The Eyes of Despero! - Recap

The sorcerer Wotan travels through Limbo to the Library of Infinity. The two guardian statues prove no threat to him, but Batman and Dr. Fate arrive to bar his path. Wotan smashes them through the doors of the library and then summons fire demons to attack. Batman tells Dr. Fate to battle Wotan while he takes on the demons. However, the demons are immune to physical contact, and a Batgrenade simply causes them to split apart into more fire demons. Batman’s sword proves useless but he realizes that the demons are vulnerable to their own fire swords. He uses one to defeat the demons.



Meanwhile, Wotan has mystically bound Dr. Fate, then removed the Helm of Fate. The villain believes his opponent powerless, but as a normal human Kent Nelson delivers a haymaker and knocks Wotan out.



Hal Jordan, one of Earth’s two representatives in the Green Lantern Corps, leads his fellow warriors in defense of Oa, homeworld of the Guardians. Their opponent? Despero, a three-eyed alien conqueror with hypnotic powers. He takes control of all of the Corps members except for Hal and turns them against him. Hal summons all of his willpower and seemingly destroys himself and all of his teammates rather than let Despero gain control of them. The only thing left is his power ring, which flies away on its own.



Batman is battling the Cavalier, a minor villain in his Rogues Gallery. As the police arrive, the power ring swoops down out of the sky, encapsules Batman in a green sphere, and flies him off into space and to Oa. Batman explores the sciencells and hears a howling noise. Investigating, he finds three Green Lanterns in confinement. The howling one is G’nort, a doglike being. Batman’s former ally Guy Gardner is the second, and the alien Sinestro is the third. Sinestro explains that Guy started a fight when he didn’t get what he wanted, and that he was imprisoned for using excessive force against alien conquerors. G’nort admits that he accidentally locked himself in when he was bringing them lunch.



Guy demands that Batman turn over the power ring, but the Caped Crusader refuses. The four heroes review a recording of the battle with Despero and realize they are all that stand between Despero and universal domination. Batman insists on going but Sinestro points out that only a Green Lantern can use a power ring. However, the three GLs combine their power rings to forge a suit of battle armor for Batman, driven by the same willpower that powers the rings. Batman takes command (over Guy’s objections) and they fly into space after Despero.



They find Despero, now grown to giant size, waiting for them. Guy charges in on his own and is easily knocked down, and G’nort discovers he let his power ring run out of charge. Batman and Sinestro go on the offensive but Despero traps them in rings of mental energy. Sinestro tells Batman to focus his willpower and they shatter their bonds. They then easily defeat Despero, only to discover that he’s a mental projection. The real Despero is heading for the most powerful Green Lantern remaining: Mogo, the living planet.



Despero gets to Mogo and remakes it in his own image with a gigantic three-eyed skull. The alien conqueror then begins his path of conquest, dominating the citizens of one planet and then heading on to Earth to take control of its superheroes. Batman and the GLs let him pass and then the Caped Crusader comes up with a plan. When Guy balks, Batman knocks him down with one punch and Guy reluctantly agrees to obey. Batman has Sinestro defend Earth, Guy attack Mogo, and G’nort take on the most important task: entering Mogo’s core and draining its power battery into his power ring. G’nort is worried he’ll screw up as always, but Batman assures him he can do it.



Guy battles the rocks and earth that the mind-controlled Mogo throws at him, buying G’nort time to enter the planet’s core. However, he can’t remember his oath to drain the power battery. Meanwhile, Batman takes on Despero directly.



Guy notices Sinestro on Mogo’s surface and investigates. He discovers that Sinestro is planting bombs to destroy their fellow Green Lantern Mogo and G’nort inside its core. Guy stands by his comrades and Sinestro smashes him away.

Despero ensnare Batman again and tells him that the one GL he trusts, Sinestro, isn’t who Batman thinks he is. The conqueror explains that Sinestro didn’t just attack the warlords, he massacred them and then took over his home planet. The Guardians arrested him for betraying his oath to the Corps. Now Despero plans to mind control both Batman and Sinestro and make them the leaders of his new army. Batman manages to free himself but Despero grabs him, strips away some of his armor, and tries to take control of the Caped Crusader’s mind.

Guy manages to defeat Sinestro, while G’nort finally remembers the oath of the Green Lanterns. He drains Mogo’s power battery while in space, Batman repels Despero’s mental domination through sheer willpower. Mogo reverts to it normal appearance and smashes Despero unconscious.



The mission completed, Hal Jordan’s power ring emerges from Batman’s utility belt. There’s a flash of green energy and Hal, the other Green Lanterns, and the Guardians all emerge. Hal placed them all inside the ring and sent it to Batman where he knew they’d be safe.



Later on Oa, Batman admits that Guy did a good job and Guy concedes that Batman would make an excellent Green Lantern. Sinestro is trapped inside of Guy’s power ring, and Batman asks everyone to applaud... G’nort, the true hero that saved them all.

Share this article with your friends