Green Lantern #21

GREEN LANTERN vol2 #21 (1963)
by John Broome & Gil Kane

The first appearance of the supervillain with magnetic powers that first showed up in 1963.
No, the other one.

This is unusual: Green Lantern stories don’t usually begin from the middle like most Metal Men issues do. But this one opens with GL having already captured the villain and trying to read his mind to discover his backstory.
Which means A) we can already see he has a terrible costume B) the main mystery of the entire issue is immediately spoiled.
Great job, guys!

Now we transition to the origin of Dr. Polaris (which shockingly isn’t his real name!!!).
He’s obsessed with magnets, so naturally he gives himself the name of a star that has nothing to do with magnets.

Polaris is not his real name, sure, but I immediately question whether he’s a real doctor.

At least not EVERYBODY believes magnetism cures everything.

While everybody treats Dr. Polaris like he’s the second coming of Professor Potter…

…a man with one of the worst costumes I’ve ever seen tries to rob a bank.

Or at least that’s how it SHOULD work, but this is the real panel:

Yes, there is nothing suspicious about the guy who only talks about magnets disappearing when there’s another guy who stole his money by using magnets. Nothing at all.

Naturally, once Green Lantern reaches the home of Dr. Polaris, he finds the thief there.

Green Lantern knocks him out, and it’s at page 7 that we discover… exactly what we already knew from page 2, so WTF are we doing here!?

Green Lantern reads the mind of Dr. Polaris to discover his origin, and I’ll admit I didn’t expect Dr. Polaris would be that kind of doctor.

Super-scientists are more of a Marvel thing, but even at DC if you’re a doctor of something you’re a doctor of everything.

However it turns out that magnets can make you… evil!

Ah yes, the universal image of evil… having your hair just slightly messed up.

You can see why he has to cover that evil face.

Once the flashback ends Dr. Polaris is able to escape, but… “Great Xudar!” (???????)

Okay, finally Dr. Polaris has done something at least a little bit cool: turned Green Lantern into a huge magnet.

So… if Green Lantern’s ring can make him immune to magnetism… what has Dr. Polaris left that can actually hurt him?

Only one thing can hurt Green Lantern at this point:

This is a more creative use of Green Lantern’s power than 90% of his Earth adventures so far… and it’s still not impressive.

And so we end with Dr. Polaris under custody, leaving open the possibility of his redemption.

Historical significance: 4/10
Doctor Polaris is a somewhat important villain, but he’s not a big name and this story is not very important to his development.

Silver Age-ness: 10/10
No, seriously, how DO these magnets work?

Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
Hands down the worst Green Lantern story I’ve reviewed so far. Questionable science aside (since when is THAT a problem for the Silver Age)… it’s not a good story. It’s not a mystery, because the real identity is spoiled at the very beginning. It’s not an action story, since the fights are very lackluster. It’s too ham-fisted to be a tragedy. And it’s amazing that Dr. Polaris managed to become a recurring and interesting villain because he’s sooooo bland in this.

How close is this to the modern character?: 4/10
Other than the double personality, there isn’t much of the definitive Dr. Polaris. He doesn’t even have powers yet, but he’ll eventually ditch the gadgets to become a master of magnetism.
He’s a fine generic villain, useful when you need a powerhouse that can be a danger for mid to high tier heroes without wondering why the entire JLA is not called.
I never cared for him as a Green Lantern villain (like all of his human rogues gallery); I think he worked much better as a Flash villain like in the 90s or as the villain of an entire team.

And of course we cannot ignore the giant magnet in the room: Dr. Polaris was doomed to never become a big name when another supervillain debuted just THREE MONTHS after him.

I’m not a fan the classic Dr. Polaris costumes, either when it has a magnet on his chest or if it’s integrated into his helmet. Both make it harder to take him seriously.