DC is putting Hal Jordan on the wrong side of humanity. The publisher announced Green Lantern: Doomed Cosmos on Tuesday, a six-issue DC Elseworlds series from writer Dan Watters and artist Kyle Hotz. The first issue goes on sale January 20, 2027.
In DC’s own description, the series “transforms the Green Lantern mythology into a sprawling cosmic war where the human race is the enemy and Hal Jordan may be the universe’s best hope for survival.”
An Empire of Humanity, and one human Lantern
DC’s solicitation sets the scene: “For centuries, the Empire of Humanity has swept across the universe, laying siege to the cosmos planet by planet until all kneel before the might of the human race.” Only the heavily militarized Green Lantern Corps fights back, and no human has ever served with it against the Empire until Hal Jordan.
This Hal starts out as a soldier for humanity. DC says he “was betrayed by his battle-brother Oliver Queen and left for dead on an alien world.” The Corps rescues and deprograms him, and he becomes its only human warrior and “a powerful strategic weapon in its war against humankind.” DC promises a “blood-soaked odyssey” that ends with Hal “taking the battle to the shores of Hell itself.”
The publisher also calls it “a world where there is no joy and no peace to be found,” with Watters and Hotz reimagining familiar heroes, villains, worlds and alliances across the six issues.
Kyle Hotz on war-movie Lanterns
Hotz said in DC’s release that he studied war films to prepare. “Visually, I am trying to walk the line between over-the-top space opera and the emotional beats of the story,” he said. “I want to get the feeling across that the Lanterns are beat up, tired, and certainly the underdogs. Their armor is cracked and broken, and their weapons are held together with tape and wire. These are soldiers nearing the end of their fight.”
Polygon, which ran the preview art, compared the bulked-up Corps to the Space Marines of Warhammer 40,000. That comparison is Polygon’s, not DC’s.
Price, team and covers
According to Polygon, colorist Dan Brown and letterer Steve Wands round out the team. The first issue runs 32 pages for $4.99, with variant covers from Björn Barends, Steve Beach and Ashley Wood, plus a $7.99 foil variant by Barends.
It is not the only new alternate take on Hal this season. DC Black Label recently added an older Hal Jordan to its lineup, as RCG reported earlier this month.
