Here's a question that just happened to pop into my mind at such an awful early hour in the morning...

So the Green Lantern Corps; guardians of galactic peace, stability, yada-yada, i.e. the Outer Space PD. The guys with goofy green outfits who can conjure constructs made of pure emerald willpower. They who boldly go where lots of civilizations have frequently gone before. The protectors of the universe for the last three billion years. You get the idea. Why did they let Krypton blow up?

I don't know if this has ever been addressed in pre-Flashpoint continuity or even in the New 52. Has Superman ever taken a look at his ring slinging clover colored buddy Hal and asked "Hey Hal, what the crap man?! You guys just sat on your big green (removed for the sake of the children) and just let my entire civilization turn into space dust!"

Was it because Krypton just had an immediate stomach ache and the core just decided to get more elbow room by taking off it's coat? I always thought that Jor-El had known for some time and was trying to get everyone genuinely concerned about Krypton having an internal meltdown - hence why he had time to build a rocket for his son. So you'd think in that time; word might get out to the local Green Lantern (whoever that was) that "Dude, Krypton's going to go out with a Earth shattering ka-boom in like two days." Even then, I'd assume that an organization as illustrious and respected as the Green Lantern Corps would be known about by the people of Krypton and therefore Jor-El so why didn't he ask them for help?

Were they busy? Was it a holiday? Did the Guardians sit down and agree to a unanimous "Meh." about the fate on an entire race? Were there diplomatic breakdowns between Krypton and Oa; were people smuggling Kryptonain cigars into Thanagar?

So I put it towards the good people of ComicVine to help me answer this. I will not accept any answer that consists with the logic of "It was pre-determined in the Book of Oa." if that is indeed how the book works.

From the Tomar Re page on Wikipedia:

Tomar's most famous mission while serving in the Corps dealt with the planet Krypton. Krypton, a planet in sector 2813, was growing increasingly unstable. It was due to explode, caused by internal pressures deep inside the planet's core. Tomar-Re sought to use a rare compound called stellarium to absorb some of the tectonic pressure, thus saving the Kryptonians. He gathered the compound, and was en route to Krypton when a yellow solar flare blinded him, and forced him to drop the stellarium. He quickly recovered, but discovered he was blind. He gathered what little stellarium he could without his sight, and proceeded towards Krypton. He was closing in when his vision started to clear. The first thing he saw upon his sight returning was Krypton exploding. The Guardians recovered Tomar and brought him back to Oa, where he healed and rested.

It seems they tried.

@The_Tree: Right on sir, I never saw that.

@DoctorTrips: No problem. I always thought the story of Tomar Re and Krypton was a very interesting one, especially seeing how they link the Green Lantern Corps to Superman's corner of the DCU. Nice Green Arrow avatar too, by the way.

Thanks, I dig the Robot avatar. I never expected it was Tomar who was Krypton's designated Lantern; I was thought it would be like Abin Sur or Sinestro, Tomar never even came to mind.

Dunno if the Tomar Re thing is still in continutity, nothing much was said about it for ages even before Flashpoint or even Infinite Crisis and ive never heard Superman address or acknowledge this story.

@azza04: Eh, I don't see what the point would be in taking it out of continuity, it doesn't really effect much. But, DC has done more stupid things in the past.

@The_Tree: I agree, as far as the story goes it's a bit weak though. If a huge planet is about to blow up why only send one Lantern? where they short staffed that day? I feel that the hole saga of Krypton and Kal-El coming to Earth could have been rewritten to be alot more epicness more intruige and behind the scenes stuff.

@azza04: Yeah, it seems Morrison's been adding a little bit more history to Krypton's destruction. I think it'd be cool if he tackled the Tomar Re story in his usual epic fashion in the pages of Action Comics.

@azza04: Jurisdiction by sector, the gaurdians might not have cared enough to call in the extra muscle, plus Tomar Re's plan seemed pretty fool proof if not for the yellow sun flare

I just done reading a issue of Tales of the Green Lantern Corp annual from 1987 and in there an other planet is experiencing the same thing that happened to Krypton and three other Lantern help the lantern of that sector defuse the destruction. So they can do it it just takes extra muscle, something they learned from Tomar Re