Issue: Green Lantern #83Title: "and a Child Shall Destroy Them!"
Credits: Denny O'Neil (scripts) Neal Adams (cover,art)
Cover Date: Apr-May 1971
Synopsis: As an old man and his granddaughter are walking down the street, a young woman bumps into them. She apologizes, but the old man is incensed, and tells his granddaughter to punish her. Suddenly, the woman falls to the ground in pain...
Green Arrow, Green Lantern and Black Canary drive to a secluded private school. Dinah has taken a job there as the phys ed teacher, a move she hopes will get her life back on track.
They're greeted by the cook, Grandy, and his granddaughter, Cybil (who we've already seen before...). Soon they're introduced to a man named Jason Belmont, who owns the school. He greets them warmly, but Grandy insults the heroes.
Outside, Ollie and Hal find a strange woman hanging around their car. They approach cautiously, only to find the woman is in a wheel chair, and none other than Carol Ferris! It turns out she was the woman the little girl attacked previously, an attack which has left her paralyzed from the waist down. Jason Belmont is her fiance, and she fears he is in danger.
Ollie, Hal, and Carol decide to drive into town to contact the authorities. Suddenly, the building starts to shake itself to pieces! Hal manages to save them with his ring, but the car is destroyed. With one weird incident too many, the trio decide to head back to the school to get Dinah.
Meanwhile, Dinah lets her class out a few minutes early, as she muses on the fact that the children are creepily orderly and calm all the time. She's confronted by the cook who promises to punish her for violating the rules (letting her class out early). Dinah is confused as to why the school's cook is dressing her down. Worried, she changes into her costume and decides to investigate.
She's again confronted by Grandy and Cybil. Grandy gets a bit grabby, so Dinah put him into the floor. Incensed, he orders Cybil to hurt her too. Dinah is overcome by pain as the rest of the zombie like children carry her off to Grandy's dungeon. Grandy arrives in the dungeon and knocks over a wasp nest, then leaves. Dinah covers her face with her wig and prays for rescue.
GA, GL, and Carol Ferris arrive at the school. They try to sneak around to investigate, but a creak in a floorboard is enough to alert the children to their presence. Hal and Ollie get pelted by school supplies, a problem a man with a Green Lantern ring handles easily enough.
Grandy and Cybil arrive, and Grandy tries to get her to hurt these people too. Cybil resists, saying that she wants to be like the other kids, but a smack from Grandy is enough to set her straight. Ollie and Hal collapse with pain; pain so distracting Hal cannot use his ring. Ollie manages to let loose with a "vortex arrow" which produces a light and sound show powerful enough to overwhelm the senses.
Our heroes manage to find Dinah before too much damage is done, and are in the process of evacuating the school when Grandy pisses Cybil off one too many times. The building starts to fall apart around them, but Ollie and Hal manage to get everyone to safety, everyone except Grandy and Cybil.
Outside, Green Lantern realizes that he's been fooling himself into thinking he was over Carol, and pulls his mask off and reveals himself to be Hal Jordan. Carol admits that she still loves him as well, and they walk off together in the rain. As they do, the "camera" moves to Hal's abandoned mask...with Cybil standing over it!
Thoughts: Well, for a relatively low key issue, a lot happens. Carol Ferris shows up as a paraplegic, Dinah shows off her teaching chops, and our heroes must fight a lonely little girl. Probably the biggest event of the issue is Hal revealing his identity to and expressing his love for Carol Ferris...in front of her fiance...who doesn't object as he carries her off into the sunset. Definitely a strange issue.
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