T-shirt #302 - Green Lantern Logo

T-shirt #302 - Green Lantern Logo

I am tempted to leave this blog post with pictures only, just to be cryptic. But since I first wrote the previous sentence, content was filled in like using crayons to color in the figures of a coloring book.

To the left, I have posted my first Green Lantern issue, which is not my oldest.

It happens to be written by Dennis O'Neil, whom I was praising in yesterday's blog, and drawn by Gil Kane, who has received praise throughout my blog and again in yesterday's blog entry on Iron Men. Gil Kane was a constant in my early comic book purchases, which explains why I love his work so much.

However, my oldest issue of Green Lantern is one I acquired by purchase or trade (I think trade with a friend) as it was published before I was born. Again it features art by Gil Kane, which might be an amazing coincidence if not for Kane's longevity, pencilling the majority of the first 75 issues of the Silver Age Green Lantern.

Check this out

GIL KANE WIKI

As for the other pictures, they come from our 2010 Halloween party at our former house, 8877 West Gull Lake Drive (which is still for sale boys and girls and is shown here in T-shirt #157). Liesel is responsible for the most awesome Halloween party I have ever been a part of. Halloween is her holiday.

My previous Green Lantern post:

T-shirt #191.

Is it because of my own search that my Google Plus post to this blog entry comes up in the first results page of my Google search of "Green Lantern" or would other people see this post in their results? I can't imagine that my Google Plus post is among the top ten results for EVERYONE. Still, it's interesting.

GREEN LANTERN RESOURCES

GREEN LANTERN CONCEPT COMIC VINE

GREEN LANTERN VOLUME ONE

GREEN LANTERN COMIC VINE VOL. 2.1

GREEN LANTERN COMIC VINE VOL.2.2

My first Green Lantern issue - V.2 - #68

GREEN LANTERN WIKIPEDIA

GREEN LANTERN DC WIKIA

HAL JORDAN WIKI

with my friend Stephen Cameron
as terrorist

Seen to the left is a picture of me with my good friend Jessica Bauer (note that I am holding her leash). And so, yes, I own a Green Lantern costume. What of it?

The owning of the costume comes from being more comfortable in being my true "geeky" self and in being married to someone who appreciates me for me, my true geeky self for me.

Not that marriage was the deciding factor in feeling comfortable letting my "geek flag" fly but it definitely helped. It also helped that companies started to produce very cool and inexpensive superhero costumes as evidenced by my Captain America costume earlier this year (T-shirt #123).

Furthermore, my wife proved that she loves me for me by showering me with t-shirt gifts for my birthday, which is officially two days from the publication of this blog entry but actually yesterday in terms of when I am actually writing these words. Time dilates when I am behind on the blog. ALSO, and most importantly, and WITHOUT KNOWING, because she does not read my blog every day, my wife gave my a card with the Guatemalan proverb I shared in T-shirt #239. She reported that she looked through many cards and carefully selected this one (see picture right).

In T-shirt #239, I wrote about Jung and Process of Individuation as part THE BLOG JOURNEY. One thing I have come to trust in the Blog Journey is synchronicity. These seemingly meaningful connections may not be the result of some omniscient being, they may not be fate that can be attributed to a plan, but I do believe that the connections have meaning. There's energy at work here. The energy is connected because we are all connected, because everything is connected. And so it makes sense that I had found this proverb already when Liesel came across it and selected it for my birthday card, thinking that is embodied the essence of who I am and my Blog Journey, which is all about identity. And for me, identity means keeping and cleaving to the things of my childhood and yet living life as an adult in the adult world. We can do both. We really can. And this proverb sums up that choice. It's your spirit that matters. It's your attitude. It's your energy.

And energy seems to be a very appropriate topic for today's post about GREEN LANTERN, who is all about energy.

I have always really liked Green Lantern as a concept, though I was not crazy about Hal Jordan or any of the other lanterns as people. Nightwing, Aquaman, Deadman, Batman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, and Batgirl were always among my favorite DC heroes. This is by no means a complete list. Drawn to the magic heroes and capes, I would have to add the Spectre and Dr. Fate. Excluding several Teen Titans and Legion of Superheroes characters, I would probably situate Green Lantern in a top ten of the DC Heroes. But surely, I love his powers and the idea of a ring.

The power ring is a very attractive concept. Even more attractive than yesterday Iron Man armor, the power ring has even less impact on the body. The ring can sleeve the user in a special uniform. It can provide a protective shield and breathable air for space travel. It can provide FLIGHT, which we all know is the COOLEST of the super powers. And the ring allows for the creation of energy constructs that are fueled by imagination and will power, which are two very admirable and inspirational personal characteristics.

The logo is also among the most iconic in comics. I might argue that DC has the more iconic logos over Marvel: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Shazam (Captain Marvel), and Green Lantern all have very distinctive logos that are archetypal, they are connected to the deep network of connections, they resonate and empower, they are hard wired into us. To a lesser extent Aquaman, Hawkman, the Atom, Robin, Nightwing, Starman, and a few others are powerful in their own way though not always immediately recognizable. There's power in the use of primary colors, strong contrasts, and simple yet effective imagery that make the logos viral and inspire many people to make them personal emblems. Though I would set higher the Flash, Batman, Hawkman, and Nightwing logos over the Green Lantern one, I think that if given my choice, I would choose TO BE Green Lantern for his powers.


There's something about wearing rings that is deeply rooted in my childhood play experience and the imagination of our culture. Tolkien used the ring for the central element of his Lord of the Rings stories, which were strongly influenced by the Ring Cycle from Norse mythology made famous by Wagner's operas. Comic books made great use of rings. Green Lantern has his ring, obviously. Flash housed his costume in a ring. The Mandarin had ten rings all of which did different things in his struggle to defeat Iron Man. Underdog had a ring as I mentioned in my Underdog post (T-shirt #288), and the Legion of Superheroes had flight rings (T-shirt #127). Rings are cool, and rings that bestow the power of flight are even cooler. Though my earliest childhood play mostly centered on the ring with the secret compartment, and I developed the play with the flying rings later.

After capes and wings, rings are probably the coolest element in superhero comics. But of those three, rings are surely the favorite in terms of lowest impact. Capes and wings are quite ostentatious. Rings can be worn as every day adornment without much fuss. Most people will not even notice rings or will only notice them if specifically looking for or at them. Capes and wings are much harder to miss.

As for the Green Lantern, his powers and his mission are very cool, possibly the coolest in the DC universe. Who wouldn't want to be an interstellar space peacekeeper with a power ring that can do almost anything?

Many comic book fans have not ever recovered from DC's decision to explain the "yellow impurity" of the green rings with the Parallax that possessed Hal Jordan and caused him to kill many of his friends and destroy his home town of Coast City, a story line that ended in his death (Jordan sacrificed himself to reignite a dying star). Later, Jordan was revived and resumed his role as Green Lantern, taking over from Kyle Rayner (who was the subject of my T-shirt #191).

These stories do not bother me. Artists have to shake the tree to get the nuts. If there's no change in the comic and to the heroes, the comics become stagnant. However, I am a little weary of the companies killing off their heroes, supposedly "for good," only to bring them back in a year or two (though Barry Allen Flash did stay dead for over 20 years).

One of the smartest things that the DC creative teams has done with the Green Lantern franchise over the years is to associate colors with emotions. Yellow became the color of fear as embodied by Parallax and for a long time as wielded with his own power ring by Green Lantern's greatest foe (and the villain that should have been in the movie) Sinestro (a former Lantern himself).

I remember fondly that just before I got married, DC launched the Blackest Night story line, which I identified with because I had chosen a black ring, like the Black Ring of the main villain: Black Hand. The story line gave rise to the Brightest Day story line and re-vitalized the Green Lantern franchise that had been underserved since The Rebirth story. After recently bringing Barry Allen back as the Flash (2008), the the Blackest Night story line brought Batman back from his demise after the Final Crisis. There were many other repercussions from this story line, but I am not going to discuss them all. (Though one has to do with Aquaman, which I will give text time to later).

The other story development that I wish to praise are the use of the colors and the creation of the other power rings as a result of the the Blackest Night story line. The EMOTIONAL SPECTRUM associates colors with emotions. It's best for me to share WIKIPEDIA on this (see previous link).

The emotional spectrum is divided into the seven colors of the rainbow, with each color corresponding to a different emotion: rage (red), avarice (orange), fear (yellow), willpower (green), hope (blue), compassion (indigo), and love (violet). However, it also represents the absence of color (black), which is death, and the combination of colors (white) which is life.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} The two emotions on the far ends of the emotional spectrum (rage and love), have a much stronger influence over their users^[7] while willpower, the center of the spectrum, can be used to overcome and maintain control over one's emotions.^[6]

• Red Lantern Corps: A group of berserkers formed by Atrocitus,^[2] the Red Lanterns draw upon rage in order to create constructs made of red light with their power rings.^[1][2][6]
• Agent Orange: The sole bearer of the orange light is Larfleeze, also known as "Agent Orange", who draws upon greed to create constructs made of orange light with his power ring.^[8] He also possesses the ability to steal the identities of people he's killed and transform them into orange light constructs which he uses to comprise his Orange Lantern Corps.^[9]
• Sinestro Corps: A group formed by former Green Lantern Sinestro, the Sinestro Corps draw upon fear to create constructs made of yellow light with their power rings, usually of the target's worst fear.^[10][11]
• Green Lantern Corps: An intergalactic police force founded and led by the Guardians of the Universe, their members draw upon willpower in order to generate constructs made of green light from their power rings.^[12]
• Blue Lantern Corps: Formed by former Guardians Ganthet and Sayd, the Blue Lanterns draw upon hope in order to generate constructs made of blue light with their power rings,^{[citation needed]} which are created from the target's hopes.^{[citation needed]} Blue Lanterns can only have the full extent of their abilities unlocked in the presence of a green power ring.^[5][13] A blue ring can also supercharge a green ring.^[14]
• Indigo Tribe: A nomadic tribe lead by Indigo-1, the Indigo Tribe draw upon compassion in order to generate constructs made of indigo light with their power rings.^[15] The tribe also possesses the ability to teleport and reproduce the abilities of other Corps.^[16]
• Star Sapphires: Formed by the Zamarons, the Star Sappphire Corps were formed in order to spread love throughout the universe; drawing upon love to in order to create constructs made of violet light with their power rings.^[17]
• Black Lantern Corps: An army of zombies formed by Nekron, the Black Lanterns are composed of deceased people who are resurrected by a black power ring.^[18] A black ring is fueled by death itself and enables the wearer to create constructs made of black light^[18] as well as read the emotions of other being as colors within the emotional spectrum.^[18]
• White Lantern Corps: Formed by Hal Jordan, the White Lanterns draw upon the power of life itself to create constructs made of white light with their power rings.^[19] White rings can also resurrect the dead, restoring them to life.^[19]

(EMOTIONAL SPECTRUM, WIKI, 2014)

Maybe my own Blog Journey shares this representation of emotion by color and finding the one with which I most closely identify (I am leaning towards Love/Compassion).

GREEN LANTERN COVER GALLERY

I restricted myself to my favorite covers from the two sets of Green Lantern volume two issues for this blog. Still I posted many of my oldest comics, which was part of my goal. I tried to keep the number of covers somewhat limited (still I have twenty-one), but these are either those I owned and/or ones I think are the most iconographic and intriguing.

Gil Kane

Gil Kane

Gil Kane

Gil Kane

Gil Kane

Gil Kane

Gil Kane

Gil Kane

Neal Adams

Neal Adams

Neal Adams

Neal Adams
also one of the early issues
I own

Neal Adams

Neal Adams

Mike Grell
I own this one, too

Mike Grell

Brian Bolland

Joe Staton

Gil Kane

Dave Gibbons

Walt Simonson

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 63 shirts remaining

- chris tower -  first published - 1401.17 - 20:28
final publication - 1401.20 - 9:53

T-shirt #301 - Iron Men

T-shirt #301 - Iron Men

Wax and wane. Wax and wane. Like the moon, which was full the other night. Have you been waiting for the content my pretties? It seems a Herculean task sometimes to just stay caught up let alone ahead on the blog. But then, often it's my own expectations for my content. I could just write a short note and be done with it. I doubt anyone would complain if the blog was SHORT. After all, the main complaint I get (granted, just from my wife) is that the blog entries are too long.

My other dilemma is that content builds up, like the ice in my driveway. Started with a thin sheet, then snow and rain and freeze, then thaw, then freeze, and so on, until we have an uneven bed of ice that even a bit of salt will not dispense.

Same with the blog.

I have stacks of comic books to review, a folder full of links, several ideas about other content, and then these damn expectations of mine.


After all, I have really only written about Iron Man, at least as the main shirt subject, once, in T-shirt #260. Did I cover the subject adequately?

Want to learn some weird synchronicity? When I wrote T-shirt #260, I used Clark Gregg's introduction from Avengers: Endless Wartime (by Ellis/McKone) as a springboard. Clark Gregg plays Agent Coulson in the TV show Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I had not watched an episode since the second one, which I watched in Hawaii. I watched one today (and by today I mean Friday, which is the day I am writing this sentence, even though this blog entry was published on Thursday). Okay, I think that's an interesting coincidence since I had quite forgotten about my little rant in T-shirt #260 until I looked at it again.

IRON MAN 

Today's post is about Iron Man since my shirt is taken from the classic cover to Iron Man volume one #174, drawn by Luke McDonnell and inked by Sam De La Rosa in 1983. Th is is also significant to me personally because this issue was published a little over a year from when I worked at Marvel, and I got to watch the colorist, Bob Sharen, work his magic on Iron Man comics when I was there. He had a set of colors in small bottles and talked to me about the process as he marked areas of the pages with four color codes for CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key/Black).

Despite my personal connection to that time period in Iron Man's history, the shirt also appealed to me because I like the idea of Iron Men, plural. It makes sense that if Tony Stark could make one suit. He could make two. Still, it was years before anyone but Tony Stark wore any of these suits. But Tony Stark could fund and equip a whole army of Iron Men. It was during this time that Tony's friend James Rhodes wore the suit and carried on as Iron Man. These stories were written by Denny O'Neil, who had Tony relapse into alcoholism (a story line started by David Micheline five years previously) after losing his family's company to Obadiah Stane (who was used as the main villain in the first Iron Man movie).  These issues may be my favorite run of Iron Man issues in volume one.

Dumping the armor in the ocean to be found Atlanteans was brilliant (see cover to the right). Also, taking Tony out of the suit for TWO YEARS was brilliant. It's these kinds of shake ups that re-vitalize comic books that might otherwise tread water. Interesting story-telling does not result from the same old, same old.

Dennis "Denny" O'Neil was one of the best writers in comics for many years. From the 1960s through the 1990s, he wrote some of the best comics for both DC and Marvel, including great runs on Batman and the classic Green Arrow/Green Lantern comics all drawn by Neal Adams.

At Marvel, around the time he did these Iron Man issues, he also wrote Daredevil as well as some strong issues for Amazing Spider-Man.

Iron Man is my favorite of Marvel's Franchise heroes since I cannot select the Fantastic Four as a hero. But I like Iron Man better than Spider-Man, Thor, Wolverine, the Hulk, or Captain America. If Daredevil is a a Franchise hero, then he edges out Iron Man.

Yesterday in Fanfare, I was recapping my recent Darth Vader vs. Batman post (T-shirt #294), and I was making the argument that people do not aspire to be Darth Vader, meeting with some opposition by my friend Jeffery. I argued that people aspire to be Batman not Darth Vader. The new guy, Carmen, chimed in that people aspire to be Iron Man, which is true. I added Green Lantern as an aspiration, which is the subject of the next (tomorrow's T-shirt). NOTE: Tomorrow's shirt is actually TODAY'S shirt as I write this. I am falling behind again. Do you get tired of this saga?

It's funny because I wrote the above text yesterday and it's now the next day (Saturday), and I am still not done with this posting.

Still, Carmen had a point. Iron Man is cool because he is a billionaire, a playboy, attractive, and gets chicks. His "super power" is a suit that he can put on and take off (or "don" as says in this classic cover to the left.
But those things are not what make Iron Man a cool character.

WHY IRON MAN IS COOL

As I discussed in the post for Daredevil (T-shirt #287), Stan Lee (and the artists with whom he worked many of whom are mainly responsible for the creations) worked with tragedy. All the early Marvel heroes had angst from tragedy. Some of this text bears repeating:

Starting with Spider-Man (atoning for the guilt of not preventing his uncle's death), Stan Lee gave almost every hero in those early years a tragic origin. The Thing was trapped in a hideous body while Mister Fantastic lived with the guilt of how his hubris damaged his friend. Doctor Strange found magic and became a sorcerer after searching the world to find a way to heal nerve damage that would allow him to continue his career as a surgeon. Iron Man could only keep a piece of shrapnel from his heart by wearing his armor. The Hulk makes Bruce Banner's life a living Hell of blackouts, rage, and destruction, much like an alcoholic's existence (thinking of the movie Flight here, which I just watched). The mutants of the X-Men are hated and feared by the world and often must hide frightening elements of their mutation which bring their own handicaps, such as Cyclops' optic blasts and special glasses. Captain America is a man out of time, awakened in a modern world in which he does not feel he belongs. Silver Surfer is trapped on Earth for defying Galactus. Thor is being taught a lesson by his father Odin by sharing his existence with a handicapped mortal.

And Daredevil the blind man with the super radar sense, who has had more tragedy heaped on him than any other Marvel hero.

But as I wrote above, the original concept for Iron Man kept him in his armor to keep him alive, to keep the shrapnel from his heart. He must wear the armor breastplate at all times, which really hinders his playboy activities. This trope of how Tony Stark must suffer, in a sense, trapped in his armor fit the original concept of the character and the art by Gene Colan in the early issues in the late 1960s. But when Stark later has an artificial heart transplanted in his chest, his angst and suffering is mitigated. To continue to make him an interesting character, the alcoholism disease is introduced for added pathos. But once he licks the alcholism demons, then what? What angst is there to propel him?

Warren Ellis introduced the Extremis enhancile, a techno-organic virus, to save Stark's life. The resulting stories (Volumes four through the current issues) have bred the most fertile and captivating stories of Iron Man's long career.

But it's the tragedy, the long suffering hero, that Marvel creators have often forgotten in today's comics. Though Tony Stark suffered again for a time, he is back at the top of his game, and though the stories are interesting, the character needs more work.

This is why I find the volume one stuff among the most compelling and memorable as seen in many of the classic covers that I share in my cover gallery.

IRON MAN  - COMIC BOOK ISSUES

Iron Man Vol. 1 is Iron Man's first ongoing solo series. The series was launched following the success of the Iron Man stories in Tales of Suspense and continues from the one shot Iron Man and Sub-Mariner which picks up the story arc from Tales of Suspense #99. Many of the classic story lines and characters that are part of comic history today originate from this volume. The series started in 1968 and lasted all the way to 1996.

Continues in Iron Man Vol.2. Created by writers Stan Lee and Larry Lieber and artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, Iron Man's first appearance was in Tales of Suspense #39 (COMIC VINE).

My comments on volumes: I am restricting myself in this blog to Iron Man volume one. I sharing a cover gallery from volume one. I love the other volumes (not all of them), but I have to limit the scope of this Iron Man entry or I will never finish, especially since I behind already as I type this.

I loved Warren Ellis' run, which lead off volume four, and Matt Fraction's run that comprised volume five. Kieron Gillen's also doing a bang up job in the current set of issues. I am less thrilled with volume three, and I would rather not even discuss volume two.

So, just volume one today folks. Sorry.

IRON MAN RESOURCES

IRON MAN VOLUME ONE

VOLUME TWO

VOLUME THREE

VOLUME FOUR

VOLUME FIVE

VOLUME SIX

IRON MAN COMIC VINE

IRON MAN WIKIPEDIA

IRON MAN MARVEL WIKI


WEEKLY COMICS LIST

It's a shame. I have meant to review Batgirl #26 for a month, and now, issue #27 is out. As of this writing. I am up through the Spider-Man issue. I was disappointed in the wrap-up to the Fantastic Four story. Notice that Velvet has jumped to the top of the stack, beating often top ranked Fantastic Four. It's that good. I will have more to say in forthcoming reviews. I promise to catch up!! Also, I am planning a big reading day tomorrow for my birthday (which is Sunday January 19th but I am behind in completing these entires as this is Thursday's entry), and I may just skip ahead and read all the Astro City. It's long overdue, and I do like the book a lot.


COMICS FOR 1401.15

Velvet #3

Fantastic Four #016

Daredevil #035

Amazing X-Men #003

All New X-Men #021

Uncanny X-Men #016

The Superior Spider-Man #025

Superman/Wonder Woman #4

Justice League of America #11

Alex + Ada  #3


Thor God of Thunder #017

God is Dead #5 (of 6)

Batgirl #27

World's Finest: Huntress and Power Girl #19

Nightwing #27

Thunderbolts #020.Now

Nova #012

Secret Avengers #014

Miracleman #1

Suicide Squad #27

Inhumanity: Superior Spider-
Man #001

Cataclysm: Ultimate Comics: The Ultimates #003

BACK LOG

Astro City #8

FREE COMIC - Deadpool : The Gauntlet

SPECIAL PURCHASE

Locus #636 Vol. 72 #1

COVER GALLERY

These are all my favorite volume one covers not counting ones I shared in T-shirt #260. I shared the first issue of Iron Man volume one in T-shirt #260. I clearly remember that the week that Iron Man #1 came out so did Sub-Mariner #1. There must have been some other issue that was an automatic (probably Fantastic Four) because I had to choose between Iron Man #1 and Sub-Mariner #1. Despite this post being about Iron Man, I chose Sub-Mariner, whom I liked much better at the time for some reason. I was fond of shouting "IMPERIUS REX!" just like Sub-Mariner. I did this once in third grade, flinging both arms behind me as Namor did in the comic to smash two pillars. But I did not know that Tammy Nash was behind me and quite knocked the wind out of her. I felt terrible.

In any case, Iron Man #9 was my first issue of Iron Man.

Gene Colan - my first issue
of the Iron Man comic vol.1

Sal Buscema

Gil Kane!

Gil Kane!

George Tuska

George Tuska

George Tuska

Bob Layton

Bob Layton

John Romita Jr

Luke McDonnell

Luke McDonnell

Luke McDonnell

Luke McDonnell

Luke McDonnell

Barry Windsor Smith

John Romita Jr.

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 64 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first publication - 1401.16 - 19:32
- final publication - 1401.18 - 21:24

Does this look too much
like a pacifier?