Bring on the Bad Guys: Dryg

 Real name: Dryg

First appearance: Green Lantern II#1 1/2 (July/Aug. 1960)

Abilities: Mental energy, being a giant  

Worst act: Attempted murder 

Quote: N/A

Created by: John Broome (script), Gil Kane (pencils), Murphy Anderson (inks)

So we see Hal in his own series, and it opens with a recap about his getting the power ring. We also see the Guardians of the Galaxy for the first time and they want to know if the deceased Abin Sur picked the right guy.

Very similar to the yarn in Showcase I#23, Hal is sent to a planet populated by yellow cavemen, who are being attacked by a brown giant. Since the giant isn't yellow, Hal has no issue luring him to the artic region of the planet and freezing him in a giant block of ice. 

Not bad, but more rehashing of what we've seen before, which was the style at the time so I can't get too worked up over that. 

Bring on the Bad Guys: Blob creature

Real name: Not applicable 

First appearance: Showcase I#24 2/2 (Jan./Feb. 1960)

Abilities: Shooting yellow beams from eyes

Worst act: Attempted murder 

Quote: "Now at last...thanks to you...I am no longer a menace...to myself...or world..."

Created by: John Broome (script), Gil Kane (pencils), Joe Giella (inks)

Most of the story is taken up by a dream sequence of Carrol, convinced that Hal and Green Lantern are the same person. A car wreck knocks her out, leaving Hal free to investigate. What does he find? 

Seems some scientists were messing around with cosmic radiation, as you do, and accidently created a giant monster. The text refers to it as a blob, but it sports a vague chicken like head. The blob easily smacks Hal away but after a point he figures out that a creature that is apparently feeding off of radiation, so why not cut it off from its' feed source?

Which works great and causes the blob to shrink into a puddle. 

Ok, and we do see some quick thinking on Hal's part. The 'Carrol is convinced Hal is GL' is already starting to wear out it's welcome

Bring on the Bad Guys: 3 Spies

 Real names: Unrevealed, Moster

First appearance: Showcase I#24 1/2 (Jan./Feb. 1960)

Abilities: Espionage, being smarter than Hal Jordon

Worst act: Theft, espionage 

Quote: "When the missile blasts off, the explosion will utterly destroy our enemy Green Lantern! Count down Moster!"

Created by: John Broome (script), Gil Kane (pencils), Joe Giella (inks)

More soap opera; to wit Carol Ferris is convinced Green Lantern is going to propose to her when he rushes off to save someone drowning. 

Hal, meanwhile, discovers the top secret aircraft plans he was supposed to turn over to the Army are missing! Using his power ring, Hal probes his own mind and manages to see an odd fellow bumping into his at lunch. From there Green Lantern tracks the fellow down to a local amusement park. 

Basic and honestly flat. The spies barely have any names and their plans all hinge on Hal being a goof. This might be the first time Hal gets hit in the head and knocked out, by a plain guy in a suit. A yellow roller coaster train goes off the track but thankfully the underside isn't yellow because of course it wasn't.

Bring on the Bad Guys: Invisible Destroyer

Real name: N/A

First appearance: Showcase I#23 2/2 (Nov./Dec.1959)

Abilities: Being invisible 

Worst act: Theft, attempted murder

Quote: "I feed on radiation! Each dose that I absorb makes me more powerful! Soon I will be the most powerful being on Earth!"

Created by: John Broome (script), Gil Kane (pencils), Joe Giella (inks)

Odd that an invisible man would insist on wearing a full outfit with a cape. Kind of defeats the point of being invisible, doesn't it?

But yeah, it seems that Dr. Phillips and his imagination (plus all that radiation) caused him to create a being. A being that feeds on radiation and if he has to denotate a nuke to get a bit to eat? That's what he'll do. 

An odd villain, with some shades of Forbidden Planet thrown in for good measure. 

Bring on the Bad Guys: Yellow birds

Real names: N/A

First appearance: Showcase I#23 1/2 (Nov./Dec. 1959)

Abilities: Being giant birds

Worst act: Attempted murder 

Quote: "Kreeeeeeeeeee!"

Created by: John Broome (script), Gil Kane (pencils), Joe Giella (inks)

More soap than space opera here. We also learn that Hal Jordan lives in Coast City. 

Basically, Hal learns that Carol is gaga over the Green Lantern and he sneaks himself an invite by saying how close he and GL are. The catch? She wants Hal AND the Green Lantern to show up. 

What is he to do? Mostly ignore all that as he gets a summons from his lantern. Yeah, he takes the ring he takes the orders too, and his job this time is to investigate an emergency on Venus. Hal pops over and what does he finds? Giant yellow pterodactyls trying to eat up some blue cave folk. Hal would save them...but his ring is powerless against yellow!

So he traps them in a cave via a ring created hawk. 

A bit silly and yeah, there is tension about his weakness but then he just ignores it. The birds could just as easily been any other color and the story wouldn't be changed that much. Also, how did the blue cave folk get their message out in the first place?

Oh, and if you're wondering about the party, Hal just flies in as the Green Lantern and says Hal is a good buddy of his but he couldn't make it. Carol doesn't seem too upset over that. 

Bring on the Bad Guys: Dr. Parris

Real name: Parris

First appearance: Showcase I#22 3/3 (Sept./Oct. 1959)

Abilities: Nuclear scientist 

Worst act: Attempted treason, destruction of government property 

Quote: "Green Lantern! I've been half-expecting you!"

Created by: John Broome (script), Gil Kane (pencils), Joe Giella (inks)

And so we reach the last story of the first appearance of Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern. Hal, as the Green Lantern, gets invited to a charity ball that happens so often in comics. While he's kissing on Carol Ferris, he spots a missile streaking towards the city! A yellow missile!

That for some reason has a red nosecone. 

That's all he needs, thankfully, and thus the city is saved. He finds it isn't a nuke so then it must have been aiming for something specific! The government building that houses their hydrogen info, that must be it!

Using his ring to tell him pretty much everything, Hal finds the doc who (despite Hal only being the Green Lantern for a fairly short time) apparently was waiting for him? He easily captures him and drops him off with the military. 

So, all in all a fairly weak run. More of a science fiction bent than Alan Scott but Hal is fairly flat as a character, although Broome and Kane seem to be ramping up the soap opera elements a fair bit, what with Hal chasing after Carol and her turning him down. 

Seriously, the whole 'town almost blown to bit' gets glossed over fairly quickly so Hal can get cussed out by Carol for kissing with his eyes open. 

Bring on the Bad Guys: 3 Saboteurs

 Real names: Unrevealed 

First appearance: Showcase I#22 2/3 (Sep/Oct. 1959)

Abilities: Using machines to lock plane controls to force them to crash. 

Worst act: Sabotaging test planes 

Quote: "I can't understand it! Our radiation-sender brought the plane down--but it didn't crash!"

Created by: John Broome (script), Gil Kane (pencils), and Joe Giella (inks)

So, here we go with a return of an old favorite. This year we'll be taking a look back at the Silver Age Green Lantern himself, Hal Jordan.

The first story is the origin for Hal Jordan and sets up the series, this second story has him in action for the first time. Going with a more science fiction theme, this story established that the Green Lanterns were a galaxy wide police force. To wit, Lantern Abin Sur crash lands on Earth and the best candidate to replace him is a test pilot named Hal Jordan. 

So, with the second story, Hal (after flirting with his boss's daughter Carol) sees an experimental jet, the Flaming Spear, in distress. 

First he saves the jet, then using his ring to follow the radiation trail, finds the saboteurs. This would also set the standard for the series too. They smack him with a lamp, which just happens to be yellow (the ring's only weakness, as opposed to Alan Scott's vulnerability to wood). They escape in a car, which is painted yellow!

Thankfully Jordan creates a series of ice picks and pops their unpainted tires. Yeah, Jordan can't stop anything yellow but thankfully there's one part that isn't painted.