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DC Character Affinity: Agent Orange (Larfleeze)

Mine! Mine! Mine! This is what you hear when you face Agent Orange, better known as Larfleeze.   Every time I read something with this character I just get so giddy like a kid and I can help but chuckle at what he might do next.  The Character was created by Geoff Johns as a key participant in the Blackest Night plot line. He represents the orange color spectrum which in turn represents Avarice or greed in the color spectrum. His origin is part of what makes this character so intriguing to me.

His origin is explained in a conversation between Hal and himself in Issue 41 of Green Lantern. Larfleeze's origin took place billions of years ago when Larfleeze was a member of a small group of thieves that specialized themselves in stealing artifacts from their home world Maltus.  In one of their adventures the group was off to find a mysterious box that was supposedly worth an entire star system to the right buyer. Worried that the group might succeed in their mission, the Guardians sent their Manhunters to pursue the group.

Only a few of them manage to survive the adventure. Those that did survive discover a map belonging to a Guardian name Krona that told of the location of the treasure they were hunting for. The group follows the map to a planet called Okaara. There, they discovered a temple which contained the mystery treasure also the location of the Orange Lantern power battery.  Once the remaining members enter the temple they instantly feel the battery power speaking to them.  The power is so great, that it makes the rest of the members fight against each other for its power. While the thieves fought against each other for their treasure, the guardians and their manhunter find them and an all out brawl ensues.

Only two members are left from the brawl Larfleeze and Blooch, the Guardians offered the survivors a deal. In exchange for the mysterious box, The Guardians would trade the orange light that they kept hearing with the condition that they would stay in the Vega System, and that for the safety of everyone only one of the surviving thieves would be allowed to have this light. Larfleeze thinks that the only reason why the Guardinas would attempt to make a deal was because in the mystery box the Parallax entity was inside. Eventhough he thought this, Larfleeze agrees to the deal and continues to defeat Blooch, making him into the Orange Lantern known as Agent Orange.

What makes Agent Orange a great is that he's one of a kind. Not only is he the lone member of the core, he is the power battery and if by any chance to you want to be part of this corp the only way in is through death.  (Unless your Lex Luthor and there is a major crisis on earth then you get to be in the corp for a bit). Another thing that makes this character so great is his unpredictability. This guy is so out there that he only does things when he feels like or if there is only something of interest making Larfleeze in my book the ultimate opportunistic. Also, his instability as being a character that is always crazy makes him a bit of joker as well.  Another reason why I love this character is because he is always hungering for stuff. I mean this guy makes Galactus look like a chump when it comes wanting something.  And when he wants something he will uses anything in his arsenal to get it. Larfleeze is also a one man army and possibly one of the strongest Lanterns in the galaxy.  Dude has a power level of 100,000 percent which is insane compare to the next strongest lantern out there.

Besides of his constant hunger for wanting things, and being unpredictable, Larfleeze does have a soft side which pulls a bit to the heart string of any reader.  On the Green Lantern Christmas special Larfleeze discovers that Santa Claus did not bring him anything that he asked for and this sends Larfleeze into a furious state were he goes town to town and kill the “Santa Claus Corp” he is so mad that he tries to melt the North Pole but is stopped by Hal Jordan “Green Lantern”.  Hal explains to Larfleeze of the Christmas spirit and how it comes form giving. Hal suggests Larfleeze to give everything that he had from his mountain of possessions, but doing this Larfleeze ends up not liking the sprirt of Christmas. Jordan then suggests to Larfleeze to look at his Christmas list and see what he truly needed. When Larfleeze looks at the list all he really wanted was his family. When I read this I was so touched by it that I felt bad for this character. It made me believe that no matter what he accumulate it is not enough because all he wanted was his family.

So if you like unstable characters that can conjure entire armies to do his bidding then give Larfleeze a shot and read some Green Lantern issues to learn more about him. Until next time this is Neil saying MINE! MINE! MINE!

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