#volthoom

[doctorslippery]

(via Volthoom: The First Lantern - Transparent! by SpeedCam on DeviantArt)

[themyscirah]

Thinking abt Jessica Cruz and the ability to overcome great fear again

[torchbearing]

you LITERALLY beat a couple of guys into a pulp in rage, kyle, in the terry hatecrime arc. you cut a guy's head off and threw it into space with a baseball bat as revenge.

HOW THE FUCK DO YOU NOT KNOW RAGE???

green lantern: new guardians issue #0

[minie-mastermind]

DC Sonic - Earth 3 / Anti Mobius

Sonic / Flash counterpart would be Scourge / Johnny Quick. Being more like Evil Sonic instead of scourge he would be more of a basic bully and impulsively following his own whims.

Tails / Cyborg counterpart would be Miles Prower / Grid. After deconstructing Dr. Kintobor's technology he would finally be able to overpower his bullies. From there he would start incorporating it into himself, becoming obsessed with power and joining the Crime Syndicate for a chance to try and manipulate them.

Knuckles / Superman counterpart would be O'Nux / Ultraman. The echidna's Society along with the Master Emerald would have been destroyed, being the last survivor he would hunt down the shards of the Master Emerald to empower himself.

Amy Rose / Wonder Woman counterpart from the previous pattern should be Rosie The Rascal / Superwoman. This won't work though since Lois Lane is superwoman and not Diana Prince in most versions of Earth 3. Not to mention given superwoman's love triangle with Owlman and Ultraman it makes more sense for it to be Rogue The Bat / Superwoman. Given Rosie The Rascal backstory it would actually make more sense for her to be a twisted version of Mary Marvel.

Silver / Green Lantern only having a DC counterpart in Power Ring without a direct counterpart on Anti Mobius. From the Power Rings origin now it may have been given to him by his universe's version of Blaze. Instead having the spirit of Volthoom inside the ring it would have Mephiles who would have pushed him to travel back in time.

Shadow / Batman only having a DC counterpart in Owlman without a direct counterpart on Anti Mobius. Owlman is not actually Bruce Wayne he is Thomas Wayne Jr, Bruce's secret older brother. Shadow does have an older relation that was kept secret as well, the Biolizard. The silver of the outfit would be his life support along with armor. Instead of being too dangerous to contain he would have stayed under control long enough to kill everyone on the Ark before descending the Earth.

[the-antiapocalyptic-man]

I love how you connect various characters and power sets to the lanterns and emotional spectrum, whether it’s the various lantern corps. Or the red, green and others from the swamp thing and animal man comics, and recently that amazing green arrow art, what other characters do you think tap into that same power source in the headverse? I’ve always wondered if the emotional spectrum is some filtered version of the source, or that maybe it has ties with the lords of order and chaos … I just get so inspired by your creativity it really lights a fire in me 😁

Always glad to inspire

so actually the Emotional Spectrum being a filtered version of the Source is exactly what I was thinking, but as a consequence of the eternal tension between the (Light) Source and The Great Darkness. The Darkness predates The Source and instinctively seeks to consume it, the site of contact between the two creating material reality (The "Pankosmos" or "Pankosmik"). The Source manifested consciousness in the form of The Presence (often conflated with the Christian God, but ultimately distinct) and life itself in the form of The Entity, filtering out into the Spectrum Entities, its "children" (Umbrax, Lovebird, Proselyte, Adara, Ion, Parallax, Ophidian, Butcher, and Raedan/Hate Machine) while the Great Darkness began mimic this process, creating Nekron and Barbatos, corrupting Eclipso, and manifesting an "Anti-Presence" or Primordial God of Darkness.

The Lords of Order and Chaos initially emerged from opposite sides of this divide (The Source and Gemworld for Order, The Great Darkness and Darkworld for Chaos) but the division blurred over eternity as being living in material reality grew beyond the Manichaen Us-Them Dichotomy of Light and Dark. Just as the multiverse is a product of the interaction between opposing forces, so is everything within it. The Source being released from its Wall would be just as devastating as the Great Darkness overtaking material reality, if not moreso. This came to a head twice in Proto-History and Hyper-Ancient human history with Krona's vision of the Empty Hand on Maltus, and again with Garn Daanuth and Garn Ahri'ahn (descended from the Omega Humanoids that populated the Garden of Eternity before it was rendered barren and became the Rock of Eternity) struggling over Darkworld leading to the deluge that sunk Atlantis, Lemuria and Mu and trapped Skartaris in a pocket dimension. Many of the refugees of the Garn Civil War ended up on Xerox (The Sorceror's World or "Gemworld") though Xerox itself wouldn't created until far into the future, unstuck from Hypertime by its overwhelming mystical energy.

Predating the Maltusians reverse-engineering Lantern technology from Volthoom, the Spectrum itself was wilder and less controlled, appearing like mystical fire and becoming the basis of the Starhearts. Obvs this powers Alan and Jade (Green), The Sorovs and the Church of Blood (Red), Cobalt Blue (Blue), The Amazons' Purple Ray (Violet), Despero (Indigo), and various Wizards and Warlocks (Orange and Yellow). The Black Flame is particularly dangerous, resurrecting the dead but sublimating their will entirely to Nerkon.

[who-is-muses]

[ I've successfully managed to slam through Thaal's parts in GL'11, GLC'11, and New Guardians. And I still have a lot of the same opinions as when I first read bits and pieces of them. But I gotta barf 'em out unfiltered here so I can remember and straighten them out better later qvq ]

Arin was murdered first. She never met another GL besides Thaal and Abin. She'd suggested-slash-threatened to take Soranik away multiple times, but it wasn't until the early morning before her death Arin actually followed through. She and Thaal were arguing about this decision as he tried to get her to the ship that would take her from Korugar.

There's no way in hell Sinestro could've composed himself after Korugar's destruction. Especially not with B'dg, Carol, Kyle, and Simon buzzing around. Going with the suicidal implication presented in GL'11; Thaal lost whatever remained of his marbles and ultimately chose to take his Green ring off to die, but was found by his Yellow ring and battery before the vacuum of space got him.

Because PTSD is a bitch that way, he doesn't Fully remember All The Events in the end of the first Lantern. He remembers Korugar was destroyed, he remembers journeying to Oa, remembers taking Parallax into himself, helping Hal eradicate Volthoom (though the means of which are hazy, substituting himself in as who dealt the final blow), slaughtering the original Guardians (but sparing Ganthet), and taking Sayd's freedom back from Larfleeze to reunite her with Ganthet. His psyche has deeply repressed the extent of what he was feeling for these events; if trying to recall them (which he avoids doing) it's like reading a script more than memories.

Additionally, the first few months of his self-imposed exile are a complete blur- until his mind shoved enough deep down for him to be able to function fully conscious again.

[rpking99]

Jessica Cruz Origin and how she was fucked up for a while

Ah, Jessica Cruz. My fave Green Lantern

Okay so to start us off simple... Why do I love her? Well... As someone who suffers from anxiety and depression, and has so for years, I always found her inspiring and good representation of what living with that condition can be like

She doesn't just magically get better after getting the ring. She is so scared that some days it's hard for her to leave the house

That pain hits me so hard because it is so relatable to me.

But it also shows why she is PERFECT for the Green Lanterns. Their power comes from Will, from their courage. Their ability to overcome Great Fear. And she overcomes great fear every time she gets out of bed.

Her origin though? Ironically, super complicated. Gonna go with her personal origin first before hero one.

Jessica Cruz and her friend went out camping when... They where basically caught in a slasher movie. All her friends killed. And she only survived thanks to lick

As you can guess: lots of survivors guilt and trauma from this, leading to her mental health issues

And then three months later... She was met with a magical ring

This is how she originally looked, using the code name Power Ring.

So... We all know Earth-3, correct? Evil earth. Batman is Owlman, Superman is Ultraman, Wonder Woman is Superwoman, Flash is Johnny Quick. Evil wins, everyone's the opposite of who they normally are. Going by the Crime Syndicate. We got that? We got that

Okay. So during an event called Forever Evil, the Syndicate invaded earth. Big dramatic fight. The Hal Jordon of Earth-3 died and his ring flew off to find a new user like every Lantern Ring

Now the thing of the Ring of Volthoom, the Ring Power Ring has, it that it is a parasite. It latches onto someone filled with fear and then uses that fear to control them

It found Jess... But so did the Justice League. And they all helped her. Helped her heal, supported her, helped her resist the ring

And then, eventually, she destroyed the Ring of Volthoom.... Summoning a new ring in its place

After all, what shows the ability to ober come fear more than literally shattering a parasitic ring that feeds in fear?

And she rises... As the sixth Lantern of sector 2814

And it was glorious!

What is Jessica Cruz about? Not letting trauma define you. She is about healing and true bravery. She has social anxiety, she has depression, she has self loathing. But she works had to over come it all

...

And then DC fucks or up and makes her a Yellow Lantern! Because heaven help us if we have nice things!

And the worst part for me?

I hate that she ACTUALLY LOOKS GOOD JN YELLOW!

Ugh!

Anyway. On to the Yellow Lantern thing and why THAT is bad.

So first off they turned a disabled character, as well as a character of colour, into a villain

Now. Onto the main issues

Jessica Cruz. She suffers from anxiety and depression. Social anxiety, stress issues, all this sort of stuff.

The Yellow Corps is all about GIVING INTO great fear, as well as being able to CAUSE great feed into others.

I feel like it should be super clear what the issue is here!

It's character regression, it's turning her into the type of person who slaughtered her friends, it's insulting to people with these mental health issues as it implies they should just give into them and lash out at others!

And they have Jess say that the reason she is doing this is because it is "exposure therapy"

Which... NO! NO! FUCKING NO!

Exposure therapy should only be done with a professional there in order to help pull you out when it becomes too much, as well as making sure the exposure is a gradual build. Stepping stones. Not jumping into LITERALLY ALL THE FEAR AT ONCE!

Also it is a bit dubeous on if it works with cases like Jess', classes built from trauma rather than pure paranoia/stress. But I'm not a professional and don't wanna give my opinion as fact here

Luckily she is back in green at this point of the comics but.... Yeah. It's been rocky

[harveydont]

Does Volthoom have a main goal, or does it just live to find a host, torment them, and cause destruction.

Volthoom is what happens when you combine very strong parasitic survival instincts with sentient level intelligence with a smartass attitude.

Cruelty to hosts makes them more nutritious. Destruction is less a direct desire, more path of least resistance given Harold's specific internal conflicts about power, control, resentment, and recognition.

It does depend on the host! The more pathetic and conflicted, the better.

[ekat-fandom-blog]

I saw someone say "Joker is the only real villain in DC because they're all being turned into anti-heroes" and I say bullshit.

There's Jane Doe, Vandal Savage, Doomsday, Darkseid, General Zod, Dr. Sivanna, Captain Nazi, Eobard Thawne/Reverse Flash, Brainiac, Anti-Monitor, Hush, Firefly, Eviless/Saturna, Black Manta, Ocean Master, Queen of Fables, Atrocitus, Larfleeze, Black Hand, Nekron, the Manhunters, Mongul, Volthoom, Victor Zsasz, Trigon, KGBeast, etc.

None of these villains have a reformation arc or a hero stint (as far as I'm aware anyway).

[hollowsart]

I found a guy in dc who looks like an evil less attractive Astarion from BG3. Well.. in 2 specific panels, at least:

This is Volthoom.

[strangeduckpaper]

hi, your e136 look pretty cool! I wanna ask, how did Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz get to being the second Jade and Obsidian?

Wherever there is light, shadow will bloom in its absence. The Intrinsic Light, parts of which would be harnessed by the Oans to eventually create the Green Lantern Corps, would be no exception. Volthoom, a lantern during the Maltusian Imperial Era, would seek to explore this Great Darkness, bypassing the safeguards of his Ring to do so. He would be found out, of course, separated from his Ring and imprisoned, but the Ring would disappear into the far reaches of space.

Eventually reaching Earth.

In some worlds, the Ring of Volthoom would empower the Power Ring of the Crime Syndicate.

In E136, the unfortunate human it found was Jessica Cruz. After a period controlled by the Ring, Jessica would find the will to wrest control of her body from the Ring, if only temporarily, causing the Ring to self destruct as one last act of spite, catching good samaritan street racer Simon Baz in the blast when he volunteered to drive Jessica away from populated areas.

Fortunately both would survive, though the blast would inexorably link Jessica with the Green Realm of the Light and Simon with the Darklands, giving them powers parity to Jade and Obsidian, sibling superheroes active in the latter half of the 20th century, powers that would grow uncontrollable unless they stayed in relatively close contact.

Bound by chance, the duo would eventually become heroes by choice, serving as partners in crime (stopping)...and eventually life.

They may end up having kids, but I'm not certain. They're married as fuck though.

[bi4bihankking]

(I could cuck Volthoom and mentally dominate Power Ring in 5 minutes flat. Earth 3 sucks. they don't even have an evil JSA equivalent to predate the CSA.> 📻🐛

in the Earth 3 world with an evil JSA does Hank go good and get dominated by evil old men? Important questions...

[themyscirah]

I very much know this is because Jessica Cruz's origin story was written by Geoff Johns in a shitty comic, but by God is there so much going on there. Like damn.

Like there's the really, genuinely compelling stuff, for example the presence of ring horror and loss of control w Jess and Power Ring/Volthoom + the implications of that (character wise, both before and after JL 50) which is just SO interesting (and angsty!) to me personally

But then there's also more plot holes than you can shake a stick at as well (where did Jess get her ring. Guys it just showed up who died where did she get it from GUYS-)

All interspersed between some of the worst character writing for other Justice League members in existence (Wondy fans you know what I mean) and crazy ass plots out there

[zithcavooris]

The android learning to be a Real Boy is a good story, but hardly unique. Now, a heavyset middle-aged superheroine (with a soup pot on her head)? VISIONARY! I had a lot of fun trying to turn this Golden Age joke version of the character into something you could take seriously.

Of course she wound up being more of a composite–the wind powers are fun to have around and I figured I may as well keep their mystical origin, plus the costume is obviously inspired by the later version of the character just because–but she’s more Ma than machine (sorry, I had to.) I do wonder whether I shouldn’t have made her armored? It would nod to the android’s metal body, and make sense for a heroine with no particular invulnerability. Oh well.

(Side note, how weird is it that the android’s Air Elemental name is “Ulthoon”, and there’s a Green Lantern villain named “Volthoom”? Those are so similar, how did that happen?)

I legitimately can’t remember if there’s a version of the character with a tornado that looks like a “T” as their logo, or if I came up with it myself. So if you’ve ever seen it before, let me know.

The fact that Abigail “Ma” Hunkel was an unpowered, middle-aged civilian didn’t change the fact that she was a force to be reckoned with. Having lived her whole life in a rough neighborhood in Queens, she had a will of iron, a hair-trigger temper, and a mean right hook. Still, she always had a soft spot for the little guy, and the children of the neighborhood loved her, even as they were a little bit scared of her.

Ma’s life would change the day she bought an old cast-iron soup pot from the thrift shop. Unbeknownst to her, the so-called soup pot was actually some sort of crucible used by the great weather witch Uli Thune. Drinking soup from the pot, Ma found herself suddenly filled with the power to generate and control the wind, from a gentle breeze to a cyclone so strong she could fly on it!

Ma realized she could use her new power to keep her neighborhood safe. So, reshaping the fateful soup pot/crucible into a helmet, she took up a late-life career as a superhero.

She is not, and never will be, a robot.

[minie-mastermind]

I like acknowledgements like this that Volthoom is the member of the Crime Syndicate not it's wielder. That way literally anyone can have the ring and doesn't have to reestablish them selfs and the Crime Syndicate doesn't have to work around them. I would love to see a story from the Rings perspective, all the different people it's gone through on planet Earth. Harold Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart and any others we might not suspect because it's a whole new world. There's also why the ring decides to stay on Earth, some versions it comes from the stars and in one it comes from a monk on Earth. Ivor way we know it could travel the entire galaxy and probably find more powerful people, it be interesting to see the inner workings of its mind.

[the-antiapocalyptic-man]

Dru-Zod, The Superman of Earth-15, leader of a Justice League made up of former Titans forced to replace their lost mentors, at constant war with Controller Mu's Darkstars and the Great Traitor, Blackstar Parallax, both Heir and Progenitor to Curse of Volthoom...