Spotlight:: Green Lantern vol 1 #84

Issue: Green Lantern vol. 1 #84

Title: "Peril in Plastic"

Cover Date: July, 1971

Credits: Denny O'Neil (scripts) Neal Adams (art)

Synopsis: Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris, newly reunited after last issue, have spent several lazy weeks getting to know one another on the beach. Towards the end of their jaunt, Carol tells Hal she plans to see a revolutionary doctor in the next town by the name of Palm. Hal agrees to let her go on her own and decides to use the time to visit Green Arrow.

Ollie is now shacked up in a disreputable part of town. Without his fortune, he can't exactly afford penthouses anymore. The two chat for a few minutes, until a report comes over the radio about an failing dam in a nearby town...the same one that Carol is in for her doctor visit!

Hal flies off, and using his power ring, manages to patch up the dam. Unfortunately, the fact that the guardians have weakened his ring means that all the activity has left him almost too tired to stand. In the aftermath of the rescue, Dr. Palm, who also happens to be mayor, comes out and insists on throwing GL a party and presenting him with a key to the city. He also attaches a small device to Hal's uniform, which randomly sprays perfume in his face.

After a strange ceremony, attended only by Dr. Palm and on a plastic stage, GL prepares to leave. Dr. Palm isn't too keen on this idea, and has his goons chase GL down. His will sapped by the perfume, GL cannot escape, but does manage to send his ring to Ollie just before passing out.

Unfortunately, Black Canary picks that moment to show up, and distracts Green Arrow just as the ring drops into his apartment. They go out to dinner, but have a fight at the restaurant and split up. Ollie returns and finds the ring, reasoning that Hal wouldn't have sent it away unless it was an emergency. He puts it on, recharges it, and heads for Piper's Dell and Dr. Palm.

Meanwhile, GL awakens, trussed up in a strange chair. Dr. Palm is revealed to be the Black Hand in disguise, who has hooked up with shady financial backers to use brainwashed workers to produce shoddy goods in Piper's Dell. To prove that the population is totally under his control, he lets Hal and Carol go, only to have them face a mob of angry civilians. The mob traps GL and Carol at the edge of the dam, only to have Green Arrow arrive just in time. He gets the power ring back to GL just in time. Hal then uses the ring to contain the mob and trap Black Hand in his own crappy plastic products.

Thoughts: Again, you have to give O'Neil and Adams props for tackling such am important issue (rampant consumerism at the cost of individuality) but again they end up beating you over the head with it. Literally. At one point, Hal and Carol are pummelled with plastic bricks. The Black Hand ends up trapped in a plastic prison of his own making, etc. And to think, credit cards were a fairly new thing back then!

Also: It took me a couple read-throughs to get the Dr. Palm/Black Hand connection. I blame the late hour.

Next Time: The Main Event, the reason this series is famous...Speedy on drugs!

Spotlight: Green Lantern #83

Issue: Green Lantern #83

Title: "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.

Spotlight: Green Lantern #81

Issue: Green Lantern vol. 1 #81

Title: Death be my Destiny!

Credits: Neal Adams (pencils) Denny O'Neil (scripts) Dick Giordano (inks)

Cover Date: December, 1970

Synopsis: Continuing from our last issue, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Black Canary accompany their Guardian friend back to Oa for trial. Despite their best efforts, he is soon found guilty of imperiling a world to save one person. He is stripped of his immortality and sentenced to spend the rest of his days on Maltus, the Guardian's planet of origin.

The quartet arrive on the planet expecting to find it sparsely populated but instead find it covered in a seething sea of sentients.

Consulting the planetary archives (and interviewing its keeper) they discover that several decades ago, a strange comet passed over the planet. The dust from the comet seemed harmless at first, until the Maltusians ceased being able to have children. As the population aged, a revolutionary scientist named Mother Juno colleced gene samples from the populace. Using these, she was able to artifically create new people for the planet.

Un fortunately for the Maltusians, she refused to stop, even after the crisis was over and they were able to have children again. The planet has grown more and more crowded, until water became strictly rationed and fresh food was barely a memory.

Determined to help the Maltusians, the four head to Mother Juno's lab. After a long fight against her specially bred guards, she is defeated not by the superheroes, but by her own people, who have followed our heroes to the lab.

Our Guardian friend decides he can do much good for the Maltusians, and refuses GL's offer to go back to Earth with them. He is content to spend the rest of his (now limited) life easing the suffering of his ancestral world.

Thoughts: Well, this was certainly an improvement over the last issue! At least this time, the book had a clear plot and you could tell exactly what the authors were trying to tell you. The overpopulation theme seems a bit more...big picture than what they were going with before. I mean, individual racists are one thing, but an entire planet suffering from too many people is another. My favorite bit was probably Ollie using a Sap Arrow (the kind you knock someone out with not the kind that comes from a tree) to defeat one of Mother Juno's over-sized guards.

Spotlight:: Green Lantern #80

Issue: Green Lantern #80

Title: Even an Immortal Can Die!

Credits: Neal Adams (art) Denny O'Neil (scripts)

Cover Date: October 1970

Synopsis: Our Emerald Trio (Ollie, Hal, and the Guardian) continue their trek across the country, but discuss ending it as they're all ready for some stability. Just then, a truck driver veers into their lane, forcing our heroes' truck off the bridge and into the water below.

Hal uses his ring to bring them up to the surface, and they're rescued by a passing tramp freighter. The captain tells them that he's transporting industrial, waste recently banned by the government, to a facility for disposal.

Later, the ship's boiler overheats, knocking out Green Lantern and forcing the crew to dump the )explosive) waste overboard. Ollie is dismayed at being forced to dump the waste into the river, but agrees that it was their only choice.

Hal is severely injured, and the Guardian's time on Earth has weakened him to the point that he can either douse the fire and clean up the pollution, or he can transport Hal to the hospital. He chooses to save his friend, but this choice is not without consequences.

Shortly after Hal's recovery, the Guardians back on Oa send an image to the trio. They condemn their brother's choice to save one person over the health and welfare of many. He is to stand trial on Gallo, home of the Tribune. The Tribune are a race even older than the Guardians, who sit in judgment of immortals who stray.

The trio arrive on Gallo to a chilly welcome by the Gallan robots, who force them to give up their weapons. Hal hands his over willingly, but when Ollie protests, the robot attacks without warning. Obviously outmatched, Green Arrow quickly surrenders.

The three arrive in the courtroom, but something is amiss. There is a human looking man on the bench, and all the jurors are robots. When Ollie and Hal try to protest, they are quickly fitted with devices that cover their mouths. The judge sentences the Guardian to death with no testimony and no time for deliberation.

Hal and Ollie are dropped into a holding cell with two other beings...who turn out to be the real Triune! The man behind the bench eas the mechanic in charge of maintaining their robots. He went insane at some point, and recently used the robots to usurp their power.

Hal and Ollie escape and manage to retrieve their weapons and use them to defeat the Judge's robot minions. Ollie stops him from escaping just as Hal releases the Guardian from his execution machine. Relieved, the Triunes are anxious to return to their duties, but a comment from Ollie convinces them to consider their mission carefully before continuing. Meanwhile, the Guardian declines to continue his journey with the Emerald Duo, deciding instead to remain behind and face justice for what he has done.

Thoughts: I don't really know what to think about this issue. What was it trying to say? The death penalty is bad? Robots are bad? The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (or the one)? I really have no idea. The art was good, and it was nice to see Ollie use his brain to escape the holding cell, but outside of that, the issue was rather forgettable. I think that's a shame, since this is the first issue in the run that I haven't really enjoyed.

EDIT TO ADD: Something I forgot to mention the first time around, but check out that cover! I didn't enjoy the story, but that is some kick-ass cover art!

Spotlight: Green Lantern #79

Issue: Green Lantern vol.1 #79

Title: Ulysses Star is Alive!

Credits: Denny O'Neil (scripts) Neal Adams (cover, art)

Cover Date: September, 1970

Synopsis: Our story begins with two well dressed gentlemen about to shoot a Native American man in the woods. Green arrow and Green Lantern arrive just in time to stop them, and are justifiably curious as to what is going on. The suits explain that they have a claim to the reservations timber reserves, and this man had been fighting them on it. GA and GL argue over what to do, and both decide the other is wrong.

Green Lantern decides to head to the city, where Abe Star, son of the chief mentioned in the title was last seen. He is said to posses the last copy of the agreement between the natives and the government, granting them sole rights to the timber on their reservation. GL arrives just in time to see the man's apartment building burn to the ground. He is only barely able to save him, and learns that all his documents went up in the fire. Still determined to prove Ollie wrong, to prove that breaking the law is not necessary to get justice, Hal flies to Washington to visit a friend in Congress...

Ollie decides on a different tack. Dressing himself up in a glowing yellow native costume (where do they get these things?!) he pretends to be the ghost of Ulysses Star, the last great chief of the tribe. He manages to get both the tribe and the lumberman to believe that he is a vengeful ghost. The lumberman decide to attack the next morning anyway.

The fight goes down at the border of the contested forest. The natives have Black Canary (still on the reservation, recovering from the events of last issue) on their side, but are outnumbered by the burly lumberjacks. Just then, "Ulysses Star" shows up, tipping the balance back in favor of the natives. Before anything can be resolved, Hal arrives and breaks up the fight. Ollie is incensed that Hal is interfering, and they get in a knock down, drag out fight. Nothing gets resolved, however, as a log slips off its moorings and whacks them both on the head.

The story ends with the native leader heading back to Washington with Hal's friend in Congress. No one is confident that anything will be done soon, but they decide they must try. The two suits from the beginning of the story are dragged off in cuffs, having been implicated in the apartment fire from earlier in the issue. Hal, Ollie and the Guardian discuss the nature of man and his seeming inability to give up violence, and the issue ends,

Thoughts: I really liked how this issue detailed each hero's approach to solving the problem, with Ollie going for theatrics and direct violence, and Hal choosing to find evidence and work within the system. It turned out neither approach really worked without the other, and I think it made our heroes realize that neither of them were wholly in the right. I also liked that Black Canary is still around, giving aid to the needy and fighting for what she believes in. The kid's got spunk.

Now, I know that O'Neil and Adams were going for relevance and cultural sensitivity here, but you can tell from this issue that they were still products of their time. I mean check out that cover! That's not offensive or anything! But hey, at least they were trying...

Green Lantern #76

Overview/Review: Green Lantern #76, co-starring Green Arrow
Writer: Denny O'Neil
Artist: Neal Adams

Overview: Well, I think everyone knows the history behind this particular issue, but just in case, here goes: This is the first issue of what would turn out to be a landmark run of Green Lantern. The first of DC's attempt at producing relevant comics, these issue (running from Green Lantern 76-89) began in April of 1970. The series put together two Emerald themed DC characters, Green Lantern and Green Arrow, who engaged on a cross country journey to find America and help out the little guy. The run featured frankly astonishing art by Neal Adams and themes of corporate corruption, social injustice, and even drug abuse penned by Denny O'Neil.

The plot revolves around Hal Jordan flying over Star City, preparing to visit his JLA teammate Green Arrow, who he has not heard from in quite some time. Spying what appears to be a ruffian attacking a respectable looking businessman. Green Lantern swoops down and gives the tough a ride to police headquarters, then returns to check on the suit, who thanks him profusely. Just then, the Emerald Crusader is hit in the head by a soup can, followed by a further rain of garbage and refuse from the street and even the windows above. Not understanding what's going on, GL threatens to beat the crap out of the nearest assailant, which prompts a response from the heretofore unseen Green Arrow.

Ollie explains that the "businessman" is really the local slum lord, who plans to demolish his crappy building, evict the tenants (who have nowhere else to go) and build a parking lot. After hearing this, GL heads over to the fatcat's penthouse and spends a fruitless hour trying to talk him out of his plans. After he's rudely dismissed and manhandled by the man's hired thugs, Hal losses his temper and nearly strikes the man he rescued shortly before. This act incurs the wrath of the Guardians, who reprimand Jordan for hassling a man who has committed no crime. They order him out for some busy work, diverting an asteroid strike on one of Saturn's moons. Incensed by the lack of concern the Guardians are showing, Hal returns to Earth and enlists Green Arrow's help in bringing the slum lord down.

Previously, the villain of our piece had out a hit out on Green Arrow. Knowing he was walking into a trap, Green Arrow had planted a recording device, hoping to get the thugs to implicate their paymaster. They did, but a stray bullet fired during the struggle demolished the recorder. Lacking any hard evidence, it looks like the bad guys will walk away clean. Just then, Hal returns and comes up with an idea. He and Ollie intercept the thugs on their way back to the penthouse. Then Hal, disguised as one of the hitmen, manages to get a confession from his boss...right in front of Star City's district attorney, who Hal had disguised as the other thug.

Of course, Hal's scheme pisses off the Guardian's again, since they explicitly ordered him to stay out of it, but a passionate speech by Green Arrow gives the Guardians pause. Ollie points out that they have no right to interfere in strictly human matters, especially none of them have ever even been to Earth. The Guardians decide that Ollie has a point, and send one of their number to Earth to see what's what. Of course, he'll need people to show him around, and who better to do that than our heroes, Green Lantern and Green Arrow.

Thoughts: Whew, that summary is almost as long as the issue itself! In case you missed it, A LOT happened in this issue. We're introduced to the idea of Green Arrow as a social crusader. We also have Hal Jordan's crisis of conscience. Hal is used to black and white, good guy/bad guy worldview, and the realization that the world really doesn't work that way throws him for a loop.

Overall, I really enjoyed the issue. It did bring up several good points about how superheroes tend to focus on giant monsters and saving alien worlds, but tend to ignore the social injustice in their own backyard. The issue managed to avoid being TOO heavy handed, although you could tell there were parts where they tried just a bit too hard.

As far as the characters themselves, I felt that the creative team did a really good job with both of them. Hal Jordan, the former military, super-powered lawman makes a great contrast to the social crusading, non-super-powered Oliver Queen (leaving aside the fact that Queen was a billionaire himself). I anxious to see how those two will play off each other in future issues, especially the ones where Ollie's failings are thrown in his face (thanks Speedy!).

What do you guys think? Comment away!