Retro Comics are Awesome

[andersonh1]

Jumping way ahead, there's one of those abandoned plotlines from Action Comics Weekly that for the longest time I thought could be used to explain Hal's descent into craziness in Emerald Twilight. I don't think this plotline has ever been revisited by DC.

Action Comics Weekly 632
Hal is in space, chasing an alien and his spacecraft. The alien opens a spacewarp in an attempt to escape, Hal is drawn in and ends up in a totally unfamiliar section of space. Heading to a nearby planet to try and get his bearings, the blue alien denies any knowledge of where they are, but suggests Hal visit "his master". Puzzled, Hal heads to the mountain the alien indicated, only to see a giant Green Lantern insignia carved into it. A castle stands on top, and when Hal enters it, he's shocked to discover what appears to be an older human, dressed very much like Alan Scott, wearing a Green Lantern ring and rambling in semi-religious terms. The man identifies himself as Lord Malvolio of the Green Flame.

Hal asks him the way to Earth, and Malvolio reveals he too was born on Earth, and cryptically suggests that it's "beyond Phobos", but he won't say any more. Hal heads out, deciding that he's a "Long winded jerk", but when he goes to inquire of the blue alien about Phobos, Malvolio kills him and accuses him of betrayal, ranting that he brought Hal to this world and he will never leave.



Action Comics Weekly 633
Malvolio rants, and Hal tries to trap him in an energy construct, but Malvolio breaks free easily, revealing that he's studied the green power for four centuries. Hal tries to fight back, but Malvolio outclasses him badly, punching him all the way through the planet, shocking Hal at the power levels the ring is capable of. Seeking to put some distance between Malvolio and himself, he discovers a gold space station. He assumes it was built to keep Malvolio away, but inside he finds a giant Green Lantern battery and more aliens, worshipping it. A man calls his name, and Hal meets Wallace, squire to Malvolio, who reveals that Malvolio killed his father and took the power ring and went off into the universe in search of adventure. There he met Priest (who I remember turning up dead on Oa in GL #1, killed by the Old Timer). Hal observes that they're safe in the yellow space station, but Wallace says theyr'e not safe at all.... just as Malvolio breaks through the wall, having grown in size large enough to grab Hal by the head and hold him, while destroying the yellow space station as a "lesson" to Hal because of his "rebellion".

Action Comics Weekly 634
In the ruins of the space station, Malvolio reveals that he and Priest once engaged in combat, and Priest sealed him up in this starless void. He wants Hal to be his apprentice, renounce his ties with Priest and the "blue skinned god" (the Old Timer) and help defeat them both. Malvolio reveals a lot of his history here, how his father came to Earth in 1612, fell in love with a human woman and he was their child. His mother died in childbirth, and he killed his father and took his ring. He threatens to kill Hal if he turns his back on him again, and mocks him for running, and Hal finally goes on the offensive, knocking him around and pummeling him with his fists, but refusing to kill him, saying his Green Lantern oath means something to him. But Malvolio has another weapon besides his ring, an energy weapon, and he uses it to destroy Hal's ring. Shocked, Hal thinks "this is going to hurt, a lot."

Action Comics Weekly 635
Forced to run once again, Hal makes his way through the space station, trying to keep ahead of Malvolio. He drops into a garbage pit and then finds an armory and collects a harness and massive gun, vowing to do what he has to since Malvolio started it, and he's acting in self-defense. He fires a shot, but having not reckoned with the power of the gun, it walks back and blows a hole in the station. Malvolio seals the hole, vowing Jordan won't escape. Now Malvolio is between Hal and the weapons, but he improvises a bow and arrow, and since everything in the station is yellow, the arrow kills Malvolio. I guess Hal did learn something from Green Arrow about weapons, after all. Hal is sick and empty at having to kill Malvolio. He's stranded with no ring, but decides to take Malvolio's and continue his mission to find the spacecraft he was chasing.

But Malvolio isn't dead. He stands up and pulls out the arrow as soon as Hal is gone. "Everything has gone according to my plan. Hal Jordan, confidante of my eternal enemy, Priest, now sails through the cosmos wearing my power ring. And soon shall the day come that he shall serve me in my war against both Priest and the blue skinned elder God he serves."

Malvolio dissolves "the many illusions" he has employed, and is left alone, standing in the dark.

Interesting story here that adds another (half) human Green Lantern to the mythos, who is extraordinarily long-lived and has power well beyond that of an ordinary Green Lantern. And he apparently had plans for corruption and control of Hal Jordan somehow, since Hal is wearing his ring (which becomes Kyles ring down the road). Back in the 90s when fans were looking for ways to undo the damage to Hal Jordan as a character, this story was one that I saw mentioned as a ready made candidate to explain what happened to Hal, and that perhaps Malvolio influenced him into becoming Parallax. But Geoff Johns has obtained far more mileage from the Parallax as fear entitly concept than he would have from this, so I'll readily admit he came up with a better idea. But this story remains an unresolved plotline from years back that it would be interesting to revisit.

[Sparky Prime]

I don't think this plotline has ever been revisited by DC.

I hadn't heard of this Lord Malvolio before. Looking him up, he only appeared in these four issues. Although he was mentioned once or twice later. Sounds like there had been a bigger plan for this character. Wonder why they never revisited it...

[andersonh1]

I guess the change of writer and then Emerald Twilight derailed whatever plans they had. James Owsley wrote the ACW issues, while Gerard Jones wrote the ongoing series that followed soon after this story was published. Part four of the Malvolio story ends by promoting the new Green Lantern series, "coming soon!".

Back to the 1960s:

Green Lantern #2
September-October 1960

The Secret of the Golden Thunderbolts!
The Weaponers of Qward make their first appearance all the way back in Green Lantern #2 as a refugee from Qward contacts Hal Jordan, believing Hal can help him find Green Lantern for help. The refugee, Telle-Teg, tells Hal that Qward is in the anti-matter universe and is run along evil lines, with the few honest and moral Qwardians driven underground. Telle-Teg kept his morality a secret and was able to escape through the portal to Earth. Hal "goes to find" Green Lantern, but as GL speaks with Telle-Teg, a weaponer has tracked him down and kills him with a thunderbolt. Hal defeats the Weaponer, and determines to help the other refugees as Telle-Teg would have wanted. He travels through the portal into Qward, rescues the others from an attack, and brings them back to Earth, sealing the portal in the process. One of the Qwardians warns him that the Weaponers plan to steal all the power batteries, though he doesn't know why. The story ends with Hal realizing that he's certainly not seen the last of the Weaponers.

Riddle of the Frozen Ghost Town!
Another character debuts as Tom "Pieface" Kalmaku, the best airplane mechanic Hal's ever seen, has decided to quit his job at Ferris Aircraft. Hal goes to try and talk him out of it, and helps drive off some thugs who are threatening to rough Tom up. Tom's father and a man named Jimmy Dawes had discovered a gold mine, and Tom had always wanted to share the wealth with his village back in Alaska. Some crooks under Duke Danfield had won Dawes' half of the map while gambling, and pickpocketed the other half from Tom, so Green Lantern helps Tom defeat the crooks and secure the gold. Tom figures out that Green Lantern and Hal Jordan are the same person based on how both punch out the crooks. Once back at Ferris Air (Tom having decided to stay), he confesses to Hal that he knows his secret and suggests wiping his memory, but Hal's having nothing of it, happy to trust Tom with his secret.

I don't get the "Pieface" nickname. That aside, Tom Kalmaku is treated pretty well as a minority character. He's an eskimo from Alaska who spent some time in the US Army and learned his mechnic skills there. He does have a tendency to exclaim "great fish hooks!" when surprised, which is a bit groan-inducing, but generally speaking I think he's a good addition to the cast.

Green Lantern #3
November-December 1960

The Amazing Theft of the Power Lamp!
It doesn't take long at all for the Qwardian's warning to come true as spies from Qward steal Hal's power battery. He's returning from a mission and arrives at Ferris Air, thinking he got back faster than he should have. He sneaks into the hanger to recharge his ring since the 24 hour charge is nearly up, and in the middle of reciting the oath, the entire place disappears. Hal knew he should have trusted his instincts and when he reaches the real Ferris, his power battery, which he turns invisible for security, has been taken. The culprit is two Qwardians, who Tom Kalmaku discovers as he's doing some work on his landlady's aerial. He tells Hal, who is able to track the invisible battery as the Qwardians send it through a new portal to Qward. The Qwardians attack Hal, who puts up a energy shield their weapons can't penetrate. They decide the best way to deal with him is to wait him out, because without his battery the charge on his ring will run out, and then he'll be helpless. They encase the battery in a yellow energy shield, but Hal is able to find a tiny hole in it, send a beam inside and shatter the dome. In a further twist, it turns out the ring can't recharge off the battery while in the anti-matter universe, and with the charge almost exhausted, Hal sends an image of himself out for the Qwardians to attack, while he turns himself invisible and returns to Earth with the battery, just barely in time to recharge his ring. The Qwardian spies are (I'm not kidding here) turned over to the police. I guess that's what you do with interdimensional criminal aliens: lock them up for theft? That aside, good story, and it's good to see the threat from last issue followed up so quickly.

The Leap Year Menace!
We're in full-on awkward sitcom romance territory here as Carol Ferris calls Hal into her office, telling him that he's the best friend she has (Hal bemoans being put in the "friend zone), and she wants his advice. Since it's leap year, the woman can propose, and she's going to propose to Green Lantern. Hal tells her it's a bad idea, and then wonders how he's going to get out of this, since he has to be at the park for a pubic ceremony, and Carol is sure to be there too. Adding to Hal's troubles is the "Green Lantern Fan Club", a bunch of fangirls who follow him around and basically behave like lovesick teenagers. They corner Hal in the park, and when Hal gets away, Carol corners him. Knowing what's coming, the only thing Hal can think of to do is to create some distraction with his ring so he can get away. He creates a giant green monster, but is then hit on the head by a model airplane and knocked out, so the ring created monster goes on an accidental rampage, with the army being called out to handle it. Hal eventually wakes up and "defeats" the menace he created. He can't escape the ladies though. Carol asks him to marry her, and then the fangirls run up and do the same thing, and GL tells them all that since he can't marry them all, he won't marry any of them, escaping into the sky. The sight of Hal Jordan as GL being chased by a mob of screaming fangirls is worth the price of admission here. This story is hilarous.

[Sparky Prime]

I don't get the "Pieface" nickname. That aside, Tom Kalmaku is treated pretty well as a minority character. He's an eskimo from Alaska who spent some time in the US Army and learned his mechnic skills there. He does have a tendency to exclaim "great fish hooks!" when surprised, which is a bit groan-inducing, but generally speaking I think he's a good addition to the cast.

I never got the nickname either. The comics never explain it as far as I know. I've seen it suggested that came from a slang term for someone with a round, expressionless face. Which I don't think makes sense given the context but then I have no idea what the creators were thinking back in those days. I've also seen it suggested the name may have come from the Alaskan pie, because of the character's Inuit background.

The Qwardian spies are (I'm not kidding here) turned over to the police. I guess that's what you do with interdimensional criminal aliens: lock them up for theft?

That is funny when you think about it. I guess it makes sense he'd turn them over to the only law enforcement he is aware of at this point, but what does Hal expect the police to do with aliens from another universe?

[andersonh1]

Green Lantern #4
January-February 1961

The Diabolical Missile from Qward!
For the third issue in a row, the Qwardians take on Green Lantern. This time they are determined to kill him and fire a missle through the portal that homes in on Hal. Poor Tom is caught in the radiation, and Hal's ring has no effect on the (red) missile He finally figures out that he's more maneuverable than it, and by taking a very sharp turn causes it to crash. Analysis reveals that it's from Qward. Meanwhile Tom is trapped in a bubble of yellow radiation and slowly dying, so Hal heads back to Qward to try and find an antidote. He muses that he's quickly become "public enemy number one" of the Qwardians, but "that's fine with me!"

He attempts to strongarm the Qwardians into giving him an antidote, but ultimately has to bargain. The Qwardians have built a giant super-intelligent robot named Gnaxos for the purpose of defeating Green Lantern, and they promise that if Hal can beat it in a fight, they'll give him what he's after. The fight begins, and of course the robot turns itself yellow, making the problem worse. But in a surprising turn of events, this Gnaxos has turned against its evil creators, gives Hal the cure for Pieface, and turns on the Qwardians, only to be struck down, even as Hal tries to defend them both. An angry Hal creates a tidal wave with his ring, washing all the Qwardians out of his way as he returns to Earth and applies the cure to Tom, saving his life. Hal mourns the loss of his friend.

Secret of Green Lantern's Mask!
Just like last issue, we get one sci-fi/Qward based story, and one with Carol Ferris and Hal's somewhat twisted relationship woes. Green Lantern is invited to a party with Carol, but Hal decides he will go himself and bring a note from "Green Lantern" explaining that he couldn't make it. Carol is disappointed, but agrees to let Hal stay instead. Hal turns out to be the life of the party, and Carol notices approvingly... but just then Green Lantern arrives through a window. Hal is a bit surprised as you might imagine. It's all a plot by some crooks to impersonate the celebrity hero and steal jewelry. The story's title comes into play when Carol decides on a scavenger hunt, and one of the items is Green Lantern's mask. Carol gets the mask from the ersatz Green Lantern and is surprised and disappointed at his appearance. Bit shallow of you, Carol!

Of course Hal easily captures the fleeing thieves and he goes to see Carol, covering for his own absence as Hal by noting that since GL showed up, Hal didn't feel welcome any more. When Carol tries to remove the real GL's mask, she can't, and he explains that his willpower holds it to his face, and no one can remove it unless he allows it.

This will be the last issue with two shorter stories. Beginning next issue, all stories are full length.

[andersonh1]

Green Lantern #5
March-April 1961

The Power Ring That Vanished!
Hector Hammond makes his first appearance, and here he's a charming, intelligent, socially popular middle aged man. He's a long way from the horribly disfigured individual with the giant head that is he in modern DC. The ever-fickle Carol Ferris wonders if she's falling for the charming Hammond, and he's clearly interested in her as well. He shows off his many advanced scientific inventions to Carol and other admirers. Hal is suspicious and decides to investigate, but to keep Hammond from knowing what he's up to, he enlists the help of Tom Kalmaku, using his ring to disguise Tom as himself and giving Tom a duplicate of the power ring that will only last 24 hours. Now we know where Geoff Johns got the "use your ring to deputize someone for 24 hours" during Blackest Night. Tom has a great time just flying around the city, pretending to be Hal and attracting all sorts of attention... until some force pulls the ring right off his finger and drags both him and the ring to Hammond's house.

It turns out that the secret to Hammond's power is a meteorite from space that allowed him to "evolve" four kidnapped scientists into what humans will be in 100,000 years. They have giant brains and massive intellects, and provide Hammond with his many technology advancements. Hammond notes that he didn't want to mutate himself in this way, because he enjoys his social life too much. He sees that Green Lantern (really Tom) and more importantly, GL's ring have been taken, and he takes the ring, showing great delight in learning how it works. Of course Hal ultimately tracks him down and the two engage in a power ring fight, with the more experienced and willful Hal winning the fight. Hammond figures he just needs time to learn the ins and outs of the ring and he'll be able to beat Green Lantern, but the temporary power ring vanishes as its power runs out, and Hal arrests Hammond and reverts the scientists back to their normal state. Carol decides she doesn't like Hammond after all and Green Lantern is the only man for her.

It's interesting to see Hammond as a normal human, and it's fun to see the first fight between multiple power ring wielders. They do need to do something with Carol other than have her pursuing men. She's apparently a very competent, serious and successful business executive, but that's almost always in the background. Carol is almost always shown primarily thinking of romance. But there's plenty of time for character growth.

Up next: Tomar-Re!

[andersonh1]

Green Lantern #6
May-June 1961

The World of Living Phantoms!
On the world of Aku, the population all live in a state of suspended animation below ground, while mental projections of them live their lives above ground, allowing the inhabitants to live for centuries. But something has gone wrong, and at exactly the wrong time. Tomar-Re, the Green Lantern of this space sector, is aware of the trouble, but his own homeworld of Xudar is being invaded by giant creatures, so he has two crises to deal with at the same time. Needing help, he contacts the nearest Green Lantern: Hal Jordan on Earth. Poor Hal has finally scored a date with Carol and is standing outside her front door with flowers when the call for help comes, and he has to run off, charge his ring and head into space.

Hal heads to Aku to deal with rebellious mental images who have gained a life of their own and who plan to kill the original flesh and blood inhabitants. Hal is trapped by a gravity gun and briefly despairs, but is mentally contacted by Ibr, the scientist who devised the whole scheme, who reveals the power source keeping the "phantoms" alive. Hal notes the special properties of the planet and creates a mental duplicate of himself (something the story notes would not be possible anywhere else) who is able to stop the bomb that would have destroyed the physical inhabitants and then destroy the power source. Hal creates twenty duplicates who are able to finally produce enough willpower to remove the gravity holding him down. Hal then solves the problem with the sleepers' systems, even freeing two people who had fallen in love and wanted to live real lives. He then heads out to help Tomar-Re fight off the invasion, and where these things are too strong for one ring, between Hal and Tomar they're able to fight them off and force a retreat (after Hal recharges his ring on Tomar's lantern). I love the giant fuschia aliens with their scaly skin and huge teeth.

The two compare notes, and Hal learns that all "power battery possessors" have the same time limitations on the ring's charge, and he learns about the Guardians of the Universe. Tomar tells him that no one knows where the Guardians' planet is, and that they contact the Lanterns through the power batteries. They had allowed Tomar Re to know the location of other Green Lanterns (and note that's become a general term now rather than a name Hal gave himself) because his sector is so large that he might need help from time to time. And Hal's sector is listed as 2814 for the first time. After Hal returns to Earth, he finally gets that date with Carol.

Good story with some creative sci-fi ideas (planet of the sleepers), that engages in some solid world-building around the whole Green Lantern concept. Only six issues in, and we learn that Hal is not the only Green Lantern, and that others around the universe have their own portion of space to protect. It's interesting that none of them know where Oa (not yet given that name) actually is, and apparently don't meet with other Green Lanterns very often.

[andersonh1]

Green Lantern #7
July-August 1961

The Day 100,000 People Vanished!
We Guardians do not bestow power batteries without careful tests.But there are many possessors and many worlds in the cosmos under our care! And in our selections we did make one mistake!

Green Lantern #7 features the first appearance of Sinestro. His origin story has remained basically the same as the one told here, even though we've seen details added over time. Sinestro was a Green Lantern from the planet Korugar, who let the power go to his head and eventually built himself a palace and declared himself ruler of the planet. The Guardians discovered this during one of their periodic spot checks on each Lantern's activities, recalled Sinestro to Oa, stripped him of his ring, power battery and Lantern insignia, and exiled him to Qward.

Later both Emerald Dawn 2 and Secret Origins would retcon Sinestro into being involved with training Hal Jordan. That's not the case here, and in fact this is not only the first time Hal ever meets Sinestro, but it also appears as though the exile itself is comparatively recent, and that Sinestro was probably an active Green Lantern during Hal's early stories. Because as soon as he arrives on Qward, Sinestro immediately asserts himself with the locals and berates them for not being able to capture or destroy Green Lantern, who they've tangled with three times already. I think if Sinestro had been on Qward the last time Hal was there, they'd have encountered each other then.

The vanished people are the inhabitants of a small town near Coast City, dragged into the universe of Qward in one mass sweep as part of a plan to capture Green Lantern, who was supposed to be in town at the time. Hal was running late due to a case taking more time to solve than anticipated. When Hal goes to Qward to release them, he meets Sinestro for the first time and agrees to give himself up if the 100,000 are sent home, and Sinestro agrees. Unable to harm Hal while his power ring is functioning, Sinestro has him imprisoned in a yellow bubble to sit until the charge runs out, after which he'll be easy to kill. Hal tricks Sinestro by noting that he's still able to breathe, and so air can still penetrate the yellow bubble, so he uses his ring to push the particles of carbon dioxide he exhaled to speed up the clock on the wall and fool Sinestro into dropping the shield early, while his ring still had a charge. That's... an interesting solution, to say the least.

Sinestro mocks Hal for not killing him, but Hal imprisons him in a green bubble (and the indications are that Hal thinks it will be a permanent prison) and then he returns to his own universe to recharge his ring just as it's running out of power.

When it comes to details of the larger Green Lantern concept, Oa is named for the first time in this issue, and is said to be "in the central galaxy of the universe". Hal (in his astral form, as established a few issues back) meets the Guardians for the second time, and is allowed to retain his memory of them this time because of his "gallant service". So he continues to impress the Guardians and to earn good reviews from them. An induction into the Corps seems to be a fairly gradual process, with the new Green Lantern monitored from afar at first, and only after a good performance is he or she entrusted with more information about the Corps.

Wings of Destiny!
I thought we were done with backup stories, but I guess not. This story contains a good example of an interesting idea with a silly execution. How does a power ring respond when the wearer is asleep? Hal is dreaming that Tom wanted to borrow the ring for a few minutes so he could experience flight, and Hal allows it. The power ring, sitting in the nightstand, responds by turning Tom into a seagull. It just so happens that Tom's girlfriend Terga is on the plane from Alaska and is arriving that same day. When Tom doesn't show up for work, Hal (having no idea what he's done) goes to meet her in Tom's place, and while he's boarding the plane, escaped convicts hijack it. Tom the seagull, who still has his human intellect and who has been following GL, breaks in through the plane's window and distracts a hijacker who is about to shoot GL, allowing him to subdue the hijackers. Hal figures out what has happened, restores Tom to his human self, and he and Carol go on a double date with the very much in love Tom and Terga. Hal gives his ring a mental command to make sure this sort of thing never happens again. I like the concept of a ring responding to the GL's unconcious mind, but Tom the seagull is pretty laughable, particularly when he gets out of bed, looks in the mirror and sees a segull, thinks he's still dreaming and tries to go back to sleep. And he's one tough bird to break the glass in an airplane window, I have to say.

Green Lantern #8
September-October 1961

The Challenge from 5700 A.D.!
I started reading Green Lantern in 1990, so my only memory of "Pol Manning", aka Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern of the year 5700, comes from Zero Hour, where I think it was Waverider who encountered him in the future as it was being destroyed by entropy. Here in Green Lantern #8 is the "origin" story of Pol Manning, as the high council of solar delegates in the year 5700 need a champion to help with an invasion. So far, so good, but their solution is not to choose someone from their own time, but to bring Green Lantern from the past, implant an entirely new identity in his mind, make him Solar Director, and put him in charge of repelling an invasion of lizard men from beneath the Earth. The lizard men are actually evolved Gila Monsters, who developed a civilization of their own during the 3700 years they were hidden and thought to be extinct. It's implied that some outside energy source is responsible, but this is another idea that's hard to take seriously (though I'll give the writer credit for not giving us yet another alien invasion).

And in a story already stuffed with ideas, we get advanced Gila monsters who can shoot rays from their eyes that apparently disintegrate people. But these people are actually shrunk to microscopic size, so naturally GL can return them to full size easily enough. He discovers and destroys the lizard men's power source, ending the invasion and being returned to his own time, where he has to deal with a crisis that was ongolng when he was taken into the future. He has no memory of the events that transpired in 5700.

I'm not a big fan of this one. In addition to the silly Gila Monsters who shoot shrinking beams from their eyes, was there really no one in the year 5700 capable of dealing with this threat? The intergalactic civilization of which Earth is a part has no contact with the Green Lantern Corps of that age? Having Hal taken into the future to a specific era for adventures he knows nothing about is an interesting idea, but I think the execution needed a bit more work.

[andersonh1]

Green Lantern #9
November-December 1961

The Battle of the Power Rings!
Green Lantern #9 is Sinestro's second appearance in the series, and the first time he uses his yellow ring. If any of you remember when Guy Gardner used Sinestro's ring during the 90s, one of the ongoing plot points was that Guy had to figure out how to charge up the yellow ring, and he finally figured out that it powers up by absorbing the energy of Green Lantern rings. That goes back to this very issue, where Sinestro's whole plot to attack the Guardians revolves around first trailing Hal Jordan in disguise and slowly charging up his yellow power ring, then trapping Hal on Earth, diguising himself as Hal and taking his place at the first ever meeting of multiple Green Lanterns. He creates a fake menace and then takes even more Green energy before heading for Oa to attack the Guardians.

The meeting of the Green Lanterns implies that it's every one of them, but there are only about a dozen present, so clearly the concept of the Corps is still evolving. But it looks like even at this early stage the writers were starting to realize that a lot of what made GL unique and gave it such potential was the possibility of drama in space with the politics of the Corps, rather than simply having Hal on Earth all the time like most other super heroes of the era. The issue even takes the time to name and describe a few GLs, including Chaselon and the one-eyed tentacled GL whose name escapes me. No Kilowog though, and I don't think we'll see him for a long time.

Meanwhile Hal has managed to free himself and travels to Oa, where he takes on Sinestro and ultimately manages to beat him by overloading the yellow ring with power, causing it to explode. We get to see the first ever shot of multiple Green Lanterns charging up at the central power battery while the Guardians look on. They imprison Sinestro in a cell made of the green energy and shoot him into an orbit "that will take billions of years to circle the universe". Yeah, he's not going to escape that...

Issue 100 of GL volume 3 where Kyle travels back in time and meets a young Hal Jordan is set during the events of this issue. In that story he interrupts the fight between Hal and Sinestro and has to help set things right. I think part of Sinestro's backup plan in that story was to crash an asteroid into Oa and wipe everything out, but he's got nothing beyond his (apparently new) yellow power ring in the original story. And to be fair, his plan almost worked. He stayed one step ahead of the GLs and got to Oa, and only the force shields around the citadel slowed him down enough for Hal to catch up with him before Sinestro could attack the Guardians.

Green Lantern's Brother Act
Also in this same issue, since the book is divided into two stories, we get the first appearance of Hal's two brothers. His older brother Jack is running for district attorney, and his younger brother Jim and Hal are both helping with the campaign. Also appearing for the first time is Jim's future wife Sue Williams, a reporter who is convinced that Jim is Green Lantern and keeps trying to prove it. Yeah, shades of Lois Lane here, who Sue even name drops at one point. I think in the present day Jack is dead (killed by Stigimonus when Hal was the Spectre, I think), but Jim, Sue and their two children are still around, and have appeared in a number of Vendetti's GL issues. I like the fact that Hal has a family, which is something I'm not sure we see with all that many superheroes, and that time and various continuity changes haven't erased them.

[andersonh1]

Green Lantern #10
January 1962

Prisoner of the Power Ring!
Hal is test piloting a new jet when he spots an unmarked plane and is reminded that there are smugglers nearby. He follows them to where they land and is about to take them on, when a voice from his ring tells him to stop. Long story short, Physicist Jason Blanding has essentially made the same discovery as the Atom (not mentioned here) and can shrink things to the atomic level. To escape the modern world, he and his family shrink to atomic size and live in "the sub atomic world" in peace and safety, with only their robot servants to help them. The robots begin to malfunction and turn violent, and it turns out somehow that energy from Hal's ring has leaked down into the sub-atomic world and caused the robots to malfunction. Hal is able to reduce himself to the atomic size with the ring (which talks to him for the first time as he asks it about the person he saw inside the ring), stop the robots, and return Blanding and his family to full size.

The Origin of Green Lantern's Oath
In the beginning, when I first received my ring and power battery from the spaceman who crashed on Earth -- I simply charged my ring without any oath at all!

In another early GL oddity, Hal created the oath he uses every time he charges up his ring. Of course, as time goes by the oath will be established as something that all members of the Corps use, but here it's a creation of Hal, and he tells Tom that it came from his first three cases: one where he was blinded by a magnesium bomb used by bank robbers, one where he was in a cave so dark that he had difficulty as a novice overcoming the obstacle, and one where a safe had been stolen from Ferris and Hal had to track it by using the vibrations running through the earth from the thieves attempt to blow open the safe. Inspired by these experiences, he fashioned an oath, added a final bit to make it rhyme, and has used it ever since.

Green Lantern #11
March 1962

The Strange Trial of Green Lantern
Hal is put on trial by an assembly of fellow Green Lanterns due to negligence when it comes to his duties. Tomar-Re is presiding. Hal almost robs a bank, but stops at the last minute, he breaks into a gala but then leaves, and then stands there while a man falls to his death, only to catch him at the last minute. The Green Lanterns find Hal innocent since he didn't actually go through with any of these acts, but he insists they find him guilty. They discuss it among themselves and decide to honor his request, feeling that there is more here than meets the eye. Hal is stripped of his ring and insignia and banished to Qward, where he is captured by Sinestro, who (of course) escaped the prison the Guardians placed him in last time. Sinestro has a mind-control machine he used to influence Hal across the dimensions, but "like hypnosis", Sinestro's ray could not actually force Hal to do anything wrong, and his "better self" won out.

Sinestro claims that he planted the impulse in Hal's mind that made him demand to be found guilty. Sinestro says that both are now renegades and should work together to overthrow the Guardians and rule in their place. Hal refuses of course, and as Sinestro is about to kill him, Hal is rescued by the other Green Lanterns, who guessed at Sinestro's involvement and followed Hal. I like that rookie Hal is outthought and rescued by the more experienced GLs here, though even they are outmaneuvered by Sinestro, who traps them in the yellow dome he had imprisoned Hal inside. Tomar returns Hal's ring to him, and as Sinestro attempts to gas the trapped Green Lanterns and kill them all, Hal figures out how to neutralize the gas and turn it into an acid (Hal really knows his chemistry!), which dissolves a hole in the dome. The Green Lanterns capture Sinestro and put him in a cell on a remote, uninhabited planet under the influence of his own mind control machine.

Trail of the Missing Power Ring!
Hal keeps his power ring in his pocket, but doesn't notice when it falls out a hole in the pocket and a kid picks it up, thinking it's a toy at first. Hal does see the kid wearing it when he exits the bank, but thinks someone must have started producing Green Lantern merchandise. He's busy thinking of his dinner date with Carol at the home of newlyweds Tom and Terga Kalmaku. Tom says that Hal needs a wife himself, and Hal agrees, but of course he's got Carol in mind. It's just then that he discovers his ring is missing, and he figures the boy must have picked up his actual ring. I have to say, this particular story doesn't do Hal any favors, losing the most powerful weapon in the universe like this.

The boy, Billy, is actually able to make the ring work to a limited extent and do things like lift rocks, but the effort tires him out. And when he slips into the quarry he was playing near, he doesn't have enough will to get back out. It's a nice demonstration of just what makes Hal so singular when we see how others have difficulty using the power ring. At the same time, some crooks are breaking into the quarry office to steal the payroll. Hal has tracked Billy to the quarry, but tackles the burglars without his ring when he sees them. Billy can't climb out to give GL his ring, but he's able to summon enough willpower to make the ring fly by itself to the top of the cliff, where Hal grabs it and subdues the burglars, who were getting the best of him. He rescues Billy, takes the crooks to jail, and gives Billy a toy duplicate of his ring as a thank you. From now on, he's keeping the ring on his finger and turning it invisible when he wears it.