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Green Lantern
JSA Presents: Green Lantern
Written by Steven T. Seagle, Tony Bedard and Junior Thomas Art by John K. Snyder III, Dennis Calero, Staz Johnson, Mike Norton and others Cover by Snyder Earth's first Green Lantern, Alan Scott, stars in this new collection with tales from GREEN LANTER
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
73 people want to read
About the author
Steven T. Seagle
498 books51 followersSteven T. Seagle is an American writer who works in the comic book, television, film, live theater, video game, and animation industries.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 17, 2017
JSA (Justice Society of America) Presents: Green Lantern is a collection of crummy comics nobody asked for featuring Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern. His contrived weakness is wood (which is just as bad as the modern day Green Lantern’s contrived weakness: yellow) and his costume is silly. Domino mask? Pfft. Wanker.
Green Lantern fights Solomon Grundy (crap DC proto-Hulk) a lot, as well as some Nazis because WW2, and finally Vandal Savage in a Thanksgiving Parade. Some guy who was once a friend or maybe an enemy Dials H for Hero and turns into a dumbass. Bah!
The book is full of corny writing and bad art and my brain already knows to forget this garbage in the next few minutes. Maybe all seven fans of the Golden Age Green Lantern will enjoy this but that’s it.
Green Lantern fights Solomon Grundy (crap DC proto-Hulk) a lot, as well as some Nazis because WW2, and finally Vandal Savage in a Thanksgiving Parade. Some guy who was once a friend or maybe an enemy Dials H for Hero and turns into a dumbass. Bah!
The book is full of corny writing and bad art and my brain already knows to forget this garbage in the next few minutes. Maybe all seven fans of the Golden Age Green Lantern will enjoy this but that’s it.
March 17, 2021
Originally published in Green Lantern: Brightest Day, Blackest Night, and JSA Classified 25, 32 and 33. This is a solid mix of tales set in the Golden Age and with the JSA title published in the '00s.
The first reprint was a retelling of how the original GL came to Gotham (sort of) and his first encounter with Solomon Grundy. Simply put, it was a needles retcon, but still a good story.
JSA Classified 25 introduced a new villain from the Golden Age and a shady director of the ultra-secret agency SHADE. Pun intended, because Father Time is a poor parody of The Smoking Man and every other government agency !@#$% who shows up on a regular basis. The story does deal with some of the aftereffects of GL helping to run Checkmate when he and Mr. Terrific should have never been a part of it in the first place. I love the idea of Checkmate (and still have the original series), but dropping the JSA into its leadership was never a good fit.
Issues 32 and 33 were a Vandal Savage story (with a Solomon Grundy guest appearance) that should have been a single issue. It poorly dealt with the death of Jade and beat up Alan Scott with the same issues that were resolved back in the 80s with Infinity Inc.
Still worth your time and money though.
Find it. Buy it. Read it!
The first reprint was a retelling of how the original GL came to Gotham (sort of) and his first encounter with Solomon Grundy. Simply put, it was a needles retcon, but still a good story.
JSA Classified 25 introduced a new villain from the Golden Age and a shady director of the ultra-secret agency SHADE. Pun intended, because Father Time is a poor parody of The Smoking Man and every other government agency !@#$% who shows up on a regular basis. The story does deal with some of the aftereffects of GL helping to run Checkmate when he and Mr. Terrific should have never been a part of it in the first place. I love the idea of Checkmate (and still have the original series), but dropping the JSA into its leadership was never a good fit.
Issues 32 and 33 were a Vandal Savage story (with a Solomon Grundy guest appearance) that should have been a single issue. It poorly dealt with the death of Jade and beat up Alan Scott with the same issues that were resolved back in the 80s with Infinity Inc.
Still worth your time and money though.
Find it. Buy it. Read it!
January 21, 2015
This is my first exposure to Alan Scott. I feel I have a good sense of him, where his power come from and his personality. I love the introduction, even if it was short to characters I have never met before. The art in the first story was great, and while typical the rest of the way, still of good quality.
November 24, 2010
This was a good, quick read for fans of the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott. The opening story would be a fantastic intro to the character for those unfamiliar, but other other issues included probably wouldn't be.
August 4, 2017
Gotham's original defender gets the spotlight in this DC Comics collection focusing on the classic Green Lantern, Alan Scott. First up is Brightest Day Blackest night, featuring a 1940s-era tale and the classic cast from the Golden Age comics. A crew of Nazis crash a passenger plane in order to steal a powerful weapon; their landing awakens the undead Solomon and brings Green Lantern into the fray. The next issue is JSA Classified #25, as Alan is called upon to locate a missing SHADE artifact. The Lantern calls upon an old thief nicknamed Johnny Mimic, as the man was capable of duplicating any crime down to the smallest detail. As Johnny loses himself to the crime, and the stolen HERO Dial, Green Lantern is forced to stop both threats to freedom. JSA Classified #32 and #33 sees the JSA participate in a Thanksgiving Day parade, only to be set upon by Solomon Grundy. Neutralizing his old foe, Alan discovers he is actually the target of a Vandal Savage's plot. The immortal seeks to use the lantern energy to recreate Alan's deceased daughter Jade as his own slave; Green Lantern forces himself to battle both Jade and Savage to win the day. This collection feels like an attempt to capitalize on Alan Scott's New 52 reimagining as the Earth-2 Green Lantern, and his new status as a gay icon. The classic retelling is a nice walk down memory lane, but bristles with the anachronistic stereotypes of old. The JSA issues seems to focus less on Alan himself, and more on secondary characters that steal the spotlight. There is also almost no backstory provided for major plot points like the HERO Dial, Vandal Savage, Jade, Alan's age, or event the JSA itself; good luck to new readers trying to make sense of that continuity chaos. JSA Presents: Green Lantern is a nice tribute idea to the original ring-slinger, but needs more light shown on the titular character.
April 8, 2018
A trilogy of stories featuring Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern. The first is a flashback to the 1940s, with a new take on his first encounter with Solomon Grundy; it's fine, but it tries to hit on deeper themes that don't really work out. The second was my favorite of the collection, which has Alan dragging an old foe out of retirement to investigate a super-powered crime with his interesting powers. The third was an OK story involving Alan dealing with the death of his daughter Jade; like the first one, it doesn't quite succeed at being deep. Overall, this collection is just OK. (B-)
January 10, 2018
This book collecting a handful of random Alan Scott stories was weak by its premise alone. Scott is a fantastic character with a long long history of to pull from. These tales don't do him justice. Overall, this doesn't serve much of a purpose.
December 5, 2023
Collected Stories
Brightest Day. Blackest Night: 3.5/5
Johnny Mimic: 4/5
Giving Thanks: 4/5
Ghosts of Christmas Past: 4.5/5
Brightest Day. Blackest Night: 3.5/5
Johnny Mimic: 4/5
Giving Thanks: 4/5
Ghosts of Christmas Past: 4.5/5
January 10, 2017
This book consists of three separate stories starring the original Golden Age/Alan Scott version of Green Lantern. The first story started as a prestige "one-shot" comic and shows Alan Scott during his 1940s heyday dealing with Solomon Grundy and Nazi saboteurs. Of special note is the art in this story. I'm not always a fan of heavy stylization, but this story uses a Deco/watercolor/collage based style that draws on the period its set and is distinct and memorable. The style plays on a light vs. dark motif the text uses to excellent effect. Its likely that because the title of the story "Brightest Day, Blackest Night" is now more strongly associated with the Hal Jordan version of GL this story has been somewhat overlooked, thats a shame because the art and writing really are top notch and I'd recommend it to anyone curious about this version of GL. Trains and shadow feature heavily. A casual fan may be unaware but Alan Scott's exploits centered in and around Gotham City, so any Batman fans curious to see Gotham city circa 1944 may also find this an interesting story to check out.
The second story, though more conventionally drawn still features lovely, almost cinematic, art. and concerns Alan Scott's attempt to redeem an old adversary and solve a mystery. This is set in the "contemporary" version of the DC universe around 2006 and as stated, has some very nice quasi realistic artwork. If there is a unifying theme for the stories its in Alan Scott's status as an "old school/legacy" hero, in particular his status as a powerful and optimistic hero amidst a more cynical environment. Its only a single issue story, but still a pretty nice use of GL. Since Crisis on Infinite Earths, Alan Scott has by and large been treated as the "Superman" of his particular era, i.e. a figure of wonder, power, and optimism, and this story in particular focuses on this aspect of the character. More that the first story, the latter 2 are more dependent on continuity and DC lore so having wiki close at hand may be beneficial.
The third is by far the most conventional art wise. Not bad, save for one or two weirdly proportioned panel, but not very ambitious artistically. That said, this story does somewhat make up for that with some character depth and insight into Alan as a character. This story features some classic GL villains (including another appearance by Grundy, though Im not as big a fan of this design) and as such does feature some fun and festive (its set during Thanksgiving) superhero action, but the center of the story involves the more tragic elements of the character, his being an older and overlooked hero, his dead daughter, his understandable but still unfortunate status as something of an absentee father. Overall this is a good collection for seeing GL as a character. It shows him in his heyday, then as an older character dealing with a more cynical environment, then as a father and legacy figure coping with tragedy. Granted this version of the character is one that doesn't necessarily reflect his complete history, but its still a nice snapshot and the art of the first story alone make it worth checking out. A positive example of how to treat an old school legacy character. Thumbs up.
The second story, though more conventionally drawn still features lovely, almost cinematic, art. and concerns Alan Scott's attempt to redeem an old adversary and solve a mystery. This is set in the "contemporary" version of the DC universe around 2006 and as stated, has some very nice quasi realistic artwork. If there is a unifying theme for the stories its in Alan Scott's status as an "old school/legacy" hero, in particular his status as a powerful and optimistic hero amidst a more cynical environment. Its only a single issue story, but still a pretty nice use of GL. Since Crisis on Infinite Earths, Alan Scott has by and large been treated as the "Superman" of his particular era, i.e. a figure of wonder, power, and optimism, and this story in particular focuses on this aspect of the character. More that the first story, the latter 2 are more dependent on continuity and DC lore so having wiki close at hand may be beneficial.
The third is by far the most conventional art wise. Not bad, save for one or two weirdly proportioned panel, but not very ambitious artistically. That said, this story does somewhat make up for that with some character depth and insight into Alan as a character. This story features some classic GL villains (including another appearance by Grundy, though Im not as big a fan of this design) and as such does feature some fun and festive (its set during Thanksgiving) superhero action, but the center of the story involves the more tragic elements of the character, his being an older and overlooked hero, his dead daughter, his understandable but still unfortunate status as something of an absentee father. Overall this is a good collection for seeing GL as a character. It shows him in his heyday, then as an older character dealing with a more cynical environment, then as a father and legacy figure coping with tragedy. Granted this version of the character is one that doesn't necessarily reflect his complete history, but its still a nice snapshot and the art of the first story alone make it worth checking out. A positive example of how to treat an old school legacy character. Thumbs up.
April 30, 2009
The only reason to own this is if you really can't pick up a copy of the GREEN LANTERN: BRIGHTEST DAY/BLACKEST NIGHT longshot. It boasts some super art which really gives the classic G.L. a great period feel and the story allows for some nice light character vignettes. Just a nice rounded piece of super hero nostalgia driven action.
Then tacked on, for no other reason than an attempt to bulk up the page count for a graphic novel, are three random JSA CLASSIFIED issues that happen to feature the original Green Lantern.
Read
February 4, 2014The artwork and the intro story of the book is fantastic. A good introduction to the character.
December 19, 2015
I love Alan Scott, but this collection lacked a little soul.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews