Green Lanterns are 'Lost' in space drama

Not only are a bunch of space cops from the Green Lantern Corps stranded in a universe that they don't know, but they have a bunch of alien foes and a supervillain in their midst as well.

So in the grand scheme of DC Comics' cosmic world, the main conceit of the new Green Lantern: Lost Army series (debuting Wednesday) doesn't look very hopeful for the good guys. At least they can depend the leadership and military knowhow of Earthborn hero John Stewart.

Putting Stewart, the alien Kilowog, the rogue-ish Guy Gardner and others on their own is good for storytelling purposes, offers new possibilities for cool ideas and opens the doors for new readers, says Lost Army series writer Cullen Bunn (Sinestro). "Some people are seeing these characters maybe for the first time and not having to worry too much about everything else that's gone on in the past."

Illustrated by Jesus Saiz, Lost Army starts with pretty much everyone who was wearing a Green Lantern power ring mysteriously vanished — and since there's one for every sector of the cosmos, that's potentially hundreds gone AWOL. (Hal Jordan is on his own renegade path in the main Green Lantern comic.)

Stewart and Kilowog's group, consisting of Arisia Arab, Xrill-Vrek and Two Six run into Gardner in this strange locale, plus get an extra team member in Krona, a resurrected former Guardian of the Universe who once tried to wipe out all the Lanterns.

The crux of the first story arc is tracking down where the rest of the Lantern Corps is but also trying to power their rings again in a very hostile corner of the galaxy while also finding a way home. ("Cagey" readers will have figured out where they are by the end of the first issue, Bunn says, and the second issue "will have put a very fine point on it.")

While Bunn plans on exploring each of the main cast with a little more depth as the series goes forward, Stewart is the main focus of the initial issues of Lost Army, with flashbacks to his days on the frontlines of war as a soldier.

"A leader deals with tough situations and has to make some really tough calls at times," Bunn says. "Those difficult decisions are made all the more difficult when you're working on a time crunch and you're in desperate and dire straits. You have to make those tough calls on the fly and hope they're going to pay off."

One of those decisions Stewart has to make is how close to keep Krona, a potentially untrustworthy sort who seems like he's helping the Green Lanterns but "is absolutely a wild card," adds Bunn.

"The Lanterns know who Krona is, but they don't know why he's here and why he's acting the way he is. Is this a trick on his part? To some degree they're wondering if he's behind everything that's happened to them."

Bunn teases that another character "of Krona level of interest" that will be joining the story early on in the first arc, but the writer's also enjoying spending time with new characters as well, specifically Xrill-Vrek.

A morphic empathy, Xrill adapts to emotions and thoughts around her, and is able to change shape, form and more to match. The Lanterns are "in this new strange universe with these new strange beings," Bunn says, "and Xrill is at times connecting with these alien beings and changing her faith and attitudes to match them."

The absence of the Green Lanterns will affect DC Universe on the whole, with shockwaves being felt across a number of comics —especially the cosmic titles — and there are surprises in store in regards to where they're lost, according to Bunn.

"Once they figure out where they are, decisions have to be made," he says, "and John Stewart may want to handle things one way but he will not be met with complete agreement by the rest of the Corps."