RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Happy 80th Birthday Green Lantern

https://www.worldcomicbookreview.com/2020/08/26/happy-80th-birthday-green-lantern/

As a wee lad, I used to skim through our backyard pool with a soggy green cardboard ring wrapped around my finger.

I think at once stage I had almost every Silver Age issue from 100 to 200. I was especially a big fan of Len Wein's and Dave Gibbon's Green Lantern (and was really weirded out when Gibbons went on to do the art for Watchmen - I thought his art was too sleek and pretty for such a gritty comic).

But I also read All-Star Squadron, which had Alan Scott, and that version of GL still has one of the best superhero costumes (Marty Nobell explains in the article why he gave GL puffy sleeves and the cowl).

Having said that, I didn't bother to read the 80th anniversary extravaganza which struck me as too schmaltzy.

Good article but for some reason the pics didn't load for me (most of them, anyway).

I loved GREEN LANTERN during the Neal Adams (1970-1972) and Grell (1976-1978) runs. And the earlier Gil Kane Silver Age issues, although I don't have all of them. I never got into the 1980's GREEN LANTERN run. Mostly when I sampled it in that era, Joe Staton was the artist. I recall the Omega Men (issues 141-143) began as GREEN LANTERN characters in the early 1980's. Before they branched off into their own Giffen-illustrated OMEGA MEN series, where Lobo was introduced as a villain.

The images with the article loaded for me. I'll say this, Gibbons' art was a lot more tightly pencilled and detailed in that era. The 1983 ALL-STAR SQUADRON page looks like it's inked by Jerry Ordway, which certainly is a far different look than Gibbons inking his own work on WATCHMEN and THE KILLING JOKE.

There is a Golden Age Elseworlds-formatted story with the Golden Age Green Lantern I really liked a lot, with art by John K. Snyder.
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Green-Lantern-Brightest-Day-Blackest-Night

I like this cover by Grell that gives you a nice side-by-side look at the Hal Jordan and Alan Scott Green Lanterns:





I recently re-read the very first Green Lantern story by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell from ALL-AMERICAN COMICS 16, July 1940.

Reprinted in THE GREAT COMIC BOOK HEROES hardcover by Jules Feiffer (1965). Martin Nodell lived from 1915-2006, living his retirement years in Tamarac, Florida. And my local comic shop guy Phil was friends with him until he died, and frequently sold new pieces of art to him that Phil displayed in his store. Phil was also friends for many years with Will Eisner.

Looks like Gibbons' GREEN LANTERN run was a fairly short one, from 172 (Jan 1984) to 186 (March 1985).
Plus backup stories in 161-162, 164-167.
https://readcomiconline.to/Comic/Green-Lantern-1960/Issue-172?id=28110

I love this site, where you can read all the issues of pretty much every major series online.

Yeah, Gibbons at that stage was fresh out of the UK, where he had done Rogue Trooper for 2000AD Comics, and was at the height of his powers. (I actually don't recall him being involved in any comic for a long time now.)

Joe Staton was indeed the GL artist for most of the 80s. I liked his work from All-star Comics (Justice Society) in the late 1970s, I guess, although I guess it is a little dated now.

Neal Adams on the other hand hasn't really dated at all. The art for GL/GA could have been done yesterday, within the parameters of realist superhero comic book art.

Like in the case of Dave Cockrum's art, I also prefer Joe Staton as an inker.
Staton inked INCREDIBLE HULK for about a year in 1976-1977.

Cockrum around the same time inked JOHN CARTER WARLORD OF MARS for Marvel in 1976, as well as inking Starlin on CAPTAIN MARVEL 26, and some issues of AVENGERS (106-108 in 1972, 124-126 in 1974). Staton after inked AVENGERS 127-134 in 1974-1975.

As a penciller, I like Joe Staton best on E-MAN 1-10 for Charlton, many of which I also love for Byrne's Rog-2000 backups. Staton was also well-suited to draw Plastic Man and Metal Men, that allowed him to stretch normal comic book "realism" with a little playful cartoonish charicature. I saw some of Staton's ALL-STAR issues, but only a few.

And yeah, it's amazing how well Neal Adams' work has aged. 50 years now, and it never seems to go out of style (check out my approaching-complete checklist in the Neal Adams topic, I think the best and most accessible guide to Adams stories you'll find anywhere!)

Whether Batman, Deadman, X-MEN, GL/GA, Avengers, Conan... Neal Adams' work on just about every series he illustrated on is or approaches being the definitive version. Byrne has said in interviews that Adams' 9 issues on X-MEN are the template Byrne used for his own run on the series.
My only complaint with Adams' stories is usually the writing that accompanied it. But his pages are flawless, and suitable for framing.

The special was ok. It was all short stories about Green Lanterns.

Dave,you should buy a copy and read it in court while the judge is yammering on and on.

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GREEN LANTERN 80th ANNIVERSARY SUPER SPECTACULAR :
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=50969075

Man, is that a mouthful to say. With TEN variant covers, no less.

I like the 60's-styled "go-go chex" cover.
And the Neal Adams 70's-retro cover (although I wondered why they styled it like a 1976 cover, rather than like the 1970-1972 period cover design when Adams actually drew the series.
Issues 76-89.
https://viewcomiconline.com/green-lantern-1960-issue-85/