In days of peace, in nights of war,
Obey the laws forever more.
Misconduct must be answered for,
Swear us the Chosen—Alpha Corps!
- —Alpha Lantern Oathsrc
The Alpha Lantern Corps is an elite division within the Green Lantern Corps. Merged with their power batteries, these Alpha Lanterns act as the Internal Affairs division, investigating breaches in Corps law.
History
Following the destruction left in the wake of the Sinestro Corps War, the Guardians of the Universe continued to edit and adapt the Book of Oa. The first of the Book's ten new laws enabled the officers of the Green Lantern Corps to use lethal force against adversaries if all else fails. To support this new law, the Guardians have created the Alpha Lantern Corps. The function of the Alpha Lanterns was to serve as a special detachment to not only enforce the new laws, but also to police members of the greater Green Lantern Corps, acting as the internal affairs division of the corps. The Guardians selected six officers whom they felt possessed the ability to enforce justice: Boodikka, Chaselon, the Green Man, John Stewart, Kraken and Varix. John Stewart, however, felt uncomfortable with the idea of enforcing laws that had yet to be written and turned down membership, much to the Guardians' chagrin. The other five agreed to serve as Alpha Lanterns.[1]
To become a member of the Alpha Lanterns was considered the highest honor that the Guardians could bestow. They represented the very best elements of every military unit the Guardians ever created. They possessed the willpower and thought process of a Green Lantern, while also harboring the logistical efficiency of a Manhunter. Service in the Alpha Lantern Corps required great sacrifice however. To serve as an Alpha Lantern, an officer was required to abandon all aspects of their prior life, and commit themselves fully to the Corps. They were also required to undergo cosmic surgery, which enabled them to interface with their corresponding power batteries with greater efficiency. A psychic link was established connecting an Alpha's mind with the Book of Oa, while their bodies tapped directly into the Central Power Battery. Because of this, an Alpha Lantern never needed to recharge their ring.
The first official mission of the Alpha Lanterns pitted them against the Green Lantern, Laira Omoto. Laira had been suspended from active duty as a result of murdering the Sinestro Corps member Amon Sur. Boodikka personally stripped her of her rank, ring and badge. It was the decree of the Guardians that Laira be returned to her home planet of Jayd.[2]
Boodikka was later sent on a mission to reprimand Green Lantern Harvid for his failure to capture the Sinestro Corps member Haasp the Hunter. Harvid pleaded his case to Boodikka, citing that Haasp was his brother, but Boodikka warned him that if she felt his loyalty to the Corps was in question, she would have him suspended. She was then sent to Sector 1414 to investigate the disappearance of several starships as well as the missing Green Lantern of that sector.[3]
Final Crisis
During the "Final Crisis", the Alpha Lantern Corps were sent to Earth to investigate the apparent death of the New God Orion. The Green Man, Boodikka and Varix were sent to secure the crime scene while Kraken was assigned the task of analyzing the remains. She went to the Hall of Justice where the Justice League of America had been keeping Orion's body locked in stasis. Kraken concluded that Green Lantern Hal Jordan was responsible for Orion's death and placed him under arrest. It soon became apparent however that Kraken was under the influence of the reborn Granny Goodness.[4]
On Oa, Kraken accused Jordan of being a host to one of the New Gods of Apokolips, which was deemed infallible by the Book of Oa. However, Honor Guard Lanterns Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner, Jordan's fellow Earth Lanterns, revealed that all communication with Earth was cut off and that Kraken herself was a host. The Guardians dismissed this as impossible. To their horror, Kraken then revealed that she was a host, and made a move for the Central Power Battery, injuring a Guardian in the process, but she was stopped by Hal Jordan. Though the Battery was undamaged and Jordan was cleared of all charges, the incident no doubt shook the Guardians; their primary fail-safe against the Blackest Night had proven fallible.[5]
Revolt of The Alpha Lanterns
After the end of the Blackest Night and the defeat of Nekron, the Guardians once again attempted to rebuild their Green Lantern Corps. In this time, the Alpha Lanterns were secretly subverted by Hank Henshaw, the Cyborg Superman, as part of his new agenda. Their first act was the establishment of Sector House Prime on Green Lantern Stel's homeworld of Grenda whilst at the same time they began bolstering their numbers by forcibly converting rookie Green Lanterns into new Alpha Lanterns cyborgs against their own will. One of the first to undergo this process was the Rookie Lantern Hraalkar who was kidnapped in the night by Varix and underwent cosmic conversion surgery to become a member of the Alpha Lantern Corps. Whilst attempting to locate his comrade, Rookie Lantern Glibberquip uncovered the conspiracy but the Alpha-Lanterns set their sights on turning him into one of their own as well.[6]
When Grenda went silent and without communication, Green Lantern Stel went to investigate but never returned nor reported back. Alpha Lantern Boodikka requested for the Guardians to order John Stewart to assist her in tracking down Stel due to the human's military expertise. Stewart and Boodikka clandestinely landed on Grenda's surface, where they discovered first the unauthorized Sector House and later a partially disassembled Stel along with Horoq Nnot, Green Lantern of Space Sector 885, who was being prepped for the conversion process. When Green Lanterns Ganthet, Kyle Rayner, and Soranik Natu also came investigating, they were betrayed by the new Alpha Lantern Horoq Nnot, who began draining their Power Rings. Meanwhile, John Stewart had been captured by the Alpha Lanterns and was being prepped for the conversion surgery. Ganthet managed to attack Sector House Prime providing a distraction in order to allow Kyle Rayner to escape with John Stewart. This came at the price of Ganthet's capture and his Power Ring was drained of its energy by the Cyborg Superman.
Following this chain of events, the Cyborg Superman revealed the true intention for his subversion of the Alpha Lanterns and luring Ganthet to Grenda. He had been informed that the knowledge of the Guardians was capable of reversing the cosmic surgery that turned the Alpha Lanterns into cyborgs and thus restore them to their original form. Thus, he intended to use this process as a means of restoring his own humanity and intended to use Ganthet to accomplish this goal. Ganthet, however, explained that the creation of the Alpha Lanterns had been done after he had departed the Guardians of the Universe thus he was unaware of what they had done to create them. But Hank Henshaw did not want to hear this response and instead ordered one of the Alpha Lanterns to kill himself which he did despite Ganthet's plea. The Cyborg Superman forced Ganthet to perform operations on the Alpha Lanterns in order to restore their organic forms. These experiments were filled with peril and every time Ganthet failed; Henshaw killed one of the Alpha Lanterns as a motivational factor for the former Guardian.
The Alpha Lanterns continued their duty of protecting Henshaw whilst Ganthet was working on removing one of their integrated Power Battery's in order to return them to some semblance of their former life. At which point, a mass of over one billion native Grendans began converging on Sector House Alpha just as Ganthet had completed the procedure. This forced the Cyborg Superman to emerge and stem the rapidly approaching tide of Grendans with his mind whilst his Alpha Lanterns were swiftly defeated by Hannu. During this time, Alpha Lantern Boodikka had been freed from the Cyborg's control after her Power Battery was damaged and she was later repaired by John Stewart thus allowing her to turn against Alpha Prime. In the resultant battle, Henshaw's body was destroyed and he attempted to possess Alpha Lantern Boodikka but her willpower was strong enough to seemingly finally destroy the Cyborg's mind thus freeing the Alpha Lanterns Corps from his control. Afterwards, the repairs were conducted on the freed Alpha Lanterns in order to allow them to once again feel emotions and return to their service to the Guardians of the Universe.[7]
Paraphernalia
Equipment:
Weapons:
Trivia
- The Alpha Lantern Corps' motto is "No Lantern Escapes The Alpha Lanterns!" and it is very similar to their predecessor, the Manhunter Cult, which is "No Man Escapes The Manhunters!"
See Also
- 29 Appearances of Alpha Lantern Corps
- 17 Images that include Alpha Lantern Corps
- Team Gallery: Alpha Lantern Corps