GREEN LANTERN CORPS #39
Green Lanterns Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner return to Oa following the tribute celebrations seen in BLACKEST NIGHT #1. On the way, Rayner admits to Gardner that he has lied to fellow Lantern Soranik Natu: while she saw him as her true love (during the Sins of The Star Sapphire story) he actually saw his ex-girlfriend, Jade, who died during INFINITE CRISIS. To make matters worse, they find Natu and fellow Lantern Iolande returning from Korugar. As they approach Oa and find the battery shell missing, they are bombarded by hundreds of black power rings heading for Oa.
On Daxam, following the defeat of Mongul and the Sinestro Crops, Green Lantern Arisia finds she has out stayed her welcome among the fiercely xenophobic populace. Leaving the planet, she stops near Daxam’s sun which is now powered by Sodam Yat, Ion, who used his power to turn it yellow, giving the Daxamites their superpowers.
On Zamaron, the Sinestro Crops attempt to free Kryb whose children, on another unknown planet, call out for her.
Having been beaten off Daxam, Mongul enforces his rule on his new base: Korugar, home planet of SInestro and Natu.
Back above Oa, the four Lanterns try to halt the progress of the black power rings but fail. As they warn Kilowog and the other Lanterns, the rings arrive and converge on the Green Lantern crypt. There, Morro attempts to protect the monuments to the dead but his efforts are deafeated as every dead Green Lantern rises. Bursting from the crypt, they attack the Green Lanterns, Rayner reeling in horror as Jade comes for him.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #40
Due to her recent adventures on Daxam, Arisia arrives on Oa unaware of the attack by the Black Lanterns. She is soon caught up in it when her family, risen by the black power rings, approaches her.
Amidst the chaos of the battle, the Black Lantern Jade takes Kyle Rayner up into the sky and attempts to convince him that she is real.
The Sinestro Corps member Kryb, meanwhile, flees Zamaron and tries to find her children whose voices have fallen quiet. She is stopped by the Star Sapphire Miri who, persuaded by the love Kryb feels for the children, calls a truce and promises to help her.
Back on Oa, the Green Lanterns led by Salaak discover husks that look like the Guardians. They are prevented from investigating further by the arrival of the Alpha Lanterns who claim to be in charge. Salaak refutes their claim and, using a hologram left by the Guardians, shows that with the Oans missing it is he who is in charge. He quickly puts the Alpha Lanterns in their place and issues orders.
Despite the best attempts of Jade, Rayner is not persuaded by her and attacks but is overcome.
At the site of the execution of the Sinestro Corps members by the Alpha Lanterns, black rings find the corpses and reanimate them, resulting in the death of several Green Lanterns.
Former GL Bzzd, now a Black Lantern, is caught by Guy Gardner and reluctantly killed but his victory is quickly lessened when the Black Lantern Ke’Haan attacks him.
On the planet Vora, Kryb and Miri discover the children are missing and together set out to find them.
Back on Oa, in the medical infirmary, Black Lanterns find injured GLs and attempt to kill them but are stopped by the arrival of Soranik Natu and Iolande.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #41
In the infirmary, Soranik Natu and Iolande strive to save as many wounded Green Lanterns as they can before the Black Lanterns are reinforced by more black power rings arriving.
Outside, Guy Gardner frees himself from Ke’Haan and destroys his body, only to watch it begin to reform. Bangaing his wounds, he heads off to help the other Lanterns.
Natu and Iolande are forced to retreat and concentrate on saving the wounded by sending them in power ring bubbles to Mogo, planning to escort them to the edge of the sector. Natu, however, sees Kyle Rayner battling the Black Lantern Jade; Iolande sends her to his aid, taking the wounded by herself.
Together, Natu and Rayner beat Jade back only to have her tell Jade that Rayner had lied to Natu about her being his true love.
Elsewhere, Arisia fights against the Black Lanterns that have used her family against her, destroying them as best she can.
As Kilowog marshals his troops he is confronted by his old trainer, Ermey, who taunts him over and over, enraging him until Ermey is able to make an attempt at removing Kilowog’s heart.
Lanterns Isamot and Vath are confronted by a horde of Black Lantern children but before the young ones attack, the second in command of the Indigo Lanterns arrives to rescue the Green Lanterns.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #42
Surrounded by the dead children of Green Lanterns, Isamot and Vath are surprised when the second in command of the Indigo tribe, Munk, claims he brings compassion. Their attitudes soon change, however, when he combines his own light with theirs and begins destroying the Black Lanterns that threaten them. As the tide of battle seems to be turning, the Black Lanterns call off their attack, their rings having reached 100% power and a command to “Devour will” is received.
Kilowog’s old teacher, Ermey, begins to reach into his student’s chest to retrieve his heart when the same command is received by his ring. Ignoring Kilowog, the Black Lantern flies off.
The same thing happens with Kyle Rayner and Soranik Natu when the Black Lantern Jade halts her attack and joins her undead compatriots heading to the central power battery.
Every Black Lantern on Oa heads for the source of the Green Lanterns’ power but they are confronted by the Green Lanterns and Munk. Gathering at its base, the Black Lanterns create a ring construct together that begins to pull the central battery from its moorings. Rayner and Guy Gardner act on an idea of Rayner’s while Natu, Kilowog and the others defend the battery. Returning as quick as they can, Rayner and Gardner unleash the Red Lantern Vice from his sciencell straight into the Black Lanterns who he begins to destroy with abandon. This ploy works – Vice destroying the Black Lanterns fast enough to disrupt the ring construct they have made – until the Alpha Lantern Chaselon appears and kills Vice, thinking he is an escapee.
The Black Lanterns descend upon Chaselon and tear the Alpha Lantern’s power battery from his body, rupturing its casing. Salaak reports this to Rayner who snatches Chaselon’s battery from the Black Lanterns, using it as bait for the undead. Luring them towards him, Rayner quickly erects a force shield around him and the Black Lanterns.
Sending messages of love to both Soranik and Guy, Rayner is killed in the explosion of Chaselon’s battery, taking many of the Black Lanterns with him.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #43
Following Rayner’s death, both Soranik and Gardner rush to their fallen friend, Gardner attempting to prevent Rayner’s ring from leaving the planet. Failing to do so, he is overcome by grief and rage whereupon the ring of Red Lantern Vice finds him, transforming him into a Red Lantern. Using both green and red power rings, Gardner attacks the Black Lanterns, taking vengeance for the death of his friend.
Soranik attempts to revive Rayner as another power ring, this time a black one, attempts to raise him from the dead. Despite her best attempts, the black ring manages to secure itself but before it can enlist him into the Black Lanterns, Munk of the Indigo Tribe arrives and destroys it. The respite is short, however, as more black rings arrive to claim Rayner. Munk is joined by other Green Lanterns including Kilowog and Arisia who help defend Rayner’s body while Soranik returns to helping him.
Elsewhere on Oa, Kryb of the Sinestro Corps finds, along with the Star Sapphire Miri, the children that she had been seeking, all of whom are dead and raised as Black Lanterns. Blaming Miri and the other Sapphires for imprisoning her, Kryb attacks her just as Miri is alerted to an instance of true love being threatened by death. Miri leaves Kryb to her fate just as the Red Lantern Gardner arrives, killing her children. Kryb attacks him but Gardner tears off her arm, forcing the hand that still wears her yellow ring into her own mouth.
As Soranik struggles to revive Rayner while their fellow Lanterns defend them, Miri arrives and, aware of their love for each other, links their hearts, shocking Rayner back to life. In seconds, Rayner’s power ring returns to him. Told of Gardner’s rage, Rayner and his friends plan to get the red ring off him. As they fly off, a vast shadow covers Oa’s surface as the planet Green Lantern, Mogo, arrives.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #44
Rayner and Salaak discuss Mogo’s appearance in a brief lull in the fighting, wondering what the planet Green Lantern is planning to do. Munk of the Indigo Tribe brings their attention back to the problem of the Black Lanterns attacking the central power battery and the fact that Gardner is still possessed by the red power ring.
Despite Gardner’s attack on the Black Lanterns, they are able to bring the power battery down, toppling it into the ground. Despite Vath Sarn recommending that Gardner be left alone as a Red Lantern (due to his efficacy against the Black Lanterns) Rayner attempts to remove the red ring. Gardern’s rage is too great, however, and he attacks Rayner.
Salaak makes contact with Mogo who informs him of his plan – to purge Oa of the threat against it. By increasing its gravitational pull, Mogo pulls not only the Black Lanterns but all the Lanterns from Oa towards its own surface. The planet drags them across space towards itself, though far from the site of Iolande’s makeshift infirmary. The Black Lanterns (but not the Green) are consumed by Mogo, drawn ever downwards towards the planet’s core where they will be unable to reform.
With all but the main Green Lanterns sent back to Oa, Rayner states his need to find Gardner and remove the red ring. Before they can set out, Gardner finds them.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #45
Facing the Green Lanterns, Gardner struggles with his Green and Red power rings, before attacking his former team mates. Trying to help, Star Sapphire Miri attempts to open his heart but it requires the aid of Mogo himself to drag Gardner down and force him to face the fears and troubles of his past, seen through both the green and red.
The other Lanterns help Gardner fight his personal demons and constrain him again, with Rayner determined to take him back to Oa to save him. Kilowog reminds him that the red rings cannot simply be removed and that Gardner’s last sane instruction to his friends was to kill him should all else fail.
Refusing to do that, they watch as Mogo subsumes Gardner’s body into a nutrient bath, using microbes to clean his entire body of the red ring infection at super speed. Restored to health, the Indigo Lantern Munk informs the Lanterns that members of the Indigo Tribe are gathering at the Central Power Battery on Oa.
Returning to Oa, the Indigo Lanterns bring them up to speed on what has been happening on Earth and, with their power rings recharged, they are transported to Earth.
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #46
As seen in BLACKEST NIGHT #7, the Green Lantern Corps – along with just about every other shade of Lantern – have arrived above Earth and are attempting to stop the millions of Black Lanterns from reaching the planet’s surface. Instructed by the Guardians to work together, they reluctantly put aside their differences and concentrate on attacking the Black Lanterns.
Under the guidance of Guy Gardner, a plan is drawn up that seems to work for the most part, combining the rings’ different strengths and destroying countless undead until thousands more Black Lanterns fly up from Coast City. Among them, to Guy’s horror, is Ice, his girlfriend who had recently returned to life. As he struggles against her, Kyle Rayner is confronted by the Black Lantern version of his ex-girlfriend Alex, brutally murdered by Major Force just after Rayner became a Green Lantern.
Gardner faces off against Ice who tries to drag him all the way down to Coast City while Rayner struggles against Alex who blames him for allowing Major Force to kill her. Breaking free of her trap, Rayner enlists Munk of the Indigo Tribe in destroying her. Rayner receives a message from Gardner in Coast City revealing that the Anti-Monitor has been sighted, trapped in the Black Central Power Battery.
With several members of the different Corps in tow, Rayner leads an attack against the Anti-Monitor, realising that if they can destroy him, they rob the Power Battery and Nekron of much of their strength. The Lanterns attack but, as the Anti-Monitor is not entirely a Black Lantern, their rings have little effect. After the heroine Dove volunteers to help, the Lanterns attack the Anti-Monitor again, using Dove as a living bullet, hoping her white power can do what their rings cannot.
They are only partially successful as the Anti-Monitor, while seemingly dead, is still trapped within the Power Battery, providing Nekron with his power source. Realising they can do no more, the Lanterns turn their attack to Nekron himself.
Crisis on Earth-Prime 