Spinner Rack: Hal Jordan Betrays Green Lantern! Part Two

Originally found in Green Lantern #21 (June 1963) and in Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 2 (where I found it), this story turned out to be pretty cool. It has beautiful Gil Kane pencils with Murphy Anderson inks and a story by Gardner Fox.

A quick review of last week's column: Hal returns from Paris with Carol Ferris's parents. Carl Ferris is immediately interested in his daughter's love life, specifically with Hal Jordan. When she tells him that she only has eyes for Green Lantern, Carl tells her that he knows for a fact that Hal Jordan IS Green Lantern.

Meanwhile, Hal tells what happened to Pie. It seems Carol Ferris's father wanted to buy a painting that appeared to be a genuine Renoir painted on top of a genuine Rembrandt. When he came back later with the money, the art dealer had pulled a switcheroo. Unable to fight them off, Carl is kidnapped by the art dealer and a hired thug. Hal goes to the gallery to check it out, suspects foul play and leaves behind his ring (in invisible mode) despite it having less than an hour's charge. I thought that was a massive risk. We'll pick up the story here and find out if leaving his ring behind was the worst mistake of Hal's life.

The answer to that burning question is: nope. (What a shock!) With an hour left of charge, the ring sends a giant green hand to blast into Hal's hotel room, grab the Emerald Gladiator, and send him into the sewers after the bad art dealer and the kidnapped Mr. Ferris. The ring jumps back onto Hal's finger and all is back to normal – normal if you're a superhero, that is.

Hal faces off against the art dealer and his thugs so they throw a “fog bomb” at him. By some bad guy miracle the gas it creates is yellow. Hal holds his breath, can barely see and is in dire danger. He staggers back to a clear spot then makes a giant fan (that Hal calls a "powered propeller" because he's an airplane guy and therefore thinks in airplane kind of terms). The propeller clears the smog.

One of the nice things about the story is the multiple layers of peril. Mr. Ferris is in trouble. That would be bad enough, but you also have Hal with a ring about to lose its charge. There are a lot of things that could go wrong and for the kid reading this story in 1963 it was probably a nail-biter. I know I would've been obsessed with that ring losing power. What happens then? It's not just who will save Mr. Ferris, but who will save Hal Jordan if that should happen? So another instance of good writing in this story. Way to go Gardner Fox!

Happily for those little kids reading, Hal uses the last of his ring's charge to save Mr. Ferris and then capture the bad guys. Later, after the bad guys have been put away, the police find the painting that Mr. Ferris had wanted in the first place. He tells Interpol that he is still interested in buying the painting for $50,000. They suggest that something could be worked out. Although Hal's ring has long since lost its charge and he's therefore unable to help Mr. Ferris figure out if there is a Rembrandt beneath the Renoir, infrared light tells him everything he needs to know. The Rembrandt is there! That's two, two, two paintings in one!

The next day as Mr. Ferris greets Hal, he notices that his pilot has a strange rash on his face. We're back to the present day as Hal explains to Pie that, “sooner or later it will dawn on Carl Ferris that the yellow fog stung my skin and caused the rash — a sure giveaway that I'm Green Lantern…” After Pie notes that the rash has disappeared, Hal tells him that it only lasted an hour or so. The giveaway was that the skin around his eyes (that was covered by his mask) was clear.

Here's the part of the story that bothers me. The rash doesn't appear until the next day so why is it a foregone conclusion that Hal Jordan is Green Lantern? Especially since Green Lantern showed no rash from the strange smog at any time. And Hal Jordan's rash only lasted an hour, a full day later. Why would anyone think that Hal's rash proved he was Green Lantern?

This is a bit of lazy writing. After all the good writing we saw it is demoralizing to see bad writing come in at the conclusion. Fox needed a “tell” that would seem to point to Green Lantern, but could be easily explained away by Hal Jordan. In wanting that easy explanation Fox stumbled. He should've given the rash to Green Lantern right after the smog hit. So that when Mr. Ferris saw Hal Jordan's rash he would instantly make the connection and it would be a legitimate one. But that would be much more difficult for Hal to explain away. Finding something that would seem to make it an inescapable conclusion that Green Lantern and Hal Jordan were the same man while also being able to come up with a plausible reason that they weren't is difficult.

Instead, we get pie face predicting that Carol would propose and Hal agreeing with his friend. Carol calls Hal and invites him to dinner. And now the most ridiculous part of this story: The characterization of Carol Ferris. Carol has proven herself an excellent businesswoman. Her father is proud of her and the work she has done. She is a good boss and has an astute business mind. One would think she would have enough self-esteem that she wouldn't need to abase herself in front of Green Lantern.

Carol tells Hal, whom she is now certain is Green Lantern, that her father has decided to retire and is turning over Ferris Aircraft to her. "What a catch I'll be as a wife for some lucky fellow!" Hal reacts nervously to this information, as if he wants nothing to do with Carol Ferris. Make up your mind, Hal. You say you want her, but you don't want her if she wants you. Sheesh! Carol presents him with a flaming dish of crêpes Suzette, saying "and here, Hal, is my pièce de résistance— crêpes Suzette! The man who marries me is going to be well fed…"

Suddenly, my sympathies switch from Carol to Hal. After dessert he appears to break out in the same way and the same pattern as he had on the plane. He explains it by saying he ate crêpes Suzette prior to flying so it must be an allergy (he does not explain why the plane rash happened a full day later and lasted only one hour). Carol immediately backs off not wanting anything to do with Hal Jordan because she wants Green Lantern. Hal is happy that his identity is safe, but a little sad that Carol isn't interested in him as Hal. You can see now why Gardner Fox used the simplistic tool of the convenient rash, as opposed to the more realistic tool of the inconvenient rash. With the former, it's explained away quite easily. With the latter, it would take a much more cunning explanation.

But all of those inconsistencies produce a wee bit of smoke from my ears. I hate to see a good story soured by a lazy ending. Maybe those hypothetical kids from the silver age didn't care.

All in all, it's a good story with a disappointing ending. Here's hoping you don't get a rash from reading this article. Don't forget to come back next month for more thrilling adventures from DC Comics' Silver Age.

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This is a guest article. The thoughts and opinions in this piece are those of their author and are not necessarily the thoughts of the Certified Collectibles Group.