DailySkew

My first exposure to Green Lantern was early 1980’s issues and the Superfriends cartoon. I ate him up. Thanks to 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths, I learned that the crisis originated with Krona in early issues of Green Lantern. However since I began reading Silver Age Green Lantern now, I can see that the seeds of the crisis were originally planted back in Green Lantern #2 in 1960, which featured the 1st appearance of Qward, the Anti-Matter Universe where evil is the norm (and birthplace of the Anti-Monitor).

• Writer John Broome has to be in the Top 10 Underrated Comic Book Writers list. I understand how influential editor Julius Schwartz is, and how he is credited jump starting DC’s Silver Age, and how he is a hardcore sci-fi icon, but Broome did the top-notch scripts and co-created Hal Jordan along with Hall of Fame artist Gil Kane.
• I can see how Green Lantern appealed to the science students and sci-fi fans of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s- more so than Superman. Many of the letter pages and “science facts” pages inside the comic show to me that the target audience was for intelligent kids.
• Although deemed corny by today’s sick standards, I really enjoy the conservative, idealistic morality in the Silver Age Green Lantern. Hal is an action hero (fearless test pilot) and has Paul Newman’s mug (according to the editor in the letter pages, artist Gil Kane based Hal Jordan on Paul Newman). Of course, Hal Jordan/Green Lantern is a playboy and hits on his boss Carol Ferris. Being a hero has its perks in this world.
• Gil Kane is really great in these early issues. After I was treated to Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko’s experimental and innovative Silver Age artwork at Marvel (from Hulk and Spidey), I also have a great respect for the conservative approach of Kane and DC comics in general in 1960. Kane reminds me of Curt Swan’s Superman here, with a little more flair. The panel layouts make sense and everything looks like a futuristic take of the world in 1960. Gil Kane’s artwork on GL is a sci-fi fan’s dream come true. Carol Ferris and the other women are much more sexy than Lois Lane and other female characters from DC at that time.
• By the way, speaking of the letter pages, I can tell that the letters were not fake (unlike some of Stan Lee’s Marvel Bullpen letters). There were some critical letters from disgruntled fans who longed for the Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott. Considering that Julius Schwartz wanted a full reboot in 1959, it doesn’t make sense to fake a letter like that. Another funny note:
• Green Lantern’s sidekick PieFace may be your stereotypical Eskimo, but he and Hal share a special relationship in the Silver Age way of things, and it work great. Although his nickname is racist by today’s standards, PieFace is treated very well by Hal and Carol.
• Great fact: The Guardians of the Universe wiped their existence from Hal’s memory! Hal had no idea who was giving orders from the power battery early on.

UPDATE: To: damianhospital@xxx
Subject: Re: [The DailySkew] Silver Age Green Lantern initial thoughts
From: Vahl
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:44:53 +0000

Cool stuff. I’m glad you gave props to John Broome. Happy that the conservative action hero holds up in 2009! Loved the letter page info … I always felt like the DC letter page was more … serious or real, when compared to Marvel’s tongue-in-cheek letter page responses.

Can you imagine if novels had letters to the editor regarding previous books by the same author? How crazy cool would that have been, back in the day?

Nowadays, the Amazon ratings and message boards offer unfiltered opinion, of course … now you have to dig to find the gems, and the feedback from the artists can be defensive at times. It’s like the creators get lessened nowadays.

There are fewer big stars, more b-list and c-listers, and more content everywhere. What an era.

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DAMIAN: Another thing that is ironic/amazing to me is how people on sites and forums argue and debate about how Hal being based on Newman is an urban legend with no sources, when it is clearly in Schwartz’s letter page as a fact….I agree with you, DC’s pages always seemed more legit. Stan Lee and others admitted to writing fake letters, but I don’t believe DC would go to that level.

Broome and Schwartz both had stories published for sci-fi mags, which explains why Green Lantern and DC space comics in general feel more “real” than Lee and Kirby’s “cosmic” space operas. All of the stories so far are hardcore sci-fi, such as a society that sleeps underground in a Matrix-like setup, while their mental projections/illusions live topside. Of course, their illusions rebel.

I think one reason why Broome is not talked about as a creator is because 1) The Golden Age GL came first and 2) Broome left the comic book world bitter and went to Thailand.

For more comic book opinion on reading everything from scratch, see DailySkew Comic Books.