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....