Kevin Budnik covers Justice League of America 1

Original cover by Murphy Anderson; DC 1960. Kevin Budnik's website is here.

John Byrne covers Green Lantern 40

Original cover by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson; DC 1965. John Byrne's website is here. If you would like to commission a drawing from John, contact Jim Warden at capshockeyfan at yahoo dot com.

Sam Mitchell covers Green Lantern

Original cover by George Perez and Dick Giordano; DC 1980. Sam Mitchell's website is here.

Green Lantern #76

Green Lantern #76 (On Sale: February 24, 1970) is an obscure, little-known book of no real importance. Not! Neal Adams provides the cover to this ground-breaking comic with the new Green Lantern Co-Starring Green Arrow logo.

I remember seeing this book on the stands like it was yesterday. Having read the Green Arrow make-over issue of The Brave and the Bold and having been following his exploits in Justice League of America I was hankering for some more Green Arrow, and I was always ready for a new Neal Adams' series. This issue I got both and so, so much more. "No Evil Shall Escape My Sight" is the classic Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams revamping of the ailing Green Lantern franchise that changed the direction of comics for years to come and introduced the word "relevance" to comics.

This landmark issue almost went out with this cover instead, but editor Julius Schwartz passed on this one, perhaps because it looks like Green Arrow is about to shoot Green Lantern in the back. I've seen another version of this cover on-line somewhere which has the Green Lantern figure inked by Adams.

Stop me if you've heard this one before... or not. Green Lantern is in the area of Star City and decides to drop in on Green Arrow to see how he is doing. Once in town he sees a guy in a suit being accosted by "a punk" on the street. Lantern does a little green-ring razzle-dazzle and sends the "punk" off to police headquarters. He then picks the accosted man off the street and dusts him off accepting his gratitude. Then the crowd gives Lantern their opinion of his performance as they begin to pelt him with bottles, cans and other assorted garbage.

Green Lantern grabs the nearest punk and is about to work him over when Green Arrow arrives with the classic lines, "Touch him first, Green Lantern, and you'll have to touch me second...and I'll touch back!--Believe it chum!" "I was almost tempted to throw a can at you myself!" Arrow takes Lantern aside and explains that the accosted guy was Jubal Slade, the fat-cat landlord who owns these tenement slums, and who is now evicting everyone to turn the buildings into parking lots.

Up on the roof of the building, the straight-laced Green Lantern says he was only doing his job and Arrow accuses him of being a Nazi. Then in one of the more powerful moments in comic history an old black man asks Green Lantern a question, "I been readin' about you...How you work for the blue skins.. And how on a planet someplace you helped out the orange skins...And you done considerable for the purple skins! Only there's skins you never bothered with--! The black skins! I want to know... How come?! Answer me that, Mr. Green Lantern!"

This is one of two scenes that everyone seems to remember from this book and regard as its high point, but for me it is the first panel on the next page that makes this scene kill. More precisely, it is the caption of that first panel: " In the time it takes to draw a single breath...the span of a heartbeat--a man looks into his own soul, and his life changes..." What makes this story work and the whole concept of the book work, is that Denny O'Neil is able to give voice to two opposing views through the two main characters, but he is obviously slanted toward Arrow's more liberal views.

In a way, O'Neil turned this book into his own take on Steve Ditko's the Hawk and the Dove, only he is playing the favorite that Ditko never would ever have considered. Arrow gives a powerful voice and presence to the Dove and Lantern finds himself conflicted as the black and white Hawk. The country, certainly the youth of the country, was rejecting Ditko's black and white view of the world and embracing a more humanistic approach. Green Arrow was the perfect tool to bring that view to comics.

Back in our story, Green Lantern goes to Jubal Slade and tries to talk him out of razing the buildings. Slade calls him a "bleeding heart" and has his men attempt to throw him out. Lantern takes out Slade's thugs and is about to open a can of whoop-ass on Slade when the Guardians intervene, telling Lantern to report to Oa immediately. The Guardians are pissed that Hal attacked Slade, who in their eyes, had committed no crime. They send him out to save a moon of Saturn from a swarm of meteors and tell him to wait there for further orders. Tired of doing the work of the "blue skins" and thinking back on the words of the "black skin," Hal disobeys the Guardians and heads back to Earth.

At that moment Arrow is visiting Slade and convincing him that he needs to pay Arrow for "protection." They set up a meeting for later than night for a payoff. We watch the two guns heading for the rendezvous, silencers in place. Seeing a figure in a chair they pump it full of lead, only to find it is a dummy and Green Arrow is upon them! After handling the men, Arrow retrieves his hidden tape recorder, only to find that one of the gunsel's stray bullets has scored a direct hit on the tape and Ollie is back to square one.

When Arrow and Lantern get together, Ollie relates his failure and Hal comes up with a plan. One of the gunmen shows up at Slade's penthouse and Slade erupts, telling him never to come there and wanting to know if the "hit" on Green Arrow was a success, "Green Arrow! Did you finish him? I paid you to kill him...remember?" At which point the gunman turns into Green Lantern and Green Arrow shows up with the District Attorney in hand to arrest Slade.

All that is left is Slade's attempt to get away via a hand grenade he uses as a paperweight, but Green Lantern makes quick work of that and the D. A. takes Slade away. Happy ending, right? Not so fast bucko! There is the Epilogue and the other famous scene from this story.

The Guardians are pissed off at Hall for disobeying their orders and Green Arrow lays into them and Hal in some of the most amazing dialog ever written. For the time it was shocking. "Listen...Forget about chasing around the galaxy!...and remember America...It's a good country...beautiful...fertile...and terribly sick! There are children dying...honest people cowering in fear...disillustioned kids ripping up campuses...On the streets of Memphis a good black man died...and in Los Angeles a good white man fell...Something is wrong! Something is killing us all...! Some hideous moral cancer is rotting our very souls!"

And so Ollie tasks the Guardians to do something about it and after much deliberation they send down one of their own, disguised as a human and together, the three of them take off in a pick-up truck to find America. "Three set out together, moving through cities and villages and the majesty of the wilderness...searching for a special kind of truth...searching for themselves."

This classic tale has been reprinted in Green Lantern/Green Arrow #1, Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told HC, Greatest Team-Up Stories Ever Told TPB, DC Silver Age Classics Green Lantern 76 (#6), Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection Vol. 1 TPB, Millennium Edition: Green Lantern 76 (#5), Green Lantern/Green Arrow Collection HC and Green Lantern/Green Arrow Vol. 1 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

David Tosh covers Green Lantern 49

Original cover by Darryl Banks and Romeo Tanghal; DC 1994. David Tosh's website is here.

Green Lantern #75

Green Lantern #75 (On Sale: January 15, 1970) has a cover by Gil Kane, the last of these we will see for a while.

This issue features "The Golden Obelisk of Qward" by John Broome, Gil Kane and Joe Giella and this is the last pure Green Lantern story we will have for a few years as big changes, and I think we all know what those are, are coming next issue.

After a sales meeting Hal Jordan was supposed to have a date with Olivia Reynolds (last seen in Flash #191) but when she doesn't show Hal switches to Green Lantern and finds her in the hospital with some mysterious illness. Hal tries to cure her using his ring, but it is unable to get through to her but does pick up some strange molecular distortion leading towards her. Against his better judgment Hal takes Olivia's doctor with him as he searches back along the line of distortion as it leads to a dimensional aperture that leads to the anti-matter universe of Qward.

The doctor is tow, Green Lantern traverses the barrier to Qward where they are met by a patrol of the Weaponers of Qward. Hal makes quick work of them, but a second patrol gets the better of him. Only the quick action of a member of the resistance movement saves Hal and the doc. Hal surmises that the Weaponers are zeroing in on them each time he uses his ring, so they hoof it instead and eventually find some wandering troubadours who they overcome and from whom they steal their clothes and instruments as disguises.

Quick bursts of ring power keep them on the right track, which ends up being the city of Qwardeen, where everyone seems to be heading for the great town square where the Chief Weaponer, Kimon has promised to open the fabled obelisk of Rengan the Abominable and reveal the secret he left for a worthy follower to find. Many have tried to open the obelisk over the years, but all have failed, but Kimon has a captive who will assist in opening the monument: Olivia Reynolds!

Hal then realizes that Olivia's illness must have been the pre-teleportation effect as the Qwardians zeroed in on Olivia. Using the force of Olivia's mind Kimon crushes the obelisk, only to find it empty. A recording by Rengan explains that the real treasure were the advances in scientific discovery which stemmed from the efforts to open the obelisk. Hal, doc and Olivia return to our positive-matter universe and Olivia recovers. Hal also sees that she remembers nothing of what happened as she must never know of her own great mental powers.

As Hal recharges his ring he realizes that the power of Olivia's mind is so great it could be used to destroy him. Reprinted in Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 4 TPB.

The letter page has letters from two of my favorite writers back when they were just fans: Mark Verheiden and Alan Brennert.

This issue, for all intents and purposes, marks the end of one of the most honored careers in comics as, except for a most likely inventory Doctor Mid-Nite story in 1972 and an obvious inventory Flash story in 1976, this is the last DC comic written by John Broome, a guy whose career at DC started in 1946 writing the Golden Age Flash, Sargon the Sorcerer and Green Lantern.

I am kind of overwhelmed here in trying to put John's career into a few paragraphs. John Broome started as a science-fiction writer represented by Julius Schwartz, but he soon found his way to comics. He started at Fawcett where he wrote everything from Lance O'Casey to Captain Marvel, but it was at DC that John Broome bloomed.

Besides the afore-mentioned strips, John wrote Hawkman, The Justice Society of America, Ghost Patrol, the Vigilante, Foley of the Fighting Fifth, Jimmy Wakely, Big Town, Captain Comet, Superboy, Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog, The Phantom Stranger, The Flash (from Showcase #4 onward), Detective Chimp, Hopalong Cassidy, Adventures of Charlie Chan, Green Lantern (from his origin in Showcase #22 on), Kid Flash, Star Hawkins, the Atomic Knights, Batman, The Elongated Man, and dozens of science-fiction stories for Mystery In Space and Strange Adventures. He wrote more than 800 stories for DC in all. and he did it while traveling the world.

John left DC about the same time they were kicking all the old-school writers out, but John actually left on his own accord, having tired of the business. He eventually moved to Tokyo where he taught English. He returned to the states in 1998 to attend the San Diego Comic-Con, and you can find a portion of a panel from that con honoring John on Mark Evanier's site. It was one I sorely missed. John Broome died less than a year later, in March 1999,

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Al Bigley covers Justice League of America 1

Original cover by Murphy Anderson; DC 1960. Al Bigley's website is here.

Green Lantern #74

Green Lantern #74 (On Sale: November 26, 1969) has a great cover by Gil Kane.

Green Lantern stars in "Lost In Space" by Mike Friedrich, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. This is Friedrich's last Green Lantern story and it's a pretty good one, uniting two villains and two secondary characters (OK, one of them is also one of the villains) and has a nice feel to it. On top of that we have some wonderful artwork by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson. Good issue this one.

Continuing from last issue which ended with Green Lantern turning Star Sapphire back into Carol Ferris and Sapphire giving one last command before being vanquished, a command that banished Green Lantern to space in his civilian identity and with no knowledge that he is Green Lantern. So, we begin with Hal Jordan floating in space and freaking out! He tries to keep his sanity by remembering what he knows to be true: He is Hal Jordan. He used to be a test pilot. He now has something to do with toys. Yes, he sells toys!

In his pocket he finds a toy spaceship and as he begins to lose his grip on sanity he wishes it to be real, and suddenly it is! Hal knows of only one man who can accomplish that, Green Lantern and so he remembers who he is! As Green Lantern he heads back to Earth to finally tell Carol Ferris who she is. He finds her on the beach and as he nears her she turns back into Star Sapphire. It is the work of Sinestro, who returns to Sapphire the royal gem whom which she obtains her powers.

Together Sinestro and Sapphire attack Green Lantern, whose 24 hours of power suddenly run out. He falls to the sand and Sinestro moves in for the kill. But he has not counted on Sapphire's love for Green Lantern, she only wishes to defeat him so that he will relent to be her mate. Sapphire and Sinestro begin to battle one another in a fight most evenly matches.

Meanwhile Tom "Pieface" Kalmaku wakes up to the news that Green Lantern has been severely injured. Seeing video of Lantern on the beach Tom heads out to assist. Green Lantern on the other hand awakes and seeing Sinestro and Star Sapphire engaged in battle slowly begins to crawl back to his hotel, where his power battery is stashed. The effort is grueling and as he closes in on the hotel steps Sinestro puts up a barrier in his path. Green Lantern collapses, but Tom is waiting in the bushes with the power battery and after a quick recharge Lantern heads back into battle.

Sensing that Sinestro is only a match for him with the added power of Star Sapphire, Green Lantern takes her out first and Sinestro gives up. However, as Green Lantern tries to take him in, he disappears. Green Lantern finds Carol Ferris on the beach and finally tells her that her obsession with him is a dangerous thing, for she is Star Sapphire. She refuses to accept the truth and runs off. Back at Tom's house, Tom says that at least Carol never did anything as Sapphire to land her in jail and Hal agrees.

This story has been reprinted in Green Lantern :The Greatest Stories Ever Told TPB and Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 4 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Teen Titans #25 (On Sale: November 18, 1969) has a powerful cover by Nick Cardy.

The Teen Titans take a dramatic turn in "The Titans Kill a Saint" by Robert Kanigher and Nick Cardy. In an absolute classic art job by Cardy we begin with the Titans and the Hawk and the Dove watching a surgery take place and blaming themselves. Later in the recovery room they attempt to talk to the patient, Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Arthur Swenson, but as they do so, he dies. In shock and tears the Titans are called to the morgue for a meeting of some sort. When the dejected Titans leave a short time later they run into Lilith, onto whom they try to foist some of the blame for Swenson's death, but she will have none of their nonsense and splits.

The Titans think back to how it all began a few hours earlier at the Canary Cottage Discotheque, where they met a dancer named Lilith, who knew who the Titans were even in their civilian identities and asked to join the team. She said her power is that she just knows things, like she knows the Titans will open the door to death tonight. They blow Lilith off and leave running into a peace rally, where Dr. Swenson is speaking. As the crowd begins to get heated, the Titans head for a back alley to change only to run into the Hawk and the Dove doing the same thing.

Back inside they all do what they can to control the crowd but when a man pulls a gun, Speedy, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and the Hawk and the Dove all jump him and try to wrest the gun from his hands. It goes off and the single bullet strikes Dr. Swenson in the head. Speedy rushes them all to the hospital, where our story began. We also learn that when they went to the morgue, they were confronted by the Justice League who told them that they had violated their most sacred duty and that something must be done about it. Superman tells them that they must act as their own judge and jury and Batman warns that if they do not reach a decision by the day's end that the JLA will execute punishment on their own.

The Titans wander the streets, finding themselves eventually at the docks, where they are met by a small boat containing Lilith and Mr. Jupiter, the richest man in the world. Jupiter says he has an urgent government mission that he wants the Titans to undertake, but that the mission may change them forever and may even cost them their lives. Lilith leaves them, saying she knows she is a reminder to them of what has happened. The Titans go with Jupiter back to his estate to hear more.

Jupiter explains that he is in charge of a secret training project to prepare teens for the task of handling the world's problems and asks them if they will join. Robin bows out, saying that he has already committed to college. Though he leaves, the rest of the Titans and the Hawk and the Dove accept and are taken to Jupiter's secret headquarters on the 13th floor of his skyscraper complex, a floor run completely by computers.

There the Titans once again meet Lilith and give up their uniforms and fore go their powers to join Jupiter's secret project. This classic story was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Teen Titans Vol. 2 TPB.

Edited by Dick Giordano.

Green Lantern #73

Green Lantern #73 (On Sale: October 14, 1969) has a great cover by Gil Kane. It is moody and effective.

"From Space Ye Came --" by Mike Friedrich, Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson has some beautiful artwork. After the last few issue where Joe Giella and Vince Colletta butchered Gil Kane's wonderful pencils, it is great to see an inker up to the task. Returning to Coast City Hal Jordan runs into his old buddy Pieface from Ferris Aircraft, who now owns half a dozen gas stations. Later after checking into his hotel an off-shore oil rig explodes and as Green Lantern Hal caps it and cleans up the mess. All the while, people watching from the beach, particularly the women, are digging the Green lantern hero vibe.

When finished with the clean up Hal meets his adoring throng, one of whom is old flame Carol Ferris. Hal grabs Carol and flies way with her for some private time. She explains that she has broken off her engagement to millionaire Jason Belmore because she can't get Green Lantern out of her mind or her heart. Sensing that he is about to fall back into a big pile of emotional drama, Green Lantern abruptly leaves. back in her apartment Carol pulls out a sapphire brooch given to her by Jason. Both Carol and Hal are engulfed in thoughts of love for the other, but Hal decides to talk to Pieface about it only, when he leaves his hotel he finds the oil well has blown again.

Once more he cleans up the mess only before he can return to being Hal Jordan, guests in the hotel are being chased by giant apparitions of famous guests from the hotel's past. While keeping people from harming themselves in the panic, Hal finds himself being attacked by the ghostly faces. As Hal uses his ring to try and determine who created the apparitions they quickly dissipate and are replaced by a very real Star Sapphire.

She explains that she has been creating the problems in Coast City to weaken Green Lantern's resistance so that he will consent to be her regal consort. Hal uses his ring against Sapphire and forces her to change back to her real identify of Carol Ferris. As she feels her identity slipping, Sapphire issues one final mental command, transforming Green Lantern to his other identity and banishing him to outer space.

Hal finds himself floating in space unaware the he is Green Lantern! This is Mike Friedrich's first Green Lantern in more than a year and the next to last one he would write. Reprinted in Showcase Presents:Green Lantern Vol. 4 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Anthony Vukojevich covers DC 100 Page Super Spectacular 6

Original cover by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano; DC 1971. Anthony Vukojevich's website is here.

Green Lantern #72

Green Lantern #72 (On Sale: August 25, 1969) has a cover by Gil Kane.

Inside we have "Phantom of the Space-Opera" by Denny O'Neil, Gil Kane and Joe Giella. I have this book around here some where and will read it soon and give a detailed description. This story was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 4 TPB.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Flash #191

Flash #191 (On Sale: July 17, 1969) has the last of the three brilliant covers by Joe Kubert. This is the least of the three, but it is one of those like Secret Six #1 where the cover is the first panel of the story.

"How to Invade Earth -- Without Really Trying" is by John Broome, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito and begins with a groggy figure crawling around a corner to find the Flash's suit and as the cover tells you, it is not Barry Allen. No, it is Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan and he is surprised as anyone to find the Flash's costume and not his own.

From this point the story backtracks to earlier in the day when Hal is visiting the home of the Barry Allen's, Hal being in Central City on toy business. Iris Allen informs Hal that she has a surprise for him, a beautiful woman who she met while doing interviews for an article on modern fashions for her newspaper. Hal then recounts how he had met another woman in Florida last week and how she had stole his client by employing "the most shameless use of her feminine wiles!" This of course took place in Green Lantern #71 earlier this month and a nice bit of cross-over work by John Broome and Julius Schwartz, something you rarely saw at DC in 1969.

The doorbell rings and the cross-over continues as in walks brazen toy saleswoman Olivia Reynolds. Hal is really annoyed but over a good home-cooked meal he begins to warm up to Olivia and can't believe she is the same woman who went for the "hard sell" in Florida. Hal wonders which Olivia is real when his ring attempts to read her mind to find out. It is an unconscious act which Hal can't stop, but he does manage to turn the mind-probing beam invisible at least. However, for some reason the beam is thrown back at Hal, who yelps in pain. While getting some air he explains to Barry what happened and Barry thinks it might be that the Guardians prevented the beam from reaching Olivia and sent it painfully back at Hal because he was trying to use it for personal gain.

Suddenly spaceships appear over Central City and begin sending out telepathic communications saying they are the Mogrians and the they are taking over the Earth. Barry and Hal change into the Flash and Green Lantern and attack the Mogrians only to be attacked by strange monsters, that look like something out of a science-fiction movie. Something isn't adding up here as the Mogrian's ray-guns are just toys. Just then the aliens link arms and blast the Flash and green Lantern, appearing to disintegrate them.

Inside the spaceship we see a different type of character, an old alien named Glabr, who we learn is from an ancient race know as the Lenglyns, who use the power of subconscious mental giants they call U-Minds to sustain their civilization. Glabr has found a U-Mind on Earth in Olivia Reynolds. It was Glabr who repelled Hal's energy beam from Olivia's mind and decided to distract Green Lantern by staging a fake invasion of Earth using the Mogrian robots he carries on his ship, robots that just so happen chose this time to revolt against their masters and begin constructing machines to build more of themselves.

Which takes us to the opening scene of Hal waking up on a sidewalk to find the Flash's uniform. Just then Barry comes round the corner in Hal's Green Lantern suit, Barry saying he was told where to find Hal by a voice in his head. Glabr appears and tells them what has transpired and that only the Flash and Green Lantern can defeat the Mogrians. But Hal and Barry soon learn that they have been stripped of their powers. Glabr says that the Mogrians do not have the power to do such a thing unless they have already tapped into the power of Olivia's U-Mind. By banding together Glabr, Barry and Hal are able to telepathically locate Olivia being held captive in the spaceship.

They are able to connect with her mind and convince her that she has the power to mentally restore the Flash and Green Lantern's powers, which she is able to do. All that remains is for the Flash and Green Lantern to board the spaceship, defeat the Mogrians and rescue Olivia. Green Lantern uses his ring to remove Olivia's knowledge of what has transpired, a requirement for the Lenglyns to use her U-Mind. They wake Olivia up back at the Allen's house and she is none the wiser where the four of them play some bridge.

The letters page is a real winner this issue, featuring letters by regulars Gary Skinner and Peter Sanderson Jr and a guy named Mark Evanier.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Green Lantern #71

Green Lantern #71 (On Sale: July 10, 1969) has a very simple but very dramatic cover by Gil Kane.

This one is going to be more than just your normal recap of an issue. There are some things about this issue that are indicative of DC Comics in 1969. Let's start with the first of the two Green Lantern stories, "The City That Died!" by John Broome, Gil Kane and Joe Giella. First off, when you look at the excellent Gil Kane cover it is very hard to believe that the interiors were penciled by the same artist. Joe Giella does everything in his power to quash the vibrancy and life right out of Kane's pencils. He is completely unprepared to handle Gil Kane's expressive faces and dynamic, powerful anatomy. Likewise, there is something very wrong with John Broome's script, something essential that is missing, as you shall see.

Hal Jordon visits a school for handicapped children in Solar City while there trying to land the toy account for the Wilson Chain Stores. His boss has promised him a bonus if he can land the deal and Hal plans on turning the money over to the school for their building fund. His only competition is Olivia Reynolds.

Hal pitches his companies line of toys to the Wilson executive but when it is Olivia Reynold's turn she strips down to s skimpy outfit and garners not only Mr. Wilson's attention but his dinner invitation as well. A little despondent, Hal heads off for his hotel, but along the way his car stops. Soon all the cars in Solar City are stopped as are everything electrical. Hal switches to Green Lantern to investigate.

As Green Lantern Hal works the city, providing emergency energy for medical facilities and stopping an armored car robbery, when he notices that even people are now passing out on the streets. Using his ring Hal pin-points the source of the strange power drain, forty miles beneath Solar City. Diving down Hal finds a pit of boiling metal, which, and this is where Broome really lets us down, seems to be the cause of the problem. Hal closes the pit and all is back to normal in Solar City. Wow, this is about as thin a threat as you can come up with.

With the threat to the city averted, Hal learns that old man Wilson, who must of had a great time with Olivia, has chosen her company over Hal's. However, all is not lost as the city wants to give Green Lantern a reward and though he does not accept payment for his services, he makes the suggestion that the money be given to the handicapped children's school. This lightweight piece of fluff was reprinted in Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 4 TPB.

The letter page is interesting in this issue for two reasons. First, it contains a letter by Irene Vartanoff. If you read enough DC comics around this time you know that eventually there became the thought that Irene was not a real person, but was actually a name DC editors used to concoct fake letters and eventually leading to these "Yes Grandma, there really is an Irene Vartanoff" messages after she appeared at one of the early conventions. Second, there is a letter by Don McGregor where he re-plots Green Lantern #68 to include the scene Gil Kane had depicted on the cover. This was of course years before McGregor would write Sabre, Detectives, Inc., Nathanial Dusk, Black Panther or War of the Worlds to name but a few.

This brings us to the back-up story, called a Green Lantern Brother Story, "Hip Jordan Makes the Scene!" and it is by John Broome, Dick Dillin and Murphy Anderson. If that name doesn't tell you something really inappropriate, old fogey stick-in-the-mud and decidedly un-hip is about to be shoved down your throat by DC, nothing will. Some of these people where absolutely clueless about where young people in America were in 1969. It is the annual family reunion of the Jordan clan held at the palatial home of millionaire Titus Jordan and the fun of the evening (Uncle Titus thinks that nephew Jim's wife Sue's new dress looks like a bathing suit, etc,) is interrupted by the appearance of cousin Doug "Hip" Jordan, the long-haired hippie black-sheep of the Jordan family.

Some want Hip thrown out but Uncle Titus says he can't do that because he is family, though he does suggest that Hip take a bath because, you know, all long-haired hippies were dirty in DC comics. Now Sue thinks that her husband Jim is really Green Lantern and demands that he change into his suit and check Hip out. She pulls out a Green Lantern costume from a past year's masquerade party and argues that Jim needs to put it on. The argument is heard through the fireplace by Hip who decides he does not want to mess with Green Lantern and jumps out the window beat a hasty retreat.

Unable to convince Sue that he is not Green Lantern Jim puts on the costume to humor her and takes a run around the house in a pretend search. However, Hip thinks Jim really is Green Lantern and that he is tracking him, so he knocks him out and decides to use Green Lantern as a way to win over the Black Scooter gang he has been trying to join for a while, because at DC all hippies are criminals and gang members. Well, when it is discovered that Jim, Hip and Uncle Titus's Rolls Royce are all missing Hal get into the real Green Lantern costume and locates Jim, unconscious in the back of the Rolls which is just stopping at the Black Scooter gang's hideout (Black Scooter? This is the best Broome could come up with? Scooter???). Thinking Jim is the real Green Lantern they tie a bomb around his neck and give Hip the detonator. Just then the real Green Lantern arrives, but gives up his ring when Hip threatens to blow up Jim.

When Hip reaches for the ring, he is paralyzed, as Hal commanded the ring to do before giving it up. Hal then beats the rest of the gang up with plain fists. Hip and the gang are taken to the police and Jim asks Green Lantern if he will show up at the reunion to prove to Sue that he is not Green Lantern. Later Jim wonders why Lantern did not show up as he stands next to Hal. Really, this kind of crap makes me want to puke. This insulting piece of junk was also reprinted in Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 4 TPB. If you happen to read it, check out the artwork. I don't know how often Dick Dillin and Murphy Anderson worked together, but what a great team they made; I prefer the inks on this story to most of the inking done on Dillin during his long run on Justice League of America.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Green Lantern #70

Green Lantern #70 (On Sale: May 27, 1969) has a nice cover by Gil Kane.

Green Lantern stars in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Earth" by John Broome, Gil Kane and Vinnie Colletta. I remember this one from when I was a kid, as it has one of the strangest solutions for killing a space monster I have ever read. The Guardians call Green Lantern to take out a gigantic creature that eats gravity. OK, I know that gravity is a force and not a thing, but hey, it eats gravity, OK? Green Lantern is attacked by the creature and eventually kills it by making it eat its own shit, or as John Broome put it, "Its own waste product." I kid you not.

But this issue is not just about shit-eating monsters, it's about a toy factory on the planet Ghyra, where the circuitry in a "Hilar-Toy" goes haywire and instead of making people laugh, it causes people to fight. Unable to fix the indestructible Hilar the makers turn it off and throw it away, but it still finds itself "active" and locates a space ship in the junkyard, which it uses to escape. With no plan of where to go, Hilar sees Green Lantern fly by, returning from giving the gravity eater a shit-eating grin, and follows him back to Earth.

After a run-in with the police for jay-walking the Hilar finds a TV studio as a hiding place. There he interrupts the filming of a TV comedy show which brings him to the attention of Hal Jordan (working his first day as a toy salesman). As Green Lantern he rushes to the studio only to find that any attack against Hilar is rerouted back at himself. Some gangsters see Hilar take out Green Lantern on TV and saying that he only wants to make people laugh. They high-tail it down to the studio and pick up Hilar by pretending to find everything he says funny.

The gangsters win over Hilar's confidence and bring him along when they go to rob a train. When Green Lantern shows up, Hilar again knocks him out cold. When he comes to, Green Lantern finds the gangsters' car and begins to take them out one at a time and then turns to face Hilar. Hilar has realized that his "friends" are evil and tries to communicate that to Green Lantern telepathically, but GL is using his ring to create an impenetrable aura around himself. Lantern uses his ring to steal Hilar's gravity and he crumbles like the toy he is.

Discovering that Hilar is just a malfunctioning toy, Green Lantern returns Hilar to Ghyra, repairs his faulty circuits and as he leaves Hilar is on stage and getting big laughs with his "A funny thing happened on the way to Earth" story.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Green Lantern #69

Green Lantern #69 (On Sale: April 8, 1969) has a cover by Gil Kane.

"If Earth Fails the Test -- It Means War" is by John Broome, Gil Kane and Wally Wood. Green Lantern returns from a space mission to find that the police in Evergreen City have invented three new devices to fight crime: a city-wide burglar alarms system, a radar-television to remotely view the crime scenes and a device that remotely traps criminals at the scene. While viewing the new system GL gets to see it in action when an alarm is tripped at the Central Jewelery Exchange. Blue bars are used to trap the criminals inside the vault, but utilizing a strange hand-held device they are able to bend the bars out of the way and escape.

Green Lantern heads out to round up the gang, which is led by the beautiful Kyra, who uses another device to deflect Lantern's energy beams. As he attempts to capture them, most of the gang, including Kyra, disappear, fading away before GL's eyes.

After taking the three captured members of the gang to police headquarters, Lantern receives a phone call from Carol Ferris, who tells him that she is getting married tomorrow and wants to know if there is anything he would like to say to her. Realizing that Carol is in love with Green Lantern but not Hal Jordan, he wishes her the best. He also realizes that he is both repulsed and attracted to Kyra and can't figure out why.

We back-track a week to see Kyra in her real, fairly hideous, alien form on her home-world of Hegor, where she is the leader of a student movement to "uproot the ancient ways of doing thing-- and breathe fresh life into our tradition-encrusted civilization." They have implanted the ideas for three new devices in the minds of certain officials on Earth, devices much like those used by the authorities on Hegor. They plan to go to Earth and commit thefts where they can train against the devices which will be used on their world against them during their revolution, without the knowledge of Hegoran authorities. Earth will become the testing ground for their revolution.

Back to real time and Kyra speaks to Hal through his ring, telling him she is in trouble, but when he follows the energy impulse back to Kyra it is a trap and Green lantern is stunned and captured. With the Lantern neutralized, Kyra and the gang continue with their training. GL is held in place by an alien machine which he attempts to destroy with an energy beam, but the more he uses his ring the more paralyzing radiation bombards his body and he is wracked by intense pain. Figuring he can withstand the pain for a short burst he wills his ring to make a concentrated pain-killer, which he swallows and then waits to take effect.

With the pain-killer in his system, Green Lantern is able to smash the alien device holding him captive and after a quick stop by police headquarters to find the location of the group's current cir me, GL tracks them down and battles them into submission. Once he has them captured Kyra explains their mission, which has been successful and tells him that their time on Earth is over. GL is unable to stop the entire gang from teleporting back to Hegor.

But Hal can't get Kyra out of his mind and realizes that he may be in love with her so he flies to Hegor and locates Kyra, seeing her as she really looks for the first time. Kyra tells him that thanks to the training they did on Earth the revolution was successful and that a coup was possible without a devastating war. Kyra also introduces Hal to Tarkro, the man she is to marry tomorrow. Hal returns to earth, spurned by Kyra, spurned by Carol, he cannot face his job as an insurance salesman and decides a change of careers is in order.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Green Lantern #68

Green Lantern #68 (On Sale: February 27, 1969) has a cover by Gil Kane.

"I Wonder Where the Yellow Went" is by Denny O'Neil, Gil Kane and Joe Giella. Green Lantern pursues a gang of space outlaws into a field of meteors. One of the meteors is made of sulfur. When it explodes Green Lantern is caught in a cloud of yellow gas which allows one of the outlaws to make it to Earth.

Unable to find the outlaw, Green Lantern returns to Evergreen City and is approached by Professor Cally. The man claims to have discovered a filter which will remove the power ring's yellow vulnerability. Green Lantern agrees to test the filter over the next week with promising results.

A week later, while Green Lantern is battling a group of gangsters his ring begins to weaken. Professor Cally then reveals himself to be the space outlaw Commander Calibax, who has discovered that the filter will destroy a power ring over time. Without his ring, Green Lantern is nearly killed. Calibax then threatens Eve Doremus and her father, but Green Lantern is able to beat him using only his wits and fists. After Calibax is safely in custody, the Guardians provide Hal with a new power ring.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.

Green Lantern #67

Green Lantern #67 (On Sale: January 14, 1969) has a cover by Gil Kane and Dick Giordano.

We begin with "Green Lantern Does His Ring-Thing" by Gardner Fox, Dick Dillin and Joe Giella. This book is really Gardner Fox's last work for DC as he has been fired. His first work for DC was in Detective Comics #4, June 1937, a Speed Saunders story entitled "The Mystery of San Jose Island." Fox wrote 1,487 stories for DC in his thirty-two year career. He would go on to write for Marvel for a short time, doing Dr. Strange and Tomb of Dracula. Besides his prodigious comic work Fox also wrote over 100 novels and a number of pulp stories. During a short stint on Batman, Fox created the Batarang and the Batplane and then moved on to create new characters including The Sandman, Starman, Dr. Fate, Hawkman, The Justice Society of America and the Flash. For Columbia Fox created Skyman and The Face.

In the Silver Age Gardner Fox created revamped versions of Hawkman, the Flash, the Spectre and the Atom as well as creating The Justice League of America. In 1968 Gardner Fox, Bill Finger, Otto Binder, and Arnold Drake went to DC and asked for health insurance and other benefits and were summarily fired. Fox spent the last 6 years of his life in the Princeton Medical Center, in New Jersey and died on December 24th 1986.

After being released from prison, ex-convict Bill Baggett travels to Evergreen City where Green Lantern has been operating. He has been improving his will power and when Green Lantern is near, Baggett is able to tap into the power ring. Baggett avoids meeting Green Lantern personally and uses the power for crime.

Green Lantern becomes suspicious after his power ring acts against him. He eventually discovers that Baggett is behind the crimes when he finds duplicate currency which the crook created with power ring energy. Green Lantern traces Baggett with the currency. After defeating the crook, he tries to ensure that Baggett will never be able to steal power from the ring again.

The back-up Green Lantern Corps story, "The First Green Lantern," is by Gardner Fox and Sid Greene. Long ago on the planet Rojira two races existed separated by a lava field. On one side were the warlike Rulanns that were shaped like starfish. The Rulanns constantly fought one another, but their regenerative abilities prevented any side from prevailing. On the other side of the planet lived the peaceful humanoids called the Jirenn.

One day Korad of the Rulann was able to cross the lava field and find the Jirenn. The humanoids were not used to fighting and Korad planned to conquer them. One member of the Jirenn, Rori Dag, stood up and fought Korad. While he was inspirational to his people, he lacked the tools to fight the Rulann.

The Guardians of the Universe observed the events on Rojira and decides to intervene. They gave Rori a power ring and battery with which to battle the Rulann. They told him to use the ring for good and not to kill with it. Rori was able to defeat Korad and return him to the Rulann side of Rojira. He then sealed the gap that allowed the creature to cross the lava field. Pleased with Rori's success, the Guardians made Rori Dag the first of the new Green Lantern Corps.

Edited by Julius Schwartz.