterer: John Byrne
Editors: Denny’ O’Neil & Scott Peterson
Cover by: John Byrne

They are the most powerful being in the Universe… yet the Guardians fear that if anyone learns their greatest secret, everything that exists will vanish. To prevent this ultimate tragedy, they seek the help of a gallant Earthman named Hal Jordan – who may not be in time…

Story/Spoilers
Ganthet tells the story of the Guardians of the Universe in their early days. The Maltusians were an advanced race, who used their intelligence and powers to study nature. They were forbidden knowledge of only one thing: the origin of the universe. Unfortunately, one man, Krona, became obsessed with observing the event. He created a device that allowed him to view a hand, setting the universe’s creation into motion. When he attempts to see the face to whom the hand belongs, a bolt of cosmic force shattered his device. From Krona’s mistake came the force of evil. Of course, Ganthet says, this story is a lie.

Hal Jordan wakes to find Ganthet at his door, claiming that he is needed for the rescue of an entire race. They fly to Ireland, where Ganthet explains that what humans call leprechauns are actually an off-shoot of the Guardians, and they are now threatened by humanity’s urban sprawl and civilization. They follow a trail to the last stand of these people, but they have fallen into a form of barbarism. The leader of these people seems disinterested with Ganthet’s invitation to join the Green Lantern Corps, but a much older man called Percival suggests to Hal that he wants to join. Ganthet is doubtful, considering Percival’s age, but a strange experience forces him into action, and he makes the old man a Green Lantern.

Together, the three fly into outer space as Ganthet explains that what they experienced is an anomaly in time and space. He tells the story of how he himself had recreated Krona’s mistake, but had not suffered the same fate because he did not believe what he saw. Instead, he used an image of the young universe as a reflector onto the truth about the Maltusans: they were a violent people who were not as godlike as they claimed to be in the legend. Ganthet explains that the origin story was a fabrication by the Guardians to mask their most vulnerable moments from enemies who would attack with time. Unfortunately, Krona’s crime was not unleashing evil on the world, but the effects of his efforts to see the face of the creator caused him to connect the end of the universe with its beginning, and the entropy from it drained nearly one billion years of potential energy from the beginning of time.

Ganthet begins training Percival, explaining that the threat they face comes from a family of former Maltusans, Dawlakispokpok, an Oan, married to a Zamaron, and their two children. They are suddenly attacked by Dawlakispokpok’s children, Darthartheen and Doranchatok. Percival is taken out early, having not trained enough. Hal uses a new technique, flying at extremely high speeds, and firing his ring behind him. the resulting Doppler shift causes the green light from his ring to shift to yellow, and Doranchatok’s Green Lantern Ring is destroyed. Even so, Hal is taken out by Darthartheen, and he and Ganthet are captured.

Dawlakispokpok reveals that he is the one who created the fabricated universal origin, and that he intends to remove it, in order to prevent Krona from linking the beginning with the end. He intends to thrust Krona into the entropy at the end of the universe in order to prevent him from trying again.

Percival returns to consciousness, and attacks Doranchatok. After a lengthy battle of wills, Percival tricks the boy into flying straight through his father’s ship, which disrupts their plans. Instead, the entropy enters the ship through their devices, and consumes Dawlakispokpok. Thanks to Ganthet’s quick thinking, he and Hal are saved from the entropy, but Hal is aged significantly. Dawlakispokpok’s wife Thwarcharchura realizes that it was not Krona who linked the beginning and end of the universe, but it was they, interfering as they were then. Ganthet restores everyone’s youth by transferring some years from his own life on to them, and Thwarcharchura and Doranchatok are taken to Oa for trial.

Afterward, Hal Jordan has reservations about the trustworthiness of the Guardians, when their legends are based on lies.

Trade Paperback is bagged & double boarded and will be carefully / securely packaged then shipped via USPS Priority Mail to ensure that it arrives to you perfectly and quickly.

First Printing
Publisher: DC Comics
Publication Date: 1992
Format: FC, 68 pages, TPB, 10.25″ x 6.5″
ISBN-10: 1563890267
ISBN-13: 9781563890260

Collectible Entertainment note: Trade Paperback is Brand New & Unread.  Very Fine + condition.  Beautiful!  Please See Scans!!  A must have for any serious Green Lantern collector and/or enthusiast.  A fun & entertaining read.  Recommended.

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