Green Lantern

"In brightest day, in darkest night,

No evil shall escape my sight.

Let those who worship evil's might,

BEWARE MY POWER....Green Lantern's Light."

Green Lantern is the eponymous superhero of a comic book series published by DC Comics.

There have been three distinct (but related) incarnations of the Green Lantern character over the years, plus many spinoffs. The first Green Lantern debuted in issue #16 of All-American Comics, in 1940. His name was Alan Scott, and he had come into possession of a "magic lantern." He crafted a ring from the metal of the lantern, which gave him the power to control any object made of metal. This eventually was changed into a "green flame," and it was able to affect any material -- except wood. Green Lantern's career lasted throughout the 1940s, but his series was cancelled when superheroes fell into decline in the 1950s.

The second Green Lantern was created in the 1959, when editor Julius Schwartz presided over a re-creation of several of DC's superheroes, including The Flash, Hawkman, and Green Lantern. The intent was to give a more "science fiction" approach to their stories, and thus boost comic book sales. The second Green Lantern was Hal Jordan, a test pilot who was given the Power Ring and Power Battery by a dying alien named Abin Sur. Jordan eventually learned that Abin Sur was a member of an elite force of intergalactic law enforcers called the Green Lantern Corps, who carried out the orders of the Guardians of the Universe. When Abin Sur's spaceship crashed on the planet Earth, the alien used his ring to seek out an individual to take his place as Green Lantern: someone who was "utterly honest and born without fear."

The Green Lantern Corps was clearly based upon the Lensmen stories of E.E. "Doc" Smith. Instead of one Green Lantern wielding a magic ring, there were 3,600 Green Lanterns patrolling the entire universe. Their rings were powered by the Central Battery at the planet Oa, where the Guardians lived. Like the original power ring, the Oan power rings had to be recharged every 24 hours. Instead of wood, the power of the ring was ineffective against the collor yellow, due to a "necessary impurity" in the design of the Rings. The third Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner, made his debut during the Parallax story.