GREEN LANTERN vol2 #14 (1962)
by John Broome & Gil Kane
Introducing Sonar, a.k.a. the “I forgot he existed” Green Lantern villain.
We begin with Tom Kalmaku, GL’s sidekick with a nickname I’m not going to use, revealing that he’s a huge stamp collector. Plus that Marvel has by no means a monopoly on fictional countries.
Green Lantern decides to use his ring, The Most Powerful Weapon In The Universe ™… to get a stamp for his friend. Nothing wrong with that, I just think it’s funny.
The image that American writers had of Europe in the 60s never ceases to amaze me.
In order to get the stamp, Green Lantern decides to probe the minds of random civilians. (!!!!)
You know, I always give Silver Age Superman a hard time, but I’m beginning to think that Hal Jordan is a veeeery close contender for the title of Just. The Worst.
Yep. Green Lantern just discovered a supervillain COMPLETELY BY ACCIDENT while looking for a stamp!!!
Turns out the apprentice… “Bito Wladon” (now that’s a name that rolls off the tongue)… has decided to conquer that world to put his tiny nation on the map.
His thing is that he can use sound to do basically anything the plot requires.
At least his costume is an upgrade from whatever he’s wearing during his experiments.
Green Lantern returns to Coast City, which BY SHEER COINCIDENCE is being attacked by the supervillain he JUST discovered. Again, by pure accident!!!
The cover scene does make it into the comic, which is always neat.
I absolutely love that A) we take the time to spell out that Sonar doesn’t wear his costume at home B) said costume stays together that easily! Including the gloves!
It’s rare to see supervillains in their down time. It’s even more rare for them to be… well… Sonar is kind of pathetic from the start, isn’t he?
Sonar decides that Green Lantern will be ready for his supersonic punch next time they meet… which considering how great GL has been so far is probably overselling him… so he decides to go slightly against his theme.
I have to admit, I didn’t see it coming: the first GL villain to use this tactic is the one who doesn’t use light in the slightest!
“The air has turned yellow”? Forget flying, how can you see anything!?
I really like this bit: Green Lantern realizing Sonar shouldn’t be able to do anything like that, so he powers through the illusion.
Green Lantern tracks down Sonar, and for once he doesn’t use a green bubble to trap the villain.
Sonar is actually happy to make his country “famous”, and Green Lantern gets a prize for his victory.
Which can only be one thing.
Historical significance: 2/10
Much to Sonar’s dismay… nobody really cares about Sonar.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
As far as the Silver Age goes, Sonar’s powers are almost realistic!
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
This was bad. From the kind of offensive depiction of Europe, to the unbelievably stupid coincidences, to the rather generic villain, to Green Lantern’s very irresponsible use of telepathy.
How close is this to the modern character?: 8/10
Poor Sonar. He has a genuinely great costume, and although the sonic gun has a goofy design he COULD be a legitimate villain. Heck, Pied Piper has a really stupid costume and an even sillier sonic weapon but he’s still taken more seriously than Sonar!
He has been killed a couple of times. There was even a new Sonar around, claiming to be his son (though he doesn’t look that much younger)… he’s fine, but he should really get a better costume.
It’s a pity that Sonar never really took off. It doesn’t help that he shares the same problem all Green Lantern villains from Earth have: once the emphasis shifts to cosmic stories, he can’t keep up.
This is especially bad because it’s hard to do a proper story in space when the villain has sound powers.
If only he moved to another rogues gallery, Sonar could’ve been legitimately great.
I mean, a super-scientist from a tiny country in the Balkans bent on world domination? Wearing a cape and carrying a gun, too? Doesn’t that sound familiar?
Think I’m exaggerating with the parallels? Maybe, but consider that the first Doctor Doom story... has a cover date of July 1962, just like the first Sonar story!!!!