Three Tales From a Golden Age

I am a noted Green Lantern fan, but that does come with one specific caveat. While I’ve read a ton of the Silver Age titles, the run of Green Lantern/Green Arrow from O’Neil and Adams, many of the Tales of the Green Lantern Corps collections, and then, moving into the Modern Age, the whole of the Geoff Johns run from "Rebirth" to "The New 52", there’s one big gap that I haven’t really bothered filling: I haven’t really read much of the Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott.

For those unfamiliar, DC’s comic history is a bit strange. In the 1940s the company created a lot of characters, not just SupermanThe first big superhero from DC Comics, Superman has survived any number of pretenders to the throne, besting not only other comic titans but even Wolrd War II to remain one of only three comics to continue publishing since the 1940s., BatmanOne of the longest running, consistently in-print superheroes ever (matched only by Superman and Wonder Woman), Batman has been a force in entertainment for nearly as long as there's been an entertainment industry. It only makes sense, then that he is also the most regularly adapted, and consistently successful, superhero to grace the Silver Screen., and Wonder WomanLong considered the third pillar of the DC Comics "Trinity", Wonder Woman was one of the first female superheroes ever created. Running for as long as Batman or Superman (and without breaks despite a comic downturn in the 60s that killed superhero comics for about a decade), Wondie has the honor to be one of the longest serving, and most prolific, superheroes ever. but also the likes of Hourman, the first Sandman, Jay Garrick’s The FlashStruck by lightning while working in his lab, Barry Allen became a speedster known as The Flash, launching an entire set of super-fast superheroes., and Alan Scott’s Green LanternMade up of aliens from sectors scross space, the Green Lantern Corp. defends the universe against threats with the power of the Green Light of Willpower.. These characters were quite popular for a time, especially as World War II ramped up and the heroes, in their respective titles (as well as crossover book Justice Society of America) went off to fight on the front lines. But when World War II ended so too did interest in superheroes. The boom of the 1940s led to a bust in the late 1940s and early 1950s, with superheroes fading and Westerns becoming the popular story format. For instance, All-Star Comics became All-Star Western during this era. The only heroes that stuck around, who didn’t find their books getting cancelled, were Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman

Eventually tides shifted and interest in Westerns gave way to renewed enthusiasm for superheroes. When DC finally decided to come back to their classic heroes an editorial decision was made to reinvent many of them. New, now-classic heroes with more sci-fi versions of their origins were introduced. Barry Allen became a new version of The Flash after a science experiment gone wrong, while Hal Jordan became the new Green Lantern after a space ring came down to him and turned him into a space cop. And those older versions of the heroes? They went away, ignored for years until some brilliant writers said, “hey, let’s say all those old heroes still existed, they were just on a different version of Earth…” and, thus, Earth 2 was born.

We could get into the weed discussing all this for days, but suffice it to say that eventually Earth 1 and Earth 2 were merged, and the old Justice Society characters were brought forward to modern times, allowing both Alan Scott and Hal Jordan to be two very different versions of Green Lantern on Earth at the same time. And this collection, JSA Presents Green Lantern is all about Alan Scott, giving us three adventures for this Golden Age hero to showcase his stuff. As a fan of Green Lantern in general I appreciate Alan Scott as a character, but this book does a terrible job of selling him to anyone interested in the wide range of stories this character could have.

The book starts us off with a reprint of the Alan Scott adventure Green Lantern: Brightest Day/Blackest Night (which is an interesting title when it has nothing to do with the actual mantra of the modern lanterns). In the story, Alan Scott is called in to investigate a crashed train out in the swamps outside Gotham City (because, at the time in the 1940s, Scott was the protector of Gotham, apparently). In the swamp he finds two different foes to deal with. The first is a group of Nazis trying to build a New Reich with the power of a stolen laser that shoots Zeta Waves. The second foe, though, is the far more fearsome one: Solomon Grundy, who doesn’t appreciate interlopers in his swamp. Alan will have to take out both, and destroy the laser, all to keep America safe from those darn Nazis.

This first issue is, well, really bad. Written by Steven T. Seagle with art by John K. Snyder, this story is nearly incomprehensible at times. Seagle has too few ideas stretched over far too many pages, leaving us with a ton of spreads where the characters stand around, yelling at each other, without actually doing anything. When it does come time for the characters to fight, the sketchy, impressionistic artwork of Snyder obscures it all. This is just a terrible story on all fronts, low energy in storytelling and design, making it an absolute slog to get through. As this collection will prove, there are good stories to tell with Alan Scott, but for some reason this awful first issue is included at the front of the book (when it should have been left out entirely) creating a bad first impression for new fans of the character.

This story is followed by JSA Classified #25. This is a much better tale, in many ways, even if it’s still unevenly written. Alan Scott is called in by a government spook who goes by the name of Father Time to look into a robbery at a top secret lab. Father Time forces Alan’s hand, making him bring in an associate, Johnny Mimic, who has the uncanny knack for recreating crime scenes. The only issue is that Mimic got out of the supervillain ways long ago and isn’t a willing participant in this whole affair. Bringing out Mimic might just be the worst decision Father Time ever made…

I liked this story better, if for no other reason that it was easy to follow what was going on. The artwork by Dennis Calero is clean, simple, and effective, far closer to the DC house style of the time than whatever Snyder was doing in the previous issue. It’s amazing what actually being able to see the action will do for a superhero story. The downside is that the actual plot of the book isn’t really all that great, and is especially not a solid showcase for Alan Scott as a hero. Mimic is the real star of the show, not only showing off interesting powers but also being the driving force for the story in general. Alan takes a back seat here, barely even using his powers at all. It’s not really a Green Lantern story, which makes it a weird fit for a collection all about Green Lantern. I didn’t hate the tale, but I was left curious why it was in this book at all.

The one story that does really fit comes from JSA Classified #32-33. This two-parter is set around Thanksgiving and focuses on Alan Scott, both as a character and a superhero. He struggles during the holidays because he feels the hole in his life caused by the death of his daughter, the superheroing Jade. However, when an old foe of Scott’s returns, finding a way to drain the power of his Green Lantern ring, it also has the odd side effect of resurrecting Jade, at least in some form. This comes at the cost of the life of a little girl, though, so Alan has to make the ultimate decision, save his daughter or save an innocent life, all while trying desperately to defeat a powerful foe.

On the one hand I really liked the fact that this was a classic superhero story done right. This story is a real showcase for Alan, letting him shine as a father, a friend, and a hero. He uses his powers, making constructs and fighting back villains. He hangs out with other members of the Justice Society, showcasing real relationships and bonds of brotherhood. He grieves for his daughter, gets her back, and then has to grieve her again when he decides (spoilers for a fairly old comic) to let her go to save the life of an innocent child. It’s a lot for Alan to process, and this two-issue comic handles it all really well. I like how the comic treats Alan, and I’m sure this was a great two-parter for any long-time fans of the character.

However, this issue is also something of an end for one of Alan’s main plotlines: the death of his daughter. He grieves, copes, recovers, and eventually learns to move on (at least somewhat). While that’s a great story, it doesn’t connect to either of the two tales in this collection at all. This two-parter is the first time Jade is even mentioned, let alone the fact that she’s dead, so we don’t get any of their history or connection before this. The same can be said for Vandal Savage, the villain of this story; he doesn’t show up in the collection before this two-parter, so when he declares Alan Scott to be his greatest foe it doesn’t ring true since we have no context for that. It’s just a random story tacked onto the end of the collection to fill pages, and while it’s a good story it struggles to stand on its own.

What this collection needed was focus. It needed to have three stories set during a specific time in Alan Scott’s life, either during his formative years as the first Green Lantern or during the times where he met his daughter for the first time, got to see her grow into a heroine, was forced to watch her die, and then sees her resurrection, however brief. I think this later idea has merit, although finding the right issues to pick from each of these moments likely wouldn’t have been easy. So, instead the editors at DC decided to take three self-contained stories that didn’t connect at all and put them together to try to sell an easy Green Lantern book at a time when the whole cast of Green Lantern characters were very popular.

I think Alan is an interesting character and I’d certainly love to see more from him so I can get to know him as a character. JSA Presents Green Lantern, though, does a terrible job of selling him, his life, or his adventures. He’s the weird guy that calls himself a Green Lantern, wandering around in a goofy suit having decidedly less than interesting adventures. That’s something his stories need to break, to set the character free so he can stand tall with the likes of Hal Jordan and John Stewart. JSA Presents Green Lantern making for a collection that likely drove fans away when it could have brought them into the fold.