A massive value-priced black and white collection featuring over 500 pages of classic tales from the Silver Age of DC Comics! A dying alien lands on Earth and picks the most fearless human, Hal Jordon, to weild a mighty emerald Power Ring and become the new Green Lantern of Space Sector 2814!
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Green Lantern is a perfect subject for DC's budget-priced Showcase Presents series because the hero made his first appearance in Showcase in July 1959. Volume 1 collects his first three appearances in Showcase (22-24) as well as the first 17 issues of his own book. alternating between one and two stories per issue. Hotshot test pilot Hal Jordan is selected by a dying alien as one who is both honest and without fear, thus deserving of wearing the power ring that enables the wearer to fight crime and injustice. In these issues, we meet Hal's boss and love interest, Carol Ferris, who Lois Lane-like only has an eye for his alter ego, Green Lantern; Hal's mechanic and confidant, Thomas "Pieface" Kalmaku; the all-powerful Guardians of the Universe, the source of the ring's energy; renegade Green Lantern Sinestro; the weaponers of Qward; and neighboring GL Tomar Re. Stories are by John Broome, with art by Gil Kane and Joe Giella, plus a few contributions by JLA stalwarts Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson. While the Showcase Presents' black-and-white format is a reasonable tradeoff for this much material (526 pages) at this low price (under $10, even cheaper than most Showcase volumes), it turns out to be a significant disadvantage for GL, considering how often the plots rely on the use of green and especially yellow. --David Horiuchi
From School Library Journal
Grade 4 Up This collection of black-and-white reprints is devoted to the earliest adventures of the second incarnation of the classic hero. Originally depicted as a crime fighter with semi-mystical powers bestowed by a meteorite's green flame, the handsome hero was then reimagined as a fearless test pilot who uses his extraterrestrial power ring to fight against espionage and science-based villains. Over time, the stories' focus shifted to strange creatures and other sci-fi staples, and then further evolved into what is now recognizable as a traditional superhero comic, complete with a recurring arch nemesis, super villains with parallel powers to that of the hero, and guest appearances by popular characters from other DC titles. The artwork is sharp and clean and it's easy to see how Gil Kane, one of the artists, gained his reputation as a fine draftsman. The lack of color is disappointing, however; so many of the stories rely on green and yellow rays, vibrant alien skin colors, and the like. The classic exposition makes the action clear, and the content is undeniably fun, charming, and intelligent, proving its undeniable influence on the subsequent 30 years of graphic storytelling. Benjamin Russell, The Derryfield School, Manchester, NH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Showcase so far,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Showcase Presents: Green Lantern, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
Here's where the "green" Green Lantern gets started. The character of Hal Jordan develops throughout this tome that brings back to life the most mature plotting and themes of any early Sixties DC comics. Because of the interesting writing, this stands out among the Showcase and Marvel Essentials, and so it survives the harshness of black and white.
It is a shame that color is apparently prohibitively expensive. I'm sure, especially with a character whose NAME IS A COLOR, the publishers held their breath when they released it. Yes, I miss the color A LOT, but this and a few of the other Showcases have enough nostaliga and entertainment value to make for good bedtime reading. Plus some of the key background material for Infinite Crisis originates in early Green Lantern mags. Put it all together with the value, and this is a very satisfying purchase. (Great marketing too--buying a few of these Showcase volumes prompted me to buy a few of the more expensive premium products DC has put out.) Enjoy!
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great volume with one obvious flaw,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Showcase Presents: Green Lantern, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
DC's Showcase Presents series is something which makes this old comic book fan very happy. Presenting 500-plus pages of silver age (or later) comics in chronological order makes for a terrific way to purchase a huge chunk of a character's history for cheap. The catch - they're in black and white. While this is a nice way to showcase the pen and ink artwork of the period (sorry, colorists!), it does diminish a very appealing aspect of comics - especially one like Green Lantern, whose powers and vulnerabilities involve different colors to a high degree.
Nonetheless, Green Lantern Volume 1 is a great buy. It's cheap, it's huge, and it presents the character, to my mind, that best exemplifies the period of the early 1960s. Hal Jordan is a test pilot who inherits a powerful ring that allows him to travel in space and join an intergalactic police force. I can't imagine a more exemplary character for an age and a country just beginning its space flights, harnessing new and powerful energies in both war and peace, and attempting to police the world in the Cold War. John Broome's writing is good, if simplistic in spots (a requirement of the era's Comics Code authority, unfortunately, which restricted violence, moral ambuguity, and all other sorts of things which make "modern" comics so interesting). But the stories still almost universally contain kernels of good sci-fi ideas. Time travel, antimatter universes, shrinking to subatomic size, all sorts of sci fi ideas populate these pages. Younger readers ought to find the stories exciting and entertaining. Older readers might be a bit more bored, but there's plenty of period subtext for the avid student of sociology or 60's futurism to enjoy. The art is the main draw, here. Gil Kane is unquestionably one of the greats of the silver age. His style here is fluid, uncluttered, and not quite as dynamic as his later stuff, but the elements are there. His layouts and anatomy are still creative and interesting. Watching his style evolve over 20 issues is a treat. Later volumes show his style progressing even further. In summary, this volume should appeal to any fan of the character, any student of the 1960s, and any appreciator of Gil Kane's art. Since I am all three, this was a certain buy for me. Other than this group though, I would say that this book is appropriate for Silver Age aficionados and bright, inquisitive kids. At this price, it can't be beat.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Sci-Fi Network,
This review is from: Showcase Presents: Green Lantern, Vol. 1 (Paperback)
Capturing the elements of the growing national fascination with science and space, the Green Lantern was a super hero for science fiction, as this stories from 1959-1962 clearly demonstrate.
What is neat about this bulky volume of 526 pages is the inclusion of the seven Showcase (#22-#24) stories, which can be considered as a pilot project for an ongoing series. Test pilot Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan is quickly introduced and the recurring elements in the story lines unfold quickly, especially his pursuit of Carol Ferris, who happens to be his boss. What is lost in the newspaper-styled reproduction is the rich colors of the comic book artwork - especially in the Green Lantern series, with numbers one to seventeen included here - which actually made it a trailblazer to the graphic novel. "No Evil Shall Escape My Sight," chants the Emerald Gladiator, though his adventures just may take him out of this world.
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