Tales of the Green Lantern Corps #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeTales of the Green Lantern Corps #2 (June 1981) is the first appearance of Nekron, the cosmic embodiment of death and ruler of the Land of the Unliving — a character who would ultimately become the central villain of DC's massive 2009–2010 crossover event Blackest Night, lending this single middle chapter of a compact three-issue miniseries an outsized place in Green Lantern mythology. The issue introduces the conceptual architecture that Geoff Johns would later expand into the entire Black Lantern Corps storyline: Nekron as a dimensional entity who cannot enter the living universe unaided, forced to operate through proxies like the reanimated Krona, a dynamic that defines the character's threat model across every subsequent appearance. Within the miniseries itself, issue #2 functions as the dramatic turning point — titled 'Defeat!' — in which the Corps discovers the true mastermind behind Krona's resurgence, a revelation that reframes the entire conflict from a known-villain rematch into something far more cosmic and unsettling. For collectors and historians alike, it represents an early Bronze Age example of DC building genuinely durable mythology through a limited-series format, planting a villain who lay dormant for nearly three decades before paying off spectacularly.
In "Defeat!", the Green Lantern Corps races against time as they uncover a terrifying alliance between Krona and Nekron, whose combined forces threaten to tear open the rift between life and the unliving. With every fallen Guardian or Green Lantern empowering Nekron, and Nekron in turn fueling Krona, the fate of the universe hangs in the balance. Written by Mike W. Barr and Len Wein, with dynamic art by Joe Staton and Frank McLaughlin, and a striking cover by Brian Bolland, this 1981 issue delivers a high-stakes cosmic crisis that redefines the cost of heroism.
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The three-issue miniseries was plotted by Mike W. Barr and scripted by Len Wein, a division of labor confirmed across multiple sources, with interior art by penciler Joe Staton on breakdowns and inker Frank McLaughlin on finished art — the same team across all three chapters. Brian Bolland provided the covers for all three issues, giving the series an immediately distinctive visual identity well before Bolland became synonymous with prestige DC work. The DC Database notes that issue #2 also incorporates concepts originally developed by Marv Wolfman, situating it within a collaborative creative lineage rather than attributing the cosmological framework to Barr and Wein alone. Edited by Dick Giordano with Joe Orlando as executive editor, the series represented DC's early experimentation with the limited-series format as a vehicle for epic, self-contained Corps mythology — a format that would grow increasingly central to DC's publishing strategy through the 1980s.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Nekron, the 'Lord of the Unliving,' a cosmic death-entity who rules a dimension where souls await final judgment — created by Mike W. Barr, Len Wein, and Joe Staton.
- The issue is the second chapter of a three-issue limited series (May–July 1981), titled 'Defeat!' — the narrative midpoint in which the Corps learns Nekron is the unseen master empowering Krona.
- Plot credited to Mike W. Barr; script by Len Wein; pencils (breakdowns) by Joe Staton; inks (finished art) by Frank McLaughlin; cover art by Brian Bolland.
- Edited by Dick Giordano; Joe Orlando served as executive editor for the miniseries.
- The DC Database notes the issue incorporates concepts originally created by Marv Wolfman, indicating the cosmological framework drew on earlier creative groundwork.
- Nekron became the primary antagonist of DC's 2009–2010 Blackest Night crossover event, written by Geoff Johns — his first major return to prominence since the 1981 miniseries.
- The issue was reprinted in the trade paperback Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Vol. 1, published by DC in February 2009, which collected the full three-issue miniseries alongside Corps backup stories from the regular Green Lantern title.
- Both Direct Edition and Newsstand Edition variants of issue #2 exist, as does a British Edition — standard publishing practice for DC at this period.
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Reprinted in Flash #59 (1983), Tales of the Green Lantern Corps #1 (2009)
Key issues in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps
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