Jessica Cruz

Jessica Cruz: 1988 - 2010
Jessica Cruz was born into the family of Javier Cruz and Siobhan O’Reilly-Cruz, the oldest of two daughters, Jessica’s family was well off thanks to her father’s job as an architect and both Jessica and her younger sister Sara lived a comfortable life throughout their childhood. While Sara was a sporty wild child, Jessica was more pensive and responsible; but neither sister minded their differences, instead embracing them and playing to each other’s strengths in a very supportive manner.

After graduation, Jessica was uncertain of what she wanted to do with her life. There was nothing she felt she excelled at or was particularly interested in. College seemed like a waste of money to Jessica and her grades were not impressive enough to merit a scholarship. On a whim, Jessica decided to become a counselor at a kid’s summer camp.

Aside from the long nature hikes, Jessica found the experience exhausting as all the other counselors were nothing but slackers in heat, more interested in hooking up with each other than enjoying nature or mentoring the children at the camp. Still, Jessica was convinced to come back the next year by the camp’s manager who valued Jessica’s responsibility and love of nature. Jessica worked the other eight months of the year as a waitress at a folksy diner and a part-time clerk at a video shop (remember those?). Jessica repeated this pattern for much longer than she cared to admit. By twenty-one, she was assistant manager and she really did not see much changing about her life.

In 2010, Jessica’s life took a drastic turn. While training a new batch of counselors, Jessica took the frisky teens on a hike to show them the route and while doing so, the group came upon the Aryan Brigade disposing of the bodies of two police officers. Someone screamed and when the gunfire broke out, Jessica just ran. She was not alone at first, but one by one her peers dropped to the ground and fell behind. Jessica kept running until she simply couldn’t. A search party found her two days later, completely catatonic and covered in mud and blood.

Power Ring: 2010 - 2015
Okay, the story of the “Power Ring” is a story about a Martian named Volthoom. Volthoom was actually the first Green Lantern of Sector 2814. With his long lifespan and natural telepathic ability, Volthoom’s mastery of the ring had grown so great that when he was nearing the end of his life he chose to remove certain safeguards on his ring and merged his own lifeforce with the ring. This act was considered to be unspeakable by both the Lantern Corps and Volthoom’s own people. As a result, the ring was cast into space and forgotten. But after centuries of aimless drifting and despite having gathered space minerals around the ring, Volthoom’s consciousness awoke in 2005 when it sensed a great psychic disturbance among his people. It had taken the ring nearly eight years to reach our solar system and find its way to Earth where it landed in the middle of a canyon and would remain for several months. The journey had left it weak and Volthoom needed a host whose mind was so shaken that it could be easily taken over. Sensing Sara Cruz’s concerns about her sister who had become a severe recluse and agoraphobe after a traumatic event, Volthoom reached out to Sara’s mind and subtly manipulated her into taking a hike to clear her mind. As Sara brought the ring home and showed it to her sister, Volthoom knew that Jessica was the right host and in a shower of rock and green energy, the ring broke free of its encasing and forced itself onto Jessica’s hand.

With both physical and psychological torture, the ring kept Jessica’s consciousness in check while Volthoom used her body to carry out a vendetta against the Lantern Corps. To that end, the possessed Jessica became a founding member of the Salvation Syndicate where Volthoom even teamed up with Ma'ale Fa'ak, the Martian responsible for the psychic disturbance. But with every evil act that Volthoom force Jessica to witness, her resolve grew stronger, until she finally overcame her fears and used her own courage to take control of the ring.

Green Lantern (F): 2015 - Present
During an intense battle between the Justice League and the now exposed criminals of the Salvation Syndicate, Jessica Cruz did what should have been impossible. She asserted control over the Ring of Volthoom and took her body back, the used the ring to blast Zoom trough a steel bulkhead and into orbit, just before the evil speedster could phase his hand through Hal Jordan’s chest. In that moment, Jessica turned the tide of the battle and allowed the Justice League to rally their effort and beat the Syndicate into retreat from the Watchtower. Even though the Lantern Corps removed her ring and returned her to her sister, Jessica was still haunted by the memory of Volthoom. Feeling that she could still hear Volthoom taunting her, she reached out to the Corps and John Stewart agreed to meet with her. When he heard of her difficulties, John tried to assure her that the ring had been disposed of and Volthoom was gone. Jessica wasn’t satisfied and demanded to see the remains of the ring, but John could not provide such as the ring had been taken to Oa and the process for destroying rings was a closely guarded secret known only to the Oan caretakers. Well, John’s assurances the ring was destroyed didn’t ease any of Jessica’s anxieties.

Just four months later, when John was given another ring to recruit a new member for the Lantern Corps, Jessica cape up as the best candidate for the ring. While investigating the reason why, John had Jessica brought in to the Hall of Justice. Jessica believed she was being escorted there to see the remains of Volthoom’s ring, but instead was given a second ring and asked to put it on. Though it no doubt caused her a great deal of stress to do so, Jessica did it. Once she donned the ring, John and the other Lanterns saw why it was the ring had chose her. Volthoom had left more than a scar and an eerie green glow in her eyes, but also a good portion of that Lantern’s psionic energy. With her new ring, Jessica had the means to harness that essence into a new and exotic power among members of the Corps: “Lantern Vision”, which manifested itself over her right eye as the mark of the Green Lanterns.

Trivia

 * Jessica joined the Justice League in 2016 nominated by Black Canary.
 * The mark in Jessica's right eye is a burn scar caused by her time as Power Ring.
 * Volthoom's ring is very ancient and unlike modern rings is vulnerable to wood.

Links and References

 * Appearances of Jessica Cruz
 * Character Gallery: Jessica Cruz