COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK

 

COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK

Once again, we are at our comic archeological dig, and have unearthed our book for this edition, and we are continuing the 80th anniversary of the Emerald Gladiator known as Green Lantern.  Today, we focus on, perhaps, THE greatest and MOST recognizable ring slinger of all:  Harold "Hal" Jordan.  Hal was a reimagining of the original Green Lantern created by John Broome and artist Gil Kane, and made his first appearance in the pages of Showcase, 18 issues after the debut of ANOTHER new popular hero for which Jordan would be tied to forever:  Barry Allen...The Flash.  So, we're going to take a peek at this issue, and discuss the new GL appearing on the national stage as DC's newest superhero.

SHOWCASE #22

COVER ART: Gil Kane & Ira Schnapp

WRITER: John Broome

ARTIST: Gil Kane

INKS: Joe Giella

LETTERS: Gasper Saladino

COLORS: N/A

EDITOR: Julius Schwartz

COVER DATE: October 1959

PUBLISHER: DC Comics

TAGLINE:  Featuring "Menace of the Runaway Missile"

STORY TITLES: "S.O.S. Green Lantern!", "Secret of the Flaming Spear!", "Menace of the Runaway Missile!"

Showcase #22 was the platform for writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane to give Julius Schwartz what he wanted:  a re-imagning of Green Lantern.  But this time around, Groome and Kane decided to go away from the mystical aspects of the original Lantern, Alan Scott, and create an entire NEW version, based a little more in science fiction.  We got Hal Jordan, a test pilot who is given a ring created by cosmic beings called the Guardians of the Universe, by a dying alien who was patrolling his "sector" and got fatally injured.  Jordan then becomes Green Lantern - one of about 3600 members of a unique universal "Police Force" made to keep the peace.  Instead of wood being the weakness of the ring (like Alan Scott's), Jordan's ring is useless against anything yellow.  Also, these Green Lanterns must possess no fear.  Jordan has gone on to become THE Greatest Green Lantern in comics history, and has also quite being GL for a time, came back, and then became the villain known as Parallax during the Zero Hour miniseries back in the 1990's, was killed, then reborn thanks to writer Geoff Johns.  The history of the GL's have been expanded, as well as the rings, and Jordan has faced many bad guys in his career.  Jordan is still the standard bearer for which all Green Lanterns are compared, and was given his own series after HIS initial appearances in this book    

THE STORY: "S.O.S. Green Lantern!" - Ferris Aircraft test pilot Hal Jordan is summoned by the dying alien Abin Sur to become the next bearer or the Green Lantern ring, and be a hero to patrol this sector of the universe from evil.

"Secret of the Flaming Spear!" - Saboteurs try to destroy an experimental aircraft developed by Ferris Aircraft called the Flaming Spear, and it's up to Green Lantern to stop them.

"Menace of the Runaway Missile!" - Dr. Parris, and evil scientist putting his own motivations ahead of his country, launches a missile at a Coast City hydrogen power facility, but the missile is coated in yellow...Green Lantern's one weakness.  It's up to GL to find a way to stop it. 

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This issue---like so many Silver Age books, can be found in reprints all over the place, and in various collections put together by DC Comics.  This was yet another issue of this anthology series where the star of the book got to have 2 other stories in the issue as well.  Booklength stories were a rarity back in those days, so they always had 2-3 stories an issue...sometimes with different characters.  But GL took the spotlight here.  Broome, who'd also been doing the writing chores on The Flash, was instrumental in getting the Silver Age off the ground, and penned some fantastic stories of the day, and Gil Kane's work was A LOT different back in 1959 as compared to his later years, mostly due to whomever was inking him.  But he had a sleek look to his work, and had a platform to expound on his work, because he wasn't limited to just Earth.  He eventually got to take GL to the stars, and different worlds, and his work on his creation is still top notch to this day.  

NEXT WEEK:  We focus on Hal Jordan's contemporaries....who's a little more, shall we say...brusk.

COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK

 

COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK

Welcome back!  Once more, we enter the Shop of Comic Book History, and see what we pull from the bin of classics.  For the next few weeks, we're going to focus on yet ANOTHER DC character who's celebrating 80 years - Green Lantern.  There have been MANY incarnations of the Emerald Gladiator, but today...we're gonna start at the beginning, and get introduced to the first man to bear the mantle of Green Lantern:  Alan Scott.

ALL-AMERICAN COMICS #16

COVER ART: Sheldon Moldoff

WRITER: Bill Finger

ARTIST: Martin Nodell

INKS: Martin Nodell

LETTERS: Martin Nodell

COLORS: N/A

EDITOR: Sheldon Mayer

COVER DATE: July 1940

PUBLISHER: All-American Publications (which later became DC Comics)

TAGLINE:  Introducing....The Green Lantern!

STORY TITLES: "The Origin of Green Lantern", "The Rescue", "Sealed Orders", "The Infra-Red Destroyers", "Goodbye, Widow-Maker", "The Power Plant Failure", "Stamps" 

All-American Comics #16 was one of the pivotal comics of its time, as it introduced us to a brand new character:  Alan Scott, The Green Lantern. Created by Martin Nodell, this character was an engineer who obtained this magical power from something called the Green Flame of Life.  He molded a ring from the lantern that provided the flame, and became a superhero.  The comic series was published by All-American Comics, which was run by William M. Gaines, who later formed EC Comics and the the genius behind MAD Magazine.  All-American would later merge with National Publications, and form what we now know as DC Comics.  Green Lantern became a charter member of the Justice Society of America, and helped pave the way for the Golden Age of Comics.  Scott was given his own book after his run in All-American Comics, and eventually disappeared after the end of World War II.  The Lantern was also revealed to be a charter member of the All-Star Squ adron.  Scott would ride with this book until issue #102.  He was also granted his own title during this time.  This book also featured backup stories (as was the norm during the time), from Hop Harrigan, Red, White, and Blue, Adventures in the Unknown, Scribbly, Gary Concord - The Ultra-Man, and Popsicle Pete.  But the main focus was the new hero Nodell introduced to the world, and gained instant popularity.  

THE STORY:  Alan Scott is caught in an explosion of a trestle bridge, and finds out he was saved from the very lantern he'd been carrying.  The Lantern reveals its story about how it was formed years ago by a Chinese man who formed it from a meteor that had fallen. Scott forms a ring out of it, and becomes the superhero known as The Green Lantern.

As of this writing, we have no synopsis for the backup stories in this issue

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This issue will remain one of the most important issues in superhero comic book history, because we had NO clue just how big Green Lantern would become in the coming decades.  Hop Harrigan is a character I am slightly aware of, but haven't heard anything about within the last 30 or so years.  Red, White, and Blue I believe I had heard about, but none of the other backup characters in this issue.  But as for the Lantern's adventures, they are all reprinted in collections put out by DC.  Alan Scott has been re-imagined within the last couple of decades, the essence of who and what he is in the superhero community has lasted 80 years...and inspired a new generation.

NEXT WEEK:  We SHOWCASE a new ring-bearer....

COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK

 

COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK

Once again, we have another classic comic culled from the archives to discuss.  And this week, we pull out a book that is considered one of the classics from the Armored Avenger.  During this time in Tony Stark's life, he was facing his biggest enemy of his life:  the bottle.  During a nine issue run (which turned out  to be artist John Romita, Jr's final issues of his run), called "Demon In a Bottle", Tony fought his greatest foe:  alcoholism.  This was a riveting story that gave us new depths to the character of Tony Stark, and what excess and the job of being Iron Man took as a toll on Tony.  So...let's dive in, and see what happened....

IRON MAN #128

COVER ART: Bob Layton

WRITER: David Micheline & Bob Layton

ARTIST: John Romita, Jr.

INKS: Bob Layton

COLORS: Bob Sharen

LETTERS: John Costanza

EDITOR: Roger Stern 

COVER DATE: November 1979

PUBLISHER: Marvel Comics

TAGLINE: Demon in a Bottle

STORY TITLE: "Demon In A Bottle"

Iron Man #128 has one of THE classic covers of all time, but is also a VERY compelling story about a hero in freefall.  The series ran 9 issues through the 1979 year, with this issue being the final issue of the storyline.  Tony Stark...his life as Iron Man, and his status as a billionaire playboy/socialite/weapons manufacturer has quite the life.  But that life is now in turmoil, as his dependency upon alcohol has consumed him.  Everything falls apart for Tony, and he eventually loses his business.  Plus, his recklessness as a hero causes those around him to intervene.  Originally, writer David Micheline only intended to just write the next issue of the series, but when the issue came out where alcohol was the bad guy, it caught on, and he went with it.  What's become is a series that is one of the most pivotal chapters in Tony Stark's career.  It's a great read if you can get it in a collection.

THE STORY:  Tony Stark...having lost his company, lost his way, and can't seem to get away from the bottle...gets help from friend Bethany Cabe, as well as former butler Edwin Jarvis, he he tries to put a cap on his alcoholism before it's too late.  

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One of the things I credit writer David Micheline on is his ability to take an idea and run with it.  This storyline was immensely powerful and amazing all at once.  This is what made Marvel characters more relatable at the time:  depth of character, the humanizing of them...and that heroes CAN fall.  Tony is a prime example of a hero in crisis, battling his own demons, and suffering the consequences of his own actions.  If you find this in trade paperback, DO pick it up.  It's an eye opener, and it shows you just how dangerous the bottle can be.  

NEXT WEEK:  We dive once again into the bins for another classic!

COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK

 

COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK

Welcome back!  It's been yet another delay (for that, I apologize, but I just recently started a new job, and in the training phase at the moment).  This week's comic book, we go back to Merry Marvel for the original spinoff of the Uncanny X-Men, The New Mutants.  This series premiered in 1983, and showed us the next generation of mutants trained at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.  They end up getting into all sorts of trouble, but we get some memorable characters from it. And since the movie was just released, I thought, "what the hell". So, let's take a peek behind the cover of this historical comic, and see where we got started....

THE NEW MUTANTS #1

COVER ART: Bob McLeod

WRITER: Chris Claremont

ARTIST: Bob McLeod

INKS: Mike Gustovich

COLORS: Glynis Wein

LETTERS: Tom Orzechowski

EDITOR: Louise Jones

COVER DATE: March 1983

PUBLISHER:  Marvel Comics

STORY TITLE: "Initiation" 

New Mutants #1 came out in the Spring of 1983, after having made an appearance in Marvel Graphic Novel #4, which introduced us to the team.  This comic is a spinoff of The Uncanny X-Men, and it focuses on Charles Xavier and his new class of mutants that he tries to teach in how to control their powers for the betterment of mankind, as well as help them work through their issues as young teenagers and kids.  We are introduced to many new members such as Cannonball, Magik, Moonstar, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Karma, and more over the years.  The series lasted 100 issues, before the team was renamed X-Force, and the comic took off from there, as these new youngsters would now be led by the man called Cable.  

THE STORY:  The New Mutants get adjusted to their new home at The Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters, get to know each other, their talents, and unawares this whole time they are being spied upon by Henry Peter Gyrich and his government group.  Moira MacTaggert learns that Professor Xavier has a son, David.  Psyche, one of the new recruits, gets attacked by a mysterious assailant in the Danger Room.

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The one thing I loved about the New Mutants, was that it expanded on the X-Men mythos, and allowed Marvel and Chris Claremont to create a new class of young heroes to carry on the X-Men tradition, and we would get to see them LEARN their powers, and GROW as people...even though they ended up growing up too quick.  We new that, someday, these youngsters would eventually replace or join up with the members of the X-Men.  Later on, however, we learn that a core of them ended up reforming into X-Force.  The New Mutants is a good read, because THOSE characters that are now heavy hitters in the mutant teams, started out here, and it's a great place to watch themn while they were fairly innocent.

NEXT WEEK:  We dig through the archives to find more hidden treasure.