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Showcase Presents: Green Lantern #4
Showcase Presents: Green Lantern, Vol. 4
Nearly 400 pages of classic super hero adventure are collected in this value-priced volume! Green Lantern - a.k.a. test pilot Hal Jordan - battles evil as a member of the star-spanning Green Lantern Corps. In this new
SHOWCASE PRESENTS volume, the Emerald Gladiator takes on some of his greatest foes, including Sinestro and Star Sapphire, and meets his predecessor, the Green Lantern of the 1940s.
SHOWCASE PRESENTS volume, the Emerald Gladiator takes on some of his greatest foes, including Sinestro and Star Sapphire, and meets his predecessor, the Green Lantern of the 1940s.
390 pages, Paperback
First published June 16, 2009
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74 people want to read
About the author
Dennis O'Neil
1,757 books276 followers
Dennis "Denny" O'Neil
was a comic book writer and editor best known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until his retirement.
His best-known works include Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Batman with Neal Adams, The Shadow with Michael Kaluta and The Question with Denys Cowan. As an editor, he is principally known for editing the various Batman titles. From 2013 unti his death, he sat on the board of directors of the charity The Hero Initiative and served on its Disbursement Committee.
His best-known works include Green Lantern/Green Arrow and Batman with Neal Adams, The Shadow with Michael Kaluta and The Question with Denys Cowan. As an editor, he is principally known for editing the various Batman titles. From 2013 unti his death, he sat on the board of directors of the charity The Hero Initiative and served on its Disbursement Committee.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 29, 2014
This is definitely an improvement over the first three volumes of Green Lantern's adventures.
There seems to be a fresher self-awareness on the Green Lantern mystique. Ok, it's not super exciting that he switches his Hal Jordan career from an insurance salesman to a toy salesman, but I think it was an effort to make his job less integral to his story and to make him seem like a nicer guy. Both of which worked well. And we see him struggle with Eve Doremus, Carol Ferris and the less racist "pieface" eskimo as he balances real life with super hero life.
There were some clever plays off of Green Lantern and his powers. Like this really elaborate Dennis O'Neil story about a filter designed to solve the "green lantern can't fight yellow rays". But the yellow filter is a trap. And other stories that similarly create mysteries within the GL mythos, and most importantly, keep the action fresh.
Even less inventive stories are still fast paced, which is good. Even Gardner Fox and John Broome, as they write the last GL stories of their cheesy careers, play against expectations and throw in elements of time travel, deception, intergalactic war/crime, all kinds of stuff. It's simply a fun read.
Every Dennis O'Neil story is awesome, he just for some reason is overlooked a lot by Fox, Broome, and Mike Friedrich, not as great. The art by Gil Kane is even better than it had been for the last two volumes. Dick Dillin is inconsistent and decent like most of his other art works for DC. I really like the work Mike Sekowsky did in a brief run of issues, very clean and well put together.
There is no stand out "this is the GL story I tell my friends about", but they're all fast, fun, and full of interesting complex details that GL is always managing to get himself in with his star spanning ring.
It's a good read. 5/5
There seems to be a fresher self-awareness on the Green Lantern mystique. Ok, it's not super exciting that he switches his Hal Jordan career from an insurance salesman to a toy salesman, but I think it was an effort to make his job less integral to his story and to make him seem like a nicer guy. Both of which worked well. And we see him struggle with Eve Doremus, Carol Ferris and the less racist "pieface" eskimo as he balances real life with super hero life.
There were some clever plays off of Green Lantern and his powers. Like this really elaborate Dennis O'Neil story about a filter designed to solve the "green lantern can't fight yellow rays". But the yellow filter is a trap. And other stories that similarly create mysteries within the GL mythos, and most importantly, keep the action fresh.
Even less inventive stories are still fast paced, which is good. Even Gardner Fox and John Broome, as they write the last GL stories of their cheesy careers, play against expectations and throw in elements of time travel, deception, intergalactic war/crime, all kinds of stuff. It's simply a fun read.
Every Dennis O'Neil story is awesome, he just for some reason is overlooked a lot by Fox, Broome, and Mike Friedrich, not as great. The art by Gil Kane is even better than it had been for the last two volumes. Dick Dillin is inconsistent and decent like most of his other art works for DC. I really like the work Mike Sekowsky did in a brief run of issues, very clean and well put together.
There is no stand out "this is the GL story I tell my friends about", but they're all fast, fun, and full of interesting complex details that GL is always managing to get himself in with his star spanning ring.
It's a good read. 5/5
January 14, 2014
These stories appeared in print just before I started to read the character, with the next issue, Green Latern/Green Arrow #76... It's fun to see what I missed. Artist Gil Kane had grown into the explosive storyteller of his later career, having drawn most issues up to this point. Jack Sparling and Mike Sekowsky draw individual fill-in issues in this volume, and the many scripters in editor Julius Schwartz's stable are on display. The last writing of creator John Broome and the great Gardner Fox appear here, and early writing by Mike Friedrich and Denny O'Neil. This was a generational change of the guard, though not as quick as I later believed.
There are stories in comics fandom of how these elder writers, including, I thought, Bill Finger and Arnold Drake, but this is off the top of my head, went to DC management seeking a deal for health benefits, which freelancers did no receive. Instead, DC put the younger writers to work, who came up like Friedrich from fandom's ranks. If anyone can supply the sources for this, by all means add it in a note. I recall Denny O'Neil telling it somewhat this way in later interviews.
Great things would come, in the next period of O'Neil and Neil Adams portraying a down-to-earth GL teamed with Green Arrow; but the space-opera superheroics in this volume are fun, too.
Special props to the inkers in this volume, the fine Murphy Anderson, Sid Greene, and Joe Giella. The first two are my favorites, from many years appearance in Schwartz-edited titles like Strtange Adventures and Mystery in Space. I come to appreciate Giella more these days, kind of like an old song, though I always felt his quick ink line obscured the art. We've all mellowed.
Recommended: I love DC's Showcase Presents B&W volumes.
There are stories in comics fandom of how these elder writers, including, I thought, Bill Finger and Arnold Drake, but this is off the top of my head, went to DC management seeking a deal for health benefits, which freelancers did no receive. Instead, DC put the younger writers to work, who came up like Friedrich from fandom's ranks. If anyone can supply the sources for this, by all means add it in a note. I recall Denny O'Neil telling it somewhat this way in later interviews.
Great things would come, in the next period of O'Neil and Neil Adams portraying a down-to-earth GL teamed with Green Arrow; but the space-opera superheroics in this volume are fun, too.
Special props to the inkers in this volume, the fine Murphy Anderson, Sid Greene, and Joe Giella. The first two are my favorites, from many years appearance in Schwartz-edited titles like Strtange Adventures and Mystery in Space. I come to appreciate Giella more these days, kind of like an old song, though I always felt his quick ink line obscured the art. We've all mellowed.
Recommended: I love DC's Showcase Presents B&W volumes.
May 1, 2010
Compilation of DC Comic's most under appreciated superhero, Green Lantern, during the psych era (1967-1969). You would think the stories would be trippier to fit in with the times, but ironically the stories are more Earth-bound than ever. Hal Jordan trades in his jet pilot job for one as an insurance investigator, and if that isn't bad enough, gets awful Mike Sekowsky to pencil his adventures.
Things pick up a tad when Carol Ferris re-enters the scene striking back as Star Sapphire, but overall, this is a very sad collection barely redeemed by the return of Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson at the drawing board. For completists only.
Things pick up a tad when Carol Ferris re-enters the scene striking back as Star Sapphire, but overall, this is a very sad collection barely redeemed by the return of Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson at the drawing board. For completists only.
May 24, 2013
This volume of Showcase Presents Green Lantern while featuring some great artwork from Gil Kane (including one story inked by the late, great Wally Wood), Dick Dillin and Mike Sekowsky, has some of the lamest sixties' stories. This was the low period in DC Comics (well, one of them, anyway) between the Go-Go checked covers and the relevant period that started when Neal Adams took over the art on Green Lantern/Green Arrow (and Denny O'Neil was given more of a free rein with the story content) with what would have been the next issue after the last reprinted in this book.
The book's description is a bit off as well. The only real member of GL's rogue's gallery that appears is Hector Hammond, who at the time was both big-headed and paralyzed. The Lamplighter makes one of his only appearances, and there's a guy who can control Hal Jordan's Power Ring by the force of his own will whenever Hal's actually using it. There's a couple tales that follow the stale-even-then storyline of an alien who comes to Earth/inept guy with powers, is able to beat up GL almost by accident, and then is used by a group of criminals. The Fantastic Four did this kind of tale best with the original Impossible Man and "Infant Terrible" stories, and it doesn't work all that well here.
At least this book wasn't labelled "Essential" or anything like that, so no advertising laws were broken.
The book's description is a bit off as well. The only real member of GL's rogue's gallery that appears is Hector Hammond, who at the time was both big-headed and paralyzed. The Lamplighter makes one of his only appearances, and there's a guy who can control Hal Jordan's Power Ring by the force of his own will whenever Hal's actually using it. There's a couple tales that follow the stale-even-then storyline of an alien who comes to Earth/inept guy with powers, is able to beat up GL almost by accident, and then is used by a group of criminals. The Fantastic Four did this kind of tale best with the original Impossible Man and "Infant Terrible" stories, and it doesn't work all that well here.
At least this book wasn't labelled "Essential" or anything like that, so no advertising laws were broken.
November 17, 2009
It's no wonder to me that in 1970, Green Lantern was about to get axed from the DC universe due to poor sales. The sixteen issues contained in this volume, which do not even add up to 400 pages, putting this well shy of the Showcase line's previous minimum 500, are mostly awful. After the amazingly dark turn that volume 3 took, i had expected these stories to continue in that vein. Instead they bumble off into the realm of half-thought-out kids' stories that seem based on the kind of b-movies oft lampooned by Mystery Science Theater 3000. Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern, becomes more and more a glorification of misogyny and all-around machismo than he was in the late 50s. The character is becoming harder and harder to like. It's a good thing i know that the next volume begins the award-winning crossover series with Green Arrow. I know that Green Lantern vol. 5 (or Green Lantern/Green Arrow vol. 1, whichever way they decide to number it...i'm hoping for simply GL vol. 5) will delve into heavier subject matter and take on social and political issues of the 70s. I'm very excited for that, because this was crap.
July 10, 2009
Volume 4 of the Green Lantern Showcase series is another fine work from the DC archives. If you've enjoyed the previous volumes, this one will suit you just fine. Its shorter than the others since it stops short of the issue where Green Arrow joined the series, and while there are no slackers in the artwork, the late, great Gil Kane is not as well-represented as he was before this. The other artists aren't by any stretch bad, but they lack Kane's ability to give grace to his flying characters.
October 22, 2009
A flavour of Green Lantern stories originally published from 1968 to 1970, which sometimes shows.
Fun but nothing spectacular.
Fun but nothing spectacular.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews