Warning: Spoilers for Green Lantern: War Journal #9

DCeased may be DC’s home for publishing undead-based shenanigans, but the zombie-themed universe has been proven somewhat redundant by DC’s own mainline universe. While “zombie outbreak” may be a commonplace comic plot contrivance, it turns out that Green Lantern’s own Guardians of the Universe (and their predecessors) have been responsible for not one, but four zombie outbreaks in the DC Universe.

This revelation comes on the heels of Green Lantern: War Journal #9 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Montos, in which the history of the Dark Star and the Radiant Dead is revealed. The Book of Oa tells the tale of the Maltusians (who would eventually become the Guardians, Zamarons, and Controllers) who raided the mineralized blood of the Old Gods to fashion tools of power – but accidentally opened a conduit to the mad god, Olgrun: the Dark Star.

The Maltusian responsible died trying to destroy the connection and is implied to have become the Revenant Queen, now leading her host of Olgrun’s undead specters against the living.

Maltus Is Responsible for the Bulk of DC’s Undead Plagues

Green Lantern Lore Causes Major DC Waves

Ancient Maltusians play a major role in DC history. Highly advanced beings, Maltusians were obsessed with the notion of bringing order to the universe (as emphasized in Green Lantern: War Journal #9). Their tampering to this end is infamous for causing more harm than good, with such examples including the Dark Star referenced above as well as the scientist Krona’s meddling with the birth of the universe. Eventually, an ideological schism led to the Maltusians fracturing into three societies: the Guardians, who eschewed emotion; the Zamarons, who embraced it; and the Controllers, who pursued more violent options.

Each of these factions would go on to leave their own mark upon the universe. The Guardians, founders of the Manhunters and the Green Lantern Corps, are arguably the most famous and the most problematic of the three; while the universe was arguably more stable under the Green Lanterns’ stewardship, the Guardian’s penchant for manipulation and keeping secrets oftentimes caused more harm than good. Meanwhile, the Zamarons were responsible for the creation of the Star Sapphire Corps, and act as stewards of the Violet light of the emotional spectrum (the literal power of love).

DC’s Controllers and Darkstars Are Deep-Cut Zombie Sources

& Deep-Space Lantern Spin-Offs

The third group of Maltusians, the Controllers, established the Darkstars as an offshoot of their own galactic police efforts once they noticed the positive effect their peacekeeping efforts were having upon their local space sector. While a Darkstar’s exo-suit did not provide the same energy-manipulating powers as a Lantern Ring, it still allowed for self-powered spaceflight, enhanced physical abilities, and energy blasts.

The Darkstar’s undoing ultimately came about when the Controllers decided that the Darkstars had not meaningfully reduced chaos in the universe and so discontinued the project, causing the remaining Darkstars to eventually die out. Unfortunately, this was not the end of the Darkstars. Co-opting the Controller’s exo-suit technology, the extra-dimensional entity known as Lady Styx revived the “Darkstar” name as her undead heralds, laying waste to world after world to spread her forces, with the Darkstars serving as her military and priests.

This means that the “Darkstars” have the dubious honor of being an undead plague upon the DC Universe twice over: the name was first used by the Maltusians who unleashed the Dark Star of the Fenn and the Radiant Dead, a fate cruelly echoed by those who would be forced to rise under Lady Styx.

The Rise of the Black Lanterns Was a Major Pre-New 52 Event

Blackest Night by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, and More

The next Lantern-based zombie apocalypse would come in the form of 2009’s Blackest Night event, when the death-avatar Nekron led his host of “Black Lantern” zombies against the DC Universe. Through the use of parasitic Black Lantern rings, Nekron reanimated legions of fallen heroes to strike against the living, preying upon the emotional spectrum that normally empowers the members of the other Lantern Corps.

The Black Lantern threat was particularly deadly: not only could they spread undeath through the traditional means of zombie infection (bites and scratches), they could also instantly infect heroes who had previously died and been resurrected. The Black Lanterns could not have been brought about without the help of Scar, a Guardian who had been infected by the force behind the Black Lanterns after being attacked by the Anti-Monitor.

Scar’s place among the Guardians proved integral to orchestrating the Black Lantern attack, as she was able to subvert the Guardian’s decisions and manipulate events in order to bring about the Black Lantern’s prophesized “Blackest Night” while simultaneously weakening the Lantern Corps’ abilities to respond. Therefore, Scar joins the long legacy of Maltusians who have unleashed zombie threats upon the DC Universe.

The Third Army Is One of Green Lantern History’s Greatest Tragedies

Green Lantern: Rise of the Third Army by Geoff Johns, Peter J. Tomasi, Peter Milligan, Tony Bedard, and More

Sadly, the Guardians learned the exact wrong lesson after the events of Blackest Night. 2012’s Rise of the Third Army storyline details how, after witnessing the ongoing conflicts between the various Lantern Corps, the Guardians decided that basing their peacekeeping efforts upon the green light of willpower was misguided: the very force of will that made the Green Lanterns so powerful also made them impossible for the Guardians to control. To that end, the Guardians created the Third Army, a force to replace the Green Lanterns and overwrite all free will in the universe with their own.

The Third Army is a near-perfect example of a zombie menace. They are capable of assimilating others by touch, overwritting the victim’s mind and expelling their heart, leaving an exact copy of a Third Army soldier behind. Furthermore, the Third Army lacked any means of receiving or expressing communication, leaving the Guardian’s will as their sole influence. Lacking any emotion, the Third Army is highly resistant to attacks based within the emotional spectrum, such as Lantern Corps energy. While the Third Army eventually failed, they are the Guardian’s most direct and deliberate zombie assault on the DC Universe to date.

Maltus’s Legacy Continues to Threaten the Entire DCU

Follow the Action in Green Lantern: War Journal

While the classic Guardians, the Controllers, and the ancient Maltusians have all dedicated millennia to the preservation of peace throughout the universe, their meddling has arguably unleashed far more harm than good, resulting in four separate zombie outbreaks: the spread of the Dark Star’s corrupting influence, the Darkstars’ fall to Lady Styx, the Black Lanterns, and the Third Army.

No other faction in the DC Universe has unleashed such apocalyptic forces with the same chilling regularity. The DCeased franchise may illustrate the horrors of spreading Anti-Life, but Green Lantern’s Guardians have beaten them to the punch four times already, and in mainline canon to boot.

Green Lantern: War Journal #9 is available now from DC Comics.