The Green Lantern Archives, Vol. 1

The Green Lantern Archives #1

by John Broome, Gil Kane

When Abin Sur's spacecraft crashed to Earth, the dying Green Lantern used his Power Ring to summon the only man who was worthy enough to take his place. Thus Hal Jordan, jet fighter test pilot, became the new Green Lantern of Earth. This hardcover masterpiece reprints the original tales of Hal as he learns both the limits and powers of his Power Ring and fights against surreal foes such as the Invisible Destroyer and the Giant Puppet. In these timeless tales, we see how an ordinary man begins his journey of becoming one of the world's greatest champions.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Dc Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Science Fiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1998

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

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t become a major Green Lantern fan until I read Geoff Johns GL: Rebirth #1 in 2004 and I was hooked. GL became my #1 favorite DC hero. This was the first time I ever read the OG silver age GL stories by John Broome and Gil Kane and they were highly enjoyable. Kane’s costume design on GL still remains on Hal to this day and is timeless. His pencils on the series were fantastic. Broome’s sci-fi background fit perfectly and my favorite story was from #5 March/April 1961 titled The Power Ring That Vanished” featuring long time foe Hector Hammond.

[Space Dragon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dated, but again the issues was published in the 60s and written by people who were young before WW2.
Still fun to read and i will encourage new Green Lantern or DC comics fans to check these stories out, for the sake of experiencing the history behind the character.

Btw the stories being very thin to modern standards, still had a beginning, middle and you could easily follow what happened just from the art, so it was clearly made by people who knew their craft.

[Stan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at how much various things have changed - attitudes, styles, grooming, etc. The stories are simplistic based on the codes of the day. Essentially a window on the past.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Green Lantern is my favorite super hero and my favorite character has a great origin.

[Nicolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Your enjoyment of this depends largely on whether or not you can get down with Silver Age comics. I tend to like them so there was enough here to keep me interested. The book sinks like a stone whenever the focus shifts to the love triangle with Hal, Carol and Green Lantern. I didn't like it with Superman/Lois/Clark, and it's much worse here.

We discuss this further on an episode of the All the Books Show: https://soundcloud.com/allthebooks/ep...

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

GREEN LANTERN beat them to it. Stan Lee & Jack Kirby are wrongly credited with being the first to build complex worlds for comic book characters, soap operaish emotional lives, introducing families and continuing stories. Julius Schwartz, John Broome, and Gil Kane were there first as proven by this entirely satisfying reprint of the first eight issues to feature this incarnation of the character in stories published between 1959 and 1961. These stories are more satisfying than Kirby and Lee’s for three reasons.

First, Lee and Kirby usually floundered in their first several issues as they tried to find the character and the sorts of stories that would work for him. GREEN LANTERN improves with time, but finds its basic footing in the first story.

Second, Lee and Kirby tended to repeat the same story. A villain gets a super-power, does something bad, and there are many pages of fighting with the hero. GREEN LANTERN plots are more complex. While there are certainly battles, the fights are just one approach to besting the villain. Other problem solving skills are involved.

Finally, Lee tended to trowel on the soap opera like make-up on a model. You can’t see the model’s real face and you can’t see Jack Kirby’s art behind all the world balloons. The emotional issues in GREEN LANTERN are just as juvenile, but they do not slow the narrative to a molasses pace, which is the problem with Lee’s work. After several years, the Lee/Kirby comics did grow richer than DC's, but at this point DC had the edge and by a lot.

In the end, any reasonable person must admit that these are just comics, and more, that these are just kid’s comics. They ain’t Victor Hugo, but they readily achieve their ambition to be really great kid’s comics.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume collects GL's Showcase try-out issues, as well as the first few issues of his own mag. Broome's stories are great, and the art by Kane and Giella are top-notch.

Like most of DC's silver age, the stories are primarily sci-fi influenced, and the love "triangle" between Hal Jordan/Carol Ferris/Green Lantern is pretty swift.

It's nice to see ol' Pieface here, Thomas Kalmaku. In an age where rampant racial stereotypes abounded, Pieface is played straight. No accent, nothing that makes him seem anything other than Hal Jordan/Green Lantern's best friend. No explanation is given for the name Pieface, so maybe I'm missing something there.

[Edward Petersen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little hokey, but all comics at the dawn of the silver age were. Leagues better than Batman Chronicles 1 which was hilariously bad. Probably not the best comparison - I bet the first few golden age GLs were just as bad. If you want to start at "a" beginning for GL, this is a good place. Then skip ahead to the 80s/90s to catch Hal Jordan's downfall, or skip directly to "Rebirth" for his redemption. You'll miss some great Sinestro in the intervening years, but there's plenty from Emerald Dawn forward to enjoy.

[Cyn McDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Showcase #22, September 1959
Showcase #23, November 1959
Showcase #24, January 1960
Green Lantern #1-5, July 1960 - March 1961

Stories are simple but fun, Green Lantern's oath gets ridiculous (I wonder how he feels having to say it *every day*), and the "romance triangle" is exasperating. Also having all the titles end in an exclamation point makes me think of "The Plastic Bag That Flapped!" but that seems to be the convention of the time.

I like Pieface and it's nice that GL has someone he doesn't have to hide his identity from.

[Andrew Lenards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic storytelling, great art (topics a bit dated)