Green Lantern just introduced a brand new type of Lantern – and that could mean big trouble for Hal Jordan

All of DC’s major heroes are currently caught up in Amanda Waller’s plans for Absolute Power, but that doesn’t mean that the other parts of their tremendously complicated lives have come to a halt. While Hal Jordan is held prisoner by Waller and Alan Scott is battling the power-stealing Amazo Robots, a potential new threat is rising from an unexpected corner – and it’s a development that adds a whole new dimension to Green Lantern mythology.

Spoilers for Green Lantern #13

Green Lantern #13 is made up of a series of snapshots focusing on the major players of this series as we enter its second year. Hal Jordan starts the issue being tortured by Karshon. In Battery Park, Alan Scott and friends are battling Waller’s robots. On Oa, Jessica Cruz is investigating the mystery of what’s happening with the Emotional Spectrum. And on New Korugar, Sinestro is angry. Very, very angry. 

Its what’s going on in one sad hotel room in Las Vegas that provides the issue with its most eye-catching scene, however. Nathan Broome was introduced in last year’s Green Lantern #2 as a love interest for Carol Ferris – AKA Star Sapphire – but she left him at the altar (or rather a superhero-themed road-side “Chapel of Solitude”) in #11 and chose to reunite with Hal instead. Devastated, Nathan sits sobbing, staring at the cheap – green, of course – wedding ring he’d bought for Carol, when he is suddenly transformed into a mysterious and unknown type of Lantern, seemingly powered by his complete and abject misery.

What exactly this means for the future of the series remains to be seen. We cut from this dramatic moment to a scene on Oa with Thaaros, and then finally back to Hal on Earth. But the arrival of a new kind of Lantern just as the Emotional Spectrum is coming under attack from Thaaros seems notable. We’ll have to wait to see just what impact this development will have over the next few issues, and to discover if unexpectedly gaining powers will turn Nathan Broome into a melancholy hero or a bitter and deadly villain.