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The Green Lantern Chronicles #1
The Green Lantern Chronicles, Vol. 1
A new series begins, collecting the complete adventures of Green Lantern from his earliest appearances in the late 1950s in chronological order as they originally appeared.
The adventures begin with the origin of Earth's Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, as he inherits the power ring of his fallen predecessor, Abin Sur. Before long, Green Lantern faces strange foes from lost worlds, as well as the deadly Weaponers of Qward, and starts to unravel the mysteries of his own Power Battery.
The adventures begin with the origin of Earth's Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, as he inherits the power ring of his fallen predecessor, Abin Sur. Before long, Green Lantern faces strange foes from lost worlds, as well as the deadly Weaponers of Qward, and starts to unravel the mysteries of his own Power Battery.
158 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
15 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
About the author
John Broome
433 books14 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bro...
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bro...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
October 7, 2016
A little dated, but still entertaining.
July 1, 2011
For the full review (including a pictorial essay, and a word from one of our sponsors), follow the link to That's What She Read.
January 26, 2026
Considering how old these GL comics are, many of them were written in the late 50's, they are actually pretty good for silver age publications. The stories are very simple but still manage to work. One of the reasons they continue to work is that Broome knew his gimmick and stuck to it! I think he decided that the best combination of ingredients he needed to tell a GL story were:
-A random event
-The GL oath
-A complication involving a random yellow object (wow, there are a lot of these! and yes it's incredibly kitsch, but it's also pretty funny when a yellow lamp, and giant yellow space monster are equally dangerous to Hal.)
-A further complication involving Carol or AKA romantic identity crisis.
-Concluded with fun or really really far out power ring solution. (My favorite was the selective brain-damage to destroy a memory)
What's amazing is that all this happens in about 10 pages! So these episodes are fast, compact and make use of a expedited but not unsatisfactory kind of story telling.
I'm all about a story with GL fighting weird yellow space monsters, but what really made this book fun for me was how that in-between flying off, he's off on dates with Carol (as GL!) and going to dances or charity events (as GL!) as if it's the most normal thing in the world. The romance aspect of this comic has that Riverdale vibe that's kind of cute too. Did anyone else not know about February 29th?!?!
Stuff from the Silver Age usually has a heavy dose of cultural cringe and this book doesn't totally get off the hook. Hal has chauvinist body language a couple of fames, but what was really nails on chalkboard to me was, I quote, "Hal's Eskimo mechanic, Pie-face"...
I think they were trying to go for a Green-hornet kind of duo vibe, buuuut. yeah. If it weren't for the cultural ignorance and racism, this one and done story would actually be pretty good.
Ending on a more positive note; Gil Kane's has really nice, classically technical illustrations that make this book visually pretty interesting and didn't fatigue me at all. Kane draws good heroes, monsters, and pretty girls, but special note should also be made of how real his random people in the street looked. No one is just a face in the crowd and those details like receding hair lines, lined faces, double chins, angles of hats etc, really went a long way for me in showing his talent and quality of this 10 cent book! I was also so so so happy to see that Kane was the guy who started to do my absolute favorite GL thing, which is using the power ring for creative solutions. To start it's all pew-pew, blat-zap!, but after a couple of books he's building hammers and cages and other fun stuff to get out of trouble with.
Final result: Enjoyed! Even if I may have MST3K'ed while I read.
-A random event
-The GL oath
-A complication involving a random yellow object (wow, there are a lot of these! and yes it's incredibly kitsch, but it's also pretty funny when a yellow lamp, and giant yellow space monster are equally dangerous to Hal.)
-A further complication involving Carol or AKA romantic identity crisis.
-Concluded with fun or really really far out power ring solution. (My favorite was the selective brain-damage to destroy a memory)
What's amazing is that all this happens in about 10 pages! So these episodes are fast, compact and make use of a expedited but not unsatisfactory kind of story telling.
I'm all about a story with GL fighting weird yellow space monsters, but what really made this book fun for me was how that in-between flying off, he's off on dates with Carol (as GL!) and going to dances or charity events (as GL!) as if it's the most normal thing in the world. The romance aspect of this comic has that Riverdale vibe that's kind of cute too. Did anyone else not know about February 29th?!?!
Stuff from the Silver Age usually has a heavy dose of cultural cringe and this book doesn't totally get off the hook. Hal has chauvinist body language a couple of fames, but what was really nails on chalkboard to me was, I quote, "Hal's Eskimo mechanic, Pie-face"...
I think they were trying to go for a Green-hornet kind of duo vibe, buuuut. yeah. If it weren't for the cultural ignorance and racism, this one and done story would actually be pretty good.
Ending on a more positive note; Gil Kane's has really nice, classically technical illustrations that make this book visually pretty interesting and didn't fatigue me at all. Kane draws good heroes, monsters, and pretty girls, but special note should also be made of how real his random people in the street looked. No one is just a face in the crowd and those details like receding hair lines, lined faces, double chins, angles of hats etc, really went a long way for me in showing his talent and quality of this 10 cent book! I was also so so so happy to see that Kane was the guy who started to do my absolute favorite GL thing, which is using the power ring for creative solutions. To start it's all pew-pew, blat-zap!, but after a couple of books he's building hammers and cages and other fun stuff to get out of trouble with.
Final result: Enjoyed! Even if I may have MST3K'ed while I read.
September 24, 2023
Yeah, yeah, it's funny that Green Lantern's weakness is the color yellow (his ring can't interact with anything yellow). I didn't know that he also has mind reading powers (he can probe people's brains with his ring) or make things, including himself, invisible (by...covering it in energy?).
Fun stuff. This volume is a little repetitive because the first half is when they were trying the character out, not giving him his full run. Once he does get his own series, they reuse some of the same stuff from the showcase issues, only it's framed as "you may have missed this" recollections. Still, some fun and funny stories here.
Fun stuff. This volume is a little repetitive because the first half is when they were trying the character out, not giving him his full run. Once he does get his own series, they reuse some of the same stuff from the showcase issues, only it's framed as "you may have missed this" recollections. Still, some fun and funny stories here.
September 2, 2016
Green Lantern Chronicles collects the first six appearances of Hal Jordan as The Green Lantern, the first DC Green Lantern. It contains Showcase 22-24 and the first three Green Lantern comics. I've been working my way through Green Lantern Post-Rebirth and this was my first foray into comics prior to the current era. These came out 1959-1960 and they certainly show their age. I wasn't sure what to expect from "Silver Age" comics, but I found Chronicles to be repetitive and hokey. The three Showcase issues were essentially, "We have an idea for a new super-hero that we want to test out" so we get a really quick introduction to Hal and then some "monster of the week" episodes. Each issue, we get a series of speech bubbles with an asterisk which leads us to a reminder of who Hal Jordan/Green Lantern is, that he has to recharge his power ring every 24 hours, and that there is a necessary impurity in the lanterns that renders its power ineffective against the color yellow. Every issue, we get a friendly reminder of the basic mythology of Green Lantern. I understand this is because it was a new, fledgling comic series and they didn't want to discourage neophytes from joining in the run, but it gets annoying. The dialog is awkward and the characters are pretty shallow. This is probably characteristic of comics back in the 50's/60's but I'm only used to the more recent stuff, so it threw me off when Hal said stuff like he was narrating his every action and thought to us as if we couldn't see what was happening. It feels unauthentic. It certainly is a sign of the times, but we are introduced to Hal's Eskimo friend name Pieface who's catchphrase appears to be an exclamation of"Fish-Hooks!" We don't meet most of the characters that I expected to; Sinestro, Kiloawog, any one of any importance. We meet Hal, Ms Ferris, and we get a little bit of the Guardians of the Universe. Chronicles was certainly a fun graphic novel that gave me some enlightenment on Hal's beginning and the "monster of the week" issues were interesting, but it just didn't have the character development and mythology I was expecting. I'm hoping Vol. 2 builds on this.
October 1, 2009
An eskimo character nicknamed "Pieface"???
Oh 1960s comicbooks, what will you think of next?
Oh 1960s comicbooks, what will you think of next?
June 10, 2018
You can also read the review on http://pointman74250.tumblr.com/
Book Review: 6-10-2018.
In case anyone is wondering what a guy like me does with his time, that is beside writing, eating, sleeping and annoying the hell of my family (who I love dearly) I like to read and one of the genre I enjoy the most his superhero comics. I read almost every kind of comic there is. And usually most every kind of genre there is in straight up novels too. But superhero comics have always been a staple of my upbringing, every since grandma took me to the drug store in my little town and bought me Todd McFarlane ’s Spider-Man #1 with the gold (not silver) webbing on the cover. I read about seven, good large volumes a month and one of the books I recently finished this little dozy.
Now, I’ve read Chronicle Series of other characters of DC past, a book each for Batman and Superman. While I can say this book measure up to those volumes quite well, I can not say I enjoyed it very much. Aside from the wonderful art that is on display in Green Lantern Chronicle, it was written some of thirty or twenty years after first inductions of Superman and The Batman respectively, and yet it has many of the same flaws in the medium that was still trying to work out the kinks.
As a stable of comics (and naive stereotype) you tell right away this book was written for children (and I read it to so Nah!)
And not just all children in all times but specifically for kids growing up during the decade of the late fifties and early sixties. After all, writers probably had them in mind in terms of product placement and it doesn’t help that people thought of artist and writers of such works constantly telling them they were only in a kids market and so, subconsciously at least, they did just that.
Everyone knows who Hal Jordan is who is a fan of American comic books. The story of an alien who crashes lands on Earth and gives the fearless and strongly willed airplane pilot a power ring of shining green which Hal must recharge it with a battery shaped like a lantern every twenty-four hours. The ring allows him to use his imagination to fight evil and anything Hal can think becomes real. The problem is that due to an impurity in the design of the ring, anything yellow does not work with the ring. If a monster is yellow, the ring can do squat.
And that is the problem of the comics. This idea of a yellow…something appearing in each comic in this collection gets old fast. It was like the art was the man focus of the book, which it is very well done, but in terms of plot its the same story over and over until…well, that’s it.
Another thing, much disturbing, is Hal Jordan’s obsession for Carol Ferris. And I mean obsession!
Whenever Hal Jordan is not thinking about saving the world, which does take up most of this time, he is either pinning, scheming or trying to marry his boss’s daughter.
Ahh…okay.
And the weird thing is Carol is just as crazy. For Green Lantern. Not Hal Jordan. That old story line makes my eyes roll and yeah, it’s a bit creepy. It tells me the mindset of people back in the day who thought about life and sex and gender.
But for all it’s shortcomings, is this a bad book?
No, not in the least. It has, like I said, wonderful art. It’s good to see the hard work of people who truly knew what they were doing and respected their craft. From this panels, it inspired more artists who went on to define their own styles and the decades of comics in which they worked.
You have to read these kinds of books from time to time. You need to see where they stuff you enjoy today come from. And, you even needed to know how people used to think and create, not so much to get better, but simple to see a point of view that is no longer in view.
I can say I enjoyed this volume. But I’m not going to eat a fried egg on top of a pie.
Book Review: 6-10-2018.
In case anyone is wondering what a guy like me does with his time, that is beside writing, eating, sleeping and annoying the hell of my family (who I love dearly) I like to read and one of the genre I enjoy the most his superhero comics. I read almost every kind of comic there is. And usually most every kind of genre there is in straight up novels too. But superhero comics have always been a staple of my upbringing, every since grandma took me to the drug store in my little town and bought me Todd McFarlane ’s Spider-Man #1 with the gold (not silver) webbing on the cover. I read about seven, good large volumes a month and one of the books I recently finished this little dozy.
Now, I’ve read Chronicle Series of other characters of DC past, a book each for Batman and Superman. While I can say this book measure up to those volumes quite well, I can not say I enjoyed it very much. Aside from the wonderful art that is on display in Green Lantern Chronicle, it was written some of thirty or twenty years after first inductions of Superman and The Batman respectively, and yet it has many of the same flaws in the medium that was still trying to work out the kinks.
As a stable of comics (and naive stereotype) you tell right away this book was written for children (and I read it to so Nah!)
And not just all children in all times but specifically for kids growing up during the decade of the late fifties and early sixties. After all, writers probably had them in mind in terms of product placement and it doesn’t help that people thought of artist and writers of such works constantly telling them they were only in a kids market and so, subconsciously at least, they did just that.
Everyone knows who Hal Jordan is who is a fan of American comic books. The story of an alien who crashes lands on Earth and gives the fearless and strongly willed airplane pilot a power ring of shining green which Hal must recharge it with a battery shaped like a lantern every twenty-four hours. The ring allows him to use his imagination to fight evil and anything Hal can think becomes real. The problem is that due to an impurity in the design of the ring, anything yellow does not work with the ring. If a monster is yellow, the ring can do squat.
And that is the problem of the comics. This idea of a yellow…something appearing in each comic in this collection gets old fast. It was like the art was the man focus of the book, which it is very well done, but in terms of plot its the same story over and over until…well, that’s it.
Another thing, much disturbing, is Hal Jordan’s obsession for Carol Ferris. And I mean obsession!
Whenever Hal Jordan is not thinking about saving the world, which does take up most of this time, he is either pinning, scheming or trying to marry his boss’s daughter.
Ahh…okay.
And the weird thing is Carol is just as crazy. For Green Lantern. Not Hal Jordan. That old story line makes my eyes roll and yeah, it’s a bit creepy. It tells me the mindset of people back in the day who thought about life and sex and gender.
But for all it’s shortcomings, is this a bad book?
No, not in the least. It has, like I said, wonderful art. It’s good to see the hard work of people who truly knew what they were doing and respected their craft. From this panels, it inspired more artists who went on to define their own styles and the decades of comics in which they worked.
You have to read these kinds of books from time to time. You need to see where they stuff you enjoy today come from. And, you even needed to know how people used to think and create, not so much to get better, but simple to see a point of view that is no longer in view.
I can say I enjoyed this volume. But I’m not going to eat a fried egg on top of a pie.
December 23, 2023
2.5/5 rounded up for its merit as the origin of Hal Jordan. This is my first Silver Age comic and I just don't think I enjoy them. The pacing is awkward with extremely compact story-telling and oodles of show-dont-tell in the captions to briskly tell a story in a specific amount of pages. It's also very much a product of its time with an Alaska native named Pieface (terrible) and a super pushy Hal Jordan.
I did enjoy some of what I've read. I kinda enjoyed the loose power system as it allows for creative solutions over brute force which the abundance of yellow things also help encourage. The early Carol Ferris romance felt weak though. It felt like acforced romantic subplot to have some continued plot line in the episodic structure. But I do enjoy the concept of the love triangle of Carol Ferris, Hal, and Green Lantern. Ferris’ independence is the best part of her here and the romance diminishes it when it overrides her normal personality. And again, Hal is really forceful. So while the concept is neat the execution is dated and reads bad.
The entire series also seems much more sci-fi and less space-y than I imagined. The original Showcase stories in fact had a bunch of political/corporate intrigue plots.
I did enjoy some of what I've read. I kinda enjoyed the loose power system as it allows for creative solutions over brute force which the abundance of yellow things also help encourage. The early Carol Ferris romance felt weak though. It felt like acforced romantic subplot to have some continued plot line in the episodic structure. But I do enjoy the concept of the love triangle of Carol Ferris, Hal, and Green Lantern. Ferris’ independence is the best part of her here and the romance diminishes it when it overrides her normal personality. And again, Hal is really forceful. So while the concept is neat the execution is dated and reads bad.
The entire series also seems much more sci-fi and less space-y than I imagined. The original Showcase stories in fact had a bunch of political/corporate intrigue plots.
July 11, 2024
I bought this on a whim, and was pleasantly surprised to find that Gil Kane did the artwork. His artwork was nowhere near the grandeur he would achieve in the late '60s and early '70s, but it's like listening to an early Beatles album; all of the ingredients are there, but haven't simmered enough yet. John Broome's writing has a fun, zany flavor that could only come out of the Silver Age of Comics. A lot of the faulty science that makes the Silver Age so funny is in play here. I mean, his Power Ring can't affect anything that is yellow? I am sure that some writer in the last 50 years has addressed this with a better explanation. I'll have to wait for the Chronicles line to get there to find out, though.
February 25, 2025
Glad to see that Hal Jordan has never changed from how he was in the 1960s. There’s something so magical about watching this man not use his brain and create a senti monster to get out of being asked to be married by Carol Ferris.
I love to see Tom, except I hate the constant racism. It is fun to see that he was the first and only person to realize that Hal and Green Lantern were the same.
Can’t wait to see Carrol Farris actually become a real person and not should I marry Green Lantern or Hal Jordan
There’s also another funny thing with so many atomic missiles being launched in stock piled what was the 1960s on?
“Humans everywhere are important for all other humans” you’re so right Hal
I love to see Tom, except I hate the constant racism. It is fun to see that he was the first and only person to realize that Hal and Green Lantern were the same.
Can’t wait to see Carrol Farris actually become a real person and not should I marry Green Lantern or Hal Jordan
There’s also another funny thing with so many atomic missiles being launched in stock piled what was the 1960s on?
“Humans everywhere are important for all other humans” you’re so right Hal
December 8, 2019
No hard feelings, Hal Jordan. But your initial stories were a bit lackluster, and random. Little cohesion. 'One moment, I need to stop a giant puppeteer--he's got a ray gun. Now, I need to travel to Qward and stop the Weaponers.' Okay, but how'd you get back home? Also, you were feeling out your powers. I don't fault you for being able to do things your power ring later shows no signs of doing--pulling out memories from people's minds, making you turn invisible, etc.
February 8, 2025
It’s kinda fun seeing the first issues of Green Lantern and how he got his start. But to honest, you really have to put into context that this is written in the 50’s. If this was today, Hal Jordan would’ve been MeToo’d BADLY. :/
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August 6, 2021POSSIBLY read in 2009
March 13, 2023
As primeiras histórias dos personagens sempre são estranhas mas com certeza têm um charme inconfundível.
September 4, 2016
This collection of various gems (some really good, some generally appreciated in the golden age) is a fun treat with the start of a GREAT story. This is new news to me. I've never read a Green Lantern comic and what got me interested was the recently cancelled Green Lantern: The Animated Series. Whenever I get interested in a comic book character, I like to start from the roots (or close to them anyway) to get an understanding of how the creator perceived his/her own character.
Now, this was the Golden Age of comics in which superheroes were extremely popular--it was also the early sixties, so things like blue cavemen from Venus and "golly, gee-wizzes" are the norm of a superhero's life and there is quite a bit of that here. But it's almost as if the writers felt like they had to write that way 1: It was primarily meant for kids, and 2: That's how superheroes and good-doers were always perceived from the buyers so that's what sold big at the time.
Despite the nostalgic terms and behavior, there are some good stories here with sad moments such as one where a likable character sacrifices himself to save Green Lantern as well as the opening issue where Abin-Sur's death scene commences. I really connected with moments like those because they were moments of reality (things like "everyone dies") in a bright, colorful fantasy.
I'm really interested and excited to see where this goes and how this character evolves. I know now for sure, I am a Green Lantern fan forever.
Now, this was the Golden Age of comics in which superheroes were extremely popular--it was also the early sixties, so things like blue cavemen from Venus and "golly, gee-wizzes" are the norm of a superhero's life and there is quite a bit of that here. But it's almost as if the writers felt like they had to write that way 1: It was primarily meant for kids, and 2: That's how superheroes and good-doers were always perceived from the buyers so that's what sold big at the time.
Despite the nostalgic terms and behavior, there are some good stories here with sad moments such as one where a likable character sacrifices himself to save Green Lantern as well as the opening issue where Abin-Sur's death scene commences. I really connected with moments like those because they were moments of reality (things like "everyone dies") in a bright, colorful fantasy.
I'm really interested and excited to see where this goes and how this character evolves. I know now for sure, I am a Green Lantern fan forever.
December 5, 2010
1959, an interesting time in the development of hero comics. Green Lantern is a player, dating the most beautiful women in Coast city. Batman didn't do that; he was too busy fighting crime all night to be squiring lovelies to hot night clubs in his costume. On the other hand, GL has a similar situation with his lady love as Superman. Lois Lane and Carol Ferris could be twins; both have beauty, brains, ambition but are petulant, self centered and high maintenance. the story lines are clearly influenced by the science fiction golden age in which they were written. Aliens have a much bigger role than gangsters. the art is slick, vivid and gorgeous. the color palate is adventurous perhaps because you have the green and yellow aspect to story. I had forgotten the particular pleasure of this hero, his vulnerability to color yellow. his power has 2 limits, 24 hour time limit and it doesn't work on anything yellow. the writers are particularly skillful at inventing surprising uses of yellow in the villans and in the ways GL must cleverly get around direct contact. But how long before that gets old? He's a little more like Batman than Superman in his problem solving because yellow is more common than kryptonite.
June 11, 2018
What can it be said? This was truly remarkable.
DC Comic fans know that the Green Lantern has been around since the Golden Age of Comic books in the 1930's. But what some people don't get is that though much loved, the comic had been rebooted to become even greater when DC Comics had united its heroes under something better. In this case it made the hero's power ring into an intergalactic power based upon will instead of magic.
Starting the whole thing would be Harold "Hal" Jordan, a test pilot whose simulator came to life to find a dying alien who entrusted his ring of power to become an intergalactic officer of the law. These are the first stories of Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern and they are truly marvelous.
As great as reading Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman's origin stories, Green Lantern begins small but eventually leads to him becoming one of the greats in the Justice League. From finding the ring, to learning of its limitations, his romance with Carol Ferris and his friendship with Tom Kalmaku.
Its a nice start. C
DC Comic fans know that the Green Lantern has been around since the Golden Age of Comic books in the 1930's. But what some people don't get is that though much loved, the comic had been rebooted to become even greater when DC Comics had united its heroes under something better. In this case it made the hero's power ring into an intergalactic power based upon will instead of magic.
Starting the whole thing would be Harold "Hal" Jordan, a test pilot whose simulator came to life to find a dying alien who entrusted his ring of power to become an intergalactic officer of the law. These are the first stories of Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern and they are truly marvelous.
As great as reading Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman's origin stories, Green Lantern begins small but eventually leads to him becoming one of the greats in the Justice League. From finding the ring, to learning of its limitations, his romance with Carol Ferris and his friendship with Tom Kalmaku.
Its a nice start. C
May 4, 2021
I don't know what it is about these old Green Lantern comics, but I'm really quite taken with them. Golden and Silver Age comics aren't something I dip into often, but Green Lantern has always been an exception. There's a big nostalgia factor here since I read these around the time the Ryan Reynolds movie came out, I admit.
It's odd, but I thought this volume was really funny? Hal can do all kinds of crazy things with the ring that you don't see in modern Green Lantern comics, like turn himself invisible and phase through walls. Carol's pursuit of Green Lantern also kind of cracks me up. Girlfriend is ready to marry him! I can't help but feel a little bad for Hal - the guy just wants her to like him for him and not because he's Green Lantern.
I still love the volume, but I feel that I have to mention the one issue (and many other people) have with these early GL comics. There's a supporting character, who is Asian, and his name is literally a racial slur. I won't repeat it here and I'm not going to harp on it, but I thought it merited attention in case that is a complete deal breaker for anyone thinking about reading the volume.
It's odd, but I thought this volume was really funny? Hal can do all kinds of crazy things with the ring that you don't see in modern Green Lantern comics, like turn himself invisible and phase through walls. Carol's pursuit of Green Lantern also kind of cracks me up. Girlfriend is ready to marry him! I can't help but feel a little bad for Hal - the guy just wants her to like him for him and not because he's Green Lantern.
I still love the volume, but I feel that I have to mention the one issue (and many other people) have with these early GL comics. There's a supporting character, who is Asian, and his name is literally a racial slur. I won't repeat it here and I'm not going to harp on it, but I thought it merited attention in case that is a complete deal breaker for anyone thinking about reading the volume.
May 22, 2012
Since I am a large fan of green lantern this was a great read. The whole setup of how an ordinary human gains alien powers from a small ring is just very interesting. Hal Jordan has an alien encounter with a creature from the green lantern corps. He learns to embrace his fear while overcoming a new world that no ordinary human can imagine. It makes fantasy seem so desirable. The whole theme of a person being the chosen one especially from another galaxy being chosen makes this book a lot better. If you are a dc fan read this for all those marvel fans out there I would pick up a spiderman book.
August 31, 2016
While the opening issues (and early appearances) of The Green Lantern are a little cheesy for a modern reader, there's a lot to like in this collection. The writing is on par for the era — simplistic, a little cheesy, and frustratingly repetitive. (How many times can the Green Lantern go to another planet to save a human-like species from some sort of monster that is yellow?) But the value in this is the beautiful psychedelic art. The colors are incredible (especially for the printing processes used at the time). The characters are often in bland, stock poses, but the coloring and odd cityscapes really save it.
August 29, 2012
The Silver Age of Comics at its finest. Sure, it's a bit cheesy now and then, but that's all part of the fun. I sometimes miss that in today's comics. Oh, and the artwork is fantastic!
Growing up on Marvel Comics my knowledge of the DC universe (aside from The Batman) is really quite limited. Green Lantern has always seemed like a fun charactor and a good start to expanding that knowledge.
Growing up on Marvel Comics my knowledge of the DC universe (aside from The Batman) is really quite limited. Green Lantern has always seemed like a fun charactor and a good start to expanding that knowledge.
February 20, 2015
I'm giving this two stars just for the nice, classic Silver Age art. Otherwise, it's a one star affair with terrible writing. Yes, the late '50s and early '60s were a different era, but these characters are horribly written, from the one-note sexist portrayal of Carol Ferris to the one-note portrayal of Hal Jordan. And then there's Pieface the eskimo. Some nice looking art, but nothing else to brag about.
July 16, 2010
I think I was most surprised at how early the Weaponers of Qward came in to the mythology. A wonderful read, and incredibly interesting in light of wheee Geoff Johns has taken the mythology in the current run of the book.
November 17, 2011
This was a pretty fun read. I'm not much for the old school comics, I think I've gotten too used to the modern more mature/darker tone that comics have taken on. But, I enjoyed some classic Green Lantern. Even if Hal Jordan resembles Jimmy Stewart.
January 11, 2010
This is hilariously cheesy. But artful, in its way; and, very informative about the mores & standards of its time.
June 22, 2011
114 out 204 on my all time book list
November 11, 2011
i can see now why hes considered second rate superhero.
July 18, 2011
The stories are far from great, but for nostaligia it gets a three.
Oh for the days when Green Lantern's biggest problems were getting in and out of dates with Carol Ferris!
Oh for the days when Green Lantern's biggest problems were getting in and out of dates with Carol Ferris!
January 26, 2012
Classic Green Lantern. Pretty good volume.
February 25, 2014
Well it's the beginning of Green Lantern as we know it. It's actually really enjoyable, if you let the writing just kind of slide. It was the 60s after all. If you like ol' GL I say give this a look.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews