During the initial superhero boom of the 1940′s, several Superman clones came and went, many to be forgotten in the annals of time. One superhero that managed to persevere, though, was The Green Lantern. The Green Lantern originally debuted in July 1940 under All-American Publications, 6 years before the company was bought out by National Periodicals (publisher of DC Comics). The purchase of All-American, by the way, would grant DC a fertile roster of superheroes, including Wonder Woman, Flash, Hawkman, The Atom, Dr. Mid-Nite, and previous Know Thy History subject The Red Tornado.
The Green Lantern was created by Martin Nodell and Bill Finger (the guy who co-created Batman). Nodell, by the way, went under a pseudonym, “Mart Dellon,” because “Comics were a forbidden literature, culturally unacceptable. It wasn’t something you were proud of”.
So why a Green Lantern? I mean, you break down that name, and it isn’t the most superheroic name of all. The green part, maybe, since it is a pretty heroic color. (There’s also the Green Arrow and Green Hornet, for starters.) But lantern? That think you take take to camp so you can find the outhouse? Why is a hero whose main superpower is driven by a ring named after a portable lighting device?
Surprisingly, the Green Lantern name has its origins in railroad engineering. Nodell explains:
I picked out the name from the train man on the tracks who was waving a lantern, going from red to green…. green meant go and I decided that was it, Marty reported. Then I needed a colorful and interesting costume. I was interested in Greek mythology and so the costume took on elements of that. It just all fell into place.
As such, the original Green Lantern was also a railroad engineer. And that magic power ring charger is a train man’s lantern. That’s … pretty darn imaginative, actually. More comics need superheroes who are also transportation workers.
