Who the Hell Was the Green Lantern?

Cafe Society
1

Inspired by another thread, I’d like to know more about this mysterious superhero. I did a quick Google and got nowhere.

I always thought the Green Lantern was a de-powered Superman, sans the flying, who basically held some type of finger key to a green lantern and re-energized his powers. As best I can recall, he also had some type of problem with certain colors, either yellow or blue, IIRC. Whatever. Did he fly? Can’t remember.

How powerful is the Green Lantern? What are his powers? How do you explain the huge cult following of what seems (pardon my ignorance) a second-tier superhero? What was his niche?

2

There have been many Green Lanterns starting in the 40’s with Alan Scott. He was replaced by Hal Jordan. HE was replaced by Kyle Rayner.

All Green Lanterns wear power rings given to them by the Guardians of the Universe or another Lantern. The ring can do anything willed by its bearer. The stronger the willpower, the more poerful the ring’s creations. Some of the rings had weaknesse a la Kryptonite.
Alan Scott’s ring was powerless against wooden objects.
Hal’s ring was powerless againt anything yellow.
Kyle’s ring has yet to show a weakness.

All power rings must be recharged at some time or another, usually after 24 hours, however, again, Kyle’s ring has undergone recent changes and its recharge time varies.

I’m sure another, more-informed comic geek will come along and fill in the details.

3

All Hal-Era GL Corps Green Lanterns had rings with a weakness v yellow.

Except Sinestro, but he wasn’t a GL when he had the yellow ring. I’m pretty sure Sinestro’s ring had a weakness, but I can’t rememeber (or find) what it was ATM.

4

Alan Scott didn’t get his ring from the Guardians; it was an ancient meteor that was made into a lantern, with an appropriate prophecy. Something about flashing three times: once to bring life, once to bring death, and once to bring power. Scott was the third.

Interesting tidbit: SF great Alfred Bester wrote some of the original GL stories (he also probably wrote for Batman, especially the character of Dr. Radium).

GL could do whatever he willed. The ring would grant his wish, in effect (excluding the built-in weakness). So if he wanted to fly, he could; if he wanted a green airplane, he could make one. Probably wish-fulfillment at its most blatant.

GL used to have an oath:

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.

He was often a second-tier hero, though for a time in the early 70s GL/GA was considered the top comic book around (and the Denny O’Neill/Neil Adams collaboration was first-class). Alas, despite the praise, the book didn’t do all that well and folded soon after.

5

Where does the John Stuart Green Lantern on Justice League fit into this scheme?

6

Now you are getting into a lot of back history of the GL Corps. They were the ones to whom the Guardians of the Galaxy handed out the rings. Hal Jordan was the GL of Sector containing Earth (3416, I think). The Guardians gave him a backup in case he had to be gone for a long time or he was incapacitated. That backup was John Stewart. He was occasionally the only GL active, and he had quite a few adventures in space and on earth. He finally quit the GL Corp and joined the Darkstars, another group of galaxy protectors. He eventually got his back broken and was paralyzed from the waist down, until he was healed by Hal Jordan, then eventually Kyle, then eventually a good psychiatrist. Oh yeah, he has a real thing for alien women.

There was also Guy Gardner, chosen at the same time as Hal to be a GL, but Hal was closer so he got the nod. He eventually got to be a backup, then a full time GL. After he lost that gig, he eventually discovered that he was part alien, with a boatload of shapeshifting powers. I believe he has lost those also.

There was yet another human full time GL, as part of the corps, in a different sector. I think his name was Charlie Parker, but I don’t know how he got to be a GL. He lost his ring when Hal went crazy and destroyed the central power battery.

The only current GL is Kyle and his ring is often referred to as the most powerful weapon in the universe.

Also, according to pre-Crisis history, Kal-el of Krypton was going to be one of the great GLs of all time, but the GL of the sector Krypton was in (Tomar-Re I believe) was delayed and prevented from stopping the explosion of the planet. He felt really bad until the Guardians told him it was okay, something greater might result from his failure.

The scary part is, I did this all from memory. So Fenris, how did I do? :stuck_out_tongue:

7

Well, except for the part where I called them the Gaurdians of the Galaxy. :o Definitely had my mind on the wrong company.:stuck_out_tongue:

8

Green Lantern got his powers after his parents where gunned down before his eyes, and he was left stranded on a desert island. He discovered a white dwarf star fragment that had been struck by lightning, and which he dubbed “Nth Metal.” He used this fragment to extract a serum from the gingold plant, which gave him mysterious sonic abilities. Using his newfound abilities, he succeeded in communicating with a school of dolphin, which led him back to safety and civilization.

A fascinating tale, to say the least.

9

Actually Parker lost his power when the Corps executed Sinestro and caused the power battery to self destruct but if he was given another ring he would have lost that power as well when Hal did his thing. There was a story in one of the GL Quarterly’s which had his ring failing mid-battle when central battery went.
To fill in some of the blanks, The Guardians of Universe live on the planet Oa at the center of the universe. There’s only a few dozen of them but because they’re near all powerful cosmic busy-bodies they formed the Green Lantern Corps to help keep the peace and to each of these 3600 individuals they handed out power rings which did a whole lot of nifty things. The basic power you saw used all the time was that anything the ring wearer visualized would form, but it automatically protected the wearer from harm, let them fly, translated things, let them pass through solid objects, and record information.

There were three catches with these rings: first they were powered by willpower so certain things affecting the weilder could alter how effective the ring is. Second was that the rings all got their power from the central power battery on Oa and needed to be recharged from a local battery (the “Green Lantern” the name comes from) once a day. Finally, it could not directly affect anything that was the color yellow. Later stories said that the last two catches are intentional blocks placed in the rings by the Guardians to both prevent the Lanterns from being too strong (when one of these guys goes bad it’s really messy) and to prevent them from being reliant on the ring.

Abin Sur was the Green Lantern responsible for the portion of space containing Earth and his ship crashed here and he was dying. The ring automatically passes on to a worthy person in such an instance and it located test pilot Hal Jordan. From there you’ve got most of the history…

The most popular of his foes was a former Green Lantern who recieved a new power ring that was yellow instead of green.

Now why the popularity. Green Lantern was larger than life in a way that made most comic books seem banal. This from a medium where larger than life is a default. You’ve not only got one guy who can do all these amazing things, you’ve got 3600 of them! And the rest of them are all bizarre aliens! And because he’s so easily held in check even with all of his power he often wound up having to think through his problems. Here was a guy who could tear up an entire invading space armada but if they put a yellow filter over a flashlight suddenly he’s powerless. It was a really different concept in comic books in the sixties.

10

From The Steranko History of Comics, volume one, which no serious comic fan should be without:

When the character was revamped in the sixties, the premise was changed from mystical to science-fiction, the key weakness was changed from wood to yellow and the colourful costume was dumped. Alan Scott, engineer, was replaced by Hal Jordan, test pilot.

11

Damned good! :wink: Actually, I’ve got only one (very minor) quibble: John Stewart wasn’t Hal’s backup. Guy Gardner was (GL #68 or so). But Guy got hit by a bus (don’t ask) and John Stewart was picked as a backup’s backup (GL #87 or so). John Stewart (with a personality transplant from his original appearance’s) would be the backup and Guy forgotten for 10 years or so. Then Guy showed back up for a 10 (or so) issue storyline around GL #120 or so, mainly so he could be put into a coma (a defective power-battery blew up.)

He stayed in a coma until the Crisis when a renegade faction of Guardians revived Guy. However, they were sick of Hal’s wishy-washy soul searching and when reviving him, supressed any sense of self-doubt. Originally, this meant that Guy was just extremely gung-ho, later it meant that Guy was an idiot and a jerk.

And I strongly disagree with RealityChuck about the quality of the Adams/O’Neil GL/GA stories. I thought they were terrible: Chick Tracts with better art. Does anyone really think that Hal didn’t want John Stewart as a backup because Hal was racist? O’Neil’s Guardians did.

O’Neil’s Hal Jordan is about as believable of a conservative (Hal was supposed to be the stodgy conservative and Green Arrow, the freethinking liberal) as a Chick Tract’s “evil-oution professor” accurately represents the views of, say Stephen J. Gould. And the audience agreed with me: From one of DC’s strongest (IIRC…I don’t have sales figures) second-tier books (behind The Flash), O’Neil and Adams got the book cancelled in less than 15 issues.

Fenris

12

Incidentally, the OP asked how powerful GL is. Since his power is limited only by his will, he has the potential to be one of the most powerful beings in the universe.

In fact, in the Hal Jordan stories, the fact that the ring is weak against the color yellow is brought into play in ridiculous ways because, if not, the ring could pretty much let him do anything.

13

The current Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner, doesn’t have the old GL’s weakness to yellow. He’s recently revealed that the ring’s power is virtually limitles; he can even affect the rate of nuclear decay (i.e., cause a really big explosion) and has accidentally created living copies of characters from his imagination. I would say that this puts him, powerwise, ahead of Superman.

For a good overview of the Silver Age-era Green Lantern Corps, check out http://www.glcorps.org/. It’s a little out of date, but has some excellent info on obcure GLs from other planets. My favorite obscure GL is Rot Lop Fan, who’s from a race of blind aliens that do not understand the concept of color and light. His ring projects sound instead, and he’s known as the F-sharp Bell. His oath is:

“In loudest din or hush profound,
my ears catch evil’s slightest sound.
Let those who toll out evil’s knell,
beware my power:
The F-Sharp Bell!”

14

SPOILERS for current issues of Green Lantern

Kyle Rayner was the only Green Lantern for many years, but no longer. First of all, there was one extra GL ring floating around that still worked; a while ago Kyle gave it to his girlfriend, Jennie-Lynn Hayden, daughter of the original GL, Alan Scott. When Jen was younger she developed innate powers similar to a GL’s ( and adventured under the name Jade. Also, her skin is green.) She lost the powers years ago, but fought by Kyle’s side with the spare ring for a while until he recently reenergized her innate powers. Also, her dad, original GL Alan Scott, has also developed innate powers like the ones he had as GL years ago; he calls himself Sentinel. Finally, in the most recent issue of Green Lantern, Kyle gave the spare ring to John Stewart.

Also, the GL of Apokalips managed to save his power for some time when the rest of the GL’s lost theirs, although I think it may actually be used up now.

–Cliffy

15

After winning just about every award comics had to offer back then – just another sign that popularity and quality are independent variables. It probably failed for the reason that Marvel suceeded: it was aimed for a college-age audience, and the comic book audience was more adolescent in outlook. Marvel went stright for the teens and that was the key to its success.

Hal wasn’t supposed to be that conservative – more of a political moderate compared to the more radical JA. The stories did try to deal with social issues – unheard of in comics except in the broadest terms. They were also first-rate writing (“And a Child Shall Lead Them” was one of the best stories of the era) and art (Neal Adams was probably the genre’s best – and certainly most influential – artist).

Admittedly, they have dated a bit, but at the time, they were far ahead of the rest of the field in terms of characterization and strength of storytelling.

16

Addendum: GL was failing when O’Neal/Adams took over; that was one reason DC gave them so much leeway. The change was a gamble, and though they did bring in readers, they also lost those who wanted your usual superhero fistfights. It’s unlikely that the change caused the book the fail, and it may have prolonged it a bit due to the critical acclaim.

17

One minor correction: the “Charlie” GL’s last name was Vickers, not Parker (Charlie Parker was a real-life jazz saxophone player, and the name was also used on a minor super-hero called Golden Eagle who ran with the Teen Titans for a while).

18

Again, I disagree: I thought the storytelling was horribly two-dimensional, the messages preachy and the characterization lame (obviously this is all opinion, I’m not denying you your tastes! :slight_smile: )

Compare the (IMO) lame, preachy and angst-filled “Snowbirds Can’t Fly” episode of GL/GA to the vastly superior (and far more groundbreaking) three part Spider-Man drug-story that appeared earlier (where Harry Osborn is revealed to be an addict.) There’s no social issue that GL/GA did that hadn’t appeared earlier or better in another book (especially Spider-Man)

To me, most of Marvel’s books, and hell, the Shooter Adventure Legion stories, Bob Haney’s/Neal Adam’s Deadman, Roy Thomas’s Avengers (“Even an Android Can Cry”, to name one standout) and many, MANY other books all had vastly superior characteriztion and storytelling to those overgrown Chick Tracts. where, IMO, no one had a personality, they were just actors in a comic book adaptation of a Jam Handy PSA type film. Spider-Man dealt with people dealing with social issues. (“Crisis on the Campus”, the first Prowler story, the Kingpin issue where comics admitted the existance of organized crime). GL/GA had cardboard cut-outs spouting cliches in a pretentious smarmy tone:
(from memory)

Obnoxious old coot: “I hear you a white man, who work for the blue men, to save the orange men. What you done for th’ black man?”

Green Lantern (via O’Neil) “I…don’t know” and then he literally hangs his head in shame! Could they be less subtle? And what a grotesque violation of Green Lantern’s personality.

I will agree with you that the art was simply stunning. Adams was at his peak during that period. The only other artists of that second generation of Silver Age artists who were in Adam’s league were Steranko, briefly and the horribly underrated Nick Cardy (until Brunner, Starlin, the later Barry Windsor-Smith, etc showed up)

Obviously your milage varies…insert “that’s what makes a horse race” and other comments to that effect. :slight_smile:

Fenris

PS: In retrospect, you’re right about GL being a failing book. I’d misremembered, but upon reflection, I agree.

19

To which the correct answer would have been: “Let me see… there was that comet I diverted this morning. Oh, and that invasion fleet that showed up last Tuesday. And last week I was a key part of the Justice League stopping the lava men from causing all the volcanos on earth from erupting. And before that…”

I’m with Fenris on the basic principle. While there were some neat ideas in there GL/GA became a whole series (and in part the template for) those horrible, preachy books of the seventies that took some current issue and dealt with it in a ham-fisted method.

20

Heh. Speaking of ham-fisted, anyone else remember SPIRE Comics? They had a license to do Christian comics featuring the Archie Characters.

They were kinda cool in a weird sort of way, in that they were anti-Chick comics, but they were syrupy, treacly, and kinda icky.

Big Ethel and Betty were saints. Literally. Saints. They could do no wrong.

Archie was semi-retarded. (he’s always been absent minded and careless. In Spire Comics, he had about the IQ of Charlie in “Flowers for Algernon”)

Veronica and Reggie were evil.

Jughead was the semi-cynic who often ended up converted by God’s love.

And they used ‘hep’ slang that was 10 years out of date.

Plus they were as preachy as the GL/GAs.

(Typical dialogue)

Jughead: Hey Arch! Big Ethel’s pretty ugly, huh?

Archie: Yeah. Hot Dog has had better looking dates!

Ethel (who was convieniently standing within earshot): SOB!
(runs off)

Betty: How can you two be so mean? Look at who Big Ethel REALLY is (montage of Big Ethel reading to the blind, working in a soup kitchen, planting trees for the ecology movement, working as a candy-striper in a senior center, etc)

Betty: Don’t you know that the Bible says (some Bible verses about how beauty is in what you do not how you look.) By Jesus’s standard, Big Ethel is the most beautiful of us ALL

Archie and Jughead: GEE! We NEVER realized THAT before!

Last panel: Archie and Jughead bring flowers to Big Ethel and take her on a date “'cause you’re the most beeeee-atuiful chick we know!” as Big Ethel grins.

Frankly, I think that message is more subtle than the GL/GAs and I like the message better than the crappy “I’m a junkie and it’s YOUR fault Green Arrow. Even though I’m an adult, you should control my choices better!” :rolleyes:

Fenris