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HOMEWORLD:
Wolsoon picture
SECTOR: unknown
FIRST APPEARANCE:
GREEN LANTERN 80 PAGE # 3
(August 2000)
"A Lantern Against the Dark:
A Forgotten Tale of the Green Lantern Corps
Chapter 3: Darkness Visible"
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
Male humanoid
Height: unknown
Weight: unknown
Hair: unknown
Eyes: white
KNOWN RELATIVES: none
GROUP AFFILIATION: Green Lantern Corps
HISTORY:
One of a handful of ring wielders in the early years of the
GREEN LANTERN CORPS, Raker Qarrigat of Wolsoon was given the
responsibility of bringing the emerald light of justice to
the dark world of Apokolips.
Raker Qarrigat was the third agent of the GUARDIANS OF THE
UNIVERSE to attempt to expand the Oan protectorate.
The two prior attempts, the first by Unit 2761 of the MANHUNTER
Corps and the second by KENDOTHA KR'NEK of Binitrix, were
never heard from again.
The POWER RING opened a passage from normal space-time to
the realm of the New Gods. Raker Qarrigat cut through
Apokolips' defenses and the Parademons
sent to oppose him. It was not long before he had an
audience with Darkseid himself and was demanding the surrender
of Apokolips.
Though the Green Lantern was confident in the might he wielded
with the power ring, the Lord of Apokolips was not impressed.
Darkseid reached out and crushed Raker's right hand, ring
and all. Unlike his predecessors, the humbled Green
Lantern was sent back to Oa to warn the Guardians that Darkseid
was absolute ruler of Apokolips. Darkseid gave the crushed
power ring to Desaad, to discover its secrets.
Arriving on Oa, Raker Qarrigat told his masters of the enemy
they now faced. Under his recommendation, they began
a massive expansion of the Green Lantern Corps. Each
ring wielder was sent to recruit others to serve the Guardians.
They were preparing for war.
On the jungle world of Suirpalam, Raker Qarrigat granted a
power ring to B'SHI who in turn recruited the rock creature
ASH-PAK-GLIF. Each new Green Lantern recruited another.
The Corps grew with each passing day. Raker Qarrigat
trained the novice Green Lanterns in the use of the power
ring. ALISAND'R of Tamaran in the Vega system was just
one of the Corps to benefit from the veteran Lantern's expertise.
Over the course of two years the Corps had grown from a handful
of Green Lanterns to a fighting force 3,600 strong, with representatives
from each of the sectors of known space.
The day finally came when Raker announced the readiness of
the Corps to the Guardians. As expected, Raker Qarrigat
was chosen by the Guardians to lead the invasion of Apokolips.
Though they planned a surprise attack, the arrival of the
Corps had been expected. Desaad had discovered the rings'
vulnerability to the color yellow and prepared accordingly.
Hordes of Parademons awaited the Green Lanterns.
Fully two-thirds of the Green Lanterns were slaughtered or
taken or taken prisoner in the ensuing battle. The Green
Lanterns that were taken prisoner fared worse. They
were tortured and killed, and like B'shi, their bodies were
left as a warning to those that would oppose Darkseid.
Raker could only watch as Darkseid snapped Alisand'r's neck.
The remaining ring wielders had retreated, entrenching themselves
beyond the central fire-pit. They found their individual
POWER BATTERIES dangerously diminished. The CENTRAL
POWER BATTERY on Oa could not reach across the dimensional
divide to sufficiently charge the smaller batteries.
Under Raker's command, the Green Lanterns gathered weaponry
from their enemies. The Corps' final assault was a bloody
hand-to-hand battle against the forces of Apokolips.
When Darkseid appeared, Raker charged him, using both power
ring and Parademon weaponry to fight his enemy. Darkseid
remained defiant even though the Green Lantern held the upper
hand. The war was abruptly ended by the arrival of the
Guardians themselves.
The Guardians of the Universe offered a truce to Darkseid.
The Guardians and their agents would leave Apokolips under
Darkseid's control provided he did not interfere with the
area of space protected by the Green Lantern Corps.
Darkseid accepted, rather than face the unlimited power of
the Guardians themselves.
The surviving Green Lanterns were to be withdrawn from Apokolips,
with the exception of Raker Qarrigat. Darkseid's one
condition to the truce was the caging of Raker Qarrigat on
Apokolips as a spoil of war. The Corps bid their leader
farewell. Ash-Pak-Glif placed one hand over Raker's
forehead and the other over Raker's right hand. Years
later it would be revealed Ash-Pak-Glif had secretly given
his friend a power ring and battery. Whether the Guardians
knew of this transaction or not has yet to be determined.
Concerned of possible dissension in the Corps, the Guardians
expunged the events from the Great BOOK OF OA. As the
Guardians departed, Raker Qarrigat was overwhelmed by the
foul creatures of Apokolips. He survived and hid underground
for years beyond number.
The Corps would be restored and went on to have a long and
glorious history before its ultimate destruction in the late
20th Century. KYLE RAYNER of Earth was given what was
believed to be the last power ring. Raker's power ring,
located in another dimension than the rest of the Corps, was
not destroyed.
The day came when Rayner and Orion, the son of Darkseid, were
ensnared by Desaad and stranded on Apokolips. Raker
Qarrigat found the unusual pair. Orion had been badly
injured and the Justice Leaguers were on the run from war
hounds sent out by Darkseid.
Raker believed, incorrectly, that the Green Lantern before
him had been sent by the Guardians and Darkseid's rule would
soon be at an end. He was disheartened to find out the
truth. He had been forgotten and worse still, the Corps
was no more and the Guardians were dead.
While the hunting parties searched for the fugitives, Raker
told his tale to Rayner while he tended Orion's wounds.
It was not long before the forces of Darkseid found them.
They managed to escape, making their way to a Parademon
hatchery. Raker Qarrigat revealed his power ring and
battled the Parademons so Rayner and Orion could escape with
the help of a Justice League rescue team.
Raker Qarrigat survived and still remains in hiding, helping
the poor souls trapped under the heel of Darkseid.
[GREEN LANTERN 80 PAGE # 3]
OATH: unknown
CREATIVE TEAM:
Chapter 3: Darkness Visible
Writer: Scott Beatty
Penciller: Joyce Chin
Inker: Stephen Baskerville
Colorist: Tom McCraw
Assistant Editor: Frank Berrios
Editor: Bob Schreck
KNOWN APPEARANCES:
GREEN LANTERN 80 PAGE # 3
'mouse note -
Darkseid vs. the GLC is a battle I'd been waiting to see and
this story didn't let me down. It gave an interesting
view of the history of the Guardians' agents, finally showing
the Manhunters in action before their betrayal. The
only thing that really got to me was the timeline, as it twists
the GLC around the New Gods' history.
Based on the timeframes given in the 80 PAGE GIANT, the Corps
had only been around about one thousand years, which of course
is wrong. The Corps had been around three billion years,
and while I can buy the idea of their being less than 3600
GLs for quite some time, the view presented in the DCU is
that their number was 3600 for most of their history.
I'm not one to throw out continuity for the sake of a story,
especially if the story is supposed to explain parts of the
GLC's history. The expansion of the Corps from a handful
to 3600 is well reasoned by Scott Beatty, and I don't want
anyone to feel like I'm picking on him, but I've got to call
it as
I see it. Both the GLC timeline and the New God timeline
couldn't be correct, or could they?
Without getting too deep in time/space jargon, my theory is
that the world of Apokolips, already established in COSMIC
ODYSSEY as being torn away from the rest of the universe and
nigh-impossible to reach without a Boom Tube, is set
on its own timeline which intersects, at specific points,
to the rest of the DCU. I'll leave it to others to dope
out how, but my theory is the Fourth World history has even
doubled back like someone setting their clock ahead in the
spring and back in the fall.
As to how it happened, my theory is the Guardians sort of
punched holes in reality and "pulled the fabric of space-time"
when they sent the Manhunter to Apokolips, then followed up
with Kendotha. By the time they got to Raker, they had
created their own stargate to the Fourth World. When
they withdrew, it sort of snapped the timeline, making some
history overlap. Keep in mind, per COSMIC ODYSSEY, you
can't get to Apokolips by power ring, but you could (years
ago) in the 80 PAGE GIANT. The Guardians would just
need to make a
change to the basic programming of the ring, rendering Fourth
World access impossible.
For those who might argue Hal Jordan made it to the Promethian
Wall (see PARALLAX: EMERALD NIGHT) and was followed by Kyle
Rayner, both without the always needed Boom Tube, my answer
is very simple. Hal absorbed the
Guardians' know-how, and Kyle's ring is a different model,
which does have different abilities.
The "spring ahead/fall back" theory would explain
how the Corps got into a scrap with Darkseid a few hundred
years ago Apokolips time, but 2-3 billion years ago regular
DCU time. Moving forward in the regular DCU, roughly
250 thousand years ago both the Corps (then numbering in the
thousands) and Darkseid fought Doomsday in DOOMSDAY ANNUAL
# 1. You can even use this to work in the LEGION OF
SUPER-HEROES Great Darkness Saga.
That's my rant for now. In not so other news, it has
been reported that Scott Beatty would love to write a regular
Raker Qarrigat Green Lantern title. Beatty promises
to explain some of the plot threads left over from the 80
PAGE GIANT. I for one can't wait for Raker's return.
Raker Qarrigat
was designed by penciller Graham Nolan, a heck of a nice guy
perhaps better known for a long stretch of Batman/Detective
Comics.
Check this link
for character sketches of Raker!
GREEN LANTERN
© 2003 DC COMICS, INC. Profile copyright © 2003 Michael
Bond
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