Before I worked in comic book stores, I was  biased reader. I liked most Marvel team books, and I liked Batman and his various close associates. That was pretty much it. In my earliest twenties, I got into the Vertigo line, but still didn't branch out that much, mainly as I was a casual reader who rarely spent time in shops.

I started working in stores in 2007, and made it a point to read Whatever I could so that I wasn't a cliche, gatekeeping asshole like some of my peers. Some of this I owe to the fact that I was hired by two strong women (not like Wonder Woman strong, one was Carol Danvers level cool, fun, and in control, and the other was Mystique: confident, powerful, definitely needed mental health counseling that she wasn't getting). 

Apart from a few select stories, I couldn't get into Superman. I enjoyed some 90s and 2000s era Wonder Woman. I loved most of the Teen Titans. I liked The Flash when he wasn't battling villains whose power was that they could run. (I felt this way about the TV show in the 2010s, too.) I wanted to like Green Arrow and Black Canary but never did. And Green Lantern? Who could be bothered with color-coordinating space caps with magic jewelry?

Geoff Johns helped change my perspective on both The Flash, and Green Lantern. And it was the lead up to Blackest Night that got me to go back and read as much post 70s lantern books as I could get. This Headcanon will be about building up to Blackest Night, and then have maybe a season or two of dénouement. While I haven't enjoyed much of the post-Blackest Night Lantern Mythos, there are still some books worth reading.

This chronology isn't going to be precisely by publishing date, as reboots, reimaginings, and flashback stories get printed that improve on a legacy story to the point where the legacy story isn't really necessary to read anymore. If you're someone who loves the silver and early bronze age material, I'm sorry, there isn't going to be much of it here. This is going to be focused on modern storytelling.

I'm setting up each entry as a television season of 15 "episodes", often contained in 5-7 trades...I'm not suggesting people read fifteen different books for each "season"...This is based on my readthrough of the series in 2015 but I'm rereading it and removing any books that are so out of print that you'd have to pay a small fortune on EBay for them. You should be able to get these at libraries, any store that carries graphic novels, an on DC Universe Infinite.

Green Lantern Hal Jordan Volume One by Gerard Jones, Keith Giffen, M.D. Bright, Jim Owsley, and Romeo Tanghal

Also featuring Carol Ferris, Abin Sur, Legion, Tomar-Re, The Guardians, Salakk, Kilowog, Sinestro, Tomy-Fai, Guy Gardener, Katma Tui

Episodes 1 & 2: Emerald Dawn. The first arc is serves as a modern origin story about how Hal Jordan, who absolutely sucks in this story, becomes the Green Lantern. I like including this as a starting point because I think it's important to see what a bad person Hal Jordan was before he received the ring. It makes his downfall and later redemption more interesting when his origin story presents him as, not a heroic everyman, but a drunk driving loser who ruins his friends' lives. Also, the ridiculous Green Lantern trope of "willpower doesn't work on the color yellow" is laughably present.

My own sidenote, when Grant Morrison took over this title in 2016ish, his first story was called "Intergalactic Lawman", and I always read it as "Intergalactic Lawnman". There is a wonderful panel in this book of Hal mowing a lawn with his ring.

Episodes 3 & 4: Emerald Dawn II. Serving time for his DUI in the first volume, Hal breaks in and out of jail to foil bank robberies and other petty crimes until his cellmate is killed and he needs a lawyer to defend him. I honestly never knew Guy Gardener was a lawyer, and I feel like I've read dozens of books with him in it. We also get to see more of Sinestro, who briefly appeared as a background lantern in the the first arc. Now we see that he's a bit of a fascist on his own world. The jail storyline, and the Sinestro training storyline are nice counterpoints to one another. 

Green Lantern Green Arrow Vol 1 by Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams

Also Featuring: The Guardians, Black Canary

Episodes 5-7: Green Arrow. A collection of fifty year old stories that you can share with an comic "fan" who complains that comics are "too woke" now to show them that comics have always been progressive. The collection starts with Hal Jordan, who still sucks, rescuing someone who turns out to be an evil landlord. Green Arrow shows him who the real heroes and villains in the real world are, and Hal agrees to try and help him. It doesn't go particularly well, and then The Guardians seek to punish Hal for not being an obedient slave to the law. He and The Green Arrow convince The Guardians to send one of their members to watch them as they travel across America battling racism and capitalism. Several times they remind us that Nazis and Hitler were bad. So, if you missed that memo, it's here. It goes a bit off the rails at the end when Hal and Black Canary end up in a dimension full of Greek mythology, but it's a nice way of developing Hal Jordan's character by playing him off of Green Arrow.

Green Lantern Green Arrow Vol 2 by Dennis O'Neil, Elliot S! Maggin, Dick Giordino, and Neal Adams

Also Featuring: Black Canary, Carol Ferris, Black Hand, Speedy, Guy Gardener, John Stewart, Lobo

Episode 8: Peril. Lantern, Arrow, and Canary deal with an evil school, and we see what's happened to Carol Ferris in Lantern's absence in the most underwhelming issue of this collection. This is followed by a showdown with Black Hand, another underwhelming villain who's going to be important down the line.

Episode 9: Speedy. A classic hokey anti-drug story where Green Arrow discovers his former ward is a heroin addict. It was groundbreaking in the 1970s. Now, it's...well-intentioned. This very important issue for Green Arrow lore is not very impactful for our Green Lantern story.

Episode 10: What Can One Man Do. Finally, meet John Stewart. No, not the Daily Show Host, the second Green Lantern in our chronology. Another case of "well--intentioned" and "didn't age well", it is nice to see a Black Person Of Color  getting his own Lantern Ring. Also, you will be shocked to learn that Hal Jordan absolutely sucks as a trainer of lanterns, and has a severe case of Institutional Racism Bias. Meanwhile, Green Arrow witnesses a riot that takes a Black child's life, and decides to run for mayor.

Episode 11: Savior Complex. We begin with a Bad Story with, again, good intentions. An anti-pollution/anti-Capitalism story that ends with a character you've just met being crucified on a plane, along with Hal Jordan and Green Arrow. They survive, he doesn't. There's another story after this, but my brain was so rotted by the pollution/crucifixion story that now, two minutes after reading it, I can't remember what it was about.

Green Lantern Sector 2814 Vol 1 by Len Wein, Dave Gibbons, and Gil Kane

Also Featuring: Carol Ferris, Javelin, Shark, Predator, The Monitor, The Flash, The Wrecking Crew, Predator, Jason Bloch, Green Arrow, Superman, The Guardians, Kama Tui, Wonder Woman, Mister Smith, Arisia, Tomar Re, Xax, Arkkis Chummukk, John Stewart

Episodes 12-15: Take This Job And Shove It. We end the season with a somewhat hokey 1980s set of stories where Hal Jordan returns home from space (I know, I know, why didn't we get to see more space stories in this series about a space cop? Well, um, they didn't collect many decent space stories from this era. I promise we'll get there.), after a year away and ends up protecting Ferris Aircraft from some really low-rent villains like The Javelin, and The Shark. Meanwhile, The Monitor, who is going to wreak all kind of havoc in the DC universe is sort of hovering in the background. Well, Ferris Aircraft is destroyed, and Hal Jordan, who, remember, SUCKS, decides to give up his ring so that we can spend next season with a better Green Lantern.

I was never much into The Green Lantern, but I started working in comic book stores right before Geoff Johns brought Hal Jordan back to prominence as a major character in the DC Universe. There are about five seasons worth of stories that I’ve read that fit pretty neatly into the continuity that Johns mined from, and then created himself.

​This is pretty much the easiest season to put together. Just read anything that says Blackest Night on the cover, and you’re good. There is already enough post-Blackest Night material to create a sixth and possibly seventh season, but they’re kind of a letdown after this massive event, so I’m just going to call it quits at the end of this season.

Darkest days, indeed.
art by Ethan Van Sciver

​
Season 5: Blackest Night
(showrunner: Geoff Johns)

Episode 1: Blackest Night Tales Of The Corps
(written by Geoff Johns, Peter J Tomasi, and Sterling Gates, art by Jerry Ordway, Rags Morales, Dough Mahnke, and more)

How did The Red Lanterns form? What caused the Orange Lantern to even exist? How did The Star Sapphire become The Star Sapphire? There are a lot of origins to get us ready for the main event. Plus, there’s an Indigo Tribe?

Not So Secret Origins. 1 episode



Serial 1: Blackest Night Rise Of The Black Lanterns
(written by Geoff Johns, Peter J Tomasi, Tony Bedard, Dan Didio, JT Krul, Dennis O’Neil, Greg Rucka, James Robinson, and Eric Wallace, art by an obscene amount of artists)

During The Blackest Night era, many of the popular DC titles that had been cancelled in the last decade were resurrected for one more issue, if possible, by the original creative team. Learn the fears of a ton of DC heroes as the dead come back to life.

Rise Of The Black Lanterns. 2 episodes



Serial 2: Blackest Night Black Lantern Corps Volumes 1 & 2
(written by many, art by many)

Batman, Superman, The Titans, The Flash, JSA, and Wonder Woman all have to deal with dead friends and enemies coming back to life and trying to destroy them. They’re going to have to fight the good fight and then track down those pesky lanterns to get to the bottom of this.

Black Lantern Corps. 3 episodes



Serial 3: Blackest Night, Blackest Night Green Lantern, Blackest Night Green Lantern Corps
(written by Geoff Johns and Peter J Tomasi, art by Ivan Reis, Doug Mahnke and Patrick Gleason)

This is the section where you really want to put each book down after a chapter, pick up another book, read a chapter, put it down, pick up the third book, read a chapter, etc. Featuring favorite DC characters both alive and dead. Read about who is behind this new Black Lantern Corps, and how the Green Lanterns intend to bring him down with the help of the other corps.

Blackest Night 6 episodes



Episode 13: Superman The Black Ring Books 1 & 2
(written by Paul Cornell, art by Pete Woods)

Having briefly held The Orange Ring during Blackest Night, Lex Luthor will do anything to get his hands on another power ring. Even his creepy android Lois Lane thinks he might be going too far. There are a bunch of cool cameos by DC heroes and villains, including Death from Neil Gaiman’s Sandman!

Power. 1 episode



Serial 4: Brightest Day Volumes 1-3, Green Lantern Brightest Day
(written by Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi, art by many)

Twelve DC heroes came back to life after the events of Blackest Night. Why? And what is The White Lantern all about? Plus, one member from each lantern corps assemble as a team to sort out one last mystery.

Brightest Day. 2 episodes



Season 5. 15 episodes

I was never much into The Green Lantern, but I started working in comic book stores right before Geoff Johns brought Hal Jordan back to prominence as a major character in the DC Universe. There are about five seasons worth of stories that I’ve read that fit pretty neatly into the continuity that Johns mined from, and then created himself.
​
This season starts of with the second coolest event in the chronology and then builds up to the start of the final season. There are so many new corps and characters in this season, you’d imagine it would be difficult to follow, but Johns and Tomasi put together a powerful storyline designed to not only reform the foundation of the Lantern mythos, but the entire DC Universe as well.

Serial 1: Green Lantern The Sinestro Corps War Books 1 & 2, Green Lantern Corps Tales Of The Sinestro Corps
(written by Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Peter J Tomasi, Ron Marz, Alan Burnett, and Sterling Gates, art by Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Ethan Van Sciver, Dave Gibbons, and more)

Hal Jordan’s greatest opponent, Sinestro is back and he’s harnessed the power of the yellow ring and used it to start his own corps. Now he seeks the power of Ion and the complete destruction of all things wearing green rings. Did I say Ion? I might have meant Parallax. Hank Henshaw seems to fit into this, somehow, too, and the Justice League has been called in to take care of him.

The Sinestro Corps War. 4 episodes



Serial 2: Green Lantern Corps Ring Quest
(written by Peter J Tomasi, art by Patrick Gleason)

With the Sinestro War behind them, Kyle, Guy, Jon and the rest of the corps to relax on Earth drinking Midori based drinks. Nahhh. Mongul is back and he has several of the yellow rings that were unable to find hosts after the war. Clearly, the Green Lanterns need some more recruits.

And It Was All Yellow. 2 episodes



Episode 5: Booster Gold 52 Pickup
(written by Geoff Johns, art by Jeff Katz and Dan Jurgens)

The most annoying superhero from the future must save the timeline from utter destruction, which seems to have something to do with a certain purple bodied former Green Lantern.

Booster. 1 episode



Serial 3: Green Lantern Rage Of The Red Lanterns
(written by Geoff Johns, art by Ivan Reis and Shane Davis)

Red Lanterns? Alpha Lanterns? Blue Lanterns? Angry, projectile vomiting villains and peaceful mystic sages join in the fray for control of the universe, as the spectrum of lanterns grows wider and wider in anticipation of the prophesied Blackest Night

Rage Of The Red Lanterns. 2 episodes



Serial 4: Green Lantern Corps Sins Of The Star Sapphire
(written by Peter Tomasi, art by Patrick Gleason and Luke Ross)

Will couldn’t completely overcome fear, so now a race called the Zamoans, led by The Star Sapphire are going to try and conquer fear by infusing it with love, an emotion abandoned by the guardians well before they even thought of creating the Green Lantern corps.

Sins Of The Star Sapphire. 2 episodes



Episode 12: Justice League When Worlds Collide
(written by Dwayne McDuffie, art by Ed Benes)

Dissatisfied with the current direction of The Justice League, Hal Jordan and his good buddy Oliver Queen break off to form their own Justice League. Featuring the characters from the defunct Milestone universe.

When Worlds Collide. 1 episode



Serial 6: Green Lantern Agent Orange
(written by Geoff Johns, art by Phillip Tan)

The most awesome character/villain introduced in the Geoff Johns era has to be Larfleeze, The Orange Lantern. Unlike all those other corps that stock their ranks with creatures who harbor a similar emotional background, The Orange Lantern is defined by avarice, so There Can Be Only One. One armed with the ghosts of many. Larfleeze is the current wielder of the ring, and he’s gonna go all Gollum if you try and take The Precious from him.

Agent Orange. 2 episodes



Episode 15: Green Lantern Corps Emerald Eclipse
(written by Peter J Tomasi, art by Patrick Gleason)

Mongul was down but not out, and now he’s looking for a new homeworld for the Sinestro Corps. But those loyal to the deposed Sinestro have some feelings about that. Plus, Ion wants to save his home planet without actually having to go to it. Tricky.

Emerald Eclipse. 1 episode



Season 4 is 15 episodes

I was never much into The Green Lantern, but I started working in comic book stores right before Geoff Johns brought Hal Jordan back to prominence as a major character in the DC Universe. There are about five seasons worth of stories that I’ve read that fit pretty neatly into the continuity that Johns mined from, and then created himself.

Now that Hal Jordan and The Green Lantern Corps are back, we can fully submerge ourselves into the greatest era in the history of The Green Lantern. The Geoff Johns era.

​Serial 1: Green Lantern Secret Origin
(written by Geoff Johns, art by Ivan Reis)

Geoff Johns’s take on Hal Jordan’s origin sets up the events of this season, adding a few relevant surprises.

Secret Origin. 2 episodes



Serial 2: Green Lantern No Fear
(written by Geoff Johns, art by Carlos Pacheco, Ethan Van Sciver, and Darwyn Cooke)

Hal! Hal! Hal! Hal! Yea, the OGL is back and, in many ways, this is just a modern retelling of his first few stories. But the amount of love poured into the retelling makes it totally worth it.

No Fear. 2 episodes


Serial 3: Revenge Of The Green Lanterns
(written by Geoff Johns, art by Carlos Pacheco)

Hal Jordan has a lot of fences to mend. Not only was there the whole Parallax thing, and the whole Spectre thing. There was also the whole Infinite Crisis thing. So now he’s got to renew his friendships with Ollie and Batman, as well as try to get the surviving members of the corps on his side, even if it means breaking some rules to do it.

Mending Fences. 3 episodes



Serial 4: Green Lantern Corps Recharge, Green Lantern Corps To Be A Lantern
(written by Geoff Johns and Dave Gibbons, art by Dave Gibbons and Patrick Gleason)

If the guardians are back, so is the corps. Come see old faces and new, speaking The Green Lantern oath on Oa. "Oath on Oa" is one of my favorite tongue twisters. Guy Gardner, Kilowog, and a whole bunch of rookies get the spotlight treatment. Eat your heart out, Duck Dodgers!

Recharge. 3 episodes



Episode 11: Green Lantern Wanted Hal Jordan
(written by Geoff Johns, art by Ivan Reis, Daniel Acuna, and Oclair Albert)

Man, can Hal Jordan get a break? Now the Green Lantern is accused of murder after violating Russian airspace. Amon Sur and a Star Sapphire each show up in this very straight-forward adventure.

Violation. 1 episode



Episode 12: Ion The Torchbearer
(written by Ron Marz, art by Greg Tocchini and Jay Leisten)

Has Kyle Rainer gone full bananatown? He seems to have destroyed a ship and beaten up some fellow lanterns. But he also appears to be on Earth trying to put a new life together. And he also appears to be on Mogo being haunted by his past. The guardians should be helping with this. Instead, Hal Jordan shows up, as does an angry Thanagarian. Is Kyle going to end up the next Hal Jordan in more of a Parallax sort of way than a Green Lantern way?

The Torchbearer. 1 episode



Serial 5: Green Lantern Corps The Dark Side Of Green
(written by Dave Gibbons and Kieth Champagne, art by Patrick Gleason and Dave Gibbons)

The Green Lantern Corpse? The Black Ops sector of the Lantern Corps comes out of the, uhhh, Oan closet? to fight insidious crime. Plus, it’s Guy Gardener’s turn to be framed for murder, and Mogo factors in somehow.

Dark Emeralds. 2 episodes



Episode 15: Ion The Dying Flame
(written by Ron Marz, art by Greg Tocchini and Fernando Pasarin)

Kyle has to discover who is trying to take out the guardians (as in kill them, not buy them dinner and try to hook up). Also, the monitors are, uhhh, monitoring, and Kyle’s mom takes a turn for the worse, which may be tied into the person bugging out the guardians.

The Dying Flame. 1 episode

​

Season 3 is 15 episodes.

I was never much into The Green Lantern, but I started working in comic book stores right before Geoff Johns brought Hal Jordan back to prominence as a major character in the DC Universe. There are about five seasons worth of stories that I’ve read that fit pretty neatly into the continuity that Johns mined from, and then created himself.
Season 2 brings us the downfall of Hal Jordan, and introduces us to yet another Green Lantern of Earth, Kyle Rainer.

Serial 1: Emerald Twilight New Dawn, Zero Hour Crisis In Time
(written by Ron Marz, art by Darryl Banks)

Hal Jordan’s hometown, Coast City, is destroyed in the wake of The Death Of Superman. Because the guardians won’t allow him to save the city where he was raised, Hal goes absolutely bonkers, destroys Oa, and kills as many Green Lanterns as he can. Once he becomes Parallax, he tries to repair Coast City as well as the timeline. Several DC superheroes step in to try and stop him.

Emerald Twilight. 2 episodes



Serial 2: Green Lantern Baptism Of Fire
(written by Ron Marz, art by  Darryl Banks, Paul Pelletier, Romeo Tanghal, and Albert de Guzman)

Kyle Rainer is the new Green Lantern of Earth and has no corps or guardians to train him. So he seeks out some of The Justice League to try and teach him how to wield the green power ring. Batman, The Flash, and Wonder Woman guest star.

Baptism Of Fire. 2 episodes



Episode 5: Green Lantern Emerald Allies
(written by Ron Marz and Chuck Dixon, art by Darryl Banks and others)

It’s the next generation of Green Lantern/Green Arrow as Kyle Rainer teams up with Connor Hawke to solve some serious daddy issues.

Emerald Allies. 1 episode



Episode 6: Green Lantern Emerald Knights
(written by Ron Marz and Chuck Dixon, art by Darryl Banks)

Kyle goes into the past and brings Green Lantern Hal Jordan back to the present to battle Parallax Hal Jordan.

Emerald Knights. 1 episode



Episode 7: Justice League New World Order
(written by Grant Morrison, art by Howard Porter and John Dell)

Now that Justice League International has been stripped down to a core group of superheroes, Kyle Rainer is given a spot in the Big Seven.

New World Order. 1 episode



Episode 8: Green Lantern Traitor
(written by Steven Grant)

Another three stories across time collection. This time it’s Abin Sur, Hal Jordan, and then Kyle battling a villain called The Traitor. The Hal Jordan portion is the least compelling, but it’s nice to spend some time with Abin Sur, particularly in The American West.

Traitor. 1 episode



Episode 9: Green Lantern Circle Of Fire
(written by Brian K Vaughan and Scott Beatty)

Kyle Rainer gathers a group of fringe DC heroes to battle a villain called Oblivion. This is the only DC proper story I’ve read by Brian K Vaughan, and it’s of a higher quality than much of the Kyle Rainer stuff.

Circle Of Fire. 1 episode



Episode 10: Green Lantern New Journey Old Path
(written by Judd Winnick)

Yellow power rings? Oh, dear. A prisoner at a mental hospital is given access to a yellow power ring before escaping and wreaking havoc that captures the attention of The Justice League and Kyle Rainer.

Yellow. 1 episode



Episode 11: Green Lantern The Power Of Ion
(written by Judd Winnick, art by Dale Eaglesham, Eric Battle, Brandon Badeaux, Jamal Igle, and Pat Quinn)

Kyle loses his Green Lantern identity in a battle with Oblivion. But fear not, he’s now the Green Lantern-like hero called Ion.

Ion. 1 episode



Episode 12: Green Lantern Brother’s Keeper
(written by Judd Winnick)

This is a fairly preachy story, pretty consistent with Judd Winnick’s early work. Homophobia and bigotry are bad, yo. And Judd’s not afraid to let you know it. Repeatedly. There’s also an interesting Alan Scott story here.

Brother’s Keeper. 1 episode



Episode 13: Green Lantern Passing The Torch
(written by Judd Winnick)

The end of Winnick’s run. Ion and Jade go to the reformed Oa and meets with the reformed guardians. Jon Stewart stays behind to protect Earth.

Passing The Torch. 1 episode



Serial 3: Green Lantern Rebirth
(written by Geoff Johns, art by Ethan Van Sciver and Prentis Rollins)

That was an intensely long season of Kyle Rainer to read through but there needed to be some dramatic tension before Hal Jordan, former Green Lantern, former Paralaxx, and former Spectre, comes back to the Green Lantern Corps. Yes, Corps. The Corps is back! Jon Stewart, Kyle Rainer and the Justice League are onhand for Hal’s redemption.

Rebirth. 2 episodes

Season 2 is 15 episodes

I was never much into The Green Lantern, but I started working in comic book stores right before Geoff Johns brought Hal Jordan back to prominence as a major character in the DC Universe. There are about five seasons worth of stories that I’ve read that fit pretty neatly into the continuity that Johns mined from, and then created himself.
In season one we meet the original Green Lantern of Earth, Hal Jordan, and briefly meet two of his future replacements: Jon Stewart and the unfortunately irrepressible Guy Gardner.