Green Lantern (1960) 40

The Secret Origin of the Guardians!
By John Broome, Gil Kane, Sid Greene
Oct 1965

- 1st appearance of Krona
- origin of the universe, birth of evil
- 1st GL team-up

- starts on E2 where a meteor hits Gotham, except it isn't a meteor, passes through a beam of Greem light from AS's ring, and suddenly the ring can affect wood
- AS goes to E1 and finds Hal to tell him the news only to discover that the ring no longer works against wood; so Alan commands to tell him what happened what follows is a 4-page origin of Krona and Oa
- Realizing that Krona was behind it all the GLs seek out the Guardians who warn them that L is wrecking all kinds of damage to E2
- mountains are collapsing, tidal waves are about to engulf Coast City but the GLs manage to save the day
- after saving E2 the GLs are contacted by the Guardians who have set up a temporary HQ in an abandoned courtroom on E1; when the GLs arrive they tell Hal to turn in his ring and his uniform because Alan is taking over for him
- Hal gets angry and challenges Alan to a GL duel; they fight and Alan wins; turns out Krona used his mental powers to take over Alan; after he beats Hal he departs Alan's body but makes a copy of his ring
Wtf?!
- they defeat Krona only after Alan's spirit leaves his body and enters Hal's body; but Hal is still aware; together in one body they are able to team-up and defeat the renegade Oan

- what exactly are Krona's powers?
- how did Alan contact Hal telepathically? Using his ring?
- too any convenient excuses and explanations, way too convoluted
- very forced, not great, not impressive
- can't recommend it to anyone but the most diehard fan or comic book historian (amateur or professional)
- if not for the fact that so much was built on this story it would be nothing, meaningless
- in all fairness I'm not a big fan of DC superhero comics if this era and prefer their Sci-Fi books like Doom Patrol and Challengers of the Unknown and books that don't seem to take themselves too seriously

Green Lantern of Earth-2
- in the silver age prior to this Alan had appeared in two issues of Flash, two JLA/JSA team-ups and one issue of Showcase; the appearances in Flash and Showcase are also in this collection
- the two Flash appearances are little more cameos, single page appearances
- Final GA appearance was in All-Star Comics 57 (Feb/Mar 1951), just before it was renamed All-Star Western