It seems that there's more than meets the eye when it comes to the various Corps symbols in Green Lantern's lore. One Green Lantern artist revealed the secret history behind each sigil in the Emotional Spectrum.
Though the Green Lantern is the most well-known light-based organization in the DC Universe, it is but one fraction of a force known as the Emotional Spectrum. Millennia ago, the White Light of Creation was fractured into seven lights, each with their own emotional frequency. From ionate emotions like love to influential feelings such as fear, the Green Lantern universe got bigger with the Emotional Spectrum. In the same way that the Corps uses the Green Light of Will to protect the universe, every other organization in the Spectrum uses their lights for their own ends. And like the corps that preceded them, all other light-bearers have a unique symbol for their particular force.
While the symbols all look quite mysterious, their designer, artist Ethan Van Sciver, revealed the inspiration for each Corps. In Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #2, Ethan Sciver gives a behind the scenes look into his creative process for coming up with the new symbols. His first challenge was the Sinestro Corps’ logo, which Van Sciver revealed is actually an ancient recreation of the open mouth of the fear entity Parallax. For the Blue Lanterns, Van Sciver designed an inversion of the Sinestro symbol to illustrate hope and fear's opposing ideologies. The Orange and Indigo Lanterns, too, were designed as inversions, with Orange bearing an inward-facing arrow (for greed) and the Indigos' facing outwards (for comion). The Red Lanterns also got a thematic symbol, with it featuring the only off-center circle to symbolize the chaotic nature of the rage-filled Corps.
The Corps of Green Lantern Are More Than Cool Designs
Even symbols that already existed got new meanings. Star Sapphire started as a Green Lantern villain and already worked as a stellar example of how powerful and destructive love can be, forming the basis for the Violet Lanterns. And to honor the Black Lantern’s morbid avatar, Black Hand, the villain’s old symbol was modified with five additional stripes to resemble a hand. There was a lot of thought and creativity put into each design which may have helped cement the additional corps' place in Green Lantern’s history.
The Emotional Spectrum was a fine addition to the Green Lantern mythos. It expanded what the Lanterns were and their place in the DC Universe. But the Emotional Spectrum wouldn’t have resonated with readers if it was hastily slapped together. Van Sciver’s notes on the various Corps symbols show that these newer lights were rich with detail and complimented the Green Lanterns rather than distract from them. Each symbol proved that the new Lanterns were building on the mythology of Green Lantern and turning it into something truly special.
