Hidden within the near-inaccessible Himalayas are ancient secrets tied to one thousand years of history... a history involving a pair of Emerald Crusaders! In the universe of the Guardians of the Universe, this ancient alien organization first attempted to protect the cosmos with their green plasma armed android army known as the Manhunters. However, these synthetic agents of order grew unbalanced, and were those removed of the weaponry and left on various planets, whilst the Guardians created another intergalactic peace-keeping unit, the Green Lantern Corps! 
Eventually, the Manhunters reunited with one another and exerted their influence on the worlds they had inhabited, including Earth-One. Initially setting up a covert base of operations on that world, the Manhunters' leader known as The Grandmaster tasked his forces into making an incursion into the parallel planet of Earth-Two. Having been informed by the Guardians during their inital construction of the androids as to the existence of this alternate reality, one of many errantly spawned by the renegade Malthusian named Krona, Grandmaster coveted the emerald energies exiled to that reality by the Guardians residing on that world.
In order to track down and wrest control of the Guardians' Green Flame of Life from its current wielder, Alan "Green Lantern" Scott, the Grandmaster employed agents such as Paul Kirk and Dan Richards as human Manhunters. However, before he could successfully manipulate them into battling their fellow superhero, who became teammates of Green Lantern as part of the All-Star Squadron. So the Grandmaster altered his approach, making one more attempt in 1946 by employing Molly Maynne as the Harlequin. Seeing the potential in this young woman with her rebellious streak, Grandmaster bequeather her with illusion technology in the former of special eyewear which the Manhunters developed.
Mayne was also hestitant in causing lasting harm to the Lantern on her own, and even when given a battallion of female Manhunters in the form of duplicate Harlequins, she broke her ties with the Manhunters and ultimately retired from their ranks. And so, the Grandmaster returned to Earth-One's Himalayas, abandoning his plans to secure the Guardian's disgarded Flame. He then set forth to orchestrate the Manhunters versus the Corps and their Guardian masters, including Hal Jordan whom they would frame alongside the Guardians to usurp the power and reputation of their creators!
This led to a conflict between the Manhunters and Justice League, which was paralleled by the battle decades earlier on Earth-Two between the Justice Society and the Diamond Men, whose drive towards conquest rivaled their android doppelgängers under the Grandmaster.
One human who initially curried the favor of the Diamond Men was amateur geologist Charles Crillon, who was the unorthodox geological patterns over the years and advertised these in his published works. The Diamond Men’s leader Exmam transformed Crillon into a being like himself as a reward for impressively discerning the existence of his people. However, Charles betrayed his crystalline benefactor, provided him the needed intel to expose the Diamond Men’s invasion as he guided the Justice Society into their conflict with the alien entities.
His counterpart on Earth-One was school teacher Iris Jacobs, who became acquainted with a time displaced Val “Karat Kid” Armour whom she accompanied on some of his 20th century adventures. Seeking to become more noticeable to Val, she agreed to be a test subject of S.T.A.R. Labs secretly funded by the Lord of Time, which transformed her into the crystalline supervillain named Dimaondeth. Unlike Crillon’s Diamond Man, Diamondeth was spurred on by madness, until Karate Kid subdued her and brought her to his native 30th century where she was cured of her mutation.
Meanwhile on Earth-Two, there was also a war transpiring involving two sides of emerald energies, with the Green Dragon Tong led by an evil lamp-maker named Chang... and a group of peace-keeping lamas located in the Himalayas who obtain Chang's old lamp and the meteor containing the Green Flame's energy. While Chang had a portion of the meteor, a globe of which he gave later to the Psycho-Pirate to advance his schemes after his Tong couldn't secure the emerald energy in its original form for their long-lived master. This Tong had earlier accompanied Chang to North America where he grew his organization under his warped principals, with the goal of subjugating the world one day, before returning to his home continent when opportunity presented itself. Knowing of this danger on the horizon, the lamas presented Alan Scott with the reshaped lamp, wherein he became the Green Lantern of his world. The Guardian's counterpart race in this universe, the Buddak, tried to control Earth-Two themselves before these events had transpired... and were soundly defeated themselves. Years later, the millennium-old Grandmaster and millennium-old Chang led their forces against Hal and Alan on separate occasions, both proved successful despite exploiting situations that seemed to show both Green Lanterns as criminals. And so, the lamas and the Corps remained, aloof from the affairs of mankind. 
No comments:
Post a Comment