Green Lantern

Origin:  In the late thirties Alan Scott was an engineer for a railroad company. Scott's company had recently completed a new railway bridge in the American West. Unfortunately, the man who had bid against Scott's company to build the bridge, Dekker, was totally unscrupulous. He planted explosives on the bridge so that when Scott's company sent its first train across it, there was a huge explosion. The train was derailed and every passenger was killed save one.

The lone survivor of this railway disaster was Alan Scott, whose life had been saved by a green train lantern made of an unknown metal. The lantern spoke to Scott, explaining that it had originally been a lamp made by a man named Chang from a meteor which had landed in ancient China. Just as it was speaking to Scott, it also spoke to Chang. It told him that it would flame three times--once to bring death, once to bring life, and once to bring power. Chang's fellow villagers were suspicious of him and so they murdered him. The lamp flamed and slew all of Chang's killers. Later the lamp would find its way into the hands of a mental patient named Billings. Billings used the metal from the old Chinese lamp to make a train lantern. Once Billings had completed the lantern it flamed and restored his sanity.

Having told Scott its story, the lantern fulfilled its destiny to flame three times and flamed before the engineer to bring him power. The lantern told Scott to remove a bit of its metal and to make a ring from that metal. He could charge this ring with the power of the lantern's green flame by touching it to the lantern every twenty four hours.

Having made the ring and having charged it with the lantern, Scott set forth to have his revenge on Dekker. He eventually forced the corrupt railroad magnate to sign a confession for all his crimes. Thereafter Scott designed a costume and took the name "Green Lantern" after the source of his power.

Eventually Scott was hired as a broadcaster at WXYZ radio in Gotham City. There he met Doiby Dickles, a cabbie who later learned Scott's secret identity and who assisted Green Lantern on many cases.

Powers: Green Lantern was among the most powerful superheroes of the Golden Age. With the ring Green Lantern could fly, create various shapes using the green flame (such as a giant hand to catch someone who was falling), deflect bullets, and perform several other amazing feats. Green Lantern's power was not limitless, though it often seemed that way. As the lantern explained to Scott that its its flame was actually willpower, so that Scott would always have to have confidence in himself. The ring also had to be charged by touching the lantern every twenty four hours; failure to do so would result in the loss of Green Lantern's powers until such time as he recharged the ring. Finally, the ring was ineffective against wood. Even though Green Lantern's powers could deflect bullets, knives, and all sorts of other weapons, he was wholly vulnerable to anything made of wood, from arrows to wooden clubs.

History: The original Green Lantern was the creation of artist Martin Nodell and writer Bill Finger. In 1940 the editor of the All-American line, Sheldon Mayer, asked Nodell to develop a new superhero. While waiting to a catch a subway train to go home, Nodell observed a trainman carrying a green lantern. The trainman's green lantern brought Aladdin's magic lamp to Nodell's mind. In combining the green lantern with Aladdin's lamp and a dash of Oriental magic, Nodell developed the Green Lantern. According to Bill Finger Green Lantern's original secret identity was to be "Alan Ladd"--a name using the same letters as Aladdin. Sheldon Mayer insisted that no one would believe such a name and changed it to "Alan Scott." It is worth noting that Alan Ladd had already appeared in motion pictures by this time, although he was not yet famous. Anyhow, it is possible that the story is apocryphal, as Martin Nodell did not ever recall the name "Alan Ladd" being suggested.

Green Lantern debuted in All-American Comics #16, July 1940. It was not long before Green Lantern became one of All-American's most popular characters. He was a charter member of the Justice Society of America and received his own magazine in the fall of 1941. He was one of the regular characters featured in Comic Cavalcade from its very beginning in winter 1942-1943. At the height of his popularity, Green Lantern was appearing in three different magazines--All-American Comics, Green Lantern, and Comic Cavalcade.

Unfortunately, superheroes declined in popularity as the Forties progressed. In November 1948 All-American Comics became All-American Western (eventually it would become All-American Men of War). With its December-January 1948-1949 issue Comic Cavalcade  switched to a "funny animal" format. Green Lantern ended its run with the May-June 1949 issue. From that time on Green Lantern would only appear in All-Star Comics as a part of the Justice Society of  America. Once it ended its run in January-February 1951, Alan Scott would not be seen again until the Silver Age.
 
 

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