Green Lantern | |
---|---|
Artwork for the cover of Green Lantern: Rebirth 6 (May 2005 DC Comics). Featuring (l to r) Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, Hal Jordan, John Stewart, and Kilowog. Art by Ethan Van Sciver.
|
|
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | All-American Comics #16 (July 1940) |
Created by |
John Broome Gil Kane Bill Finger Martin Nodell Gardner Fox |
Characters |
Alan Scott Hal Jordan Guy Gardner John Stewart Kyle Rayner Jade Sinestro Simon Baz Jessica Cruz |
See also | Green Lantern Corps |
Green Lantern is the name of a number of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers.
The first Green Lantern character, Alan Scott, was created in 1940 during the initial popularity of superheroes. Alan Scott usually fought common criminals in New York City with the aid of his magic ring. The publication of this character ceased in 1949 during a general decline in the popularity of superhero comics, but the character saw a limited revival in later decades.
In 1959, to capitalize on the booming popularity of science fiction, the Green Lantern character was reinvented as Hal Jordan, an officer for an interstellar law enforcement agency known as the Green Lantern Corps. Additional members of this agency, all of whom call themselves Green Lanterns, were introduced over time. Prominent Green Lanterns who also have had starring roles in the books include Guy Gardner, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz.
The Green Lanterns are among DC Comics' more successful properties. They have been adapted to television, video games, and motion pictures.
Martin Nodell (using the name Mart Dellon) created the first Green Lantern. He first appeared in the Golden Age of comic books in All-American Comics #16 (July 1940), published by All-American Publications, one of three companies that would eventually merge to form DC Comics.
This Green Lantern's real name was Alan Scott, a railroad engineer who, after a railway crash, came into possession of a magic lantern which spoke to him and said it would bring power. From this, he crafted a magic ring which gave him a wide variety of powers. The limitations of the ring were that it had to be "charged" every 24 hours by touching it to the lantern for a time, and that it could not directly affect objects made of wood. Alan Scott fought mostly ordinary human villains, but he did have a few paranormal ones such as the immortal Vandal Savage and the zombie Solomon Grundy. Most stories took place in New York.