Episode 20: Green Lantern’s Golden Age Debut

Simon Carver

Welcome to the show everybody! I am Simon Carver, coming to you once again from a cold, blacked-out London. It is Monday, April 14th, 1941, and I can hear the distant thud of anti-aircraft fire echoing across the Thames. The blackout curtains are pinned tight, but tonight, we are turning our eyes toward a different kind of beacon. Joining me from our warm New York studio at KDCR is my pragmatical partner, Robert Reed. Bob, how is the weather in the land of the free?

Robert Reed

Well, Simon, New York is bright and beautiful, but we are keeping a close watch on the shortwave reports coming from Europe. Just this week, we have been reading about the ferocious fighting around the Kleisoura Pass in Greece, and the young King Peter II of Yugoslavia having to flee his country as the Axis forces push through the Balkans. It is a dark, heavy hour for the world, Simon, which makes it the absolute perfect night to debut our coverage of a brand-new publishing powerhouse: All-American Publications.

Simon Carver

All-American Publications! Founded by Max Gaines in 1939, operating out of 225 Lafayette Street. It is the birthplace of a completely different flavor of mystery man. We are talking about a hero who does not rely on alien muscles or shadow-steeped fear, but on a brilliant, unshakeable green light. Tonight, we introduce the Golden Age Green Lantern, Alan Scott, who first stepped onto the newsstands in July 1940.

Robert Reed

That is exactly right, Simon. This character is all about willpower, which is just what we need in April 1941. Now, before we dive into his magic ring, I have to ask: did you ever find that dusty local award you won at the New York Public Library, or did the London blitz patrol mistake it for scrap metal?

Simon Carver

My NYPL award is safely tucked away in my desk, Robert, right next to my pristine 1927 Yankees program. But let us leave the scrap metal to the war effort and open up the pages of All-American Comics number sixteen.

Simon Carver

Let us look at the opening splash page of All-American Comics number sixteen, cover-dated July 1940. The art is credited to Mart Dellon, which we now know is a pen name for the exceptionally talented Martin Nodell, working alongside our old friend, writer Bill Finger. The story begins out in the Great West, where a young, blond engineer named Alan Scott is in the cab of a train making a test crossing over a newly constructed trestle bridge.

Robert Reed

That trestle bridge is a beautiful piece of steelwork, but a crooked competitor named Dekker has sabotaged the whole works because Alan's company won the government contract over his own bid. In panel two, there is a deafening blast, and the entire train hurtsles down into the rocky gorge below. It is a brutal, crushing wreck, Simon. Everyone in the cab is killed instantly, except for young Alan, who crawls out of the burning steel clutches holding a strange, glowing green train lantern.

Simon Carver

That train lantern is the central mystery. As Alan lies dazed in the sand, a toneless, ancient voice rises from the green flame to tell him the history of this cosmic metal. It was carved from a meteor that crashed in ancient China centuries ago. The flame tells him of the Three Prophesies: first, to bring death; second, to bring life; and third, to bring power.

Robert Reed

The Chinese lamp-maker Chang was the first to fashion it into a lamp, and the villagers, terrified of sorcery, attacked him with swords. That fulfilled the first prophesy when the lamp flared and brought death to the attackers. Then, decades later, it was found in America by a man declared a lunatic, who took the old lamp and rebuilt it into a modern train lantern. The lamp cured his mind and gave him a fresh start in life, fulfilling the second prophesy.

Simon Carver

The second prophesy of life! And now, the lantern tells Alan he has been chosen for the third prophesy: power. Following the lantern's instructions, Alan uses a file to carve a ring from a piece of the lantern's green metal. When he slips that ring onto his finger, his feverish mind clears, and he realizes he must craft a costume to strike fear into criminals. He chooses a striking, theatrical look: a bright red shirt, green trousers, red boots laced with yellow straps, a high-collared purple cape, and a simple black mask.

Robert Reed

That costume is as colorful as a Chicago street parade, Simon! Nodell actually admitted he drew inspiration from Greek mythology for those laced boots and the cape. But the real engine of this hero is the ring's power. It lets him fly through the air, walk right through solid brick walls, and it makes him completely immune to any weapon made of metal. Lead bullets and steel knives just bounce right off him. But on page eight, we discover his bizarre Achilles' heel. When Dekker's thugs attack him with a wooden club, it knocks him flat! His magic cannot stop wood!

Simon Carver

A vulnerability to wood! It is a brilliant, grounding limitation. If you can pass through a steel vault but get laid out by a simple pine two-by-four, you have to keep your wits about you. Alan uses his ring to fly Dekker high into the sky, forcing a full, written confession from the terrified saboteur before the shock of the ordeal causes Dekker's heart to fail. Alan stands under the stars and vows to shed his light over dark evil, and thus, the Green Lantern is born!

Robert Reed

Well, he does not waste any time getting to work, Simon. In All-American Comics number seventeen, cover-dated August 1940, Alan Scott is back in Metropolis, and he runs straight into a nest of white-collar rats. Cyrus Gorson, the Commissioner of Public Works, is secretly partnering with a crooked builder named Muller to steer a massive municipal library contract to Muller's firm, even though Alan's employer, John Hall, submitted a much lower, honest bid.

Simon Carver

The municipal library bid! When Alan confronts them, Gorson and Muller send their pet gunman, a bald thug named Gunner, to silence him. Gunner shoots Alan from a speeding touring car. But Alan, remembering his metal immunity, plays dead in the street, waits for them to speed away, and then uses his ring's flight to trace them back to Muller's waterfront storehouse.

Robert Reed

That waterfront storehouse is where things get wild. Alan phases right through the door, but Muller's gang triggers a trap door that drops a heavy wooden ceiling beam right onto Green Lantern's skull. Because it is wood, it knocks him out cold! They bind him in heavy steel chains and hurl him straight into the deep river. But once he hits the cold water, Alan wakes up, realizes the steel chains are metal, and uses his ring's energy like an acetylene torch to slice right through them!

Simon Carver

Chains cut underwater! He flies right back to Gorson's office, dripping wet and glowing with an eerie green light. He plays on their guilty consciences, pretending to be a dripping, vengeful ghost returned from a watery grave. Gorson completely snaps under the psychological pressure, trying to sign a confession, but a crazed Muller pulls a gun and shoots Gorson dead before Alan can stop him. Alan knocks Muller out, calls the police, and leaves a small green lantern mark on Muller's jaw.

Robert Reed

The green lantern jaw stamp! That is a great signature touch, Simon. Now, in issue eighteen, we are treated to a spectacular setting: the New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows! Alan is visiting the fair when he meets a young woman named Irene Miller, whose brother Danny has been framed for manslaughter by a gang leader named Murdock. Murdock wanted Danny to help him run a protection racket inside the fairgrounds at the Cafe Condor.

Simon Carver

The World's Fair! It is a beautiful backdrop, with the Trylon and the Perisphere towering over the scenes. Green Lantern flies into Danny's prison cell by phasing through the stone wall, learns about Murdock's plans to rob the proceeds of a benefit concert at the Hall of Music, and heads off to stop it. He intercepts the getaway car, but Murdock escapes and flees up the towering, curved surface of the Perisphere itself.

Robert Reed

A fight on the Perisphere! That is high-altitude drama. Murdock and Green Lantern trade punches on that slick, curved dome. Murdock loses his footing, slips off the giant sphere, and plummets to the ground. Before he dies, Murdock confesses to the frame-up, clearing Danny Miller's name. It is a thrilling, cinematic climax that shows how Bill Finger loved using real landmarks to stage his big action beats.

Simon Carver

He really did. And the action stays grounded but incredibly grimy in issue nineteen, from October 1940. This story tackles a despicable insurance ring. A gambler named Slade and his crooked attorney, Wolfe, are running a racket where they get desperate, indebted men to sign over their insurance policies, and then engineer fatal "accidents" to collect the cash. They target a poor fella named Joe Prentiss.

Robert Reed

Joe Prentiss! Alan Scott actually saves Joe from a speeding hit-and-run car on the very first page. Alan goes undercover as a heavy-spending gambler named Mr. Titus to bait Slade's trap. Slade and Wolfe take the bait, get "Titus" to sign a policy, and then arrange for gunmen to shoot him in a dark alley. But when the bullets just bounce off Green Lantern, he traces Slade back to his secret headquarters.

Simon Carver

Slade's headquarters! During the final struggle, Slade realizes his gun is useless, so he grabs a wooden rifle stock and cracks it over Green Lantern's head. It dazes Alan, and Slade pushes him toward a boiling vat of lye! But Alan concentrates his willpower, projecting a solid beam of green light from his ring that strikes Slade like a battering ram, toppling the villain into his own chemical vat. It is a horrific, absolute end for a truly nasty racket.

Robert Reed

That lye vat ending is as tough as they come, Simon. But now let us look at some grand-scale espionage in All-Star Comics number two, the Fall 1940 issue. This is a historic book because it is the first time we see our All-American heroes sharing a title under that informal DC logo. Green Lantern goes up against a sinister foreign agent named Baron Von Zorn, who is plotting to overthrow our American democracy from a secret lab at Rocky Point.

Simon Carver

Baron Von Zorn! He is using a specialized chemical drug that paralyzes the nerve cells of transient men, turning a small army of unsuspecting hoboes into mindless, mechanical "robot-men" with vacant stares. He sends these brainwashed men to commit acts of sabotage across the country's industrial plants. Alan Scott reads about a stolen body from the city morgue, sneaks in to perform an autopsy, and identifies the chemical compound in the victim's nerves.

Robert Reed

Alan performs an autopsy himself! That shows he is a real, hands-on scientific detective. He goes undercover in a ragged coat, letting Von Zorn's men kidnap him and bring him to the Rocky Point stronghold. Von Zorn tries to inject Green Lantern with the paralyzing fluid, but Alan has already formulated a chemical antidote. He pretends to go limp, waits for the foreign agents to leave, and then unleashes the green light!

Simon Carver

Unleashes the light! In a fantastic panel on page seven, Green Lantern uses a specialized hypodermic needle to inject the recovering hoboes with his antidote, restoring their conscious minds. The restored men turn on Von Zorn's guards, and when the Baron tries to escape through a swamp, Green Lantern flies down and captures him, promising him a nice, clean American prison cell instead of his totalitarian dreams.

Robert Reed

That is how we handle fifth columnists, Simon! Now, let us move to All-American Comics number twenty, cover-dated November 1940. This story starts with a real shocker: Jim Tellum, a popular radio announcer for the Apex Broadcasting System, is machine-gunned to death in broad daylight right outside his office. Alan Scott, who is working as a young radio engineer for Apex, is determined to solve the murder.

Simon Carver

Jim Tellum's murder! Before his widow, Mrs. Tellum, can tell Alan what Jim was worried about, a sniper silences her too from a window across the street. But before she dies, she keeps repeating three words: "Tops... Tops... Tops." Alan realizes she is referring to the "Tops Toothpaste" radio show, which is broadcast nationwide every single night.

Robert Reed

The Tops Toothpaste show! Alan and Irene Miller go to investigate the shabby office of the show's producers, but they are jumped by armed thugs and locked in separate back rooms. Alan uses his ring to slip right through the wooden door, changes into his Green Lantern duds, and overhears the gang's leader, Duke, reading a coded fan letter on the air. The letters are actually a highly sophisticated smuggling code, directing dock workers to bring contraband shipments to Pier fourteen.

Simon Carver

Pier fourteen! Green Lantern flies to the harbor just as a massive steamship is unloading illegal silk. He drops onto the deck, and when the smugglers open fire with tommy guns, he uses his ring's power like a concentrated laser, melting the ship's steel hull. Water rushes into the gap, and the ship begins to sink, forcing the crew to surrender. He then captures Gates, the assistant manager of Apex Broadcasting, who was the secret mastermind behind the entire ring.

Robert Reed

Melting a ship's hull with a ring! That is some high-octane power, Simon. Now let us turn to the main event of today's show: All-American Comics number twenty-one, from December 1940. This story is a real emotional roller coaster. It starts in the law offices of Elias Strake, an unsavory attorney who is hatching a cruel plot with a young hood named Cub Brenner. They are targeting the Blakes, an elderly, incredibly wealthy couple whose only son, Tommy, disappeared eleven years ago when he was just nine years old.

Simon Carver

An eleven-year disappearance! Strake has faked a duplicate of a silver locket Tommy was wearing when he vanished, and he has coached Cub Brenner to pretend to be the long-lost son so they can gain access to the Blake family vault, which contains over one hundred thousand dollars in cash. Alan Scott, who is friends with the Blakes, hears about this miracle return and visits their mansion, but he is immediately suspicious of this cold-eyed "Tommy."

Robert Reed

He smells a rat, Simon! Alan dons his Green Lantern costume and pays a late-night visit to Strake's office. He catches Strake and Cub Brenner planning the robbery. But Strake is a sneaky devil; he has rigged a time-bomb inside a simple hatbox on his desk. When Green Lantern enters, the bomb goes off, and the terrible concussion of the blast lays Alan out on the concrete sidewalk.

Simon Carver

Rigged hatbox bomb! The explosion leaves Alan dazed and weak, temporarily short-circuiting his ring's power. He has to run on foot through the lonely streets to reach the Blake mansion. By the time he arrives, he finds Mr. Blake shot and bleeding on the floor. Cub Brenner had a sudden change of heart and refused to steal the money from the old couple who welcomed him with such love, so Strake shot Mr. Blake in cold blood and fled in a high-speed touring car with the cash.

Robert Reed

Strake shot him in cold blood! Cub Brenner chases after Strake's car to stop him, but they are heading straight for a massive, rocky cliff. Green Lantern recovers his strength, takes to the sky, and flies over the edge of the precipice just as Strake's car crashes over. Alan uses his ring's energy to project an unyielding barrier of solid green light, catching the falling car mid-air and saving Cub's life!

Simon Carver

An unyielding barrier of light! It is a breathtaking visual by Martin Nodell. Alan brings the car down safely, and they confront Strake. In the final panel on page eleven, Mrs. Blake reveals the ultimate clue: the real Tommy had a misshapen, scarred finger from an accident when he was a tot. When she looks at Cub's hand, she sees that very same odd, scarred finger! Cub Brenner actually is the real Tommy Blake! He had amnesia from the childhood accident and had fallen into a life of crime, but he has finally found his true home.

Robert Reed

He was the real son all along! That is a beautiful, classic Bill Finger twist, Simon. The Blakes refuse to prosecute their returned boy, and Cub gets a second chance at an honest life. It is just a masterfully constructed story, showing how Finger and Martin Nodell were pioneering a whole new level of human drama in these early books.

Simon Carver

They really were pioneers, Robert. And speaking of pioneers, our next shortwave broadcast on the shortband will cover the debut of the Atom, Al Pratt, from these very same All-American issues. And our next standard broadcast will feature the historic debut of the Flash, issues one through twelve, alongside All Star Comics numbers one and two.

Robert Reed

That is going to be a real barn-burner, Simon! If you folks have any questions, comments, or if you have also received any of those strange, future-pointing shortwave messages from that mysterious "Mr. Moore," send your letters to distinguishedcomicsradio @gmail.com.

Simon Carver

Keep your shortwave dials tuned, keep your courage high in these dark times, and from a resolute, blacked-out London, this is Simon Carver saying good night.

Robert Reed

And from New York, where the green light is always burning bright, this is Robert Reed. Good night, folks, and keep the faith!