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A selection of members of the Green Lantern Corps on duty, as depicted in Justice League Unlimited
The Green Lantern Corps is a fictional, intergalactic police force of Green Lanterns that existed in the pages of DC Comics, chosen to patrol the vast reaches of the Universe, fighting evil whever it could be found. It was founded by the Guardians of the Universe in the early stages of their existence, and it has lasted for over three billion years despite suffering rebellions, murder and collapses from within and without.

Publishing history
Many believe the Green Lantern Corps was modeled after the Lensman science fiction series of E.E. Doc Smith. There were many parallels between the two: both were intergalactic law enforcement agents chosen for their high moral character and willingness to do good, and empowered with an awesome weapon of alien design that also had safeguards against abuse and evil trickery. However, John Broome, who wrote the Silver Age Green Lantern stories, and Julius Schwartz, who edited those stores, have both denied any connection. Broome and Schwartz claimed to never have read the Smith stories, although Schwartz admitted that as an SF fan, he had of course heard of them.
Comic book writers were attracted to the concept of an intergalactic corps made up of Green Lanterns from various alien races. An occasional backup series in the Green Lantern comic book series, Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, featured guest writers who often penned short stories about the idiosyncrasies of individual alien Green Lanterns, who might never be heard of again.

Fictional history

Origins

The Guardians of the Universe
In the early days of the Universe, natives of the overpopulated planet Maltus (sometimes spelled Malthus) evolved into immortals of great power. They subsequently settled the planet Oa and declared themselves the Guardians of the Universe and enemies of evil after one of their own, the renegade scientist Krona, performed a forbidden experiment that had terrible consequences for the Universe at large.
Exactly what those consequences were have varied with different versions of the stories; originally, it was supposed to have unleashed Evil in the first place. Later, it was attributed to have created the Antimatter Universe of Qward. Later still, it was used as the explanation for the existence of parallel universes in the DC Universe (and the creation of the Monitor), which eventually led to the rearrangement of Time itself, as seen in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Finally, it has been stated that it accelerated entropy, shortening the duration of the universe by a billion years.
Some of the Guardians, however, disagreed on how to deal with the chaos that had been unleashed. One group, calling itself the Controllers, separated itself from the others and favored using more violent methods to achieve their ends (a later interpretation says they left over a disagreement on how to use the Manhunters - see below). They would later found the Darkstars organization. The female Oans, feeling no need to involve themselves in the situation, also left, becoming later known as the Zamarons.
To enforce their will and guard against alien menaces of all sorts, the Guardians had created a legion of robotic sentinels called the Manhunters. However, the Manhunters eventually came to resent their servitude. They rebelled against the Guardians, eventually breaking away and forming their own robotic society where they pursued their own agenda (which often included interfering with, and foiling the plans of, the Guardians).
Chastened by the failure of the Manhunters, the Guardians decided that their newest force of soldiers for good would consist of living beings, ones who had free will and strong moral character. To arm this new legion of celestial knights, the Guardians created the Power Rings, rings of inconceivably-advanced technology that allowed their wearers to project green beams of energy that had the power to do literally anything, provided the one wielding the ring had the force of will to achieve his goals.
When recharging thier weapons, Corps members recite an oath. This oath can differ from Corps member to member but the most popular seems to be:
In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight! Let those who worship evil's might, beware my power.. Green Lantern's light!
a notably different version, created by a blind power ring holder, was:
In loudest din or hush profound, my ears catch evil's slightest sound. Let those who toll out evil's knell, beware my power: The F-Sharp Bell!
The Power Rings were invincible against anything except objects of the color yellow. The Guardians often stated that the Rings' weakness against yellow objects was due to a necessary yellow impurity that allowed them to process the green energy, though scholars (and comic book fans) often speculated that the impurity was actually designed as a mental safeguard, to prevent any member of the Green Lantern Corps from thinking himself or herself (or itself) invincible and above the rule of law. This thinking has been proven incorrect. The Battery, in addition to being a source of power, was a prison as well. The prisoner, within the Battery, was a fear elemental (Parallax) that weakened the Battery's control over the yellow coloured portion of the plasma-light spectrum. This was one of the reasons that members of the Corps were expected to be fearless. It was an attempt to prevent the fear elemental from engineering an escape.

Green Lantern latest reviews

Comic Reviews: Green Lantern: Sinestro Vol. 1 hardcover/paperback (DC Comics)
17 May 2012 at 3:02pm
With Green Lantern: Sinestro, Geoff Johns brings Green Lantern into the DC New 52 with a story that doesn't rely too heavily on previous continuity and serves as a good introduction to the Green Lantern universe. Dedicated readers, however, will find themselves in almost inexplicably familiar territory, with a status quo that's been stretched well beyond believability.

Now that the twin hurdles of the Blackest Night crossover and the DC New 52 relaunch have passed, I'd like to see Johns do something new with Green Lantern instead of variations on the same old thing.

[Review contains spoilers]

The best thing about Green Lantern: Sinestro is, of course, Sinestro. Geoff Johns has, especially since Green Lantern: Secret Origin and Rage of the Red Lanterns, written a fantastic "buddy comedy" in his scenes with Sinestro and Green Lantern Hal Jordan. Sinestro is the stubborn, by-the-book straight man while Hal is the laid-back upstart that always grabs the glory in the end. It's the formula of Men in Black's Agents K and J, or Psych's Detective Lassiter and Shawn Spencer, except more like the Smallville portrayal of Lex Luthor and Clark Kent -- Hal and Sinestro are mortal enemies, but the reader senses their ire comes strongest from the two former friends' hurt over no longer seeing eye to eye.

With Sinestro, Johns is able to reduce Hal back to a pseudo-Secret Origin status -- it's not as though Hal Jordan is a neophyte nor has lost any of his previous adventures, but he's once again Sinestro's student, taking Sinestro's orders. Even Hal's DC 52 costume can be explained away as a construct of the ring given to him by new Green Lantern Sinestro. Much as Hal distrusts Sinestro, it's a joy for the reader to watch Hal slowly have to come around to advocating Sinestro's leadership in order to rally fellow prisoners to help free them all from an alien prison.

Despite Hal's new role as Sinestro's assistant, however, and the general fun of reading these characters in scenes together, not much is different here than Johns's Green Lantern stories that we've read before. Hal and Sinestro snipe at one another? Check. Sinestro fights a contingent of his Corps that have turned against him, as in Blackest Night? Also check.

Even Johns's manner of creating suspense begins to repeat itself. This iteration of the Green Lantern title has long since been about secrets and prophecies -- the prophecy of the Sinestro Corps, the prophecy of the War of the Light, and the prophecy of Blackest Night, each of these teased through hints and vague conversations for a matter of months before they're revealed in one crossover event or another. When it seemed the Green Lantern's Guardians couldn't possibly have more secrets to keep, now these pages contain rumors of a "Third Army" and a "First Lantern" guarded by the "Chamber of Shadows."

Johns uses these vagaries to good effect in fleshing out Sinestro; as the title implies, Hal is here but this is largely Sinestro's book. Among past events given quick references are Sinestro's battles with the alien hero Starstorm and also Starstorm's father; how Sinestro has broken the supposedly-unbreakable Green Lantern rings not once, but twice; and Sinestro's relationship with Korugian police officer Arsona (before the reader even fully learns about Sinestro's relationship with Arin Sur, sister of Hal's predecessor Abin Sur). All of this achieves its goal of world-building -- the audience feels Sinestro as a fleshed-out character. Only, when the Sinestro volume contains references to untold tales on every page, the narrative device becomes excessive -- suspense is one thing, but no one wants to read a book that continually teases the audience with how much more it knows than they do.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm along for the ride. DC has recently announced a Green Lantern Annual written by Johns and drawn by Johns's Green Lantern: Rebirth collaborator Ethan Van Sciver, and this will undoubtedly be full of cosmic twists and turns of the kind the Green Lantern series has kept readers coming back for. Only, it would be more impressive if Johns began to slip the reins of what's been done with Green Lantern to this point and try to innovate -- what would the Green Lantern Corps look like if not lead by the Guardians at all, for instance?

In assessing the DC New 52, it ought not be overlooked that Hal Jordan kills a member of the Sinestro Corps in this volume. Aquaman seemingly killed a Parademon in Justice League: Origin, but the King of Atlantis's morals have never been so stringent as the human Green Lantern's (and one can debate whether a Parademon "lives" anyway). Granted the Lanterns have permission from the Guardians to kill members of the Sinestro Corps, but it's been generally understood that Hal Jordan, like Superman and Batman, did not kill.

That this scene passes without fanfare in the book is troubling but not necessarily surprising; if indeed the reticence to kill in the old DC Universe has passed for the New 52, this brings the DC Universe in line with most popular movies and video games even if it's hardly a positive trend overall.

The first DC New 52 Animal Man volume was a satisfying new take on the character, a meal unto itself and a dynamic set up for the next volume. Batman: The Court of Owls too had a lot of content while setting up the "Night of the Owls" crossover well. Green Lantern: Sinestro feels a little thinner, heavy on character but not necessarily going anywhere new; hopefully the second volume delivers better.

[Includes original and variant covers, various process pages by artist Doug Mahnke]

Up next, we'll be delving back into the pre-Flashpoint DC Universe for a week or so, finishing out the runs of Teen Titans and related titles. See you then!
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