Qward

Infobox comics location


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publisher= DC Comics
debut= "Green Lantern" vol. 2, #2 (Jan, 1961)
creators= John Broome
planet=y
residents= Anti-Monitor
Weaponers of Qward
races= Qwardians
locations=
subcat=DC Comics
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sortkey=PAGENAME|

Qward is a fictional world existing within an antimatter universe that is part of the DC Universe. It was first mentioned in "Green Lantern" (vol. 2) # 2 (January 1961).

History

Qward was created when Krona, an alien scientist from the planet Maltus, performed a forbidden experiment to try to see the origin of the universe. Somehow, this disrupted the process of cosmic creation, resulting in an additional, opposite universe. Qward is that universe's counterpart to Oa.

Qward was ruled by their universe's version of the Monitor (that would come to be called the Anti-Monitor by Earth's heroes). It was this entity that created the organization of warriors known as The Weaponers of Qward. Although the Anti-Monitor was defeated and imprisoned by his counterpart from the normal universe, the Weaponers themselves continued to rule their world.

In "Superman" #133 (Jan. 1971), an explosion turned all Kryptonite on Earth into harmless k-iron, and a hole was opened between Qward and Earth-1. An entity seeped from Qward into sand that Superman had touched. The sand of Superman's imprint became a sand creature that slowly sapped half of Superman's abilities until in "Superman" #242, Superman had to give up that half of his powers permanently since fighting to get them back would have devastated Earth-1.

Qward's universe has been described as a "universe of evil". However, this might just be a wrong impression on the part of those heroes from the positive universe that have clashed with them. Qwardian society seems indeed to be dominated by a philosophy of selfishness and greed. This could be the effects of millennia of inescapable rule by the tyrannical Weaponers. There do exist Qwardians who rebel against their society's morality, however.

Qwardians resemble humans, except that they are totally hairless and have large, prominent eyes. The Weaponers seem to have a military structure. Their most noteworthy warriors are The Thunderers, flying warriors that are equipped with throwable weapons shaped like lightning bolts that turn into a form of energy called "Qwa" when thrown. This energy is the Weaponers' primary weapon, and is somehow able to hurt even Superman. (The Qwardians have legends of fierce energy-creatures called Qwa-angels; whether these exist or not is unknown.) The Weaponers also possess advanced technology, the development of which was motivated over the centuries by their attempts to develop a weapon powerful enough to open a mysterious artifact called the "Golden Obelisk of Qward." They were able to create a yellow "power ring" for the villain Sinestro, their ally against their long-time foes, the Green Lantern Corps from the normal universe, who have opposed their attempts to conquer their universe several times (including kidnapping Olivia Reynolds on more than one occasion, in attempts to harness her U-Mind to access the Ergono power). The Weaponers have also clashed with the Justice League of America and other DC comics heroes.

In order to travel into, and out of, the anti-matter universe, one must pass through special "portals" that instantly reverse the polarity of subatomic particles as they pass through them, since any contact between normal and anti-matter would result in a tremendous explosion that would disintegrate both.

One noteworthy figure within the Weaponers was one General Fabrikant, who was a tactical genius as well as being midget-sized. Fabrikant entered Earth, disguised himself as a child, and insinuated himself into the private life of the greatest Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. He was discovered, however, and his plans of conquest were undone.

When the Anti-Monitor reawakened, he reestablished his rule over Qward, and transformed several of the Thunderers into "Shadow-Demons" that he then used to help him in his plans to destroy all positive matter universes, so that the antimatter universe would increase in size, making him even more powerful. Eventually, however, the Anti-Monitor was destroyed by the heroes of Earth, and the Weaponers recovered control of Qward.

uper Villains

The group of super villains called the Crime Syndicate of America, evil counterparts of the Justice League from a parallel universe, had earlier been rewritten as being from Qward, since at the time, parallel universes were no longer supposed to be used in DC Comics stories. Later on, in "", the Syndicate has been reintroduced as coming from a parallel Earth within the Qwardian universe. They have since popped up in a number of DC Comics stories, including the ongoing weekly comic "Trinity", written by Kurt Busiek.

Nero

During Kyle Rayner's tenure as Green Lantern, the Qwardian Weaponers again sought to oppose the remains of the Guardians by empowering an agent with a yellow power ring. After a disastrous attempt involving Fatality, the Qwardians then found a more suitable servant in Alexander Nero.

As Nero grew more powerful by subconsciously siphoning the burgeoning Parallax energy within Earth's sun, it was shown that the Weaponers had developed an almost cult-like fascination with him. During a battle with Nero in which the Weaponers intervened, Kyle learned that it was their secret desire to be destroyed by their creation.

"Syndicate Rules"

In the JLA storyline "Syndicate Rules", written by Kurt Busiek, the mythology and culture of Qward were greatly expanded upon, clarifying their Post-Crisis status. The storyline detailed a coup d'état in which the Thunderers were united under Irik Roval. Roval slew First Weaponlord Varnathon of Q'Uld, ending the Weaponers' reign over Qward. Claiming the Weapons of Rengar, he was crowned the new Highlord of Qward. Roval then located the prison of Erdammeru, the Void Hound, an ancient weapon of the Qward. Erdammeru had been built as a mechanical version of a mythical deity of Qward.

Roval piloted the Void Hound through an ancient Qwa-portal into the positive matter universe, where he did battle against the Justice League in search of the ancient scientist Krona, who had nearly obliterated Qward during the "JLA/Avengers" crossover event. Though Roval was eventually forced to retreat by the destruction of the Void Hound, Qward remained a threat to the Justice League, revitalized under their new leader. Another interesting note is that in this story the inhabitants of Qward referred to themselves as "Qwarda-jin". Jin is one of the suffixes in Japanese for a person or people.

inestro Corps

With the Green Lantern Corps restarted with the return of Hal Jordan, Sinestro has decided to found the Sinestro Corps, offering yellow power rings, and a role in the Corps, to the most feared and savage warriors of the universe. The size and scope of this new organization has yet to be revealed but stands to be a major threat for the Green Lantern Corps in the near future. The Sinestro Corps is headquartered in the antimatter universe on Qward, in Sector -1.

In an interview with Geoff Johns, writer of the current "Green Lantern" series, [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=79802] it was revealed that the "Sinestro Corps" is a mirror organization to the GLC. Geoff Johns revealed that "The Sinestro Corps [will have] its own Oa-type planet, its own Guardians, [and] its own oath."

Arkillo, a large and muscular vicious alien who fills the same role of Drill Sergeant held by Kilowog in the GLC, is enslaving all the Qwardian Weaponeers and forcing them to continuously build new yellow rings, programmed to breach the barrier between anti-matter and matter universe and find and recruit new ring wielders. ["Green Lantern" vol. 3 #11]

All Qwardians now sport slave collars, put on them by Sinestro himself to assure their loyalty. In addition, Qward now has a huge yellow "Central Battery" (a parallel to Oa's green "Central Battery"). Corps members also seem to kill Qwardians for fun and send them armed with overcharged batteries as suicide bombers.

Known members, other than the Corps namesake and Arkillo, include Karu-sil, "the girl next door" from a planet populated by murders and sociopaths, where she was raised by demonic wolf-like beings; Despotellis, a sentient virus capable of attacking Lanterns from the inside; Bedovian, the sniper of the Corps, capable of taking out a target from three sectors away while living on the fungus growing on his "hermit crab" like shell. ["Wizard Magazine" #186 (January 2007), 2007 Preview, Sinestro Corps.] Batman was even considered as a possible candidate for the Sinestro Corps (due to his ability to inspire great fear in his enemies, which seems to be the primary requirement for induction into the Corps) but due to his immense Will Power he rejected the ring that was sent to him. Instead, the ring went to Amon Sur, the son of Green Lantern Abin Sur.

In the Green Lantern Corps story "Tygers", by Alan Moore, Abin Sur is witness to a prophecy which states that among the gathered enemies to destroy the Green Lantern Corps would be the "Weaponers of Qward"; the "Sinestro Corps War" storyline is a partial fulfillment of that prophecy, later to be known as "The Blackest Night". ["Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual" #2 (1986)]

References

External links

* [http://www.glcorps.org/qward.html GLCorps.com: Qwardians]
* [http://www.monitorduty.com/mdarchives/2006/02/alan_kistlers_p_4.shtml Monitor Duty.com] Qward profile section