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The "Lights Out" storyline that cut through the primary Green Lantern titles happened this month. It was a relatively short "event" contained mostly within the month of October, even though the setup happened for a bit before. Now that it's done the primary question of every event that occurs in the world of comics must be asked. That question is, "What are the impacts?" If an event can be "lifted" out of a timeline because overall things are the same at the end as they were at the start, then it wasn't much of an event. So, let's go over the events of "Lights Out". Please know, there are spoilers ahead.
The lead-in to "Lights Out" was relatively short. Various members of the different Lantern Corps had been experiencing problems with their rings suddenly not working for unknown reasons. Meanwhile, the various entities that were the embodiments of the emotional spectrum were also weakening. At about that time Kyle Rayner and the recently freed Guardians of the Universe were also out exploring the universe, and they happened to end up investigating an unknown ancient object. Unfortunately, their investigation ended up releasing the being known as Relic into the current DC Universe. Relic emerged with an agenda already in mind, and that was to stop the "lightsmiths". Those he knew as "lightsmiths", we know as the members of the Lantern Corps.
During September's "Villains Month" we were given Relic's full history, which made him appear to be less of a villain and more of a harbinger of universal death due to unfortunate chance. Relic's dislike of those that wield the emotional spectrum of light was far from unfounded. He came from the universe that existed before the current one, and he had theorized then that the rings worked off of a limited reservoir. Relic's theory turned out to be true, and when the reservoir ran out, so did the clock for the previous universe. Somehow Relic survived, but when he awoke in the current universe he took up the mission of preventing the destruction of the current universe. Where he had failed before, he decided he would not fail again.
"Lights Out" is the battle Relic fought with the various Lantern Corps. Well, most of them. Agent Orange and the Sinestro Corps (which is now basically Sinestro) were not present for the final battle. The Orange Entity of greed known as Ophidian was present, but the Yellow Entity known as Parallax was not. While the various corps fought Relic along with Kyle and the new Guardians of the Universe, the battle was heavily weighted in Relic's favor. Relic had an understanding of the light of the emotional spectrum that doesn't seem to be had by anyone that wields light in the current universe. Overall, fighting Relic ended up being like fighting the rising of the sun on Earth. It's just not going to happen. Especially when one of the fighters switches sides.
Midway through "Lights Out" Kyle Rayner finds himself possessed by nearly all of the entities. While he is able to bring them under control, he ends up knowing what they knew. What Kyle realizes is that Relic isn't wrong, and that he needs to be helped in his mission to save the universe. This ends up being easier said than done because while Relic knows that his theory of a finite reservoir is correct, he doesn't know what to do about it. He doesn't know what it will take to refill it. His theory is that there is a connection to the Source Wall of the DC Universe, but he doesn't know how to access what is beyond it. So, when Kyle attempts to help Relic, things go badly very quickly. With the support of various corps members that are running on fumes, Kyle is able to take on Relic (after Kyle realizes how to repower himself). The end result? Relic finds his theory proven.
As the final fight rages the Source Wall begins to crumble. The end of the current universe is nigh. After Kyle drives Relic into the Source Wall (going along with him), the wall repairs itself. It appears as though the end of the universe has been stopped. Relic is partially able to exit the Source Wall just long enough to let those present know that the reservoir has been replenished thanks to Kyle, and they need to respect the opportunity they have been given. After all corps members depart the Source Wall, Kyle emerges with no memory of what happened while he was inside the wall other than that the entities sacrificed themselves to refill the reservoir. Only the new Guardians are present when he emerges, and when one looks inside Kyle's mind they find Kyle's mission as the White Lantern has just started.
Earlier, I said the question now is if this really was an "event" or not. Are there many consequences? There are actually quite a few. The first one is a question. That is, "What will now happen with Parallax and yellow energy?" It was never defined well if all the different corps tapped into the same reservoir, or different ones. As all the entities seemed to be suffering similarly, it appears they all tap into the same one, but in the story of Relic's previous universe the equivalent to the Blue Lanterns ran out of power first. So, this makes Parallax, yellow energy, and Sinestro big question marks.
There is also the consequence is that there are now no entities tied to the emotional spectrum left other than perhaps Parallax. So, it appears that the countdown to the end of the universe has only been reset, not stopped. The universe does not have another "do over". Or does it? Relic stated that he had never seen a White Lantern in his universe, so perhaps Kyle's next mission in life is to find new entities. Maybe this time around the universe was created so that it could be self-sustaining under the correct circumstances. It seemed the entities knew what they had to do once they gathered, so perhaps the destruction of the current universe is just "an" option to refill the reservoir, and not "the" option.
Finally, the various corps have been changed to varying degrees by this recent event. Saint Walker is now the only Blue Lantern left. The Red Lanterns are now a much more unified group than they ever were before. The effects on the Violet Lanterns, the Indigo Lanterns/Tribe, Sinestro and Larfleeze are still unknown. The greatest shakeup though, is within the most well-known and organized corps, the Green Lantern Corps. At the end of "Lights Out" we see that veteran Green Lanterns Graf, Hannu and Tomar-Tu have come to the decision that they can no longer say the oath. With the knowledge they now have about the reservoir and that wielding a ring only serves to accelerate the death of the universe, those Green Lanterns (and perhaps others) won't willfully participate in such a practice. This is a major change for the Green Lantern Corps. While they have worked to be a force for good in the universe, they are also now knowingly bringing that universe closer to its end by being a member of the corps.
I think it will be interesting to see the future impacts of these events on those connected to yellow energy, and I sincerely hope it will be interesting to see exactly what Kyle's next phase as the White Lantern will be (especially since he's believed to be dead to all but the new Guardians). However, I'm not as invested in the new "shakeup" to joining the Green Lantern Corps though. I think acknowledgements of depleting the reservoir will be quickly phased out of most stories unless Kyle happens to show up. It's impacting at the end of "Lights Out", but I just don't think the concept is going to stay around long. Frankly, I think the most continually impacting events to the Green Lantern Corps that will stay constant will be the destruction of Oa and the establishment of Mogo as the new home of the Green Lantern Corps. Still, this is why I read comics. So I can see how the stories and characters evolve. If I knew everything that was going to happen, there wouldn't be any point in reading.
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