In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let those who worship evil’s might,
Beware my power, Green Lantern’s light!!!
The first comic RetroSmack I’m dishing up is DC’s Green Lantern. You may have seen Ryan Reynolds playing the character in an underwhelming movie a few years back. Like most of the comics I’ll cover for the blog, Green Lantern has a long and complicated history that I couldn’t possibly depict within a reasonable word count. I will attempt to summarise the bare essentials of this history in the next two paragraphs.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
2011 Green Lantern Movie: Visually they got things right. I’ll give them that.
Image Credit: Official Green Lantern movie wallpaper via EZ PC
The first Green Lantern went by the name Alan Scott. The character was created by Martin Nodell, debuting with an 8 page story within All-American Comics #16 way back in 1940. Scott initially had no powers, yet gained them when he discovered a magic lantern in the fallout of a serious railroad incident. The green lantern communicated with Scott, instructing him on how to craft a magic ring out of its material. With this ring on, Scott gained the ability to fly and to pass through objects, and he also gained control over and invulnerability to metals. There were three limitations to the ring’s power however. The main one was that it needed to be recharged every 24 hours by coming into contact with the lantern. The other limitations were that the ring’s power was limited to the strength of the wielder’s willpower, and it also wouldn’t work when used against anything made of wood. This original Green Lantern soon became a founding member of the Justice Society of America, and spent the better part of a decade fighting criminals in various comics, most notably his own. Sadly, as the popularity of superheroes waned after World War II, so too did the Green Lantern, and he was all but gone by the end of the 1940’s.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
1940 Green Lantern Origin: I can’t help thinking that another green substance played a role in this origin story
With the booming popularity of everything sci-fi in the late fifties, Green Lantern was revived in 1959’s Showcase #22 by writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane. This wasn’t Alan Scott mind you, and nor was this incarnation of the character limited to battling criminals on the streets of New York. When an alien named Abin Sur crashed his spaceship into the Earth, he used his power ring to find a worthy individual that was “utterly honest and born without fear” before he died. The man chosen was Hal Jordan, a test pilot, and it was he that became the second human Green Lantern. The power ring still required charging every 24 hours, but instead of being ineffective against wood, it was now ineffective against anything coloured yellow. With the ring on, Hal gained the ability to fly, to create any construct his mind could fathom, and even to travel into outer space. This was just as well, as being a Green Lantern meant Jordan would be a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an interstellar police organisation run by a race of ancient beings known as the Guardians of the Universe. Green Lantern was once again given his own comic book in 1960, and it’s this series that I’ve jumped on-board.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
1959 Green Lantern Origin: “What a shame I cannot pass the ring on to you since you are wearing yellow. Oh well…I guess it dies with me!”
Image Credit: Comic Book Resources
The first thing I noticed about this comic was that the logo on the cover included Green Lantern and Green Arrow, the two superheroes having joined forces with issue #76, which had a cover date of April 1970. It was at this time that editor Julius Schwartz decided to do something brave. He brought on artist Neal Adams and writer Dennis O’Neil to shake things up. They added Green Arrow to Green Lantern, and set out to address a recent perceived need for social relevance in comics. Over the next 14 issues the duo of green heroes encountered real world issues, with Green Lantern acting as a fundamental lawman and Green Arrow more of a liberal iconoclast. The creative team peaked with the groundbreaking “Snowbirds Don’t Fly” story (issues #85 and #86), in which Green Arrow’s sidekick Speedy was forced to deal with his heroin addiction. Other months covered social issues such as corruption, sexism, consumerism and racism. Such important topics being found within a previously fantasy-limited comic naturally drew the attention of the media, but neither this attention nor the acclaim the series received from critics resulted in commercial success. Green Lantern was cancelled in 1972 with issue #89.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Snowbirds Don’t Fly: It may not seem all that important in today’s gritty, realistic comic environment, but in the seventies this was something fresh. What a shame readers weren’t quite ready for it.
Image Credit: The Comics Cube
As it so happens, the revival of Green Lantern / Green Arrow for issue #90 took place right at the end of 1976, so it’s a perfect place for me to start reading. Dennis O’Neil was back as writer, yet his artistic partner in crime would now be Mike Grell. The two of them had already been producing Green Lantern stories as backups for The Flash, so were a logical choice. I have to say that the 10 issues I’ve read (#90 through to #99) were generally pretty enjoyable. Having spent much of the last couple of years reading DC’s New 52 range of comics, there was a sharp transition that I needed to make when jumping back 35 years. Writers had a tendency to explain the obvious back then, and coincidences took place that just wouldn’t be accepted in the darker, more realistic comics of today. That being said, the situations that both Green Arrow and Green Lantern face in this run are serious in nature, and the drama that ensues consistently high. The comic works best when the characters are separated and working in their own elements (for example when Green Lantern fights to avoid being sucked into a neutron star while Green Arrow tries to stop his partner Black Canary from being pulled to pieces in a villain controlled torture device), but it will undoubtedly become challenging for O’Neil to keep coming up with plot-lines that allow the duo to work together while keeping them apart.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Green Lantern Issues #90 to #99: The first two comics were actually from 1976, but #90 seemed a good jumping on point.
It was obvious from the get go that O’Neill was no longer as concerned with the social relevance that filled his previous work on the series. For the most part this later stuff is of the space opera variety, even taking the heroes to a fantasy world for #92’s The Legend of the Green Arrow. I’m a sucker for fantasy science fiction (think Star Wars), so I hope to see a bit more of that in the future. There are some attempts to ground things with day jobs and a family thanksgiving dinner, but so far they haven’t added much into the mix. Black Canary as Green Arrow’s lover is interesting for sure, but it’s sad to see such as strong character playing the damsel in distress more often than not, and even falling into jealous girlfriend mode whenever other women are around. I thought issues #97 to #98 were less enjoyable for the simple reason that the villain, The Mocker, was a bit shit. He seemed to have endless abilities yet was too stupid to make good use of them. All up though I really enjoyed Green Lantern 1977 (particularly Grell’s artwork), and will almost certainly delve into 1978’s run when the time comes.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Things work best when Green Lantern is in the air and Green Arrow is on the ground.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
I’m only a few comics into 1977 and already a man has decked his woman!
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Grell’s figures are athletic and strong, his action scenes all the more effective for it.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
The Green Lantern (1977) RetroCard has now been added to the RetroCard Shop. It’s an uncommon card, so therefore costs 30 smacks and has a limited release of 60.
Featured Image Credit: Comic Book Movie
The post 1977 – Smack 05 of 77 – Green Lantern #90 to #99 appeared first on RetroSmack.