Dec 4th 2020 Advent Calendar

 A Judge bangs his gavel angrily-- unable to remain impassive his emotions are being given free reign. Whatever the accused as done wrong, for the Judge this is personal--

Three men sit restrained in the dock. Futuristic steel vices bind and gag them as a robotic hand levels a laser rifle towards their heads--

"GUILTY!" screams the newspaper headline-- and below it, the grim announcement that the three men are sentenced to death--

Today's cover image comes from GREEN LANTERN #80, dated Oct 1970, and is of course illustrated by the incomparable Neal Adams. Green Lantern, Green Arrow and their Guardian companion have curtailed their journey to discover the soul of America and been placed on trial on a far-off planet. It's one of those "How will they get out of that?" covers, presenting their predicament as fait-accompli. How WILL they get out of that?

The way that Adams presents the dramatic moment in the form of a newspaper story gives the whole thing an added dimension to be enjoyed by its readers. Set at a jaunty angle, the comic front page is masquerading as something else, albeit in a way that does not set out to be so much convincing as sufficiently recognisable as a newspaper while still being undeniably the latest issue of GREEN LANTERN. 

It's a device I recognise as having been used several times since by other comics. As a long-term 2000AD reader I was immediately reminded of this cover from 1978--

The comic's Betelgeusian editor, Tharg the Mighty (or in this case Grant Morrison and Mark Millar) pulled off the same stunt years later in 1993--

A quick Google search also threw up this offering, a comic which I actually know nothing about, but I love the added coffee cup ring--

And this amusing SUPERMAN II MOVIE EDITION cover--

I'm sure there are many other examples, both from before and after the GREEN LANTERN version. As for the story itself, scripted by Denny O'Neil and illustrated by Adams, the moment depicted on the cover is a fairly accurate representation of what occurs in the narrative.

But I'm not going to say another word about this particular issue, instead recommending that you visit this blog instead, where you can read all about GREEN LANTERN #80 and the real-life events the story was referencing, events I knew nothing about previously. Alan's blog, ATTACK OF THE 50 YEAR OLD COMIC BOOKS covers the comics he was reading himself 50 years ago-- and his background knowledge and insights are truly second to none. In fact when I started developing an interest in Bronze Comics I chanced across Alan's writing on GREEN LANTERN #76, which is how I came to start reading the title in the first place. And having read his comments on #80 I feel like anything I might add would be completely redundant! So, please, check it out here. He's one of the good guys!

Dec 3rd Advent Calendar can be found here--

Dec 5th can be found here--

My detailed thoughts on other GREEN LANTERN issues can be found by clicking on the images below--

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