Green Lantern Corps - Before 2011 Renumbering

Most comics fans know Dave Gibbons as one half of the creative team behind the seminal classic Watchmen. What you may not realize upon first consideration is that he's also quite a talented sci-fi writer in his own right, especially when it comes to chronicling the adventures of the Green Lantern Corps.

The first spinoff from the hit Green Lantern series, Green Lantern Corps puts Gibbons back in the drivers seat for the ongoing adventures of the DCU's intergalacitc police force. Calling it "NYPD Blue in space" may seem glib, but it's not too far off. Each storyline focuses on separate arcs for a rotating cast of lanterns, including some familiar faces: Guy Gardner, Kilowog, and even the occasional Mogo sighting.

For the title's first several arcs, the stories stayed far away from interactions with the rest of the DCU, instead focusing on clever sci-fi riffs that took good advantage of the abilities of artist Patrick Gleason. With issue 14, the title is plunged head-long into the Sinestro Corps War, a major crossover with the main Green Lantern title in which Hal Jordan's archenemy Sinestro has founded his own dark counterpart to the Corps based in fear as opposed to willpower.

Writer Keith Champagne also contributes a noteworthy arc to the series' early issues with his tale of the Green Lantern Corpse, a "black ops" division of the Corps that takes on jobs no ordinary Lantern could handle.