 | THE MOSAIC KIDS | BIOGRAPHY |
| Created by Gerard Jones and Cully Hamner |
PERSONAL DATA
Full Name: Frankie, Jaclyn, Kelly, Samosa
Occupation: Green Lantern
Homeworld: Earth
Space Sector: inapplicable, Oa is the "center of the pie"
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Frankie - unnamed father and mother; Jacyln/Jamie - stepfather, mother, cousin, grandfather (all unnamed); Kelly - unnamed mother; Samosa - Shaffi (older brother, deceased), Amiri (father), unnamed mother
Group Affiliation(s): Green Lantern Corps
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Eyes: Blue-green (Frankie); brown (Jaclyn); blue (Kelly); ? (Samosa)
Hair: reddish-brown (Frankie); brown (Jaclyn); blonde (Kelly); black (Samosa)
First Appearance: Green Lantern: Mosaic #4 (September 1992): "Not Yet"
Creators: Gerard Jones and Cully Hamner
HISTORY
Driven to madness by the isolation from the other Guardians on Oa, Appa Ali Apsa wished to end his solitude by having others join him. The insane Guardian caught Green Lantern John Stewart of Earth and began collecting cities from across the cosmos to be his playthings on Oa.
Appa Ali Apsa was stopped through the work of Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart and the return of the twenty-two other Guardians of the Universe. In a tremendous battle, the Guardians severed Apsa's link to Oa, killing him.
Oa itself was changed. Now it would be home to the cities taken by Appa Ali Apsa. Known as the "Mosaic World," many alien races were side by side as an experiment of the Guardians. John Stewart was charged with the responsibility of the lives on the Mosaic. - Green Lantern Vol. 3 #9
The job was difficult, to say the least. A few of the cities were from Earth, with very agitated inhabitants. An anti-alien movement began among some of the humans on Oa. To stop the fighting, John Stewart and other Green Lanterns separated the combatants and restored order. This had been tried before, and only served to delay the fighting. Stewart had to come up with an idea to make the alien cities work with each other, rather than fight. Representatives from many species met later to help build the Mosaic World. - Green Lantern Vol. 3 #13-17
The return of the Guardians had also marked the reestablishment of the Green Lantern Corps. Although many new Green Lanterns such as Brik and Kreon were chosen, few veteran Green Lanterns had been invited to join. Chaselon and Larvox were some of a small number brought back. - Green Lantern Vol. 3 #12-13
Life on the Mosaic was too difficult for some of its inhabitants to comprehend. Some of the people from Earth gave up on the idea of going back to their planet, and retreated into television reruns to remind them of home. The children felt differently.
After their parents had settled in front of the TV, some sixth graders stepped out to explore the strange new world. With oxygen masks and translators they headed out across the Mosaic.
Frankie and Shaffi led the group, comprised of two girls, Kelly and Jaclyn, and Shafi's eight year old brother, Samosa. They met a tribe of teddy bear-like creatures called the "Feelgoods". They were attempting to cross the Feelgoods' land when they were attacked by a "Stiffneck", one of the hostile races of the Mosaic.
Green Lantern John Stewart dealt with the Stiffneck, but he was too late for Shaffi. The boy was killed by the large alien.
Stewart took the children home. He was shocked by their parents' lack of interest. They returned to their television reality. Stewart warned the children to stay home, but after their parents had abandoned the television for long, drunken parties, the children were out again.
Jaclyn wanted Samosa to come. Despite the fact that he was eight, Jaclyn thought he would like to see where they were going. The children took a different route and found "the Pans", a city full of kids. They were set upon by alien predators, but John Stewart teleported them to safety before the beasts caught them.
The Green Lantern reprimanded the children. The Mosaic was too big for him to keep a constant eye on them. The children explained they couldn't stay home, they had to go out to see their new world. They had to know.
Stewart wished more people wanted to learn, and decided on an unusual course of action. He wanted to bring the Mosaic together and thought the children could help. Stewart gave the children their own power rings. - Green Lantern: Mosaic #4
Stewart visited the Book of Oa to look for answers for questions in his dreams. He met Jordan there and surprised the veteran Green Lantern with his decision to give the children power rings. - Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #2
The children acted as back-ups to John Stewart in his guardianship of the Mosaic. They helped wake him from the rhythm of the "Tonemen of Melodyland", beings made of sound who had tried to bring the races together with less than pleasant results. Stewart was able to communicate with the Tonemen to restore peace. - Green Lantern: Mosaic #7
The four children tried to solve some of the Mosaic world's problems, but didn't always meet with success. Their biggest problems usually revolved around agreeing on what to do. An alien race nicknamed the Trendoids imitated anyone they saw. At first it was annoying, then as humans started roughing up the Trendoids, the aliens took this as behavior they should copy.
Though Frankie thought he was doing the right thing by talking to the Trendoids, they only returned to copy his behavior. The kids called in John Stewart.
Tensions were rising again in the human communities, each person believing they were right and everyone else was wrong. The fighting escalated and the Trendoids copied that too.
Stewart asked the Trendoids about their history and was slowly able to put the pieces together. The Trendoids had been at the crossroads of interplanetary trade. After millenia, they had been conquered, colonized and exploited. The survivors learned how to make themselves useful, likable or amusing. They had no choice but to change their culture if they wished to survive.
Stewart's answer was to have a number of the Trendoids join the various different cultural groups in the Mosaic cities. When they saw the advantages of having Trendoids in their midst, everyone wanted the aliens The Trendoids would be another way to help bridge the cultural gaps between the myriad of races on Oa. - Green Lantern: Mosaic #8
Despite the distance from their homeworlds, the people of the many cities wished to observe the customs of their native worlds. Rose Hardin of Hope Springs was set on having a Christmas party which John Stewart expanded to include other races.
The Xudarians came to celebrate Tuxushta, the winter festival of the pole-country of Xudar. A Beserker celebrated the Sweet-Smoke-Night of his people, a holiday commemorating the hero Hairy Blood-Shanks, who chopped the thousand children of Soft-Belly Back-Turner and laid them on the fire so that they would not grow back. The Steam-Frogs of Globu and the Pans came to share in the get-together. - Green Lantern: Mosaic #9
The Guardians met the children during their tour of the Mosaic Cities. John Stewart led the Guardians through the various communities to show how interdependence had developed between the races.
Stewart's tour saw fighting between the Berserkers and the Januses which was broken up by the four kids. The children asked when they were going home, but the Guardians avoided the question. They recommended the children take advantage of the education the Mosaic world would provide. They would soon call on the children to tell them what they had learned since their arrival on Oa. As much as the Guardians enjoyed the children, they had not given Stewart permission to bestow the ring power on anybody.
If his plans worked out, Stewart planned to give the ring power to others, to share power and foster interdependence. The Guardians were pleased with Stewart's work, but the Mosaic project would continue. The cities would not be sent home. - Green Lantern: Mosaic #10
The children travelled across Oa with their power rings, but they did not dare to go to the Guardians' Citadel. One day, they found a cocoon in the desert sands. Playing their rings' emerald light across its surface, they caused its inhabitant to awaken. - Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #5
K'ryssma, one of the Green Lantern Corps Honor Guard, had been in the cocoon. She had entered her chrysalis state during the collapse of the Central Power Battery, years before. - Green Lantern Corps #223-224
The kids told her some of what had transpired before. The news shocked her greatly. She mourned the death of Appa Ali Apsa and wished to rejoin the Green Lantern Corps.
K'ryssma took the kids to the Guardians' Citadel to read the Great Book of Oa, so she could learn more of what had happened since she began her metamorphosis. The stories in the book featuring Adam, Alan Scott, G'Nort, and Itty dealt with themes of rebirth. K'ryssma believed the Guardians wished her to read the tales of others to inspire her own rebirth. The Guardians seemingly approved of her reinstatement as a Green Lantern. - Green Lantern Corps Quarterly #5
Racism and paranoia reared its ugly head again in the human enclaves. Kelly discovered fires set in Beaver Junction and warned Stewart of the trouble. Though they put out the fires and saved some lives, there was only so much they could do in one night. - Green Lantern: Mosaic #12-13
No one could know what the immediate future held. A few of the alien races had banded together to once more force Stewart to send them home. A member of one of the races, a Peeper, arranged for Stewart to be ambushed and used the power ring to break through the communication barrier surrounding Oa. - Green Lantern: Mosaic #14-17
A Justice League task force led by Hal Jordan came to Oa to peacefully bring the cities home. Along with Kilowog and Guy Gardner, the group took Stewart's actions as a sign of how chaotic the Green Lantern had become as caretaker of the Mosaic world. Though Jordan requested the children give him their power rings, they did not. - Green Lantern: Mosaic #17
The once alternate Green Lantern of Earth protected the Mosaic from those that wished to destroy it. He asked the many inhabitants if they wished to stay on Oa or leave. A large number left, but all were surprised by how many decided to stay. Stewart had reached inside himself to obtain power on a par with the Guardians themselves. The Oans welcomed him into their midst. Although Samosa, Kelly and Frankie's families stayed, the fate of Jacyln is not known. - Green Lantern: Mosaic #18
Though they had elected to stay on Oa, the Mosaic project would not last long. Hal Jordan went power mad and cut through the Green Lantern Corps to get to Oa. - Green Lantern Vol. 3 #48-50
The kids' power rings disintegrated when Jordan absorbed the energy of the Central Power Battery. Frankie sought help from John Stewart, who had also lost his Guardian-like powers. - Darkstars #21
Presumably, the kids and their town were evacuated by the Controllers and the Darkstars before the destruction of Oa by Kyle Rayner. - Green Lantern Vol. 3 #0
CHRONOLOGY
For a definitive list of appearances of The Mosaic Kids in chronological order click here
GLCWP NOTE
How the kids' power rings got their energy was never revealed. Possibly their rings fed off of John Stewart's ring - the kids were never shown with power batteries.
This one goes out to Actlete/MatthewTie. Told ya I'd get around to them.