Green Lantern

:For the DJ, see DJ Green Lantern.

Publication history

Green Lantern (sometimes called The Green Lantern in the early days) was created by Martin Nodell and Bill Finger and first appeared in All-American Comics #16 (July 1940). This Green Lantern was Alan Scott, an engineer who had come into possession of a magic lantern. From this he crafted a power ring which gave him a wide variety of powers, and which had to be charged every 24 hours by touching it to the lantern for a time.

Related Topics:
All-American Comics - Lantern - Power ring

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Scott was a founding member of the Justice Society of America, and starred in his own title, Green Lantern, during the 1940s. His adventures during the Golden Age of comic books came to an end when superheroes fell into disfavor in the industry in the early 1950s, when the JSA's adventures ended with All-Star Comics #57 (1951).

Related Topics:
Justice Society of America - 1940s - Golden Age of comic books - 1950s - All-Star Comics - 1951

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A few years later, DC Comics had successfully revived The Flash in a new incarnation, with the name and powers being used by an entirely new character, and it was decided that Green Lantern would be similarly revived. This Green Lantern was Hal Jordan, a test pilot who was given the ring by a dying alien, Abin Sur, and who became a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an interstellar organization of police overseen by the Guardians of the Universe. The Corps' rings were powerless against anything colored yellow. Jordan's creation was motivated by a desire to make him more of a science fiction hero (editor Julius Schwartz being a longtime SF fan and literary agent) to boost sales.

Related Topics:
The Flash - Alien - Green Lantern Corps - Police - Guardians of the Universe - Yellow - Science fiction - Julius Schwartz

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The Green Lantern Corps bears many similarities to the Lensmen from the stories of E.E. Doc Smith. The Lensmen, who hail from various alien races, bear a device known as the Lens which gives them enhanced physical and mental abilities, bequeathed to them by the advanced and benevolent Arisians. The Lensmen are the vanguard of the Galactic Patrol, an interstellar police force. However, both John Broome, writer of the early Hal Jordan tales, and Schwartz denied any connection. Broome, in particular, denied all knowledge of Smith's stories. Schwartz also denied reading them, although he admitted that, as an SF fan, he had of course heard of them.

Related Topics:
Lensmen - E.E. Doc Smith

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This Green Lantern was a member of the Justice League of America and starred in his own title, and eventually met his predecessor, who was established to live on the parallel world of Earth-Two, separate from Jordan's Earth-One. The two Lanterns struck up a close friendship and periodically come to each other's aid in various adventures. This new Green Lantern also became best friends with The Flash and the two heroes appeared frequently in each other's comics to team-up.

Related Topics:
Justice League of America - Parallel world

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By the late 1960s, however, Green Lantern's popularity was flagging. New Green Lantern creators Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams attempted to spark new interest in the book by adding the character Green Arrow to the series, and having them travel through America encountering various "real world" issues, to which they reacted in different ways, Green Lantern being fundamentally a lawman while Green Arrow was a liberal iconoclast. The experiment was years ahead of its time, on the strength of Adams' stunning detailed and dramatic artwork and O'Neil's intelligent and thought provoking (but often heavy-handed) stories, and was not a commercial success. DC editor Julius Schwartz dubbed it "relevance" and the Adams/O'Neil era was one of the earliest efforts of comic books to become more than light fantasy.

Related Topics:
1960s - Denny O'Neil - Neal Adams - Green Arrow - Liberal - Julius Schwartz - Fantasy

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Finally cancelled in 1972, the character became the back-up feature in The Flash until 1976, when Green Lantern/Green Arrow was relaunched minus the "relevance" of its previous incarnation. By the eighties, Green Arrow left the title as the focus gradually shifted from Hal Jordan to the Green Lantern Corps as a whole. After being exiled to space for a couple years, Jordan gave up his ring for a time and his role was assumed by fellow Earthman John Stewart, who had been introduced by O'Neil & Adams years earlier during the "relevance" era. Stewart was soon followed by yet another Green Lantern of Earth, Guy Gardner, created during the sixties to serve as Jordan's back-up within the GL Corps. After Jordan took up the ring again, he was joined by a legion of other Green Lanterns, both human and alien.

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Sales had slumped again by the 1990's and, in a decision that would cause much outrage and controversy among fans of Hal Jordan, editor Kevin Dooley had writer Ron Marz script Emerald Twilight, detailing Jordan's descent into villiany and ultimate replacement as Green Lantern by a younger, more modern character. In the story Jordan went insane following the destruction of his old home, Coast City, by the villainous alien Mongul (an event spinning off of the Death of Superman). Jordan destroyed the Green Lantern Corps and the Guardians, absorbing their power and taking the name Parallax. One Guardian survived, however, and passed one remaining ring (which incidentally lacked the flaws of the earlier rings) on to a randomly-chosen human named Kyle Rayner. After learning to use the ring and redesigning the costume, Rayner established himself as a new hero and joined a new incarnation of the Justice League (and suceeded in boosting sales of the series). Despite initial hostility towards the new character from fans, Kyle Rayner eventually won a sizable following of his own, such that when it was hinted that Hal Jordan might return to the role of Green Lantern, a furor of protest arose trying to keep Raynor in, comparable to that which had once tried to keep him out.

Related Topics:
Kevin Dooley - Ron Marz - Emerald Twilight - Mongul - Superman - Parallax

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Hal Jordan eventually returned as Green Lantern, and was cleared of the crimes committed as Parallax in a 2005 miniseries called Green Lantern: Rebirth that revealed that it was the work of a cosmic fear parasite that possessed Jordan (See below). In current continuity, Alan Scott, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner and Hal Jordan all operate concurrently as Green Lanterns.

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