Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.
Today we look at the prophesied Daxamite Green Lantern and one time host of Ion: Sodam Yat
Appearances in Heroclix: War of Light
First Appearance: Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2
Team Affiliations: Green Lantern Corps, Guardians of the Universe
Powers/Abilities: Superhuman strength, hearing, durability, and longevity; Superhuman vision; Heat vision; Enhanced vision across the electromagnetic spectrum; Superhuman breath; Freeze breath; Superhuman speed; Superhuman agility; Superhuman reflexes; Invulnerability; Healing Factor; Flight; Powers consistent with the Green Lantern Power Ring/Ion entity when using either one
Created by: Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill
Sodam Yat was a young Daxamite that wanted nothing more than to explore the stars. The Daxamites, a race with a weakness to lead with Superman-like powers, are unfortunately a xenophobic race that forbid any such exploration. After a tragic event involving a crash landed alien and a subsequent brain washing by his parents, Sodam Yat overcomes the fear instilled in him by his culture and rebuilds the alien’s ship with the intention of leaving Daxam behind forever. The night he intends to leave, a Green Lantern ring finds him and accepts him into the Corps.
Arisia is appointed Yat’s mentor by Salaak. Unbeknownst to the rest of the Corps, Salaak knows of a prophecy told to Abin Sur that a Daxamite Green Lantern would be the last member of the Corps before its destruction and hopes to avoid this fate. During the Sinestro Corps War, Yat is chosen as the new host for the Green Lantern Corps’ entity, Ion, in order to fight Superboy-Prime. Though Prime is unaware of it, exposure to lead weakens Yat enough that Prime can gain the upper hand and best the Green Lantern. As a result of this confrontation, Yat must now always wear a power ring to prevent the lead now in his body from killing him.
Yat and Arisia are eventually called to Daxam to free it from the rule of Mongul and his “Mongul Corps” (a splinter division of the Sinestro Corps). Though Yat hates the xenophobia rampant on Daxam, he feels that his duty as a Green Lantern takes precedence. The Green Lanterns arrive on the planet and are unable to receive reinforcements as a riot on Oa is keeping other Green Lanterns occupied. Yat faces Mongul alone, hoping to access Ion’s full power to overcome the villain. Unfortunately, his ring informs him that a Guardian is blocking access to the entity and that only a massive jolt of energy to bypass the bolt. In desperation, Yat takes a full blast from Mongul’s power ring. Thankfully, this works and Yat gains access to ninety-five percent of Ion’s power.
Yat makes one last desperate decision and flies toward Daxam’s red sun. On his way, he removes his power ring and tells Arisia to keep the fight going. Yat passes into the red sun and uses all of Ion’s power to change the sun to yellow, empowering every Daxamite to Superman-like levels. With these new powers, the Daxamites are able to overthrow Mongul and the Sinestro Corps.
Later, as Krona was capturing all the emotional spectrum power entities, he found Sodam Yat still alive in the Daxam sun. Yat was unconscious and constantly burning away, kept alive only by Ion’s incredible power. Krona manages to remove Yat from the sun and exorcise Ion from him, while berating the unconscious hero for his sacrifice and every Daxamite for their xenophobia. Sodam is thrown to Daxam’s surface as the sun turns red again and the Daxamites lose their new powers.
Yat eventually awakens in a cavern with a group of Daxamites that have begun to view him as a savior for his sacrifice. Convinced that divine intervention saved his life, Sodam decides that the universe must be made better before Daxam can and believes this must begin with a judging of the Guardians. On the way there, a telepathic warlord by the name of Zardor ambushes Sodam and makes him battle Guy Gardner by convincing Yat that Gardner is a Guardian. With the help of Arisia and Kilowog, Sodam was able to break the illusion but still went off with Zardor as he fled.
At some unknown point during his time with Zardor, the Durlans capture Sodam. They experiment on him in an attempt to duplicate his form and gain information about Daxam. The Green Lantern Corps eventually find Sodam and free him from this prison. While he wondered if they had forgotten about him, Arisia is overjoyed to find him alive.