I don’t work for DC Comics. I do, however, enjoy their brand of superhero storytelling. Their larger-than-life worlds and god-like characters offer writers a chance to explore bizarre and fantastical storylines. I have one fantastical and bizarre idea that could work for DC, just in time for Halloween, no less. Inspired by an off-hand comment to a friend, I give you a Headless Horseman tale set in DC Comic’s Green Lantern Universe.
The Headless Horseman
Ichabod Crane was a good-natured cowboy in the 1800s when a ring of power chose him to be a Green Lantern. Crane rode into battle on an emerald stallion, a will-powered mirage of his favorite companion long past. He could be seen cutting the night sky in two as he blazed a trail of green justice across the cosmos.
Tragically, Ichabod was cut down by a Sinestro Corp General in a vicious display, decapitating our hero and leaving his tattered body in Ichabod’s wife’s pumpkin patch.
As the Black Lanterns rose from the wet earth, Ichabod’s desecrated body clawed its way from the grave. The Black Ring around his boney hand pulsed with each unnatural movement. The long-dead hero, newly risen, pushed past the rotting pumpkins of his wife’s deserted patch. He was headless yet blessed with the Black conduit’s vision. Ichabod reached for a rotten gourd and felt a longing for his lost love. The ring of power quickly tamped down the emotion. A cold black flame surrounded the pumpkin in the dead man’s hand.
As he carried it towards the dilapidated fence of his former home, a cold smile conjured by the ring appeared across the pumpkin’s facade. The corrupted pumpkin glowed black with death’s flame as Ichabod summoned Mill once again. The once majestic green steed now a searing hot Tarheel. Its steps corrupt the earth beneath its necrotic hooves. The wails of the dead cry out with every trot as Ichabod slowly rode, the pumpkin in hand. The Tarheel neighs as the Headless Lantern takes flight in search of death.
Maybe I’ll write the actual story, but so far, I dig the direction. How about you?