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THE BIG CHANGE IN GREEN LANTERN

GREEN LANTERN debuted in Showcase #22 (October 1959, DC house ad shown above). The character was a modernized or "Silver Age" version of a Golden Age hero originally created by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell. The original GL mainly fought street crime, and tackled the occasional monster.
The new GL was an intergalactic policeman who fought evil with a super-scientific ring energized by his "will power" and capable of transforming thoughts into reality. He battled outlandish super-villains such as the Invisible Destroyer, shown below in a DC house ad for Showcase #23 (November 1959):

Uniquely, the Silver Age Green Lantern led a TRIPLE life: He was a Green Lantern and test pilot Hal Jordan in the contemporary era, and he ALSO traveled into the future to become a hero of the 58th century named Pol Manning. Here's how a DC house ad explained it...

THEN CAME GREEN LANTERN #76

The ad for the issue (shown below) blared, "STOP for the BIG CHANGE in Green Lantern! You've got to see it to believe it!" And they weren't kidding. Green Lantern #76 hit comic book nation like an earthquake, shattering long-standing superhero conventions as completely as Green Arrow shattered GL's power battery on the cover:

Green Lantern #76 was created by artist NEAL ADAMS (pictured above), writer DENNY O'NEIL (shown left), and editor JULIUS SCHWARTZ. Before we discuss what made the story in GL #76 so special, let's look at the creation of the issue's classic cover.

Pictured below is Neal's original pencil sketch for the cover, which was rejected by editor Julie Schwartz -- probably because it looks a bit like Green Arrow is about to shoot an arrow into GL's back, rather than into his Power Battery aka his Lantern. Ouchies!

And here's the final printed version of the cover, which has since become a classic:

History in the licking: Neal GL #76 cover was used for the GREEN LANTERN stamp, immortalizing the Emerald Crusader in a never-to-be forgotten moment in the long and storied history of comic books:

What the Post Office wrote about the GL stamp the back of the stamp sheet:

GL #76 one of the most-often reprinted comics in history!
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