267 – Solomon Grundy

Speaking of rogues galleries of villains, one popular DC character that did not have one for many years was the Golden Age Green Lantern. That finally changed in All-American Comics #61 (August 1944) with the introduction of Solomon Grundy – an evil spirit encased in a physical body made of swamp matter.

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184 – Green Lantern Unmasked

In All-American Comics #35 (December 1941), for the first time, a superhero’s secret identity is revealed to one of the supporting cast. Doiby Dickles learns that Green Lantern is actually his friend Alan Scott.

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158 – Doiby Dickles

DC and National Comics seem to be upping their “supporting character” game in mid-1941. In All-American Comics #27 (April 1941), Green Lantern introduces a comic relief supporting character named Doiby Dickles. I agree with this article that Doiby is one of the worst sidekicks of all time. I’ve never been a fan of mixing slapstick […]

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142 – The Justice Society of America

The Justice Society of America debuts in All-Star Comics #3 (November 1940). In its first incarnation it consists of a whopping nine characters across Detective Comics Inc and All-American Comics (still separate companies at this point): The Flash, the Atom, Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Spectre, Doctor Fate, Sandman and Hourman, with Johnny Thunder thrown in […]

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123 – A Wooden Heel

In All-American Comics #17 (June 1940), the Green Lantern story introduces the first example in comic book superheroes of an Achilles’ Heel, a specific vulnerability or weakness that could defeat the superhero. The Golden Age Green Lantern (Alan Scott) has a specific weakness to wood (non-metals). The Silver Age Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) would have […]

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120 – Green Lantern!

The original Golden Age Green Lantern debuts in All-American Comics #16 (May 1940) and was created by Martin Nodell. Green Lantern is Alan Scott, a railroad engineer who discovers a mystical green lantern, fashions a ring out of it, creates a bizarre costume, and gets moving in the fashionable superhero business!

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62 – All-American

All-American Comics #1 in March 1939, the first comic from All-American Publications. All-American was formed by Max Gaines and funded by Harry Donenfield (the owner of National Allied Publication and Detective Comics). All-American would go on to be the home for many characters we know well today like Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Green Lantern […]

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