A comic book creator who came up with one of the best superhero concepts in history has passed away at the age of 91.
Back in the '40's, Mart Nodell hit on the concept of a hero who had a magic ring that generated a light beam that could do just about everything. Since this was the age of electronics, the mystic ring was recharged with a mystic battery -- in the shape of a green lantern. He incongruously clad his blond hero in a red tunic, and called him Green Lantern.
About 15 years later, editor Julius Schwartz, artist Gil Kane, and writer John Broome would retool and streamline the character, introducing a more science-fiction based Green Lantern (this time in a green-and-grey suit) modeled after the E.E. Smith LENSMAN novels. Via DC's then-popular parallel-world scheme (in which the adventures of DC's 1940's heroes took place on an alternate earth, Earth-2), the two Green Lanterns often teamed up.
Between the two of them, these heroes must have had thousands of kids donning cheap vending-machine rings, touching them to batteries, and uttering sacred oaths -- wishing that they could gain the power to make their dreams reality cast in emerald light.
No comments:
Post a Comment