Warning: Spoilers for Green Lantern: War Journal #10 ahead!

Green Lantern: War Journal fleshes out DC’s newest cosmic villain, Olgrun of the First World, as Green Lantern John Stewart struggles to stem the tide of Olgrun’s Radiant Dead. Issue #10 gives readers their closest look yet at this mysterious deity, and there seems to be subtext portraying Olgrun as a figure of biblical proportions.

When John Stewart is captured by the Revenant Queen in Green Lantern: War Journal #10 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Montos, he finds himself reliving memories that aren’t his own; rather, they belong to Olgrun himself. As the visions play out, they paint a picture of what Olgrun was like before madness took him.

Olgrun’s memories reveal that before they were the Radiant Dead, his armies were actually known as the Radiant Host, and that his purpose is to create worlds – language that echoes both the bible and the story of Genesis.

Green Lantern: War Journal Casts Olgrun as The God

Who Is Olgrun?

First introduced in Superman’s Warworld Saga (also by Johnson and a number of superstar artists like Daniel Sampere and Ricardo Federici), Olgrun has been described as the first of the Old Gods – a phrase which both establishes his primordial nature and marks him as distinct from Jack Kirby’s New Gods cosmology. While initially a benevolent figure, Olgrun eventually succumbed to a mysterious madness, slew his daughter, and had to be sealed away for the safety of the universe. His handprint can be seen throughout Johnson’s DC stories, with elements or artifacts that channel Olgrun’s power often serving as pivotal plot elements.

Green Lantern: War Journal #10 makes a compelling case for Olgrun being a comparable figure to the Abrahamic God in DC’s varied and twisting cosmology (which even affects the Justice League). His army was formerly known as the “Radiant Host”, which evokes the language and imagery of the “Heavenly Host” of angels that are supposed to attend the divine.

Likewise, Olgrun is presented as traveling from world to world and creating life, echoing the biblical tale of Genesis, in which God creates the world in seven days. While the intent is not to directly equate Olgrun with the Abrahamic God, the parallels seem deliberate, imbuing Olgrun with a similar sense of breadth and divinity.

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Olgrun Redefines Godhood in Comics

Godhood is tricky to depict, especially in comics, where so many characters are empowered by gods or have the might with which to argue and converse with them on equal footing (for example, the cast of Wonder Woman or Shazam!). Even John Stewart has stood among DC’s gods, harnessing his power as Green Lantern to stand among their number (though denying the title).

By presenting Olgrun as beyond even these pantheons, Green Lantern: War Journal does its best to reset the reader’s understanding of godhood in DC – and does so by squaring Green Lantern against a figure who is heavily implied to have once been God (as Abrahamic religions understand the concept).

Green Lantern: War Journal #10 is available now from DC Comics.