Bullet Points Commentary on Seven Soldiers

By David Faust

[u]Showcase Presents: Green Lantern #3[/u]

This volume covers Hal Jordan's career from 1965 to 1968. It
features return engagements with several villains, most notably
Sinestro, finally escaping his imprisonment after a
well-deserved two year vacation. (Mind, the story itself is
extremely silly.) Guest stars also feature heavily, with three
appearances by Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern (and the
happy marriage of his comic relief sidekick Doiby Dickles to an
alien princess.)

The most enduring new villains are Major Disaster and Krona.
While Krona's origin has changed litttle since this story, there
are some plot points that just don't work post-Crisis. Still,
Trinity fans might want to pick this volume up. Less
successful is the Dazzler, whose secret identity is a bit of a
cheat.

Also featured in this volume is the first major change in Hal
Jordan's status quo. When Carol Ferris suddenly falls in love
with another man between issues, Hal leaves Ferris Aircraft. He
drifts around a bit before becoming a claims adjuster for
Evergreen Insurance--apparently being a test pilot is adequate
training for that.

And finally, this volume has the first appearances by two other
Earth-born Green Lanterns, Charlie Vickers and Guy Gardner.
Wait, you say, who the heck is Charlie Vickers? An actor who
played Green Lantern on TV, "Good-Time" Charlie's party
lifestyle led to the murder of his brother by an alien seeking
to kill Green Lantern. Feeling responsible and vengeful,
Charlie volunteered to aid Hal Jordan in uncovering the
murderous conspiracy attempting to wipe out the Green Lantern
Corps. In recognition of his heroism and atonement, the
Guardians of Oa made Charlie a real Green Lantern and shipped
him off to a distant star sector, seldom to be seen again.

The Guy Gardner story is actually a whole-issue "what if" story,
which ends with Guy dying heroically. Guy is basically just
another vanilla good guy in the story; the only place he
displays the kind of attitude that would later become the
character's trademark is on the cover, where he steps on a
supine Hal to claim the lantern.

These are perfectly good Silver Age stories; if you enjoyed the
previous volumes, this one is in the same vein and well worth
your money.

SKJAM!