WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Green Lanterns #57 by Dan Jurgens, Mike Perkins, Hi-Fi and Dave Sharpe, on sale now.
In the annals of Green Lantern history, space cops like Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart and Guy Gardner are the soldiers fans typically talk about. However, in Green Lanterns' final issue, Dan Jurgens and Mike Perkins remind us there are others in the Emerald Army that are true powerhouses, bringing back the ultimate Green Lantern to literally save the Corps in a deadly firefight.
With help needed to take down Cyborg Superman (Hank Henshaw), it's the perfect time for a triumphant return by the person considered to be the Green Lanterns' equivalent to Superman: Sodam Yat.
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Sodam was created by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill for 1986's Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2. There he was prophesied as the person who'd become the most powerful Lantern in history, with Moore even having him kill Superman in his unpublished DC story "Twilight of the Superheroes." That's because he's a Daxamite, a race which descended from Kryptonians, which means that under the yellow sun, he has Superman-like powers. Couple this with a Green Lantern ring, you can see why Moore envisioned him to be the strongest superhero the galaxy had to offer.
Sadly, DC didn't shape him into the legend Moore meant him to be, and it was only in 2007 Sodam really got his due, becoming the entity known as Ion, a vessel for pure willpower in the universe. He'd help the Corps fend off the likes of the Sinestro Corps, and the other rival Corps who popped up (such as the Red Lanterns), but after losing the Ion mantle, he went a bit insane, even turning on Oa's Guardians.
In the New 52, things changed for the character, having been imprisoned and experimented on by the Durlans, a race who wanted to exploited his race to make them an army of Supermen. The Corps rescued them, but Sodam renounced his membership, opting to stay with his people in hiding until they found a new home and were ready to re-integrate into DC's cosmic society.
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Well, that time has finally come, for Sodam at least. When Hal Jordan fends off Henshaw at Coast City in a grudge match, he finds himself drastically overpowered. However, it's a mere distraction for a few other Corps members to blindside the villain. Fans were quite shocked that Sodam's one of them, as it happened in such a low-key manner. There wasn't any hype to it and it's not even that pronounced on the page.
Nonetheless, when Henshaw indicates only a Superman can take him down, Sodam obliges, pummeling and blasting him with his heat vision until the cyborg retreats, allowing the Corps to regain control of their Central Power Battery and the rings Henshaw hacked.
It's a bittersweet return to action, though.Despite Sodam's all-too brief appearance proving why he's the biggest ace in the hole for the Corps, we don't even get any insight into his reunion with his teammates in the closing pages, as Jurgens and Co. opt to focus on the Corps moving back to Oa. This leaves fans who clamored for the cult-favorite Lantern to appear post-DC Rebirth disappointed, wondering why he re-enlisted, how it happened and what happened to his people.
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That said, his comeback could now put the character back on the track we saw in the Final Crisis tie-in, Legion of 3 Worlds, where he became the last Lantern alive in the 31st century. With the Legion of Super-Heroes returning into the fold in Doomsday Clock, maybe Sodam's presence foreshadows a bigger story later down the line, but as of now, we're left with more questions than answers regarding the godlike Daxamite.