No! Wake-up stories! Stories to demonstrate that the Guardians and their Green Lantern Corps are not omnipotent! Stories that will convince the god, if only for an instant, that its imprisonment is only in its own mind -- and that its liberation -- and the liberation of everyone else -- resides there as well! 
- — Sinestro
Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2 is an issue of the series Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual (Volume 1) with a cover date of December, 1986. It was published on September 4, 1986.
Synopsis for "Escapist Entertainment"
While imprisoned inside the Sciencells in Oa, Sinestro's fellow inmates assume that he's insane because he seems to be talking to himself. He claims that "3600, the Ultimate Sector" is locked in one of the nearby cells. The inmates believe Sinestro has lost it, but he proceeds to explain the story of the strongest God known in Sector 3600: T:D:H:D
- Long ago, this god gain absolute control over the entire Sector, able to change reality with a thought. This caused the galaxy to become "fundamentally unstable," blowing the entire Sector with one explosion. The Green Lantern Rasa Nekroy, assigned to guard 3600, died during that cataclysm. Free of restrictions, T:D:H:D started to move to other sectors. The greatest Green Lanterns of the time were sent to oppose the mad god, including "Palaqua, Cimfet Tau, and ten more." But they disappeared and never returned. Ultimately, all 36 Guardians confronted T:D:H:D themselves, their power being the only thing capable of opposing the god. They trapped T:D:H:D inside a compressed matrix, thus reducing the massive sentient sector into one being again.
The inmates still believe that Sinestro is insane, but he keeps telling "wake up stories" to the imprisoned sector, trying to prove that the Guardians and their Corps are not as infallible as they think they are. After telling 1.001 stories, the Mad God awakens and opens Sinestro's sciencell, letting him free to plan his revenge and destroy Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps.
Appearing in "Escapist Entertainment"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Sciencell inmates
- Fratoonic
Antagonists:
- T:D:H:D (First appearance) (Flashback and main story)
Other Characters:
- Guardians of the Universe (Flashback only)
- Green Lantern Corps
- Palaqua (First appearance) (Apparent Death) (Flashback only)
- Cimfet Tau (First appearance) (Apparent Death) (Flashback only)
- Rasa Nekroy (Behind the scenes) (Dies)
- Unnamed Green Lanterns
Locations:
Items:
Synopsis for "Mercenary!"
At a cantina, Penn Maricc is accused of cheating during a bet and beats the other players/drinkers in a fist-fight. A group of hooded men approach him with a commission: stopping a war on the planet Caprial 7. To convince him, they claim that there's a particular child who has been orphaned by the war, and they offer Maricc "companionship with others like" himself if he helps the boy. Triggered by the hooded men's intrusion on his private life, Maricc leaves the cantina, but still accepts the task to save the boy. Upon his leaving, the men take off their hoods, revealing the faces of the Guardians of the Universe.
On Caprial 7, Maricc crash-lands his ship to avoid being noticed at the port. He sneaks into the central palace, where the guards take him to the ruler, and then to a prison cell. In jail, he meets the 7-year-old kid he came to rescue: Prince Tayla. Pen uses the prince's monocle and the sunlight to set fire to the mattress, and they escape when the guards come check the scene. Reluctant to work together, they get to the throne room, where they confront and beat the de facto leader of Caprial 7.
With the prince now on his rightful place at the throne, Maricc is stranded on the planet with no means to leave by himself, until the Guardians of the Universe show themselves to him, offering him a place in the Green Lantern Corps.
Appearing in "Mercenary!"
Featured Characters:
- Penn Maricc (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- De facto ruler
Other Characters:
- Prince Tayla (Single appearance)
- Sinestro (Narrator)
Locations:
- Sector 3333
- Caprial 7
Items:
Vehicles:
- Pen Maricc's ship (Destroyed)
Synopsis for "Old Man Lantern"
On the planet Naktos, the elder Green Lantern Ghrelk fails to avert the collision and destruction of Mkulsen's Span. His senile mind made him leave the scene, ignoring the disaster. From a distance, commander Varix watches the actions of the renowned Green Lantern and decides to visit him. He meets Ghrelk near a lake, where he greets him as an old friend, but the old Lantern doesn't recognize him. Varix asks what happened to him at Mkulsen's Span and other recent incidents, but Ghrelk denies all accusations, claiming that even though his bones are old, his mind is still what makes him a Green Lantern. Confirming Varix's suspicions, Ghrelk accidentally attacks him with his ring instead of flying away. The old Lantern heads straight to the Span to confirm Varix's reports about the incident. Varix commands the Interceptor Squad to pursuit the Green Lantern.
In the vicinity of Mkulsen's Span, Ghrelk finds the remains of the disaster, still unable to remember the scene. He sees the Interceptors coming at a distance, and Ghrelk attacks them, seeing them as invaders. Varix arrives at the battle and intercepts the Green Lantern, informing him that he's fighting his allies. Ghrelk starts to doubt himself, and he flies away. He arrives at an asteroid mining site, where he sees monsters crawling from within the rock. But he doubts again, not knowing if the creatures are real or are just seismic activity tricking his eyes. Varix finds him at the asteroid, and releases Ghrelk from his burden, taking his ring and fighting the creatures. Ghrelk finally understands that his time has passed, and he asks Varix to keep the ring and become his successor.
Appearing in "Old Man Lantern"
Featured Characters:
- Ghrelk (Single appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Varix (First appearance)
Locations:
- Sector 69
- Naktos
- Mkulsen's Span
Items:
Vehicles:
- Varix's ship
- Interceptors Squad fleet
Synopsis for "Tygers"
Abin Sur arrives high above the planet Ysmault, inquiring his ring information regarding it. The ring informs him that the corpseworld before him was the throneworld of the Empire of Tears, the minds of which had been entombed by the Guardians of the Universe. Sur descends upon the planet, knowing he is doing so without the Guardians' permission -- he had detected a crashed ship on the planet's surface.
On Ysmault, Sur explores the landscape, amazed by the unsettling atmosphere. The various demons he encounters ask to fulfill any desires he has. Sur denies they have anything he desires, and ignores their offers. He eventually meets Qull of the Five Inversions, who offers "any three answers to any three condrums". Sur decides to ask where the ship had crashed. Qull answers that the vessel is nearby and that a child is the only survivor. Sur holds off asking any more questions and heads westward. He indeed finds the ship and rescues the infant within -- she had only suffered a broken ankle.
Convinced of the veracity of Qull's answers, Sur ignores his suspicions of malicious intent and asks about his own future. Qull reveals that Sur will die when his ring fails him at a critical moment, and that his successor will be the greatest amongst his contemporaries. This revelation doesn't bother Sur, who asks his final question:
- What is the most terrible catastrophe that the Green Lantern Corps, in which I serve, has yet to face?
: Abin Sur - You speak of the final catastrophe...: Qull of the Five Inversions
Qull fortells the uprising of the enemies of the Green Lantern Corps, resulting in the complete oblivion of the Corps. Amongst the army are the Weaponers of Qward, Ranx the Sentient City, and the Children of the White Lobe. The Empire of Tears also participate after being freed from entombment. Qull goes on to detail the fall of Sodam Yat (the ultimate Green Lantern) and the destruction of Mogo (the planet-form Green Lantern).
Having finished answering Sur's interrogatives, Qull permits him to leave the planet and forget all that he said. Sur bids him and Ysmault farewell and ascends the skies, child in tow. Qull reports to fellow Inversion Roixeaume that he had destroyed Sur... though he won't know it for a decade. The demons begin laughing for nineteen weeks.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the universe, Sur ponders over the prophecies he had been told. He proposes to his ring that he travels by starship on longer missions as a precaution to conserve energy. The ring doesn't object, and Sur decides to put the Empire of Tears and their predictions behind him. He then begins to fear that his ring is low on energy, forgetting that he recharged it just an hour ago...
Appearing in "Tygers"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Green Lantern Corps (In a vision)
- Hal Jordan
- Sodam Yat (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Empire of Tears
- Qull of the Five Inversions
- Roxeaume of the Five Inversions
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- Sinestro was imprisoned in the Sciencells in Green Lantern (Volume 2) #200.
- "Tygers" is the second story designed to explain why Abin Sur had been flying a spacecraft on his final mission, presumably overwriting "Earth's First Green Lantern" from Green Lantern (Volume 2) #16.
- The account in "Tygers" would be slightly modified by Green Lantern (Volume 4) #30, which added Parallax among the causes of Abin Sur's insecurity.
- "Tygers" is reprinted in:
- All stories of this annual are reprinted in Green Lantern Corps: Beware Their Power.
See Also
- Cover gallery for the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual series
- Images from Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual Vol 1 2
