SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Justice League #2 by Scott Snyder, Jorge Jimenez, Alejandro Sanchez and Tom Napolitano, on sale now.

Geoff Johns changed the DC Universe forever when he introduced the idea that there were Lanterns for more colors and emotions than just green; there was a Spectrum of Light that had Red Lanterns powered by Rage, Yellow Lanterns powered by Fear, Blue Lanterns inspired by Hope and more besides.

Now, thanks to the destruction of the Source Wall at the end of Dark Nights: Metal, the heroes of the DC Universe are being exposed to new cosmic forces making their presence known in their reality, including entirely undiscovered spectrums of power; an Invisible Emotional Spectrum. This week’s Justice League #2 not only introduces the first of these new Lantern Corps, but we learn that there’s a long history behind the search for them and their leader is someone very familiar.

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Ultra-Violence

According to Lex Luthor, there are seven hidden forces of the universe and thanks to the fall of the Source Wall, they’re no longer hidden. While flying through space on a top-secret mission for the Guardians of the Universe, John Stewart is accosted by the man who has unlocked one of these hidden forces, and of course it’s Sinestro.

Now wielding an Ultraviolet Power Ring, Sinestro notes that he has been looking for the Invisible Emotional Spectrum for a long time and his return to the classic purple and black costume isn’t merely nostalgia for Super Friends on Snyder’s part. Sinestro tells John that he wore those colors following his exile from the Green Lantern Corps because he was searching for the power of the Invisible Emotional Spectrum, and now he’s unlocked it he’s going to make John Stewart his first recruit.

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Sinestro was first cast out of the Green Lantern Corps for using the power granted to him by the Guardians of the Universe and becoming a dictator on his home planet of Korugar. Exiled to the anti-matter dimension of Qward, its weaponeers forged Sinestro a yellow power ring capable of breaching the Green Lanterns’ defenses but this new revelation changes everything we thought we knew about the villain. It seems that everything he’s done, all the fear he’s inflicted on the universe, was merely a consolation prize because he couldn’t unlock the secrets of the Invisible Emotional Spectrum, until now.

Sinestro was already one of the most dangerous people in the entire DC Universe when he wielded a power that could be understood in its relation to the rest of the forces on the visible Emotional Spectrum, but powered by the mysterious Ultraviolet Light, he could be unstoppable.

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While we don’t see how the Ultraviolet Power Ring works or even what emotion it’s powered by, it seems to be able to control people to a certain degree as Sinestro sends John Stewart, now the first Ultraviolet Lantern, to attack his colleagues in the Justice League and while Sinestro may be the discoverer and founder of the Ultraviolet Corps, John Stewart introduces himself as its head and orders his teammates to die.

The Ultraviolet Ring controlling someone and making them do something against their will isn’t exactly an entirely new concept, as several of the rings in the visible Emotional Spectrum have similar properties. The Indigo Lanterns are all former criminals forced to feel unending depths of compassion and empathy, while Larfleeze’s Orange Lantern Ring captures the souls of those it murders and turns them into constructs.

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Unseen Light

To better understand the Ultraviolet Corps, there may be some clues in their oath which we see here for the first time. Each of the Lantern Corps have their own oath which charges their rings to full power and unites them together; the Green Lanterns swear by “brightest day and blackest night,” while the Sinestro Corps — now led by Sinestro’s daughter Soranik Natu — promises the inverse. Red Lanterns pledge their loyalty to Atrocitius by “blood and rage of crimson red” and Larfleeze’s is simple, pledging loyalty only to himself.

As you'd expect, the Ultraviolet Corps is no different, and its oath reveals some key aspects of how the Ultraviolet power works and what it does to those who wield it.

The really interesting passage in the Ultraviolet oath is, “We feed and grow beyond all sight,” which almost has a Lovecraftian horror bent to it. While he may have been the first to discover the Invisible Emotional Spectrum, Sinestro may not yet fully understand everything about it and it may be, to a degree, somewhat sentient.

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The line “your darkest self shall be our knight” is pretty consistent with what we see of John Stewart in his attack on the Justice League, and it seems as though the Ultraviolet ring taps into a person’s fears and insecurities to make them a more ruthless soldier. Earlier in this issue, we saw John expressing reticence to join the Justice League, still regretful for his actions on Xanshi in Cosmic Odyssey and it’s possible the ultraviolet ring has tapped into those insecurities and exploited them to make John its “knight”.

The “next issue” tag at the end of Justice League #2 promises “The Attack of the Ultraviolet Corps” suggesting that while John Stewart may be its first recruit, he won’t be its last and we’ll see more of the Corps before this story arc is over. It’s indicative of the type of storytelling Snyder and his collaboraters are attempting with the New Justice line of books, which seem to be all about exploring the hidden corners of the DC Universe and to borrow a phrase, adding more toys to the toybox. The Ultraviolet Corps is presumably just one notch on the much larger Invisible Emotional Spectrum and even that is just of the Seven Hidden Forces unleashed on the DC Universe. We’re likely going to get a lot more where that came from.

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