The star of Far Sector, Jo Mullein hasn't made an appearance yet in the core DC Universe. But if the Young Animal Green Lantern series is any indicator of the character's potential, then she deserves the chance to bounce off the rest of the core-DC Universe.
After all, Jo Mullein is one of the best new -- and most compelling -- DC heroes in recent years.
WHO IS JO MULLEIN?
Jo Mullein is the star of Far Sector, the Young Animal imprint Green Lantern series by N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell. Sojourner - more commonly called Jo - grew up in New York City and was present when the 9/11 attacks occurred. After graduating from high school with high marks, she turned down an offer to attend Princeton to serve overseas as a member of the US Army. On top of fighting enemy combatants, she also saw the impact the war was having on the civilians. She struggled to find a way to impact real change on the world, even becoming a police officer.
But when she witnessed her partner using excessive force on an unarmed person of color, she turned him into the proper channels. This, in turn, led to her being targeted by her superiors and fired. Impressed, a Guardian of the Universe approached Jo with a very specific offer: receive a special Green Lantern ring that doesn't come with the typical recharging necessity, and instead charges naturally. She'll have one year to serve as a protector of the universe, and then return to Earth. Seeing the chance to have the purpose she'd been long searching for, Jo took up the Guardian on her offer and became a Green Lantern.
WHY DOES SHE NEED TO BE IN THE CORE DC UNIVERSE?
Jo comes with a surprising amount of depth, despite her relative lack of appearances. Her military background gives her shared footing with many of the other Green Lanterns, but she also has experience as a member of the police. Her origin features her learning a hard lesson about the price of inaction. It gives her commitment to using her will power to fuel the ring a unique flavor of righteous fury that the other Lanterns lack. There's a weight to her actions and decisions that reflect real-world pain and awareness. It would also genuinely be a fresh and unique perspective to bring an openly bisexual woman to the superhero universe with aspirations to help. The character is already the inheritor of the kind of inherently political Green Lantern stories of the past and could be a natural fit to confront modern problems.
Jo'd also make a compelling player to add to the human Lanterns, especially if her no-nonsense attitude bristled against people like Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner. She could be a peer and friend to younger characters like Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz, and could even be a mentor to someone like Teen Lantern from the pages of Young Justice. Jo's unique ring gives her a different set of limitations and potential than the other Lanterns, which always makes for more interesting action sequences. Her time with the academics, the police, and the military could even give her some real insight into how to better direct people, and a case could be made for her to either join Kilowag as a vital instructor or take up an even more important leadership role.
Jo could even continue to primarily be a more mature-tinted character, with her presence lending a story a certain level of gravitas. She'd make for a perfect part of the Green Lantern structure as it exists in the current DC Universe, and could make for a compelling player against almost every single other Lantern character.