Green Lanterns Introduces the Simon Baz of a Classic Alternate Earth

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Green Lanterns #46 by Tim Seeley and V. Ken Marion, on sale now.

Jessica Cruz has dark moments from her past that she probably wishes would stay there. Unfortunately, as superhero storytelling goes, ghosts never stay dead, and now the Green Lantern is doomed to relive her past over and over. The Green Lanterns storyline "Ghosts of the Past" has ripped open an old wound, and with Jessica unable to fully come to terms with her traumatic past, the pain and despair she feels because of it has seemingly manifested itself into an entire pocket dimension.

As of issue #46, Tim Seeley and V. Ken Marion have Jessica trapped and reliving the events of the fateful hunting trip that ended with the murder of her friends and a debilitating anxiety disorder. Now, Simon Baz has entered the dimension in an effort to save his partner, but things just got scarier following the revelation of where they actually are: Now Jessica and Baz have to compete with the evil Power Ring from Earth 3!

Jessica Cruz Can Never Escape Her Past

Jessica Cruz has skeletons in her closet. She's been trying to escape her past for a while now, but it doesn't look like she will have any other choice but to face it. After witnessing the murder of her friends, Jessica remained locked inside her home for years, afraid of what would come after her if she left. This, unfortunately, made her the target of an evil entity known as Volthoom. You see, before Jessica was a Green Lantern, she wore a different kind of green ring from a parallel Earth, and she's been running from that life ever since.

Unlike the Green Lantern ring we know, the Power Ring is fueled by fear, and Volthoom feeds on fear. It originated on Earth 3, a universe where everything that is good in this reality is evil; in fact, all goodness has been wiped out. Following the death of the previous wielder Harold Jordan, Jessica Cruz became the holder of the Power Ring and found herself transformed into a supervillain.

Jessica remained under the control of Volthoom until the ring was destroyed near the end of the Justice League storyline, "Darkseid War." She then became a Green Lantern, and it seemed like her troubles were behind her. But while the ring might have been destroyed, and the evil spirit it contained dead, old demons stick around. When they aren't causing problems, they're stirring in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to make your life a living hell again. That time is now, and it looks like Jessica may be in danger of being completely consumed by her fears, and becoming everything Volthoom once was.

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Welcome Back to the Green Room

If an evil entity that uses a magic ring to control its wearer wasn't terrifying enough, the Power Ring itself was also shown to house a dimension known as the Green Realm that captured the life essence of all Power Ring bearers from the past. Essentially, Volthoom's mastery over your fear didn't end with death. A part of you survived in his own little nightmare universe where you remained trapped forever. When Volthoom died and the Power Ring destroyed, it was assumed this dimension went with it, but Jessica wasn't so lucky.

Apparently upon the destruction of the ring, that pocket dimension became part of Jessica Cruz. That world lives on within her subconscious, and Singularity Jain's recent tampering with her emotions caused her to be drawn inside this universe. Now a black hole exists where her house should be, and Jess and Simon are inside the Green Realm, where death is infinite and fear lasts forever. As a group that gets their abilities by overcoming great fear, this little world is the perfect nightmare for a Green Lantern.

As Simon searches for his partner, he is accosted by the remnants of former Power Ring wielders. Hundreds of alien beings break through the ground in an attempt to subdue the intruder, who they wish could join them in the dirt, where they can live inside their own fears and feel safe. Harold Jordan attempts to lead the Power Rings, demanding that Simon be taken down in order to preserve the Green Realm. Without his ring, the Green Lantern is forced to fight them off with his bare hands, and still he manages to pull it off. It is here that he faces his greatest fear.

Everyone Gets an Evil Counterpart

Before he was a Green Lantern, Simon Baz was a criminal who was wrongfully suspected of terrorism. It was all a mistake, in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong skin color, but Simon had not been living his life well. On Earth 3, though, things were a little more sinister. Solomon Baz was a former getaway driver who hooked up with some terrorists. When he was tasked with detonating a bomb inside a crowded concert hall, he ultimately chickened out and couldn't go through with it.

You see, on Earth 3, the good guys are the bad guys and the bad guys are the good guys -- that is, unless you're a Green Lantern. Those who have been under the sway of Power Ring and Volthoom are all cowards, first and foremost, people too afraid of their own shadows to live and breathe on their own. After Solomon couldn't go through with the bombing, the ring came and took him away. Now he's trapped in this world, a prisoner of his own fears.

It should be made clear that these Power Ring users are more victims than they are villains. As Solomon puts it, on his world, not wanting to do evil gets you punished by an evil, soul-sucking ring. When Solomon came face-to-face with his counterpart, he shows concern over him. The Green Realm is a place for pain and suffering, and it's not where a hero should be. Solomon sees Simon as his heroic double, until he realizes why he's here. He then falls to his doom laughing maniacally, as if the truth is too much to take in.

What is Simon so afraid of? According to the issue's last page, it's the fear that he can't stop Jessica from becoming a villain... again.