Rating:  -
DC's Showcase Presents series is something which makes this old comic book fan very happy. Presenting 500-plus pages of silver age (or later) comics in chronological order makes for a terrific way to purchase a huge chunk of a character's history for cheap. The catch - they're in black and white. While this is a nice way to showcase the pen and ink artwork of the period (sorry, colorists!), it does diminish a very appealing aspect of comics - especially one like Green Lantern, whose powers and vulnerabilities involve different colors to a high degree.
Nonetheless, Green Lantern Volume 1 is a great buy. It's cheap, it's huge, and it presents the character, to my mind, that best exemplifies the period of the early 1960s. Hal Jordan is a test pilot who inherits a powerful ring that allows him to travel in space and join an intergalactic police force. I can't imagine a more exemplary character for an age and a country just beginning its space flights, harnessing new and powerful energies in both war and peace, and attempting to police the world in the Cold War.
John Broome's writing is good, if simplistic in spots (a requirement of the era's Comics Code authority, unfortunately, which restricted violence, moral ambuguity, and all other sorts of things which make "modern" comics so interesting). But the stories still almost universally contain kernels of good sci-fi ideas. Time travel, antimatter universes, shrinking to subatomic size, all sorts of sci fi ideas populate these pages. Younger readers ought to find the stories exciting and entertaining. Older readers might be a bit more bored, but there's plenty of period subtext for the avid student of sociology or 60's futurism to enjoy.
The art is the main draw, here. Gil Kane is unquestionably one of the greats of the silver age. His style here is fluid, uncluttered, and not quite as dynamic as his later stuff, but the elements are there. His layouts and anatomy are still creative and interesting. Watching his style evolve over 20 issues is a treat. Later volumes show his style progressing even further.
In summary, this volume should appeal to any fan of the character, any student of the 1960s, and any appreciator of Gil Kane's art. Since I am all three, this was a certain buy for me. Other than this group though, I would say that this book is appropriate for Silver Age aficionados and bright, inquisitive kids. At this price, it can't be beat.
Rating: -
Capturing the elements of the growing national fascination with science and space, the Green Lantern was a super hero for science fiction, as this stories from 1959-1962 clearly demonstrate.
What is neat about this bulky volume of 526 pages is the inclusion of the seven Showcase (#22-#24) stories, which can be considered as a pilot project for an ongoing series. Test pilot Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan is quickly introduced and the recurring elements in the story lines unfold quickly, especially his pursuit of Carol Ferris, who happens to be his boss.
What is lost in the newspaper-styled reproduction is the rich colors of the comic book artwork - especially in the Green Lantern series, with numbers one to seventeen included here - which actually made it a trailblazer to the graphic novel.
"No Evil Shall Escape My Sight," chants the Emerald Gladiator, though his adventures just may take him out of this world.
Rating: -
The Green Lantern stories were never exactly narrative masterpieces. First, our hero tries to mack on his boss, Miss Ferris, and just as he's either getting shot down or getting a little action, news arrives of some new threat. He zooms there, finds out that his superpowers don't work, and in a split second, comes up with some clever way to bypass the problem. Eight pages later, it's all wrapped up.
But the artwork was always really cool, and the dry humor was either asinine or funny, depending on your perspective. OK so this book is in black and white, but I just happen to like black and white comics, and besides I got it mostly because I'm learning to cartoon, and this book offers an almost unlimited number of drawing subjects and techniques to copy and experiment with.
Rating:  -
When I was a youngster in the 70's, one of the comics I used to love reading from DC was Green Lantern. Imagine my surprise when I walk into my local BAM Bookstore and find a digest of old Green Lantern comics called Showcase Presents Green Lantern, Volume 1 for a real low price of $9.99. I quickly purchased it and brought it home for an all-night read. Thing is, it's three days later and I still hadn't finished it, lol. While storytelling in this volume might seem a bit rigid & straightforward as opposed to comics in this day and time, it made me learn alot about one of my favorite DC Comics characters of all-time. Many of the characters I know and love from the GL universe were introduced in these older reprints so I have a deeper understanding of them now. True, it's clear from reading these old stories that the comic was aimed more toward a younger audience back then but I love taking a walk down memory lane. This volume includes Green Lantern's first appearances in Showcase #22 through #24 as well as his first adventures in Green Lantern #1 through #17. It's written by John Broome and Gardner Fox. With art by Gil Kane, Joe Giella and Murphy Anderson. The cover is done by Kane & Giella. If you're just getting into comics and want to learn about the Silver Age of comics or are a new GL fan, you might want to check out the DC line of Showcase paperbacks. You can't beat the low, low price. This volume is an enjoyable read and I aim on getting the second volume.
Rating:  -
I honestly don't get the appeal of these books. Why bother making (or reading) black & white reprints of classic four-color comics...? I mean, yeah, the stories are still great and the original comics are hard to find, but a huge part of what made these comics great was the eye-popping artwork, including the bright primary colors: reading them in dull B&W is just plain wrong. Sure, the printing costs are lower, so you can get more pages for your money, but it's more pages of boring, not more pages of fun. It's really a travesty.
On the other hand, it recently occurred to me that these could be used as coloring books... Maybe you could buy a box of crayons to go along with all the artwork that the publishers ruined in this format. (Axton)
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