r/Greenlantern

Zatanna guest-stars in a multi book story where she searches for her father. This is part four of JLA: Zatanna's Search.

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Writer: Gardner Fox

Pencils: Gil Kane

Inks: Sid Greene

Letters: Gaspar Saladino

Cover: Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson & Ira Schnapp

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"The Other Side Of The World" - Hal hears of a pirate attacking Coast City so he heads out fast. The pirate is a formidable opponent as his weapons aren't affected by Hal's constructs. Eventually a strange portal opens up near where they are fighting. Hal is pulled in and runs into Zatanna Zatara. They've never met at this point, so she explains that she is on a journey to locate her missing father Giovanni Zatara and that she's been helped by two of GLs partners in the Justice League, Hawkman and The Atom. Despite all the help, every avenue has led to failure. Her mission here is to investigate the The land of Ys on The Other Side Of The World. It's only accessible through a portal of blue flame and makes its inhabitants immortal. Once Hal and Zatanna arrive in Ys, they are attacked by squadrons of soldiers. Zatanna's magic doesn't work here as The Warlock of Ys wants to steal her power for himself. She discovers that she can still use her magic by speaking the sentences backwards instead of the words, while Hal has a similar problem as he can only use his ring on his left hand instead of his right. With those two abilities in use they hold off the soldiers long enough to goad out the warlock. Zatanna's magic has stopped working and Hal's ring does not affect the warlock directly. A deal is offered where Hal gives up his ring to the warlock and he will tell Zatanna what happened to her father. The Warlock attempts to use the rings power to go to earth, but Zatanna secretly put a spell on the ring so the warlock cannot use it and further, if he tries he will be immobilized. The Warlock reveals that Zatara has come to this land but only to retrieve a crystal ball that allowed the warlock to teleport to earth. Zatara succeeded and teleported to parts unknown. The two heroes return to earth and part ways.

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Conclusion: I've never heard of this story arc before but I also haven't followed much of Zatanna's history. It appears this whole arc is her debut, with the final chapter ending with her joining the Justice League. She does find her father after all, with a stop in Detective Comics, meeting Elongated Man and finally in Justice League to complete her mission.

As such, this issue of GL does feel more like a Zatanna story over a GL story where he feels more like the guest star. Magic is also not my strong suit in comics, therefore I didn't enjoy this as much as I would normally. I know that's ironic considering Alan and his ties to magic but I put him in a slightly different category. The Warlock of Ys was a formidable villain as well but I don't believe the pirate at the beginning was ever resolved. Just left in Coast City, or he was brought to Ys as well and just disappeared. He was a plan set by the warlock anyway to drag GL to Ys but still.

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8/10

My prayers go out to Jessica if this BUM is her love interest in MAWGL🥀

Kyle being written by him in JLA makes me already really happy but a Solo would have been a dream
Source: JLA #22 by Grant Morrison

With my first real experience with Green Lantern coming to a close, I couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Geoff John’s run might be one of my all time favorite comic runs, and the Green Lantern universe might be top 5 in my all time rankings, and I don’t even enjoy DC.

Next up, Kyle Rayner Rising and Green Lantern Corps. I read some of Corps alongside the mainline run, but there’s plenty I missed. I plan to jump into Venditti’s run after that. How does everyone feel about his run? I’ve heard mixed reactions.

Star Sapphire rises again and Myrwhydden is discovered by a common criminal

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Writer: Gardner Fox

Penicls: Gil Kane

Inks: Sid Greene

Letters: Gaspar Saladino

Cover: Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson & Ira Schnapp

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"The Double Life Of Star Sapphire" - Carol Ferris is helping Green Lantern with a stunt during a performance for kids when the aircraft she's on is taken over by some force and the metal railings bind her. GL rushes into help and summons a doctor. The doctor sees to her at the hospital and reveals that's she's stable but asleep. That night, Carol wakes in a trance, muming about finding something. She drives to Ferris Air and uncovers the Star Sapphire gem. Hal walks in right after as this is his dressing room, surprised to find Carol pulled the gem out of his Lantern, where he his it. Carol becomes Star Sapphire again and takes off to find Green Lantern. Hal charges his ring and chases after her, finding her in a battle with some elemental forces. He goes to help her but is stopped by a Zamaron who explains this is a fight between Star Sapphires to prove who should truly be queen. The fight ends and Carol is the winner. The other SS, Dela Pharon is sent back to her home planet of Xanador. SS then turns to GL and proclaims they should marry but Hal reminds her that he has obligations to his sector. They leave the choice up to combat with SS coming out on top. They all head to Zamaron but just as the ceremony is about to begin, Hal reveals that this isn't Carol Ferris but really Dela Pharon and since the challenge was for him to wed Carol Ferris, the result is void. Dela Pharon tries to fight back but Hal traps her in a construct and revealing that he knows the truth because he took the time to go to Xanador and found Carol there believing she was Dela Pharon. The two Sapphire's are switched back and wakes up in the hospital with no memory of any events.

"Challenge Of The Coin Creatures" - Common crook Chuck Cullen is freed from prison and heads straight for the silver coins he buried years prior. When he retrieves the coins he find they are blank. All of a sudden the Roman images that were on the coins are standing in front of him as silver statues, but are mobile and willing to help him find more money. This garners the attention of GL who flies in to stop them but the silver beings are immune to his ring. In a last ditch effort, Hal switches his consciousness with a silver Roman soldier. He pretends to be that soldier, taking his own body and commanding the other solver beings to return to their creator. They all shrink into Hal's ring to find Myrwhydden the wizard. He built an instrument out of horns that are tuned to mimic his voice so he can still use incantations. Once Hal is able to confirm Myrwhydden's plan, he strikes as the silver soldier, punching out Myrwhydden and then using the ring to make Myrwhydden forget who he is completely.

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Conclusion: We return to Star Sapphires and the ever running back and forth between Hal and Carol. After going through the Golden Age and seeing the same nonsense with Alan and Molly, I now see this is a bigger trope than I realized. This is also the same story we got before essentially. Carol becomes a Star Sapphire, tries to trick Green Lantern into marrying her, fails and forgets it all. Rinse and repeat. At least Alan and Molly had a back and forth with crime.

Myrwhydden was a return I didn't expect so soon. It was brief, and really, barely felt like a return. The idea of the silver beings made from coin images is interesting and I wish was explored a but further. That side of it was held back by Myrwhydden and his spell to make them unaffected by the ring. Hopefully Myrwhydden's next appearance is bigger and/or better.

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6.5/10

Guy is also pretty happy with the "permission" their bosses gave them.

From Green Lantern (2005) #11.

Is no fear the start of a run? Where does wanted hal Jordan fit in?

We also saw Green Lantern appear at the end of the first Bananaman movie in his Green Lantern suit, although it looked a bit different from the comics. His suit didn't have any white on it apart from his hands.
We also know this could potentially be a Year One Hal Jordan on his first or second mission, meaning he hasn't fully figured out how his ring works yet. Bananaman could be the one who leads him on the path to becoming a full-fledged superhero, or at least makes him realise that his ring has far more potential than he initially thought.
It's also possible that something happens to the suit we see him wearing at the end of Bananaman: The Untold Story. After Bananaman had to deal with a mutant elephant, he could mistake a glowing green person for a threat, leading to a confrontation. That could result in Green Lantern eventually getting a second suit that's much more comic-accurate.
The villain for the movie is still unknown, and the script is also potentially still being worked on.

(From Green Lantern (2005) #3)
Hal Jordan takes a self-destructing Manhunter away from Earth, where it finally feels a drop of emotion - fear - as it dies.

Similarly, HAL feels afraid as it is disconnected.
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side note: I'm on my first Green Lantern read, I would appreciate no spoilers for future events of Geoff John's run

Alright, we're back in the Silver Age! I've added JLA #21-22 to this only the showcase the first time Hal and Alan meet. I will not go full in depth on it and the synopsis will be incredibly short in comparison to the content of both issues, highlighting mostly the pairing of both GLs. I know it's breaking my own rules but I did want to get the whole story of the first meeting. Also, shout out to u/thehyruleef for helping me acquire a physical copy of GL #40! It's a prize, my friend and you are the best.

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Justice League Of America

Writer: Gardner Fox

Pencils: Mike Sekowsky

Inks: Bernie Sachs

Letters: Gaspar Saladino

Cover: Mike Sekowsky, Murphy Anderson, Ira Schnapp (#21 only)

"Crisis On Earth-One" & "Crisis On Earth-Two!" - The Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America are pulled into a team-up due to the evil team-up of The Icicle, The Wizard, The Fiddler, Chronos, Felix Faust and Dr. Alchemy. The villains met by accident after the Earth-Two villains shifted their molecules due to The Fiddler funding a new frequency using his fiddle. They stumbled into anhiesy being pulled by the Earth-One villains and decided they would all join forces to become The Crime Champions. They hatch a plan to capture the two Flashes and imprison them in a dimension between the two Earths. This prompts both Green Lanterns to work together on finding their speedy allies, but upon freeing them, activated a trap that captured every member of both heroic teams. E-1 Atom can't shrink out of his cage but figures the GLs can do it using their rings since their cages aren't designed to prevent that. It works and the two GLs work together freeing each hero from their cages. Now both teams unite as one, taking the fight directly the the Crime Champions and defeating them with ease before they could escape to Earth-Three.

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Green Lantern #40

Writer: John Broome

Pencils: Gil Kane

Inks: Sid Greene

Letters: Gaspar Saladino

Cover: Gil Kane & Murphy Anderson

"Secret Origin Of The Guardians" - On Earth-Two,Alan Scott and Doiby Dickles are attending a "Come as you were party" for all Gotham Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) employees. Alan, now the managing director, comes dressed as he did in the 40s when he was a radio announcer and his best friend Doiby, who is now a right hand man for Alan at the GBC, came as a taxi driver complete with Goitrude. After they leave for the night, reminiscing on good times, they see a meteor heading for Gotham City. Alan quickly changes and flies up to stop it but the meteor goes right through his ring beam. Meanwhile, Doiby was following close behind but got distracted and hit a tree. The tree cracks and starts to fall on Goitrude so Alan uses the ring to move Goitrude out of the way but his ring partially deflects and moves the tree as well. The duo are stunned by this new feat and Alan tells Doiby he needs to go to Earth-One to tell the other Green Lantern, Hal Jordan about this revelation, hoping the same meteor in his universe can disrupt Hal's weakness to yellow.

After arriving, he tells Hal everything that's happened but when he goes to demonstrate, the ring won't move wood anymore. Hal tells Alan to ask his ring to show what happened from its perspective, a trick Hal has used before. Alan does so and the ring describes how the meteor isn't actually a meteor but is really Krona, a renegade guardian that was kicked out of the Oan order after he ran experiments to see the dawn of creation. He builds a macjine that allows to him view the moment, seeing a lone hand with a cosmic spiral in its palm before a lightning bolt strikes the machine and destroys it. Due to the superstition the Oans have that anyone who views the dawn of creation will cause the end of all things, they sent him hurtling through all the universes in an energy state as punishment, but it was still too late as Krona's actions led to evil rising throughout the universe. Over the millenia Krona eventually flew through Earth-Two, where he caught the attention of Alan. When Alan's ring beam touched the "meteor", Krona's consciousness was pulled into the ring. Hal realizes he needs to tell the Guardians this right away but they already know as they overheard Alan's ring. They are making their way to Earth to set up a temporary base until they find Krona and tell the two emerald warriors they need to combat the rising evil on Earth-One until their arrival. Alan and Hal get to work stopping all sorts of rising and destructive weather patterns (apparently evil ones). The Guardians arrive and Hal and Alan head straight to them.

Upon arrival, the Guardians tell Hal to remove his ring and uniform as Alan will be the new Green Lantern for his sector. Hal is shocked and defiant demanding a ring duel to see who can be the better ring slinger. What Hal doesn't know is when he and Alan were out stopping rogue weather, Krona pushed his way into Alan's body and expelled Alan's mind. Hal now fights Krona in Alan's body. Hal easily loses, but finds Alan's mind has entered his own. The pair now share Hal's body and are now able to combine their willpower to fight Krona, but with a bonus: Hal slips on Alan's ring. They head back in to fight Krona again and again Krona uses a yellow shield but the ring beam goes right through and together with their combined willpower are able to overcome Krona. The Guardians send Krona away as an energy form again but this on a path that won't intercept any planets. Alan goes back to his own Earth as Hal looks forward to the future.

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Conclusion: That opening adventure of both Justice teams was fun but not what I expected. I didn't know there was two groups of super villains coming together as well, as much as that makes sense. With that said, it was even cooler seeing the various villains working together. Something that people who have read more JLA and JSA stories would be more used to, but I'm not when it comes to the Golden and Silver ages. I also couldn't help but laugh when Alan mentioned his fond memories of fighting The Icicle in his prime. The two adventures they had against each other were really wild and fierce. I didn't imagine Alan would have any good memories about Icicle.

Now, the coup-de-grace, GL #40. First appearance of Krona and the hand of creation. I did not realize they both debuted here as well. I stayed away from the story of this issue as much as I coukd in anticipation for this. This was very full, but I'll admit I don't know if it really is or only feels that way because I spent so long reading Golden Age stories. Either way, this was a blast. Hal and Alan get along swimmingly, which is a far cry from how they act towards each other in The Brave And The Bold by Mark Waid and Barry Kitson. Also the fact that Doiby was involved was perfect. Letting us see where our heroes have ended up in real time was such a treat.

Okay, now, Krona. If you know Krona at all, you know how he was in this issue. It's the same Krona we always see and it works. The concept of a renegade Guardian is pretty big nowadays, I can't imagine what the reaction was back in 1965. Would it have the same weight as today? Also, the hand of creation is such a fascinating idea. This one issue of GL set the stage for the future of DC without even realizing it. That one simple idea has been pivotal and it almost feels like a footnote here compared to the rest of the story.

I'm looking forward to more Hal and Alan team-ups but also excited to get back to more campy Silver Age silliness.

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9.5/10

She was Hal's love interest during the Geoff Johns era, but she kinda disappeared out of nowhere and was never mentioned again. I think her last comic appearance was around 2009.