Though tricked up as a science
fiction revamp, the jet-age Green Lantern — with his virtually omnipotent lamp
and ring — was a modern Aladdin. His adventures included a thousand and one
wonders, just like the Arabian fairy tales.
“(W)hat the ring does perfectly is
link Green Lantern’s imagination to the reader’s own,” wrote Alex S. Romagnoli
and Gian S. Pagnucci in their book Enter
the Superheroes: American Values, Culture and the Canon of Superhero Literature.
“It is very easy to imagine wearing a power ring and dreaming up items to
defeat bad guys.”
Even if the bad guys are gigantic,
ray-gun-wielding clown puppets, as in this house ad for Green Lantern 1 (July-Aug. 1960).
An omnipotent hero is a dramatic
problem, but writer John Broome balanced that in a subtle thematic way in the
early issues of the title.
Despite his seeming omnipotence,
Green Lantern is often the pawn of forces beyond his understanding. That begins
even in his origin, when the flightless trainer he’s sitting in is whisked away
to the alien stranger Abin Sur. Hal Jordan knows nothing of the Guardians, who
will empower him, nor of the people from 5700 A.D. who will periodically kidnap
him to help them out.
Bruce Kanin wrote:
ReplyDeleteBack in the early 60s my comic book "budget" did not allow for anything more than Superman & Superboy comics. Also, the luncheonette in East New York, Brooklyn seemed to carry only Superman family, Archie, and Harvey comic books.
Imagine my thrill years later when I found that there was another superhero arguably as powerful as The Man of Steel, with his own book, to boot. Eventually, after I got married, I ended up buying every issue of GREEN LANTERN from about #3 until Green Arrow became a co-star (#1 & #2 were pretty damn expensive) - plus the archives as far as they went.
I loved how they were finding their way in the early ones, e.g., Hal is changing to GL - Superman-Reeve style...
Mark Staff Brandl wrote:
ReplyDeleteIt has been criticized, but as a young, artistic kid, I loved that hie created very visual things with his ring — a giant hammer, a shield that looked Roman, a giant scissors, etc. the fall-back, especially at Marvel, was always a semi-abstract “power blast,” whatever the heck that is, and was boring.
Alan Bradford wrote:
ReplyDeleteIn the first half of The Silver Age, Green Lantern was my favorite comic book.
Tom Pica wrote:
ReplyDeleteHe had a unique costume and his inflight characterizations were wonderfully graceful, acrobatic and varied. He had Superman and J'onn JJ'onzz beat there. His "Eskimo" sidekick was about as politically incorrect as one can get, however.
i replied:
Actually, I'd say the only politically incorrect aspect was his nickname. Hal treated him as a friend and equal, and even let him use the ring powers upon occasion.
Burns Duncan wrote:
ReplyDeleteWhile Showcase had started as a title with a variety of features, some of which might get their own titles, by the third or fourth year, the features were almost certain to continue.
When Green Lantern was a charter member of the Justice League, there was no doubt that there was going to be a GL title.
Michael Fraley wrote:
ReplyDeleteGosh, for the past forty years, perhaps more, Hal has been either quitting the Corps "forever," or he has been booted out "forever." The benevolent Guardians are long gone, replaced by bureaucrats. It's amazing to remember that his book used to be fun to read.
Paul Zuckerman wrote:
ReplyDeleteI am not sure which I saw first--GL 1 or Brave & Bold 30, which was my first JLA story. I can't remember if GL was a new character for me when I read the JLA story, or I had actually gotten this issue before I read the JLA (I had missed all of the Showcase issues and I think I read B&B 30 a bit after it came out, but not sure about the latter.)
Either way, GL was one of my favorite characters. Hey, who was going to spend years training to fight crime? And I wasn't from Krypton! GL's ring may have been SF=based but, as you say, it really was as magical as Alan Scott's ring. Man, what I wouldn't have given for one of those (and I know that GL was forbidden from using the ring for personal gain-but STILL!)
Your idea that GL's omnipotence was balanced by his ignorance of those who controlled him is quite astute. Hal always had an interesting dichotomy--taking orders but intensely independent. An obvious military man, but one with a streak of independence as befitting a brave test pilot. Very competitive and always needing to achieve and be the best. And ultimately jealous of his own alter ego!