#saint walker

[cer-rata]

An incomplete but very angry diatribe about the missed potential of the Star Sapphires

So back in the day Geoff Johns and co decided to open up the Green Lantern mythos and add some more flavor and expand the concept of sci-fi tech powered by elemental emotion to more than just willpower. Which yes, is not an emotion, we ignore it and move on.

Anyway we got some really cool stuff! A rage tyrant fueled by experiencing incredible injustice on a personal and cosmic scale, whose vendetta twisted him into something terrible. An avatar of greed who was never allowed to have anything, not freedom, not family, not safety, who takes and takes and takes to fill a void that can never be satisfied. A priest who lost everything but presses on through his unshakable hope that the future can and will be better. It's a lot of fun stuff!

So in this great creative re-imagining, they had to do something clever and fun with the idea of an all female corps powered by love right? They took the opportunity to move past the purely romantic, sexual idea of love and the obsessed femme fatale archetype, because they had the chance to really explore different types of affection now that there were a bunch of different avatars with different stories to pull from right?

Right?

Nope! The only Sapphires we ever learn about are heartbroken over a cursed romance like Carol, grieving a dead fiance like Miri Riam, forcibly mind controlled to be one like Fatality, or just Miss Bloss who...kind of said she wanted to join up? No clue what her deal is, as far as I'm aware that's never really explained. And then we just never learn about anyone else, and still haven't. The hell is "The Lost Sapphire"? No idea, we'll likely never know.

It's frustrating because not only is this a glaring example of the depth of plotlines offered to women in comics compared to their male counterparts, but also a wild lack of imagination. Love is one of the most complicated emotions we experience. Fear, anger, hope, all pretty easy to quickly define. Love is multifaceted, cultural, incredibly contextual and a factor in so many different kinds of relationship. Just thinking logically it should be much easier to flesh out the motivations of a group pulling from such a nuanced source of power, versus something as clear-cut as rage. But no, the red lanterns got so many varied reasons for their rage, the male ones especially: Bleez being the woman was of course given the SA narrative, which I don't think is inappropriate on its own, that's an incredibly valid reason to be angry, but as the ONLY truly prominent female Red Lantern it's like...c'mon guys. But still, at least she and Atrocitus had different reasons for becoming what they are, and that variation was played for plot and drama.

But there's not a single Star Sapphire that personally champions something other than romantic love. And before you shoot me, it is explicitly mentioned that they DO protect other forms of love, so there's no reason for them to all be sexy and obsessed with kissing people. There are no Sapphires that are driven by:

The love of their children and families, even in a tragic sense, like Atrocitus and Saint Walker and Larfleez are...

Their love of their people, or their culture. It would have been interesting if Fatality was inducted BECAUSE of her pain at losing her world, but no, they just...replaced her anger with lovey vibes and called it a day.

Their love for nature. Not everyone is social, but social love isn't the only way to strongly experience the emotion.

Their love for themselves. Where is the fun narcissistic ass who loves their own self image to the point of getting powers? It would have been a fun twist and a cool way to get another villainous Sapphire if you wanted to.

Their platonic love of ANYTHING really. Are ace/aro people just...not capable of love then? It doesn't mean anything to be willing to drive cross country to help a friend move just because they needed it and you care? No? You need to be fucking for it to count?

It's like...fascinating if you really think about it. In this vast fantasy universe full of alien races with wildly different perceptions and life cycles, and where the other corps have plenty of non-human, truly alien looking members, that the women's only love corps is full of only hot hot scantily clad baddies. Most love that people experience in their lives isn't even romantic! You will have far more experiences with friends and family members and even loving strangers than you will have with romantic partners.

Like the reason is clearly sexism, duh, but we know sexism is bad, that's obvious, what I really want to make clear is how much this blatant, unexplored sexism just completely desecrated the potential of the worldbuilding here.

From another angle even: Let's say this this WAS the sex and romance all the time corps. Let's say that you wanted to keep it all women. I hate the idea that women are capable of love in a way that men aren't, that's such a bad take and just regressive and unhelpful, but let's just play ball for a moment. They're not even hot? Their designs are such ridiculously narrow versions of feminine attractiveness that they're not even successful at really being mass appeal sexy. I haven't even reached the point of complaining about the fatphobia and criminal lack of different body types yet, I'm still just saying that from the standpoint of fantasy sexy it's not even good at being stereotypical offensive fantasy sexy. It's just boring! They're all so visually boring! You can be scantily clad and still have an interesting and coherent character design! But that is not what they gave these women! They actually redesigned the classic Star Sapphire costume and made it MORE sexist and boring:

Yeah it was cheesy but it was also cute and fun? The design is playful classic sci-fi girl and this is when she was still a dangerous unhinged villain. Its fun to look at and feels tonally coherent next to Green Lantern.

And then they just...

No actually, I will not explain this one, you have eyes.

And yeah they fixed her costume finally,

But! She's still stuck as Hal Jordan's romantic punching bag, and has not gotten to have any new adventures on her own.

So.

What I'm saying is it's a flop all around. 2/10, and only because despite everything Fatality STILL managed to serve. I actually think that all of the corps have been poorly used since blackest night, even the greens actually, but they never even gave the Sapphires a chance. They last showed up in...a WW annual I think? During the whole dark gods event, they needed Diana to help them fight the evil god of love, and there was a guy in the corp finally, and they talked about sisterhood and then we haven't heard a peep from them since. I think Carol might be due to get her ring back in the GL ongoing but she's not really been treated well so far, so I'm not hopeful for anything fresh and well reasoned.

So my lovely ladies (and that one unnamed guy), until they let you get it together it may be time to

#dc comics #comics meta #hal jordan #green lantern #star sapphire #carol ferris #fatality #atrocitus #larfleeze #saint walker #sexism #shut up cerata #dc editorial answer for your crimes

[nopes-and-dreams]

Decided to draw my other alien bbgirl in a similar outfit to the J’onn design from @ notanotherrobin

#dc #dc fanart #saint walker #bro’dee #blue lantern #green lantern corps

[soranatus]

Welcome to the Lantern Corps! By Adingcold (x)

#dc comics #green lantern #kyle rayner #star sapphire #fatality #yrra cynril #lyssa drak #hal jordan #saint walker #iroque #larfleeze #carol ferris #bleez #fan art

[one-starry-knight]

And I will always hope. Until my last dying breath.

#art stuff #dc comics #green lantern #saint walker #HOPE. HOPE IS INTREGRAL TO BEING TRANS.

[hollowsart]

"All things pass into the night, but with Hope..

All will be well."

#my art #phone art #saint walker #bro'dee walker #blue lantern #hi idk what came over me to draw this blue alien worm guy #I redesigned his suit for funsies

[somewherefornow]

ARTHUR CURRY & MERA in BLACKEST NIGHT

#mera #arthur curry #arthur x mera #blackest night #carol ferris #hal jordan #saint walker #HER HAND HER HAND ON HIS HEAD HER HAND CRADLING HIS HEAD GUYS GUYS DID YOU NOTICE. HER. HAND #*panelsandpages

[ko-conner]

All the emotions! - DC Lanterns.

#dc #green lantern #lanterncorps #hal jordan #kyle rayner #john stewart #sinestro #atrocitus #larfleeze #saint walker #black hand #red lantern #blue lantern #dex starr #carol ferris #too many to tag!!!

[dc-tournaments]

#dc #mental stability tournament #saint walker #death of the endless

[camo-wolf]

#dc comics #comic books #dc #comics #green lantern corps #red lantern corps #yellow lantern corps #star sapphire #blue lantern corps #orange lantern #hal jordan #jon stewart #kilowog #sinestro #atrocitus #saint walker #Bro’Dee Walker #brother warth #Larfleeze #guy gardner #guardians of the universe #kyle rayner #I’m not doing black and white because it would be too easy #dex starr #alon Scott #lantern rings #green lantern

[slithergaunt]

Some past blasts

Back in the old days I used to sell art prints, specifically fanart of monster/alien characters. At these shows I did not draw Batman or Spiderman, but if you wanted Venom or Killer Croc, I’m your guy.

This was back in the day when they’d first revealed that there were Lantern Corps other than Green, and each with a deity embodying an emotion. Apparently green was Willpower, and leader was... whatever dude it currently was. Hal Jordan or whatever.

But then they showed the other color Lantern Corps and their leaders, and I was delighted to see some of them were super cool aliens. I ended up drawing these prints of my faves.

Saint Walker, the Blue Lantern

Atrocitus, the Red Lantern

And finally, the guy who ended up being my favorite my DC comics character.

Larfleeze, the Orange Lantern

After the big whole universe-wide reboot they did, I got weary and slowly stopped following DC altogether, so I have no idea what’s become of these folks. My booth was nothing but monster/alien characters, my big customers were fellow people who were into such characters. It was great to experience and get the hang of the convention experience, yet nowadays I just have too many other things I wanna do.

#fan art #DC comics #larfleeze #saint walker #atrocitus

[cloudydreamingart]

Saint walker looks stunning in thigh highs…. That’s it that’s the post I just needed to say that

#unhinged garbage #again #HE HAS A WIFE AND KID #BY THE WAY #my fav boy #blue lantern #saint walker #dc comics #green lantern #techincally #blue lantern corps #unhinged posting

[nitpickrider]

Size-Changing golden gorilla with the mind of an African explorer wielding a large rifle made out of blue hope energy made by an alien monk. Some people don't want comics to be this all the time. I do not understand those people

#dc #dcu #dc comics #dc universe #superhero #comics #congorilla #congo bill #saint walker #blue lantern #batman #bruce wayne

[soranatus]

The First Blue Lantern Saint Walker by Jo Cheol-Hong (Mi-Gyeung)

#jo cheol-hong #dc comics #green lantern #blue lantern #saint walker

[whats-a-clever-username]

Hello, five other people that vibe with the Lantern Corps

#kirby's edits #green lantern #blue lantern #lantern corps #guy gardner #hal jordan #ch'p #kyle rayner #salaak #kilowog #saint walker #john stewart

[one-starry-knight]

quick doodles of my favorite Lanterns before I go to bed

#art stuff #dc comics #saint walker #larfleeze

[covertblizzard]

I don’t know if it is intentional, but I think it’s interesting that the emotional electromagnetic spectrum is arranged: anger (red), avarice (orange), fear (yellow), will (green), hope (blue), compassion (indigo), love (violet). It sort of starts out with the more negative emotions with will at the centre (the more “unemotional” one according to the guardians, and also because it can go both ways) and ends with the generally more positive emotions.

In the visible spectrum, violet light has the highest energy, followed by indigo, and so on, with red having the lowest energy. I think it’s fun because it in a way signifies that love / compassion / hope is stronger than rage / avarice / fear. Maybe this idea / concept is mentioned in the comics already but if not, they why not and also I love that it plays out this way.

#green lantern #star sapphire #red lantern #yellow lantern #do i tag like characters? #hal jordan #carol ferris #guy gardner #john stewart #kyle rayner #jessica cruz #simon baz #jo mullein #kilowog #atrocitus #sinestro #larfleeze #razer #saint walker #i would say sorry i’m on a lantern roll but i am not sorry so...