If Hal Jordan can be considered the most famous Green Lantern, he was not the first human to bear the name. That title belongs to Alan Scott, the Green Lantern of the Golden Age.
A selfless and dedicated man, Alan Scott could only become a role model for others and inspired other men to take up the fight. Even though he serves as an inspiration for many Green Lanterns, Alan Scott always holds himself to a higher standard than anyone else.
Though Alan Scott has never been a member of the Green Lantern Corps, he was a founding member of the Justice Society of America. With or without other superheroes, Alan Scott always fought to protect others and choose to make his emerald glow a sign of hope and a source of inspiration for decades…
Who created Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern?
Alan Scott first appeared in All-American Comics #16, published in July 1940. He was created by Martin “Mart” Nodell. The Chicago-born artist came to New York in 1940 to make his fortune. After meeting editor Sheldon Mayer, who told him they were looking for another superhero character, he developed the Green Lantern in a week.
Green Lantern was a mix of things that interested Nodell. He took some inspiration from Greek mythology, Richard Wagner’s opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung and the sight of a trainman’s green railway lantern. He chose the name Alan Scott by looking at the phone booth and didn’t stop until he found two names he liked.
After a meeting with publisher Max Gaines, Nodell was put to work. They assigned scripter Bill Finger (co-creator of Batman), to help him flesh out the character and the stories. Not long after his debut, Alan Scott joined the Justice Society of America but also was given his own series, Green Lantern, launched in November 1941. During this time, he gained a sidekick in the person of Doiby Dickles (who serves as infusing humor in the series), a secretary named Molly Mayne, changed his home base and occupation, and his powers were explored and expanded. In 1948, he even had a canine companion named Streak.
Though Nodell retired from comics in 1950 (he came back in 1981 doing comic art conventions), Alan Scott became an iconic superhero of the Golden Age, fighting crimes with the Justice Society in America, facing immortal Vandal Savage, the zombie Solomon Grundy and most importantly, finding his way back to the public through all those DC continuities shenanigans!
The Origin Story of the Golden Age Green Lantern
Alan Scott was a construction engineer who was traveling aboard a train for a test trial when an explosion of a sabotaged bridge caused a massive train accident. Everybody was killed, except Alan who was holding a mysterious green lantern at the time. It turned out the lantern was a magical artifact that protected him. A voice coming from the lantern gave him mental instructions to build a power ring from the lantern’s metal that allowed Alan to wield its powers. With his new powers, Alan forced the saboteur to confess his crimes.
After that, Alan Scott became a superhero, one of the first to put on a cape, and the first Green Lantern to take a sacred oath:
“And I shall shed my light over dark evil, for the dark things cannot stand the light. The light of … THE GREEN LANTERN!”
Alan fought supervillains and other criminals on his own title and with the Justice Society during the 40s but was forced to retire with the declining popularity of the superhero comics. He made his final Golden Age appearance in All-Star Comics #57 (1951) and remained out of publication for 12 years.
Then came the Silver Age, a period in which Hal Jordan was introduced as the new Green Lantern, one with a more science-fiction approach whereas Alan Scott’s story tended more toward magic. Turned out both men are not from the same Earth: it was revealed that Alan Scott and the DC Golden Age heroes lived on Earth-2, and the new superheroes were located on Earth-1. Both men first meet in 1963’s Justice League of America #21-22. He also learned that he was the father of the twins, Todd and Jade, both of them followed in Alan Scott’s footsteps and became heroes.
Then, Crisis on Infinite Earths happened and the DC continuity was rebooted. The two earth were merged and shared a common history. Alan was still a founding member of the JSA and became a father figure and mentor for other superheroes, especially to Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. He also became an honorary member of the Green Lantern Corps, as the origins of the mysterious green lantern were retconned to become a piece of a celestial body known as the Starheart, a creation of the Guardians (the founders and leaders of the Corps) in an attempt to get rid of all magic in the universe. Because of his mystical nature, Alan’s weakness is wood whereas the other Lanterns are vulnerable to the color yellow, the color of fear.
The magical nature of his powers and the exposure to the ring weren’t without consequences for Alan, who was forced at some point to confront the Starheart that briefly became one with him. Alan had still his powers and couldn’t deny his destiny. He chose to become The Sentinel for a time. He eventually lost his powers and was given a new ring.
The character origin’s story was once again altered with the New 52 reboot (see below), but his post-Crisis version was brought back into the mainstream timeline during the Doomsday Clock miniseries. Alan Scott recently came out to his children as gay.
The New 52 Alan Scott
DC’s continuity was once again revised in 2011 post-Flashpoint. The entire line of DC characters was relaunched in the New 52 era, giving us a totally new Earth-2 version of Alan Scott. This Alan was a young media mogul and an out gay man, romantically involved with Sam Zhao. He proposed to him during a business trip, but the demand was interrupted by the sudden crash of the train. Alan was the sole survivor of this crash, chosen by an entity called The Green to be the Avatar of the Earth, its protector.
Alan became the Green Lantern and was gifted by the combined power of the Earth’s energies. He transformed Sam’s engagement ring to harness his new powers in order to face Solomon Grundy, an avatar of the Grey, and more terrible threats for Earth 2.
Want to know more about the Green Lanterns? Check out our listing of the Green Lantern Corps members and our guide to the Green Lantern comic books.