Mosaic Kids
on December 23, 2013
During the Mosaic Crisis, when communities from across the universe were lifted from their planets and placed in a patchwork of cities on planet Oa, people from the human settlement of Evergreen City stopped trying to proactively do something about their situation, gave up hope of going back home, and retreated into re-runs of sitcoms to help cope with the stressful situation.
However, some of the children had a hunger to explore their new surroundings and discover new things. Sixth graders, Frankie, Jaclyn, Shaffi, and Kelly would sneak out and go on expeditions. The children heard of a city of kids, and they wanted to see it for themselves, but finding the city involved traversing perilous territories.
They happened upon a group of teddy bear-like creatures called the Feelgoods, who made them feel positive emotions. Unfortunately, there were also less benevolent aliens around, such as a large Stiffneck that the children came across. The Stiffneck became agitated by the children and attacked. Green Lantern John Stewart arrived and fended the creature off, but Shaffi was tragically killed by the alien. John brought the children back to their homes, and delivered Shaffi’s body to his parents.
To the Green Lantern’s surprise, Shaffi’s parents were rather apathetic about their boy’s demise. When the parents carried on drinking parties well into the night, the children decided to sneak out again. This time, Shaffi’s eight year old brother Samosa joined them. The children managed to find the city of kids, but more threatening aliens were almost upon them before Green Lantern got them to safety.
John Stewart reprimanded the children for continuously getting caught up in danger, but the children told him that they needed to explore their new world. They needed to know what was out there. John Stewart came to respect the kids’ curiosity and drive, and wished more people had the same ambition. As such, he granted the children power rings that weren’t as powerful as his own, but were more than adequately suited to protect them. Though the Mosaic Kids enjoyed their new world and powers, there were times they would get hit with pangs of homesickness, such as when they attended a party hosted by Rose Hardin and John Stewart.
The children acted as deputies to John Stewart. They helped him deal with numerous crises, such as those brought on by the Tonemen of Melodyland, the Trendoids, and even other Earthlings. The Mosaic Kids even met the Guardians of the Universe when John was taking the Guardians on a tour of the Mosaic so they may see its progress. They were present when a coalition of many different worlds sent an armada to evacuate the populace of the Mosaic. They were among the sizable group that decided to stay on their new planet.
The Mosaic Kids are a really interesting part of Green Lantern: Mosaic. On paper, the idea of John Stewart having a bunch of child-side kicks sounds really dumb, with a sort of “jump the shark” element to it. However, Mosaic proves to be so out of the ordinary that the idea actually works just fine. Part of it has to do with writer Gerard Jones never using them to excess. Aside from their introductory story, “Not Yet” in Green Lantern: Mosaic #4, they never got stories exclusively about them, and they were usually not in the forefront of whatever was going on.
They prove how unorthodox John Stewart is, as granting power rings to children sounds like a very irresponsible thing to do, which is even brought out in the stories. Yet, on John Stewart’s Mosaic, it works like a charm.
