Green Lantern (vol.2) #31 (September, 1961)
"Power Rings For Sale!"
"Pay Up--Or Blow Up!"
Writer - John Broome
Penciller - Gil Kane
Inker - Sid Greene
Letterer - Gaspar
Editor - Julius Schwartz
Cover Price: $0.12
Now here's a cover that's haunted me for quite some time. This iconic (to me, and perhaps only to me) issue is one of those that I never thought I'd own. Any time I happened across a stack of Silver-Age Green Lantern, this would be the issue I'd rummage for... and up until this weekend, it's one I'd never even seen in person!
I guess a (formerly?) avid Silver-Age DC collector just sold their collection to my local shop because, ho-lee cow... the comics I found this weekend blew my mind! Most of them were Superman comics, which, from my experience is what you mostly see when you look at folks' Silver-Age collection... buuut, there was a small stack of Green Lantern too... and wouldn'tcha know it, they had the one I've been looking for! Now, this wasn't a cheap-o bin buy... though, if it was... ooh boy. It also isn't a book I bought myself, it was a gift from the wife... making it all the more special!
Let's get right down to it!
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Our opening splash shows Green Lantern being observed by alien Grolls. They are attempting to control him for their own means, and from the looks of it... it might just be working! The story proper begins with... Piefa--, er, we'll just call him Tom... on a count of that's his name, talking to a "Medico" about how weird his buddy Green Lantern has been acting of late. The example his gives is his using his power ring to shoot off fireworks, which... I dunno, sounds a bit benign. If you've got evidence of him acting strange, ya may wanna share a more outlandish instance. GL arrives to allow the Doc to take a look at him.
After an hour-long examination, all the Doctor can conclude is that the Lantern might be a bit tired. Hal denies being tired, then conjures up a crisp $100 bill to pay the man. Tom knows right away that using the ring for personal convenience goes against the Green Lantern Corps code of conduct. Lemme ask this, tho... for the rest of his life, Hal's going to have to will that bill into existence, doesn't seem like a "personal convenience" to me!
Tom asks Hal to fly them back to the power battery so they can check in with the Guardians. Tom the tattletale in full effect here! This actually marks the first time that Tom is seeing the Guardians, so that's pretty cool. Anyhoo, they connect... and Tom informs the little blue dudes that Green Lantern's acting erratically. Almost immediately, the Guardians posit that Hal is being controlled by the Grolls in order to take over the Earth... damn, they're good. They then say, "Ehh, Green Lantern'll take care of it..." and close off communications.
We jump ahead a few hours, and rejoin Tom as he's checking the validity of a new rumor... Green Lantern is selling duplicate power rings for a buck'a pop! And, hey wouldja lookit that, he totally is!
After clearing out his inventory, Hal takes to the skies to perform some sky-writing. This is all being observed by the Grolls, naturally... and they choose now to enact their final control measures over Green Lantern!
He is blasted by an energy bolt, after which he bathes the street... the city... the country, well, they whole dang planet in green energy! This turns every human into "living automatons", and makes Earth ripe for the picking for the Grolls.
Upon arrival to their new digs, the Grolls request... er, demand an audience with Green Lantern, so they can order him to "off" himself with his own power ring... being under their control, Hal does just that! Well, not really... he just turns himself invisible. In his new unseen state, Hal focuses in on the power of all the duplicate rings he'd made and sold... so that he may combine them with his own and produce a super-amplified power beam!
The Grolls see what's up, and proceed to roll their blue energy cannon from their yellow spacecraft (too bad for them they didn't invert their color scheme!) Hal melts the cannon down with the quickness... then sends the evil aliens on their merry way. Tom saunters up thankful that his buddy was in control the entire time... and just playing along to catch (and, er, release) the alien would-be conquerors. Hal says the aliens promised to play nice, so he spared their lives. Hmm... first, I didn't know Hal ever killed... second, I'm guessing they retreated to their yellow spaceship, Hal knew he was powerless against them... and they just jammed out.
We wrap up with Hal explaining that in order to make himself immune to the Grolls cerebro-radiation he had to blast himself with large doses of his own power beam. Ehh? Really? Then to "play safe" he made (and sold) the duplicate rings... and gave them a 24-hour charge. Hmm... we'll talk more about that below.
Our second story begins with Hal bidding adeiu to Pi... Tom, as he's about to head home for his brother Jim's wedding. Jim's the brother with the crazy fiancee/wife who is convinced he's (Jim) secretly Green Lantern... but we'll get there. When he hits the burbs, his brothers (Jack is there too) inform him that the ceremony might have to be postponed!
They 'splain. Apparently, a mad-scientist (extraordinaire) J. Charles Gantner has threatened far and wide (at least in this sleepy little hamlet) that if he is not given the lofty sum of one-million USD, he's going to wreck the town with lethal amounts of radiation. Welp, that could put a crimp in their day. To illustrate his power and intent, he will give a demonstration later that night!
The Jordan boys tune in the radio for some follow-up and learn that Gantner demands the cold-hard cash be dropped off over a "certain" canyon at midnight... well, that narrows it down. Hal knows this is certainly a job for Green Lantern... luckily, he remembered to charge his ring!
The brothers Jordan chat a bit more... after all, not much Hal can do until midnight. Jim Jordan decides this is a great time for a standing-in-the-living-room-shave, and pulls out his electric shaver. Wouldn'cha know it, at that very moment Gantner decides to give his "demonstration"... suddenly all of the electrical appliances in town go crazy!
Next we shift over to... oh boy, Jim's fiancee Sue's hotel room. She is a pip! In the face of atomic disaster, she's more annoyed that her wedding is going to have to be postponed. She's amazing! When Hal and Jim arrive to check on her, she pulls Hal aside to talk about her fiance secretly being Green Lantern. Hal, naturally, plays dumb.
We jump to midnight, and Green Lantern has arrived at a "certain" canyon... where he sees a... yellow helicopter, that flies through a... yellow fog! Can't win for losin' today, Hal m'man.
He deduces that the scientist might just be hiding inside one of the canyon's mountainous peaks... and so, he tunnels his way in. Turns out, he was right! Too bad he gets kayoed before he can do much of anything. That happened to poor Hal a lot back in the Silver Age. Anyhoo, Gantner figures the dosh ain't coming... so he may as well get ready to irradiate the town.
Meanwhile, Jim and Sue are out driving... right by that "certain" canyon. Sue is absolutely reaming Jim about his cowardice... after all, he's Green Lantern, right? He should be doing something about this Gantner... think about their weddi-- er, town! Think about the town! Not wanting to hear it anymore, Jim meekly exits the car to have a look around... and somehow winds up riding a "will-hidden" mine-shaft elevator deep into the mount.
Now, here's where it gets weird...er. Jim winds up in Gantner's lab facing off with the man himself. He's actually facing off with the business end of Gantner's handy laser ray... which looks a bit like the one the Grolls had in the last story! This is where Jim thinks... hey, maybe I can tap into my will power like Green Lantern and stop myself from being turned into a fine powder on the cave floor! At that moment, Hal groggily wakes up... and blasts Gantner with his power beam.
Since Jim had his eyes closed... he actually believes that he kayoed the bad Doc with his own will power! He drags Gantner's limp body out of the mountain... only strengthening Sue's case that he is, in actuality, Green Lantern!
The story (and issue) ends with the ceremony... in which Sue looks like the smuggest bride I'd ever seen, and the start of their marital bliss... which is, as you might imagine, rather heavy on Green Lantern accusations.
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Man, I'm really starting to fall in love with Silver-Age DC... not something I thought I'd ever say! To a younger (leaner) Chris, Silver-Age DC was full of silly, disposable, and interchangeable little stories... and, while that's not entirely untrue... I'm coming to find that there is a place for 'em in my heart. Had a whole lot of fun with both of these wacky stories.
Before we hop into 'em, there's something I noticed... there were a lot of editorial footnotes throughout this issue. I guess when "continuity" only extends to a single book's three-year history... it's easy to keep track of and cite things. Interestingly enough, the footnotes wouldn't cite the issues by number, but instead by release date... Such as: "Editor's Note: District Attorney Jack Jordan was first introduced to readers in 'Green Lanterns' Brother Act!'--in the December, 1961 issue of Green Lantern!" So weird! Guess it wasn't until collectors came along that issue numbers mattered all that much.
One more thing before hitting the stories... I can't help but think of this cover as something of a missed opportunity... for the deluge of rings DC was selling during Blackest Night! I mean, picture a (American) fumetti-style ads with Dan Didio or Geoff Johns shilling the rings of the emotional spectrum! Or, maybe an homage with Black Hand selling 'em... I think that would've been a lot of fun.
Okay, into the stories... insane, but fun! I mean, we've got Tom Kalamaku scheduling a doctor appointment for Hal... who, though acting wildly erratic, sits still and allows himself to be examined for a freakin' hour. Just so weird.
Let's also discuss Hal "playing safe" for a sec. To throw the baddies off the scent, and to give him some power he can draw from later... Hal makes (and sells) a bunch of duplicate power rings... with a 24 hour charge. Okay. Now, d'ya think any of those poor dopes knew that 24 hours later they'd best not be flying? Prob'ly not. Also, did Hal keep all that cash? Gotta figure he made a cool 30 bucks there. Funny things to consider... things that we're obviously not supposed to think about critically, but whattayagonnado? I mean, we could also look at the potential for disaster temporarily mentally enslaving the Earth's entire population may bring... buuuuuut, we won't.
His explanation of blocking the Groll-control by bombarding himself with his own energy blasts... I know I'm using the word "weird" a lot, but... c'mon.
Onto the second story. Dr. Gantner... buddy, for a mad-scientists with delusions of becoming a millionaire... why would you threaten some little hamlet? I mean, Coast City isn't that far a drive... and there're millions of people there! Yeah, yeah... another thing we're not supposed to think about...
Let's chat a bit about Hal's new sister-in-law, Sue. What a crazy fun character she is! I really dig the storytelling here... she's convinced that Jim Jordan is actually Green Lantern, and there isn't a whole lot to do to convince her that she's wrong. In fact, every time he does try... he only winds up strengthening her case! I had a lot of fun with this second story... probably dug it even more than the opener!
Overall, this is a great early Green Lantern issue, which has been reprinted a number of times and shouldn't be difficult to come across if you are interested. www.comics.org has a great listing of where you can find it:
I am rather surprised that it has not yet been made available digitally! I'd make a snarky remark about a CW superhero show or DC film here... but I can't think of any! Any way you can find it, this one's certainly worth checking out!
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Justice Society of America (vol.3) #13 (April, 2008)
"Thy Kingdom Come, Supermen"
Story - Geoff Johns & Alex Ross
Penciller - Fernando Pasarin
Inker - Richard Friend
Colorist - Alex Sinclair
Letterer - Rob Leigh
Assistant Editor - Harvey Richards
Editor - Michael Siglain
Cover Price: $2.99
Now, there's the cover I've been waiting for...
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Jakeem Thunder is back in the brownstone... and he ain't happy. Ya see, the Justice Society has swelled in membership to the point where he's having trouble finding a bedroom to crash in. He decides he's just going to "take" a certain room, kicking in the door... only to find, Black Lightning's family, including young Jennifer who he's immediately taken by. It's pretty cute, he introduces himself by saying "I got a genie." Jeff leans in and offers him a "hands off". It's really a funny little scene.
In the monitor room, the new Mr. America is being given the once-over by Dr. Mid-Nite. He's going to survive. They discuss the carving in the subway pillar from last issue which read... GOG. Mr. America asks if that means anything to any of them... which is overheard by Superman-22, who it happens, has experience with not Gog, but a... Magog.
After a biblical history lesson from Dr. Mid-Nite about the origins of the names Gog and Magog, Mr. Terrific reveals that Superman (the real one) had a run-in with a man calling himself Gog not too long ago. On this Earth, Gog isn't a God... but a dude named William Matthews who was once a missionary that disappeared while in Africa. It's a reference to, of all things, a Chuck Austen story that ran through Action Comics... which isn't the first thing I'd think Johns would cite! Anyhoo, Superman-22 decides to pay our Superman a visit to chat.
On the way to Metropolis, Superman-22 overhears much of the hub-bub going on at the Daily Planet... and thinks to himself how this Earth's analogues aren't all that different from the ones he knew and loved. Everything's going well until he catches a glimpse of Lois Lane... this throws us into a Rossian flashback to Kingdom Come wherein he found his friends and wife murdered at the hands of the Joker. Worth mentioning that "our" Lois has a rather off-putting and very Joker-esque smile on her face during this scene. That couldn't be intentional, could it?
Anyhoo, Clark notices that Superman-22 is loitering about, and heads to the skies to inquire as to why.
The pair share their Goggy stories, and finally Superman-22 comes clean about what happened to Lois Lane on his Earth. But that's not all, he also shares what happened to the Joker at the hands of Gog's successor Magog. He warns that they need to put a stop to this Earth's Gog's antics before such a time where he picks a successor of his own. So, basically... we're trying to stop the events of Kingdom Come from ever happening. Decent enough premise to go on! They pick up some Goggian noise emanating from Gotham City... and off they go!
There they find Hercules... getting his butt whupped by Gog! Well, they don't exactly see Gog, they just see Herc flying out of a building and crashing into some stonework.
Now, Hercules in the DC Universe isn't a "thumbs-up chucklehead" like Marvel's, here he's a bad dude and thorn in the side for Wonder Woman. Upon seeing the Supermen, he winds up...
... and swings for the fences...
Whoops. The Men of Steel thrash him with the quickness. Afterwards, they head inside to confront Gog... just in time for him to teleport away...
... to somewhere in the Congo. We join him as he walks down a flight of stairs that have been carved into a mountain. All the while he vows to put an end to all the false gods that walk this Earth in order to pave the way for the one true savior! We end with him kneeling before a giant purple head.
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A solid issue that I might have found just a bit less enjoyable than what came before. Not sure how much of that is due to the art making this feel a bit less important, or just a bit of Gog-fatigue.
Let's address the art so we can move it out of the way. Yeah, I was disappointed not to see Dale Eaglesham's name here. That's not to say Pasarin is untalented, or turned in poor work... he's actually really good, he's just not Eaglesham. I wanted to see Dale's take on the Supermen meeting, and was a bit let down that it wasn't him.
Okay, with that behind us... let's chat up the Supermen meeting. A bit... underwhelming. I suppose if their chat wasn't so Gog-centric, it would have been a bit more interesting, but considering that we're in the middle of a Gog story, I can't really fault them. It's just that, while Gog and Magog pretty much define Superman-22 (and his Earth), Gog was just someone that Superman-1 fought this one time. Their stakes just don't feel comparable.
I did appreciate Superman-22 getting stuck in voyeur mode though. That made a lot of sense to me... and is really quite heartbreaking. It's hard to think of an analogy... so I won't. Just couldn't imagine seeing people I loved, who I had failed... back living their lives, happy as clams. Though, I gotta say, this would have likely been more powerful a scene under Eaglesham's pencils.
I gotta admit I will never not like someone winding up and socking Superman with all of their might... only for it not to affect him in the slightest. That always tickles me... and likely always will.
Silly as it may sound, the strongest scene here for me was the brief opening bit with Jakeem, Courtney, and the Pierces. I guess I'm just a sucker for these little character moments. They're really what makes this volume so special to me.
Overall, this still gets a high recommendation. There is a ton to enjoy here, and despite it not being Eaglesham, it's still a rather pretty book to look at.
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Green Lantern (vol.2) #60 (April, 1968)
"Spotlight on the Lamplighter!"
Writer - Gardner Fox
Art - Gil Kane & Sid Greene
Cover Price: $0.12
Today we're going to discuss a special issue... not so much for the story (just wait!), but for the fact that this was the first Silver-Age issue of a comic book that I've ever bought!
Picture it, Autumn, 2001... a much younger (and thinner) Chris enters a comic shop in downtown Phoenix, and is shown a box of "reader copies" of Silver-Age DC Comics. I was on a pretty big Green Lantern kick at the time, and was trying to back-fill my Kyle Rayner appearances, before tackling pre-Emerald Twilight. When I saw this, I figured... hey, why not? And for the price they're asking... man, only $7.50. Lemme tell ya, the fact that I paid that makes me squirm in my seat a bit... my "limit" these days is far lower. But, whattayagonnado, I was 21... and had some cash burning a hole in my pocket.
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We open at Quickway Loan Company, where accountant Arthur Blount is preoccupied by his pending death. Ya see, he has an unnamed disease... and his only hope of survival is raising enough dosh to fly to Rome to be operated on by a specialist. As he continues to write in his ledger, his movements become more forced... almost as though he's fighting off paralysis. Well, actually that's exactly what he's doing. We see him seize up just as... *snicker* the Lamplight arrives on the scene! Looks like he's behind the paralysis... and to be fair, if I saw this geek I'd probably freeze up myself. Anyhoo, he melts his way through the vault door to loot the joint. After swipin' the stuff, he asks Mr. Blount to tell the world that the Lamplighter was there! Several minutes later, Blount is once more able to move.
We jump to the following morning at the Evergreen Insurance Company, where "Ace Claims Adjuster" Hal Jordan is getting an earful from his boss. News of the Loan Company robbery has hit, and da boss wants Hal to get to the bottom of it before they pay out. It's so funny how Hal jumps from job to job here... so weird.
Anyhoo, Hal pays Mr. Blount a visit to... well, interrogate him. He flat out asks if he stole the money... but he's only doing so so he can use his ring as a lie-detector. He concludes that Blount is telling the truth about everything... and sets out to track down this strange "Lamplighter". Oddly, the ring-sling energy is... invisible during the sweep.
We jump to a jewelry store where well-to-do Mr. Talbot is looking to purchase a whopper of a ring for... well, that's something we'll talk about later. Anyhoo, he sends mousy shopgirl Cindy to the vault for something "more expensive". Then, suddenly... the Lamplighter shows up! He traps the patrons within diamonds, and makes Cindy beautiful... stunning her before a mirror! Luckily, Green Lantern quickly makes the scene.
What follows is... a weird fight. This is like watching two kids play-fighting. I've used this analogy before, but it's like one kid pretending to shoot another, only to learn he's wearing a bulletproof vest... then the other uses a "flamethrower", only to learn the first is wearing flame retardant underwear... and so on. Hal and the Lamplighter keep one-upping one another, and it's pretty kooky. It's like, LL makes the air "solid" and changes his atoms to helium to float out of the range of a punch.
After some more back 'n forth, Hal creates a... er, lampshade with a very Jordanian theme to trick the Lamplighter... and it works! This ends the skirmish (it really just ends with a punch), but for whatever reason, Hal doesn't get to apprehend the baddie.
We pick back up with old miser Jabez Morley. He's busy counting his money, while outside a long-sunken pirate ship is being raised from the drink. In the crowd is... (duh) the Lamplighter, and he's here to rob the ship of it's doubloons!
Back at the Insurance Company, Hal is working with a client. His ring lights up indicating that Lamplighter has resurfaced... and Hal makes like Don Knotts, before running off to do the oath and confront his foe.
Here's where it gets weird (yeah, I know)... The Lamplighter has trapped all of the passersby in gold, sorta like he did (in diamond) with the jewelry store patrons earlier. After recovering from a punch from Green Lantern, he encases our man Hal in gold! Uh-oh... yellow! Well, just wait.
While Lamplighter begins robbing the boat, he is once again attacked by... Green Lantern. B-b-b-but how? He was encased in yellow! Well, I'm glad you asked... he used his power ring to... shrink himself down to microscopic size, and slipped between the molecules of his golden candy shell. Wait, what? That's a thing he can do? Hmm... okey dokey. Anyhoo, Lamplighter attempts to change Hal's fists into feathers with his staff... but misses! Instead the beam goes into the Miser's apartment, transforming all the cash into feathers!
The confused Miser... throws the feathers out the window. Wha? Okay... that's random. At the same time, Green Lantern uses his special finishing move... a punch to the face. I guess we can assume this time around he actually managed to arrest the Lamplighter.
This issue wraps up with an epilogue... Arthur Blount visits his doctor and learns... he's completely cured! The Lamplighter-induced paralysis somehow flipped the "diseased elements" of his body to healthy ones. At the jewelry store, Mr. Talbot visits shopgirl Cindy, who is back to her mousy self... and proposes to her! Was the expensive ring for her all along (no)... did he dump his girlfriend for Cindy (maybe)... is he just a collector of expensive jewelry (probably)... who knows?
Finally, the Miser... the feathers he tossed have turned back into cold hard cash... and the folks on the street are pocketing it. We're not supposed to feel bad for the Miser, are we? Anyhoo, that's it!
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Well, that was weird!
Not much to unpack, while at the same time... a bunch of silliness to address. Something I left out of the synopsis were multiple "blindness" puns... hinting to the fact that the Lamplighter is blind. While that explains his outfit, it kinda gets lost amid the wackiness of making constructs, flying, and being tricked by Hal's optical illusions. I mean, Hal made a lampshade that tricked him... which wouldn't be a thing if he were blind... right? Maybe they just forgot... or maybe he's just really near-sighted? I dunno. Whatever it is, it didn't work for me.
Hal being a claims adjuster... I dunno, it just makes me giggle a bit. Not that being a claims adjuster is anything to scoff about, it's just not what I'm used to from Hal. I'd love for him to go back to drifting from job to job and place to place... seems like a fun concept for a superhero book. Just a drifting dude/dudette taking odd jobs and trying to start over every few issues... I could really get into something like that.
Now, Hal's powers are always a bit convenient... but I never really call them on it. The ring is an easy way to change the direction or tone of a story... battles and events can begin and end with a flick of the ring. We know that, we accept that. Buuuuut, I didn't think it could shrink it's wearer down to a microscopic size. I mean, that's a pretty awesome power... one that you'd figure Hal and others would use with regularity to get out of a jam. Just such a weird thing to happen for a quick throwaway scene. I dunno... far be it from me to question Mr's. Fox and Kane... but, still... so weird!
We get a bit of a morality play here... I guess? We meet three rando's in Evergreen City, two of whom are "good" while the third isn't? Not really sure what the point of any of that was. It didn't add all that much to the story... besides a couple of pages. Blount gets cured... but we don't know anything about him other than the fact that he was sick to begin with. Outside of basic human empathy, there's nothing explicit to root for here. Shopgirl Cindy didn't strike me as a particularly "good" person either...she came across as vain and narcissistic. Her ending has her making out with an equally vain and narcissistic beau. So, uh... let the punishment fit the crime, I guess? I dunno. The old Miser... I mean, we don't know him from a hole in the wall either... all we know is that he kept his money in a mattress because he didn't trust banks. Outside of basic human jealousy, there's nothing explicit to root against here. I guess this is just playing to our baser emotions... who knows?
Otherwise... this was a weird, but fun issue. A bit formulaic, and featured some oddly convenient "upping the ante" style fight scenes... but, I definitely enjoyed my time with it. Overall, if you're into Silver Age weirdness, this is certainly one to check out. It has been reprinted in SHOWCASE Presents: Green Lantern, Volume 4 but has not yet been made available digitally... and I don't see that changing anytime soon, unless Lamplighter becomes a recurring villain on Arrow or something. Fingers crossed, I guess...
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