Lantern's Light

Since coming out of the closet, I've realised one big, long-hidden reason why I've always loved costumed-hero stories so much - from Zorro to Wonder Woman and everything in between - it's because they're about being someone else.

We all love pretending to be someone else for a while, we all get swept up in stories that let us pretend what it would be like, whether it's up in a starship or down in a rabbit hole. But when the story in itself is about someone who has pretend to be someone else, it adds a whole new dimension (pun intended) to relate to; especially for those of us who deny who we are, whether to others or to ourselves.

In 1940 - a year after Batman made his dramatic debut - his home turf, Gotham City, gained another far more colourful Guardian against evil: Green Lantern.

Many changes have come and gone in the costume and powers, and those who wield them, associated with the name Green Lantern, and it's grown from its pulp crimefighting beginnings to a universe that rivals that of Star Wars, both for cosmic height and personal depth.

But the very first strip, way back over 80 years ago, contained everything I needed to be drawn into that world and know that I had a place there, and a hero that would speak to me and speak for me. (I should add, I'm nowhere near old enough to have read it first hand, but it felt as fresh as any story ever did, when I finally found it!)

Before we even get into the story, we have the credits that name the writer and artist - Martin Nodell is using a pseudonym, Mart Dellon, for reasons best known to himself; and his name is accompanied by Bill Finger - a creator who, it's now been revealed, was denied the same level of credit as co-creator of Batman, alongside Bob Kane, who took solo credit for decades before that wrong was posthumously undone. So I'm already in the hands of two men who know what it's like to go unknown or unnamed, willingly or unwillingly; and I haven't even read the first line yet.

Now we meet our star. As a railroad crosses a bridge in "The Great West", it carries into a world that is about as all-American as this title, All American Comics, promises; enter our blond-haired, blue-eyed, broad-shouldered protagonist, Alan Scott (they wanted to call him Alan Ladd, a pay on Aladdin, as he gains his powers from a magic lamp, but there was already a real-life movie star by that name; so Alan Scott it was. Alan Ladd Wellington Scott, to be precise). He's travelling by train over the bridge where he was the engineer in charge of construction - but suddenly, the rival company who lost a fortune with the contract, Dekker, take a devastating revenge and the bridge is blown to bits, killing everyone on board except for Alan, who shines a lamp on the bodies of the victims and questions why he is not among them. So now I'm being told a story by two men with hidden or denied credentials, about survivors' guilt, and we're less than a page in.

Rather than shine ahead and let him search, the green glow from his lamp envelopes him in a shining cosmic bubble, and he seems to hear a voice speaking in his head, calling him to understand the word he has now become part of. Rather than allowing him to search outwards and act, the light is shining guidance for him to go deeper inwards, and understand. In a voice that, the strip tells us, "penetrates into Scott's subconscious", the Lantern's Light tells its story.

It came from outer space (to coin a phrase) as a meteor, crash landing in old China, breaking open to reveal a pool of glowing green liquid metal in front of people on their way to evening prayers - of which religion exactly, it's never established. They declare it is from the Evil One, except for one who bids them listen to its voice. This is Chang, a lamp maker, who reads "old books of sorcery" that predicted this cosmic arrival. To its astonished listeners, it speaks "The Prophecy of the Flame": That it will shine green three times - first to bring death, second to bring life, third to bring power. To those who would bring down their religious persecution upon Chang, attacking both him and his books for the blasphemy of shaping the cosmic metal into a lamp, the first purpose of the prophesied flame is fulfilled - it is them, and not their intended victim Chang the lamp maker, who meet their deaths at the hands of the lamp.

Now we skip over the centuries, only told that the lamp passed through many hands across the world, bringing bad luck to the bad and good luck to the good. Until it makes its way to an "asylum for the insane" (as they called it then in the US, I guess, and sincerely hope they don't still call it now), into the hands of "Old Billings", a harmless patient who busies his hands by crafting it into a modern day train lantern. Upon him it shines its second prophesied light - "to bring life" - it cures him, bathes him in healing energy, restoring his sanity and granting him the chance for a new start in life. I'm already hooked, but the idea that healing someone's sanity and giving them the chance to start fresh is described as "bringing life" has me captivated beyond what I even expected.

Finally the Lantern has made its way into the hands of Alan Scott, who holds the body of his dear friend Jimmy in his arms as he is bathed in "The flame of life, green as are the growing things" - whose power will be his, so long as he has faith in himself, for the green energy is the energy of will power, which eh must wield to put an end to evil, for dark and evil things cannot withstand the light. Part of him still wonders if it could all be a dream, but the sight once more of the bodies of Dekker's victims surrounding him brings him back to harsh reality. He fashions a metal shard from the Lantern into a ring, to carry with him an eternal reminder.

But his anger cools enough to stop him short of corrupting the ring's power by committing murder out of revenge - the ring gives him a different kind of power, to achieve his goal another way. Bathing him in a light that enables him to fly through the air, walk through walls, and bounce off bullets, whatever his will power drives him to wish to do, he decimates Dekker's security team and lays his hands on the man himself, carrying him to the site of the crash where he is shocked and shamed into signing a full confession. The shock and shame are too much for him to bear, and he drops dead of a heart attack - in a classic case of the "he deserved to die but I technically wasn't the one who killed him, so I'm still the good guy" trope that pervades superhero stories to this day.

During the fight, Alan discovers that while metal such as bullets and knives cannot harm him through the protective green light, he can be harmed by simple wooden weapons. This was to give him a form of weakness akin to Superman's Kryptonite, and its silliness (his "kryptonite" is wood, for heaven's sake) has been excused with a variety of explanations - that the Lantern's light, since it came from cosmic metal, is proof only against metals; that wood is technically a living thing, since it came from plants; I forget the others.

Back home in his "sanctum" - he's never actually given the equivalent of a Batcave or a Fortress of Solitude, it's just his own private home - he reflects that destiny has taken hold of his life, that this is only the beginning, that he must fight evil forever. He must become a figure that strikes the minds and hearts of villains - so, in total contrast to his fellow Gotham Guardian, he designs himself a costume that will be once seen never forgotten. And for the first time, swears an oath that will call upon the Lantern, to recharge the power of his ring. "I will shed my light over dark evil. For the dark things cannot stand the light. The light of the Green Lantern!"

So, let's recap - Not being given the credit you deserve as your real self is a thing. Greed hurts people. Survivor's guilt is a thing. Justice is a great motivator. Religious persecution hurts people. Listening brings learning. Restored mental heath can be a life-changing and life-giving experience. Faith in yourself is the key to unlocking your true strength. Nature is powerful. Killing is wrong. Revenge is a bad guide. Your inner will makes you powerful, but not invulnerable. Villains should be shocked and ashamed to see what their villainy has done to their victims. Your home can be a place of sanctuary and solitude, in which you learn to express your full self, to an extent that will frighten those who hate you, but make you an unforgettable figure to those around you. When your life seems to be driven by forces like destiny and fate that are out of your control, seize it and stand up for what you believe in. To conquer darkness in the world around us, we only need to be a shining light.

And that's just the first issue! Carrying the stories that sprang from it in my head and my heart, and a replica ring on my hand, has got me through what professional therapists like to call "deep issues" - from the psychological to the sexual - for years, some of which were my darkest years, but there was always a glow in my heart for one of the world's original queer superheroes.

Yes, that's right. After a few years of fighting the Nazis, the Mafia, and supernatural threats like Solomon Grundy the swamp Zombie and Vandal Savage the immortal conqueror, this "Golden Age" Green Lantern was largely forgotten and eventually replaced by a dashing galactic do-gooder of the same name who springs to mind when you say "Green Lantern" to most comics fans today. But various time-twisting, space-faring, dimension-hopping ways have been found in the decades since to keep Alan Scott part of the story, respect awarded him for being the one true original. In today's dominant comics timeline, in which he stands as an "elder statesman" among ring-bearers of various genders and races, Alan recently came out to his (also super-powered) children as a long-closeted gay man - having quietly suffered the loss of his lover, Sam, on the doomed train journey that began it all. Distasteful cries of "SJW pandering" and "woke snowflakes" from displeased critics notwithstanding, this change brings a whole new dimension to the key parts of his character an his history - not least of which, the conception of two children in the first place.

That's something I would dearly love to have the space and time (again, pun intended) to go into, but it deserves an entry of its own, for all the respect and recognition it gives to the journeys of LGBTQIA+ readers and fans of Green Lantern.

For now, I hope you enjoyed this introductory trial chapter of what will eventually grow into a full-length book on all the themes I've only been able to touch on here. I hope to have the whole thing with you soon and i dearly hope it means something to you as these stories did for me.