268 GREEN LANTERN
issue #16 of All-American Comics in an eight-page original story. Afterwards, he
received his own starring role in a comic, as well as appearing in All-Star Comics as a
member of the Justice Society of America , and Comic Cavalcade with the Flash and
Wo n d e r Wo m a n. After a drop in the popularity of superheroes after World War II,
Green Lantern found his title cancelled after issue #38, May–June 1949. Th e char-
acter would continue to appear in All-Star Comics until that title was cancelled with
issue #57, February–March 1951. Th e Green Lantern would not appear again for
eight years, and Alan Scott would not appear again for almost ten years.
By 1959, DC Comics, under the direction of editor Julius Schwartz, had started
to adapt the stable of All-American characters from the 1930s and 1940s into new
versions that were proving to be extremely popular. Instead of reintroducing the
Alan Scott version of the Green Lantern, DC returned to the green ring idea, but
with the wearer of the ring now being a test pilot by the name of Hal Jordan, intro-
duced in Showcase #22 (September–October 1959). Jordan is introduced to Abin
Sur, a dying member of an intergalactic police society, the Green Lantern Corps,
and is given the ring and the powers that come with it. Jordan is informed by a
council of blue, bald alien “judges” called The Guardians of the Universe, that he
will be the intergalactic policeman for the planet Earth, and that it is his respon-
sibility to uphold intergalactic law and order as ordained by The Guardians. Hal
Jordan becomes something of an anomaly compared to superheroes that had come
before him. In a story written by John Broome and Gil Kane , Jordan is given a
family that includes siblings, all of whom were living in contrast to the orphaned
Batman , Superman , and Wo n d e r Wo m a n. Kane in particular had a very distinct
idea of what the Green Lantern should look like. “He complained, for example, that
the inkers who went over his pencil drawing for Green Lantern did not understand
the diamond shape that he intended for the costume. ‘ They always made it look like
a sleeveless sweater, which bothered me to no end’ ” (Martin, 2000). Other high-
lights of the pre-1970s Green Lantern were the friendship that he developed with
the Flash and the battle he had with the previous owner of the mantle of Green
Lantern, Alan Scott.
Beginning with Green Lantern issue #76, April–May 1970, Schwartz had two
younger creators, Dennis O’Neil and Neal Adams , move the bimonthly title away
from light science fi ction into a look at the problems of contemporary society. Th e title
Green Lantern Co-Starring the Green Arrow , later shortened to Green Lantern/Green
Arrow , appeared on the cover, and the title started looking at topics ranging from black
power to heroin addiction. Th e characters of Green Lantern and Oliver Queen/Green
Arrow were personifi ed as polar opposites, with Green Lantern as a by-the-books
symbol of authority, while the Green Arrow is a free spirited left-wing populist with a
strong interest in the sociology of the American landscape. While the run of the book
under O’Neil and Adams was a critical success, leading to reviews in such mainstream
publications as the New York Times , the Wall Street Journal , and Newsweek , the team
was never commercially successful. After only 14 issues, the team-up and fi rst great
