"Golden Age Green Lantern/Alan Scott/Alan Ladd/Aladdin"?
*NOW* all of that "ring/lantern" business of the GL Corps makes sense, I could never make the connections between them before other than random free-association between objects...but if you put a turban on Golden Age GL and remember that he was (and still is) magic-based (instead of spacey-science stuff), then literally *everything* falls into place all at once!
The quasi-mystical origins as well as the over-the-top, super-uber *PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS* of undefined and almost unchecked potential and ability literally *scream* "fairy-tale wish-granting Genie", and even the lantern itself originally acted as a genie of sorts by speaking and acting independently sentient in the form of a green flame.
And the entire connection to story-book Aladdin is strengthened further when realizing that the original GL's lamp was crafted from a meteor that landed in China, and that the Aladdin of the original stories was a little Chinese boy and not Arabian or any other nationality that people normally assume.
From there, when they rebooted the GL concept with Air Force pilot Hal Jordan, they just kept certain elements and either didn't know or threw out the others, losing those more-obvious connections to its fairy-tale origins, and then it went off and started blossoming out on its own tangent :)
Like I said, my understanding and comprehension of the whole GL concept is suddenly bright and clear because of that :D
Hmm...thinking about it, if the Alan Scott GL's lantern was made from a meteor that came to earth from outer space, is it also not possible that it could and might actually be directly connected to the Hal Jordan space corps Green Lanterns after all?
Wow...truly fascinating and thought-worthy stuff all the way around, I must say.
2 comments:
"Golden Age Green Lantern/Alan Scott/Alan Ladd/Aladdin"?
*NOW* all of that "ring/lantern" business of the GL Corps makes sense, I could never make the connections between them before other than random free-association between objects...but if you put a turban on Golden Age GL and remember that he was (and still is) magic-based (instead of spacey-science stuff), then literally *everything* falls into place all at once!
The quasi-mystical origins as well as the over-the-top, super-uber *PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS* of undefined and almost unchecked potential and ability literally *scream* "fairy-tale wish-granting Genie", and even the lantern itself originally acted as a genie of sorts by speaking and acting independently sentient in the form of a green flame.
And the entire connection to story-book Aladdin is strengthened further when realizing that the original GL's lamp was crafted from a meteor that landed in China, and that the Aladdin of the original stories was a little Chinese boy and not Arabian or any other nationality that people normally assume.
From there, when they rebooted the GL concept with Air Force pilot Hal Jordan, they just kept certain elements and either didn't know or threw out the others, losing those more-obvious connections to its fairy-tale origins, and then it went off and started blossoming out on its own tangent :)
Like I said, my understanding and comprehension of the whole GL concept is suddenly bright and clear because of that :D
Hmm...thinking about it, if the Alan Scott GL's lantern was made from a meteor that came to earth from outer space, is it also not possible that it could and might actually be directly connected to the Hal Jordan space corps Green Lanterns after all?
Wow...truly fascinating and thought-worthy stuff all the way around, I must say.
Thank you, snell :D
Sins, might I refer you to Green Lantern #111-112 from 1976 in which that very connection is made. Nice one!
And great piece, Snell, I never knew that robin one.
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