Nothing is more annoying than having your ex-girlfriend try to murder you.

 

cover art by Jim Starlin

In Green Lantern #129 (June 1980), writer Denny O'Neil and artist Joe Staton bring their epic story arc to an end. 

The only tangling thread left from the Qwardian attempt to conquer Oa is the missing Weaponer leader General Fabrikant. The General has actually been disguised as a kid named Fabian and staying with Carol Ferris.

When Fabian/Fabrikant learns that Carol is also Star Sapphire, he decides its time to take his revenge against Green Lantern. He breaks into the facility where the gem that  transforms Carol is kept. He steal it and uses it to change Carol and take control of her.

Before going after GL, though, he wants to test his control of Star Sapphire. So he orders her to kill Green Lantern.

She tries to obey, destroying the trailer in which Hal is staying, but not realizing he used his ring to tunnel to safety. Re-charging his ring, he then confronts Fabrikant and Carol.

Naturally, a Sapphire vs. Ring fight ensues. When it looks as if Hal is getting the upper hand, Fabrikant takes a hand by bashing Hal over the head with a pedastal. 

But Carol hesitates before delivering the coup de grace, allow Green Lantern to apparently run away, What he actually does is blind Carol and Fabrikant with a burst of light, disguise Fabrikant as GL and revert into Hal.

A confused Carol knocks out Fabrikant. Hal snatches away the Sapphire, allowing her to revert to normal. Fabrikant will be returned to Qward, while Hal and Carol (who have been arguing with each other for the last several issues) have a calm, friendly moment with each other.

It's an effective end to the story arc, with a good fight scene in which Hal uses his powers in several clever ways. 

Next week, we'll finish off our look at Iron Man vs. Super Apes.

Talking Rings and Arm-Wresting in Space

 

cover art by Dick Giordano

Green Lantern #128 (May 1980) is a breather issue, taking a pause from the Sinestro/Weaponers story arc before the grand finale next issue. Writer Denny O'Neil and artist Joe Staton give us a flashback to explain why GL's ring occasionally talks to him.

Hal returns from OA and the ring tries to warn him that the boy Fabian is really the Qwardian General Fabrikant. But its message is unclear and Hal, exhausted from having just fought a war, doesn't get it. When Fabian and Carol ask him to explain how the ring can talk, he says it doesn't really, then tells them about an old adventure to clarify this.

Several years earlier, the ring temporarily failed Hal when he was pursuing criminals. He manages to catch the bad guys anyways and asks the ring why its out of order. The ring replies that its been ordered not to tell by someone else.

Hal gets around this by asking the ring to simply point towards whomever is stealing its power. He gets led to Hector Hammond, the villain who once gained psionic powers via a strange meteorite.

Hammond, using the power he's stolen, manages to trap Hal, then flies off into space to find more samples of that meteor. Hal gets loose, recharges his ring, pursues Hammond, then gets the villain into a sort of power-ring arm-wrestling contest until the 24-hour limit on the stolen power runs out. Hammond is captured and the threat is ended.

Ir's a nifty story, with the Space Arm-Wrestling match making a particularly fun visual. But when the story is over, Hal explains that his ring occasionally echoes his own subconscious thoughts. It can't talk on its own. 

If I want to nick-pick, I could start wondering why the story Hal told was necessary to explaining how the ring sometimes seems to be able to talk. The story itself doesn't really clarify this one way or another before Hal just says "My subconscious thoughts." But, as I said, its a fun story. So what the heck.

The issue ends with General Fabrikant getting ready to reveal himself and take vengeance on GL for messing up the whole conquest-of-Oa deal. 

We'll look at that final issue of the story arc in two weeks. Next week, we'll visit with Iron Man.

Being a Green Lantern is Dangerous

 

cover art by Brian Bolland

Green Lantern #127 (April 1980) amps up the epic feel of this already epic story arc. The Weaponers have taken over Oa and imprisoned the Guardians on the Power Battery. Hal, attempting to teleport from Earth to help the Guardians, ends up trapped inside the Battery. The Weaponers are getting ready to use the Battery's to conquer the universe. This issue continues from there, with Denny O'Neil still writing the script and Joe Staton still doing the pencils.

The Guardians are still able to communicate telepathically, telling Hal to break the link in the circle they form. Hal smacks the hands of two of them apart, which in turn frees them to send a general RED ALERT to the entire Green Lantern Corp.

This doesn't guarentee victory. The first GL who arrives is killed. In the meantime, Sinestro shows up to take command, only to be summarily informed by the Weaponers that he was merely a tool they were using and not to let the door hit him on the way out.

More Green Lanterns arrive. Most are trapped in a yellow vortex which slowly eats away at their force fields and leaves them apparently doomed. A few escape this, but are killed trying to reach Oa's surface. Only one makes it that far, but he dies just as he reaches the Battery.

This is close enough to Hal to link rings with him and use the extra power to escape from the Battery. 

Now wielding two rings, Hal starts to go to town on the Weaponers. But they outnumber him and it looks like Hal is going down for the long count when Sinestro, his pride earlier hurt by the Weaponers, joins in on Hal's side.

The two destroy the vortex-creating machine, which allows the trapped GLs in space to join the fight. More GLs die, but in the end the Weaponers are defeated.

During all this, there's another clue that the mysterious General Fabrikant--the Weaponers never-seen commander--is indeed the Earth boy Fabian. In the past few issues, this has been hinted at. This time, it's pretty much given away.

So the Weaponers invasion is stopped, but Sinestro has flown away and this Fabrikant guy still needs to be tracked down. 

I'm really enjoying this story arc. O'Neil effectively built the threat level over several issues and brought the Weaponers storyline to a satisfying end. A scene in which Hal recites the GL oath while fighting the Weaponers single-handedly is awesome. The last panel, acknowledging the dead GLs that need to be mourned, hits just the right emotional note. And the mystery of General Fabrikant has been built up effectively, leaving a tangling plot thread to be tied up even after the main battle is over.

We'll return to GL in 2 weeks. Next week, we'll visit the mid-18th Century to visit with Ben Bowie and his mountain men.

Sharks and Teleportation Beams

 

cover art by Dick Giordano

Green Lantern #126 (March 1980) has writer Denny O'Neil & artist Joe Staton picking up the action right from where the previous issue left off. Hal has returned to Earth with the young boy Fabian, only to find that the Weaponers of Qward have already invaded. The Weaponers, though, have gone to ground somewhere.

Hal tries to drop Fabian off with his uncle, but instead runs into the villain the Shark, who has been hired by the Weaponers to take care of Hal. There's a fight underwater and the Shark, using a weapon provided to him by his new allies, encases Hal in a golden coffin.

In the meantime, the Weaponers have set up show in a cavern, where they are putting together a teleportation device that will be used to invade Oa. There's also another reference to their absent commander, General Fabrikant, indicating again to alert readers that the kid Fabian isn't what he seems to be.

Hal manages to again think his way out of the underwater trap by slamming into the side of the gold coffin until it tumbles off a ledge, allowing water pressure to crack it open. After dropping Fabian off with Carol Ferris, Hal tales the Shark back to the Weaponer base. 

The Weaponers "reward" the Shark by deevolving him into a shark. Hal sees this and dumps the shark back in the ocean. Since the Shark once was a normal shark, this isn't such a bad fate for him.

The Weaponers have by now invaded Oa, where they capture the Guardians. Their plan is to use the Guardians and the power battery to create "the greatest weapon in the history of creation!"

Back on Earth, Hal takes out the few guards still in the cavern, then travels through the teleporter. Unfortunately for him, he ends up INSIDE the power battery.

This is another strong issue. It continues to move the story along quickly, has plenty of action and shows Hal using his brains as well as his power ring. The art is great and the story ends with an effective (both in terms of story and art) cliffhanger. In fact, the entire story arc has so far been strong.

We'll return to Hal in two weeks. Next week, we'll pay a long overdue return visit to Turok, Son of Stone.

Death Quest to Qward

 

Cover art by Dick Giodano

Green Lantern #125 (Feb. 1980) begins with GL blocking off a portal that leads to Qward. That won't keep either Sinestro or the Qwardians in Qward, but will keep a stray human from wandering into that less-than-friendly world.

Writer Denny O'Neil and artist Joe Staton keep things moving quickly. Hal tries to report to his new job at Ferris Aircraft, but he ticks off his boss by almost immediately getting a signal that someone has set off the alarm he left set near the portal.

At the portal, he discovers Sinestro returning to Earth, clearing the rock barrier around the portal to do so. There's a brief ring-vs-ring battle, then Hal sets off gas bombs he had planted earlier. This gives him enough of an advantage to take Sinestro's yellow power ring. 

Sinestro retreats through the portal. Hal knows Sinestro can get a new ring from the Weaponers of Qward, but takes a moment to recharge his ring before pursuing. While he's doing this, though, a kid wanders into the portal.

On Qward, Hal dodges a convoy of Weaponer vehicles, reaches the Weaponers' fortress, outsmarts and knocks out a guard, then gains entrance. He soon knocks out the Weaponer who is in the process of making Sinestro's new ring. (The guy also mentions that General Fabrikant is developing a weather control device for an invasion.)

It looks like Hal is in position to take Sinestro by surprise, but that Earth kid shows up and gets underfoot. Sinestro gets his ring. And Hal's ring--well, it doesn't work inside the Weaponers' fortress.

               

Hal keeps his head, though, using one of the lightning javelins carried by the guard he early knocked out to stun Sinestro. 

Once back outside, his ring works again. He quickly returns to Earth with the kid in tow.

Once back, though, he sees evidence that others have been through the portal. He adds up the convoy he saw, the absense of men & weapons from the fortress, and the mention of a weather control device. This tells him that the Weaponers have invaded Earth.

 

This is a great issue. It starts out in high gear and keeps moving rapidly, telling the story well and keeping the action almost non-stop. Hal is required to use his brains in addition to his ring to survive. Also, the story drops in a clue to a plot development we'll see in the next issue. The Weaponer general whose name was mentioned is Fabrikant. The kid who "accidentally" wandered into Qward and "accidentally" messed up Hal's chance to get Sinestro is Fabian. It's a nifty clue that gave the readers a chance to pick up on it, but subtle enough so that many readers would miss it. 

Next week, we'll return to the Marvel Universe to see how the Thing and Thor are doing against an army of undead. In two weeks, we'll return here to visit again with Hal Jordan.

Sinestro is NOT a Good Son!

 

cover art by Dick Giordano

Gee whiz, Sinestro is a big meanie! Over the past two issues, he's been responsible for knocking Guy Gardner into an apparently permanent coma. Now he's using his own dad to set another death trap for Hal Jordan!

Green Lantern #124 (January 1980) has writer Denny O'Neil and artist Joe Staton & Frank McLauglin continues Hal's feud with Sinestro. Hal had already stated his intention to track down his arch enemy, but Sinestro attacks first, destroying a museum of space exploration that was just opening. Hal manages to save all the civilians, but the building is a total loss.

So Hal takes the battle to Sinestro, flying to Sinestro's home planet of Korugar. Once there, he summons Katma Tui, the planet's GL.

But Korugar has a dumb rule that prevents Katma from herself attacking Sinestro (I think because he's a fellow Korugarian) as long as the villain isn't directly threatening the planet. She does show Hal a place to start looking for Sinestro, though. Sinestro's dad runs a sleezy business involving Null Chambers. Residents of Korugar use the chamber (which uses yellow null rays) to have their life force slowly drained from them, keeping them just barely alive. For Korugarians, this is an addictive experience.

It turns out, though, that Sinestro's dad ISN'T Sinestro's dad! He's Sinestro wearing a Dad Mask. The bad guy has tossed his own father into the null rays to set up a trap for Hal.

Trapped by the yellow rays and hallucinating that the women he has loved are beckoning him to his death, he manages to send off a signal with his ring. This brings Katma back, who can now act because Sinestro is threatening an innocent visitor on the planet. She smashes the null ray generator and Hal starts beating up Sinestro. But a null ray addict gets in Hal's way, allowing Sinestro to depart for the dimension of Qward. 

This is a pretty straightforward chapter in the ensuing epic tale, which will eventually lead up to a massive battle involving the entire Green Lantern Corps. The story moves along quickly and the art (along with Anthony Tollin's colors) effectively brings an alien world/culture to life. The null ray chamber is downright creepy and makes for a unique death trap.

Next week, we'll visit Thor and the Thing in the Marvel Universe. So we'll jump back to the DC Universe in two weeks to see how Hal is doing in his search for Sinestro.

From Earth to the Phantom Zone to Earth to Qward to Earth

 

cover art by Gil Kane

With Green Lantern #123 (Dec. 1979), Green Arrow disappears from the book after getting a few panels in which G.L. tells him that its too dangerous for him to go to Qward. Green Lantern must go alone. After nine years and 47 issues, writer Denny O'Neil breaks up the team. 

But why is Hal going off to Qward? Well, he's actually very well travelled in this issue, as O'Neil and artist Joe Staton begin the action on Earth, but soon have Hal using the Phantom Zone Projector to try to rescue Guy Gardner from the Zone Criminals. 

There's a brief Lantern vs. Lantern battle--not as epic as last issue but it only lasts a few panels before G.L. shows that he came prepared. He's brought a lead box with him, inside of which is anti-kryptonite. This particular brand of kryptonite only affects Kryptonians with no superpowers, which apparently includes the Criminals while in their ghostly form. This gives Hal a chance to save Guy, but a yellow power beam zaps Guy away.

Hal gathers up the anti-kryptonite to keep from killing the Criminals, then heads back to Earth. But he knows where he needs to go next--a yellow beam means Sinestro and that means a trip to the anti-universe of Qward.

This is where he breaks the "you can't come" news to Ollie and thus regains a solo title. He then finds an entry way into Qward (the Guardians have several pinpointed throughout space) and enters that weird dimension.

He is soon ambushed by Guy, who is now being controlled by Sinestro. Poor man can't catch a break.

As did Don Heck in the previous issue, Joe Staton provides us with some fun images as the various opponents in the ensuing fight summon up various types of contructs. Sinestro finally just threatens to kill Guy outright if Hal doesn't surrender.

Hal, though, belatedly realizes that in Qward, there is air in space. So he smashes some asteroids and summons up a cloud of dust to blind Sinestro. He then starts beating the snot out of the villain.

It looks like a clear win for Hal until he notices that Guy has floated between some rocks and is about to be crushed. While he's saving Guy, Sinestro escapes.

So its back to Earth again, this time with a catatonic Guy Gardner in tow. Guy remains in a coma until GL #190, when the Crisis of Infinite Earths spoiled the DC Universe forever. But in 1979, Hal still has stuff to do. He vows to find Sinestro.

As with the previous issue, I like this one a lot, based mostly on the imaginative depictions of Hal, Guy and Sinestro using their rings. The overall plot, with Hal hopping from one dimension to another, drips with entertaining Comic Book Science. It was a fun time to be reading Green Lantern comics.

And we'll keep reading them. In two weeks, we'll begin a look at Hal's quest to find Sinestro. In the meantime, next week will see Ben Grimm and Doc Savage mixed up in some time travel shenanigans.

A Wedding, A Phantom Zone Projector and a Dead Man Who Isn't Dead.

 

cover art by Dick Giordano

It'll take a moment to set up the background for this issue (Green Lantern/Green Arrow #122, November 1979). Back-up Green Lantern Guy Gardner had supposedly been killed in a Power Battery accident six issues earlier. Guy had been friendly with a gypsy named Kari Limbo, who had psychic powers. Since then, Hal Jordan has gotten friendly with Kari. So, as writer Denny O'Neil and artist Don Heck begin this issue, Hal and Kari are going to the chapel and are gonna get married.

But on the way into the church, Kari has a vision and draws a picture of a Phantom Zone projector. This sends Superman--a guest at the wedding--off to the Fortress of Solitude to check on his projector. Once there, though, he is pulled into the Phantom Zone by what looks suspiciously like a Green Lantern-created construct.

Hal and Kari, meanwhile, are soldiering on with the ceremony. But when they get to the "I do" part, Kari goes into a full-on trance, mumbling about Superman, a power ring and darkness. This pretty heavily implies that Superman is in danger and that it is Green Lantern related.

Well, you can't marry your gal while she's in trance and besides, helping the Man of Steel seems to have become Hal's responsibility. He flies to the Fortress. Unable to get past the security features, he uses his ring to fish up the Phantom Zone projector. Then he recharges his ring and enters the Zone.

What follows is a Lantern vs. Lantern fight, with both GLs using their rings in clever ways. The other GL, to no one's surprise by this point, is Guy Gardner. The accident that supposedly killed him threw him into the Zone, where he's been watching Hal play footsie with Kari. Also, the Phantom Zone criminals, led by General Zod, are controlling him and lending their own will power to his ring. Also, Superman has been beaten unconscious and is being held by the criminals.

It's a cool fight, with Guy gradually coming out ahead thanks to the increased power provided by the criminals. But Superman has been playing possum and interfers at just the right moment. He and Hal save each other from certain death in the ensuing struggle before Hal, who had maintained a link with his power battery to keep an exit open, escapes with Superman in tow.

This issue is pretty cool, mostly because of the clever use of the Phantom Zone in the story and Don Heck's imaginative depiction of a Green Lantern battle. Looking back at the Hal/Kari romance arc that had been playing out in the preceding issues, it can be argued that their relationship was too quick and too superficial to bring enough emotional impact to the spoiled wedding. But two Green Lanterns going up against each other with constructs that include a battle axe, a giant magnet, and giant scissors makes up for a lot. 

At this point, Hal still needs to rescue Guy, but that will have to wait for the next issue, which we will look at next week. We'll then be returning to Green Lantern every few weeks for an epic storyline that builds off of this one, in which Oa itself is threatened with invasion.

From Human to Robot

 

cover art by Gil Kane

Comic Book Science & Comic Book Logic do not, of course, depend on any sort of realism. What they require is a degree of self-consistency. During the Silver Age, DC heroes such as Flash and Green Lantern were always using clever tactics to foil villains. Often, even presuming the existance of super-speed or power rings, those tactics made no real-life sense at all. But that doesn't matter. As long as these tactics are reasonably consistent within the established rules of the DC Universe, then they serve a purpose not just to advance the story, but to also highlight the cleverness of the hero and give the stories an extra "Wow, that's cool!" vibe. An extra level to our sense of wonder, so to speak.

A good example of this is Green Lantern #36 (April 1965). Writer Gardner Fox and artist Gil Kane start off by having a toy doll steal secret plans from Carol Ferris' facility. 

Carol, soon joined by Hal, pursue the escaping toy. Eventually, the agile little thing gets away. So Hal sends Carol back to the airfield to get help. This allows him to change into Green Lantern. He'd already zapped the stolen plans with a tracking ray, so he's good to go.

Well, he's not. But to be fair, even people living in Comic Book Universe wouldn't have seen what was coming. Hal tracks the toy to a remote house, where a criminal mastermind and his thugs are already planning more thefts of stuff that can be sold on the international market.

But there's a complication. The room the gang is using is filled with a deadly radiation, with each of the bad guys wearing a neutralizer to protect themselves. The radiation has a yellow base, so GL's ring won't work inside the room. It also won't protect him if he enters the room himself.

This is, of course, silly. But it's a silliness that is completely consistent with how things work in a Comic Book Universe. Because of this, readers can enjoy this tale even in our more jaded modern age for what it is. We don't have to look at it ironically or to make fun of. It's a good, solid superhero story and can be allowed to work on that level. 

This holds true even as the story grows more bizarre. GL can't let the bad guys get away. Well, he admits he COULD wait for them to leave the house and then nab them. But, darn it all, Carol is worried about those plans, so Hal wants to wrap this up quickly.

Hal bursts into the room and begins punching out the bad guys. Fisticuffs are necessary because of the yellow-based radiation, so he can't use his power ring. But why isn't the radiation killing him?

It's because, before entering the room, he uses the power ring to transform himself into a robot. 

And that makes sense. Within the context of GL's reality, it's a clever and effective tactic. And Gil Kane's art makes robot GL look pretty darn cool as well, especially when one of his hands breaks off after he throws a particularly hard punch. 

The criminal scientist uses an electro-magnet to temporarily trap Hal, but the hero thinks his way out of that situation. He pursues the gang outside the house, where his ring now works. So catching them all is now pretty routine.

It's an imaginative tale, with Hal using his ring (something limited only by his willpower and imagination) in very clever and unexpected ways. It's a great example of how a Comic Book Universe is SUPPOSED to work.

Next week, we'll trade in our power rings for six-guns and visit with the Rawhide Kid.