Symbols of the Spectrum – How They Came to Be, and What They Represent

by Ethan Van Sciver of Sector 2814

A great and hidden mystery began to unfold for the GL Corps, and for Geoff Johns and me, when in the middle of the script for GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH #1, Geoff casually asked me to draw The Parallax Symbol. In the story we were telling, Hal Jordan was in a transitional phase between three different identities: himself, the Spectre, and the monster we had come to know as Parallax. A halo of greenish-yellow energy was above his head representing this turmoil, and Geoff thought I should shape it like The Parallax Symbol.

I referenced EMERALD TWILIGHT and FINAL NIGHT, two trade paperbacks I was going to have to rely upon pretty heavily in the coming months, and was flummoxed. There was not, as far as traditional DC Universe superhero emblems are understood, a “Parallax Symbol.” When Hal Jordan was possessed by the Fear entity, he wore a beautifully designed armored suit and cape. His chest, where GL wore his well-known symbol, contained a sort of ring shape that merged with a green pyramid shape that wrapped around his waist. Two curved, almost key-shaped white stripes grew upward from behind this, meeting with two broad, green shoulder pads. It was a nifty little costume, worthy of an action figure and a statue or two, but there was no hint of a Parallax Symbol.

Geoff, who is often victimized by manic telephone calls made by me in cases such as this, just offered that I should make one up. And I did. Using a shape pulled from Darryl Banks’s magnificent Parallax design, I found a very interesting, very creepy symbol made of simple, insect-like lines growing from a central ring. And then I began to use it within GREEN LANTERN REBIRTH, subliminally and often. It, and the symbols that followed, took on meaning and purpose, and grew to become the foundation of the event you’re now reading, BLACKEST NIGHT.

The Symbols of the Spectrum are primitive and universally understood shapes that have existed since the beginning of consciousness. They represent the ambitions, motivations and emotions of everything that’s ever lived. They are at once a written language widely used, then to disappear, only to be realized and rediscovered. Where did they come from? I can only imagine from the earliest encounters with the Entities themselves, creatures like the insect-like Parallax, or Ion, who resembles a large, primitive whale or fish. I was careful to design these entities around the Symbols that represent them, so that any poor creature staring into the mouth of Fear might have told his tale by scratching that circle and a few crooked lines into rock. It is what he saw, and it is what he felt. And others saw and understood. And so it was and is.

And Sinestro claimed it as his own.

The Blue Lanterns are motivated by Hope, and inspiring hope in others. Hope is the reversal, the undoing of fear. In considering what their symbol should look like, I realized that inverting the Yellow symbol would provide some visual balance and basic symbolism. It is almost the opposite of the symbol worn by the Sinestro Corps, a ring with “arms” growing from the top and pointing down and inward, like a hug. I sketched this in an airport, and immediate designed the first Blue Lantern Corps member, who became Saint Walker. While the Sinestro Corps were hideous aliens with jagged stalactite shapes on their uniforms, the Blue Lantern suits were based on round shapes, and only the noblest, kindest-looking creatures were eligible.

Orange and Indigo, Avarice and Compassion, are the simplest shapes I could conceive of. The Orange Lantern symbol is merely a ring with lines pointing inward and a V shape, which I thought represented some sort of singularity and selfishness. In the end, it looks like a child’s drawing of a chubby little devil. It looks evil, and it looks like Greed to me. On the other side of the spectrum, we find another simple shape to represent caring and giving. It’s the basic ring with lines pointing outward, both up and down, drawn to meet together to become arrows. The Indigo Tribe symbol is humble, as it represents compassion, charity, concern for others at the expense of self.

One of the clues that Geoff and I realized along the way was that the Star Sapphires, who wore Violet-colored uniforms, already had a symbol, and already represented passionate, reckless love. They were on the far side of the spectrum, positioned there by the Green Lantern creators long before we came around, helping us realize this was all meant to be. Their star-shaped icon was in place, established and ready to go. It just needed a ring in the center.

Which left us with my personal favorite corps, The Red Lanterns. They are rage, hatred, violence, like rabid animals choking on their own blood and Red energy. I was inspired by two of my favorite zombie films, 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later, and decided that those possessed by the Red rings would vomit from the energy that filled them. It is uncontrollable, and spills from every pore. They, like the Star Sapphires, are on the far end of the spectrum, as far as possible from the calm and order of Green Willpower. They are both religions of chaos. The Red Lantern Symbol is the only one that doesn’t feature a centered ring shape. It is slightly below the others, with tall spires that bend up, outward and up again.

The last symbol to be discussed here is worn by the Black Lanterns. When Geoff and I were redoing Black Hand’s uniform for GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH, Geoff and I had a very specific vision in mind, including utilizing the old triangle on his original uniform as the “palm” of a hand. So he sketched over Black Hand’s old uniform and faxed it to former Green Lantern editor and current GREEN LANTERN CORPS writer Peter Tomasi.

And this brings us full circle, so to speak. These ancient avatars, buried and forgotten, are all active and in use once more. But their fate is to be determined by the event that brings them all together. Whether any of them will survive BLACKEST NIGHT, no one can say.

Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1-#3 are all available in stores now.