DC Finest: Green Lantern: The Defeat of Green Lantern

DC Finest: Green Lantern #1

by John Broome, Gardner Fox, Gil Kane (Illustrator)

Collects:
Green Lantern (vol. 2) #19–39
The Flash #143
The Brave and the Bold #59

Genres: Comics, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels

600 pages, Paperback

First published December 3, 2024

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bro...

Reviews

[Constantine]

Great book. I loved reading it.

[Austin Chapman]

More of a slog than some other Silver Age volumes I've read. With Silver Age comics, you have to expect the dialogue and narrative writing to be clunky, and that's what you get here. Comics of this era live or die on the strength of the high concept or the sci-fi gimmick of the story. For some reason, these Green Lantern tales from the mid 1960s didn't preset concepts or gimmicks fun enough to enjoy, with some exceptions.

On the other hand, there are a few interesting elements in this DC Finest volume. One is how these stories present social relations. With the publication dates between 1963 and 1965, you might expect a certain level of racism and/or sexism. There is an Inuit sort-of sidekick for GL who fits a bunch of racial stereotypes but is otherwise depicted as a good man -- not great from the point of view of modern multi-culturalist, but could have been worse, given the climate of the time. As far as sexism: gender roles are pretty traditional here, except that Hal Jordan (Green Lantern)'s love interest, Carol Ferris, is his boss! There are a few other stories with female characters having a certain level of power and autonomy, but the expectations of them are different from what is expected of male characters. Interesting dynamics from an era where gender roles were starting to be challenged more broadly in public.

Another interesting element is something that pops up a fair amount in Silver Age comics. You will often see characters (mostly villains here) breaking the fourth wall and addressing the reader directly to explain their evil plans and dastardly motivations. This phenomenon fits into an overall mode of storytelling that is very explicit about what is going on in the panels. As if you couldn't figure it out for yourself, every page has speech bubbles and thought bubbles explaining actions and motivations. I think most modern readers find that off-putting, and that is why I say Silver Age comics are often something of a slog to read. This is definitely a different kind of relationship between reader and author than what our own culture tends to prefer. I find it interesting not from an aesthetic perspective, but from a historical one.

If you want to read good Silver Age DC comics, I would say go elsewhere -- there are things of interest in this volume, but overall it's not exemplary of the best comics of that time. If you want better DC comics from that era, check out two other DC Finest volumes: "Flash: The Human Thunderbolt" has a lot of cool concepts and gimmicks and uses the fourth-wall thing to greater effect; and "Justice League of America: The Bridge Between Earths" is a great collection that shows the transition from Silver Age to Bronze Age, with some truly wild experimentation toward the end.

[Ángel Javier]

No nos engañemos: en estos cómics no vamos a encontrar coherencia, sentido, continuidad ni nada remotamente parecido. Hal Jordan tan pronto es capaz de crear anillos de poder en serie, como volverse chiquitín, como viajar en el tiempo, leer mentes... cualquier cosa que se le ocurra a Broome; los villanos, por su parte, son capaces de sacarse cualquier cacharro absurdo de la manga, sin explicaciones ni mandangas: cualquier gángster del tres al cuarto puede inventar un cachivache para viajar entre dimensiones; Mano Negra rompe la cuarta pared y habla directamente al público; Hector Hammond crea Guardianes del Universo con el poder de su mente como quien come pipas. Todo vale, con tal de que las historias sean entretenidas, y la verdad es que, aunque a veces den vergüenza ajena, lo suelen ser con frecuencia. Pero, qué caray, nadie se va a comprar este tomo por sus «maravillosos» guiones.

Por lo que picamos alegremente es por Gil Kane, claro, uno de los mejores artistas que jamás hayan agraciado con su arte las páginas de un cómic. Y aquí tenemos a un Kane en principio muy contenido (DC contaba con una suerte de libro de estilo que todos los artistas debían seguir a principios de los años 60) que progresivamente se va soltando el pelo y dando rienda suelta a su enorme talento. Tal vez el mayor problema es que en la etapa recopilada en este tomo no hay, sorprendentemente, demasiada ciencia-ficción. Se trata de historias ambientadas generalmente en la Tierra, lo que puede decepcionar un poco al lector acostumbrado a que el Gladiador Esmeralda se mueva por entornos cósmicos. Pero bueno, Kane es un profesional como la copa de un pino y, como demostró en su memorable etapa como dibujante de Amazing Spider-Man, es perfectamente capaz de mover a sus personajes por la gran ciudad: Kane dibuja igual de bien un coche y una nave espacial, al pobre perdedor de Mano Negra que al terrorífico Estrella Maligna. El dinamismo de sus figuras asombra, parecen a punto de salir de la página. No estamos todavía ante el Kane de Warlock o de Conan the Barbarian, pero se intuye su grandeza en cada una de las viñetas que componen el tomo. En fin, una etapa imprescindible para los admiradores de este clásico entre clásicos.

[Del]

Some really fun, classic silver age stories. They're not as much of a slog if you take your time and read 1 issue a day. Or even half a issue as most have 2 12 page stories.
These stories aren't designed to binge read so taking your time makes it far more enjoyable.

I think this dc finest is better than the flash dc finest which is also mainly written by John Broome. Both are good but with green lantern he has to tackle villains in so many zany inventive ways which leaves you guessing and laughing, where as flash felt far more of a one trick pony as he more or less just spun around the villains to capture them 99% of the time. So the gl issues are far more creative and inventive than the flash thunderbolt finest (flash is still good and worth checking out however)

I think I enjoyed the Gardner Fox issues more, he doesn't write as many but they are very entertaining, Broome is still very solid generally overall and the Gil kane art is fantastic throughout.

Also a word on Hal's sidekick who some take umbrage on his name "pie face" he is a great addition and entertaining part of the gl cast, along with Carol ferris. The name is not as big of a deal as some think it is. In the UK, Dennis the menace has a friend, a white caucasian kid called pie face in the childrens comic the beano, which is just a silly nickname. And that's all it is with pie face in green lantern too.

So overall, highly recommended.

[Phillip Cash]

So I read the first story of the first issue included (#19) and because I wasn't impressed with its reliance on coincidence and deus ex machina, I skipped ahead to #20, which is a book-length Flash team-up. I love the Flash! Too bad this is a dull story with sub-par art. I then fast-fowarded to the first Gardner Fox-penned tale, and yeah, this stuff is just not for me. DNF at 16%.

In the small sampling of stories I read, I noticed multiple recycled story beats. You could argue that this is how the Silver Age was, but I'd argue it was mainly how it was at DC, who were breaking serious ground in the Golden Age, only to be resting on their laurels by the 60s.

Also, totally forgot that Hal had a sidekick of sorts back then, of Asian descent, that he called "Pie Face." Not a great look for him.

[Jo]

I often find it difficult to rate Silver Age comics that I don’t already have an attachment to. DCs Silver Age cape stuff is largely formulaic while often having an inventive little twist each story. I personally prefer the Marvel stuff from this era as the characters feel at least two-dimensional compared to Silver Age Hal. He’s, uh, clever? Tenacious? It’s hard to describe him outside of his power set, and I find that’s true of Barry Allen and even the Silver Age Batman and Superman stuff I’ve encountered. I do think this volume holds up to give to a kid, though you’d have to talk with them about some of the less well aged parts.

[Delta-Charlie2739]

I’m honestly just working towards Hard Traveling Heroes within the DC Finest line. As much as I like the silver age, with all its goofiness, this was only barely enjoyable for me. Yellow radiation, shark people, and alien pterodactyls really wore thin here. It just gets to a point of ridiculousness I can’t stand. Like of course I love it, I’m a big WF enjoyer from this era, but I was more annoyed if anything. I know I come from the big sprawling epic of Johns’ sector, but I just can’t help to compare the two. The only thing I actually liked from here is the Hal-Carol relationship, like I always have.

[Fraser Sherman]

Like any review of Silver Age comics, this is YMMV — they're not to everyone's taste but they definitely are to mine.
The stories are a mix of space adventure, supervillains (Dr. Polaris, Aerialist, Evil Star), romance (will Carol Ferris finally choose Hal Jordan over his Green Lantern identity?) and human interest stories. It's an odd mix at times but with John Broome and Gil Kane on the job (a couple of team-up stories are the work of other authors) it's immensely entertaining. This period is the peak of their work on the series.

[Mike]

I thought this book was just okay. I enjoy reading older stories about the heroes I love, but this one was pretty rough to get through at times. I enjoyed seeing villains like Hector Hammond and Black Hand show up, but there was a lot of inner dialogue that took me out of the story.

At the end of the day, I would recommend it to Green Lantern diehards, but that’s about it. Hopefully, the next DC Finest is better.

[Doug Duncan]

this was a solid book, it was mostly simple stories which is what I expect from this era but after reading the supergirl and plastic man volumes before this, this book felt a bit more basic. I still enjoyed the stories and appreciate this for what it is.

[Matt Fuller]

The dialogue was a little clunky but the art is fantastic and it’s Green Lantern so I give it a pass. More earth based stories in this run than his later space odysseys as they’re still building out the world. Covers 1963-1965.

[Tony Polanco]

I was surprised that most stories took place on Earth and centered around beating supervillains. While I wish there were more space-centric adventures, this was still fun. Now I want to read some Silver Age Justice League stories.

[Erik Wirfs-Brock]

I'm not an expert on DC comics but I've read a decent amount, and this seems like a baseline level of the comics they were putting out- sturdy Gil Kane art and some imaginative villains as a positive, as a negative repetitive stories and Hal Jordan is deathly dull as a protagonist.

[Jedi Master Nate Lightray]

Reviewing the collection. Some (most) of these stories are silly, even if it’s delightfully so. But the DC Finest collection is a great line.