The Green Lantern is the name of several different characters published by America's DC Comics since 1940. Like most of DC's stable of characters, the various Green Lanterns have not enjoyed as much popularity in British comics as their Marvel Comics counterparts, and have generally not featured in UK originated stories unlike some of their stablemates. However, Green Lantern reprint series' have appeared in titles including Superman (London Editions Magazines) and Justice League Legends Vol 1, as well as The Super Heroes Monthly, and there has generally been a Green Lantern in play somewhere wherever the Justice League of America or their predecessors the Justice Society of America have appeared.
A couple of British creators have significant links with Green Lantern; Brian Bolland's first (of many) covers for DC Comics was Green Lantern #127 (April 1980), while Dave Gibbons's first DC Comics work was on a back-up story in Green Lantern #161 (Feb 1983); he would later become the main artist on the book from #172 (Jan '84) through to #186 (March '85). In issue #188, he drew Alan Moore's classic Green Lantern Corps story "Mogo Doesn't Socialize", which introduced Mogo, the Green Lantern who was a sentient planet.
History[]
Alan Scott
Alan Scott, the original Earthman to call himself the Green Lantern, took on the identity after finding a green, glowing lantern in the aftermath of a train wreck in 1940, which spoke to him and compelled him to fashion a magic ring from part of it. This lantern was later revealed to be the Starheart, a repository for much of the magic that had existed in the universe millennia ago. Scott used his "power ring" to battle injustice, both alone and as a member of the Justice Society of America.
The majority of Green Lanterns, however, including probably their most famous member, Hal Jordan, are members of an interstellar police force called the Green Lantern Corps, founded by the Guardians of the Universe (who were also responsible for the creation of the Starheart in an attempt to rid the universe of magic). Jordan and his various successors as Green Lantern of space sector 2814 (the sector containing Earth) have generally ended up as members of the Justice League of America at some point. These Earth based Lanterns have included former test pilot Hal Jordan, former teacher Guy Gardner, architect John Stewart, artist Kyle Rayner, and more recently Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz. There are approximately 3, 600 other Green Lanterns spread out across the universe, including Earthling Jo Mullein, whose allotted sector is so far out in space that it has no official numerical designation.
Powers and abilities[]
Powers
Flight
Abilities
Able to create any construct they can imagine out of power ring energy using pure willpower.
Weaknesses
Most Green Lantern rings were traditionally powerless against anything yellow, supposedly due to a necessary impurity in the rings. This now appears to have been overcome, however. Alan Scott's mystically powered ring had no yellow weakness, but was powerless against anything made of wood. All power rings need to be recharged once every twenty four hours by touching them against the individual Green Lantern's lantern shaped Power Battery; this is accompanied by the reciting of the ceremonial Green Lantern oath.
Paraphernalia[]
Equipment
Power Rings; Power Batteries
Notes[]
Alan Scott for a while managed to internalise his power, meaning that he no longer needed a ring. For part of this period, he adopted the codename Sentinel. Hal Jordan briefly became the supervillain Parallax after being corrupted by the fear entity which was imprisoned in the central power battery on the planet Oa, from which all Green Lantern Corps members derive their powers; the Parallax entity was the source of the power rings' yellow impurity.
Trivia[]
In theory, the main requirement for being a member of the Green Lantern Corps is being totally without fear. This has always seemed a bit dubious, not least because a total lack of fear would undoubtedly mean the individual would have no instinct for self preservation.
Links[]
- Appearances of Green Lantern
- Character Gallery: Green Lantern
- Images that feature Green Lantern
- Fan-Art Gallery: Green Lantern
- Green Lantern quotations
Discover and Discuss[]
- Search News for: Green Lantern · Alan Scott (1); Hal Jordan (2); Guy Gardner (3); John Stewart (4); Kyle Rayner (5); Simon Baz (6); Jessica Cruz (7); Jo Mullein (8) · Green Lantern