Green Lantern #40

GREEN LANTERN vol2 #40 (1965)
by John Broome & Gil Kane

This is one of the most significant stories I’ve ever reviewed. It’s the origin of major villain Krona AND of the Guardians, it’s the first team-up between the two Green Lanterns, and what else, oh yes, it’s the whole reason behind Crisis!!!

We begin on Earth-2, where the Golden Age Green Lantern is having a reunion of sorts with *sigh* his old sidekick Doiby Dickles.

After he tries to stop a weird meteor, he finds out that his weakness against wood has mysteriously vanished.

In a smart move, GL decides to contact his Earth-1 counterpart Hal Jordan; the two had met in an issue of Justice League. This is still VERY early in the Multiverse era, so the way the travel between universes is shown can still have some interesting variety.

When he tries to demonstrate that his weakness has disappeared, however, he discovers that doesn’t carry over to Earth-1.

Then there’s a truly baffling moment: a panel where Hal Jordan summarizes everything that has happened in the previous 6 pages. Was Broome worried that the story was too complicated for the readers to keep track? Because so far it’s been very simple and it will get complex only later.

I’m not too familiar with the Earth-2 Green Lantern, but this isn’t a great impression. Shouldn’t he have asked his ring in the first place, if he knew he could answer!?

Turns out that wasn’t a meteor at all, but concentrated mental energy from the beginning of the universe. Easy mistake to make.

We are now entering the significant portion of the story, starting with the origin of the eventual Guardians Of The Universe. Who used to be taller and dress even weirder.

And used to ride giant frogs. (????)

This is old school sci-fi, but the best kind that stands the test of time.

I’ll cut them some slack about not knowing “the true essence of light”… this is set 10 billion years ago, so to say they’re still ahead of their time is an understatement.
That’s twice the age of our Sun, by the way.

It’s at this point of this story that we are introduced to Krona, who is utterly obsessed about watching the creation of the universe with his giant TV.

I’ve always loved this part of the Green Lantern mythos, because it really does sound like that you could find in a mythology. But there’s one part that has always bugged me… where does the idea of “if we learn the truth it will destroy the universe”? It seems kind of odd to show up in such a science-minded society, so it stands out.

Personally I believe in a different theory.

Another legendary moment that we will see over and over again: Krona does see the origin of the universe, as a hand holding a galaxy.

And I do mean A LOT. Since DC simply cannot stay away from fidgeting with the Crisis lore, we keep seeing this moment over and over again.

According to Crisis, Krona’s experiment is what created the Multiverse. But this is actually a retcon.

According to the original story, however, Krona’s experiment unleashed evil itself.

This doesn’t deter Krona from vowing to keep trying to discover the origin of the universe.
He can’t be executed because he’s immortal like the rest of his race, and I guess there’s no way to remove that immortality, so he’s sentenced to wander the universe for billions of years as a disembodied bunch of energy.

This is what motivated the Guardians to create the Green Lantern Corps to protect the universe from the very evil that they unleashed.

After wandering the Earth-1 universe for ten billion years, Krona SOMEHOW managed to get to Earth-2 and be absorbed by Green Lantern’s ring.

The Guardians have been eavesdropping the entire conversation, because of course they were, and they warn the two GLs that Krona’s experiment could destroy the entire universe.

The result of unleashing “waves of evil” on Earth… which is taken just a little too literally.

Also the mountains turn evil. Wait, WHAT!?

Krona has already built a machine to look into the past (that was fast!), and in case you’re wondering he’s fully aware that his actions are going to destroy the universe.
Because Krona… and this time it’s not a joke… is just. The Worst.

The two GLs take care of all the disasters unleashed by Krona’s arrival, but that’s when the Guardians themselves also show up on Earth… to ask for Hal Jordan’s resignation.

We get a mini-flashback explaining that Krona has taken over the body of the Golden Age Green Lantern (as if he wasn’t already screwing this up)…

…and this was all an overly complicated way to get into a fight with the Silver Age Green Lantern.

Aaaaand Hal Jordan loses. What a shocker.

You might be wondering: will the Guardians manage to do anything useful? Well it’s the Guardians Of The Universe, the fact they’re not making the situation WORSE is already an accomplishment.

Krona returns to his original body, and reveals himself to be one clever bastard.

The original Green Lantern somewhat redeems himself by giving Hal Jordan the willpower to fight back, after he was knocked out by Krona.

As if this wasn’t giving me enough Crisis flashbacks, this REALLY feels like a scene from that series. It’s a very atmospheric and awesome panel!

However we discover that the two GLs exchanged power rings, so Hal Jordan doesn’t have a problem with yellow… something Krona didn’t anticipate.

And so the menace of Krona is defeated forever because the Guardians exile him again.

Just kidding. Of course the Guardians screwed this up.

He was even the Big Villain in the AWESOME Avengers/JLA series!!!

I stopped following Green Lantern after the whole “emotional spectrum” nonsense was introduced and the mythos was spoiled diluted by the introduction of about give Lantern Corps too many, but I know Krona returned with a truly awful design.

We never saw that design in live action, mercifully.
It would look really stupid.

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Historical significance: 10/10
It’s my policy to never go above this score for the historical significance. I have never been this tempted to break my own rule!!!

Silver Age-ness: 3/10
The effects of the “evil wave” are quite random, but it’s a surprisingly low score for such a pivotal Silver Age story.

 Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
Once you get past some of the storytelling tricks of the time, this is a good story. The part set in the present is definitely weaker, but Krona manages to bring a certain kind of dread that is hard to accomplish in this kind of environment. The part that really, REALLY shines is the flashback. There’s something mysteriously powerful, like we really are discovering the mythology of an alien world. No wonder the Krona story was used as the basis of Crisis and has been used as a springboard for many cosmic events.
Now, if only DC could stop beating the Crisis dead horse and trying to one-up itself on how convoluted they can make their own mythology…

How close is this to the modern character? 10/10
Ignoring the awful redesign… it’s Krona. He’s not exactly a complex character, so it’s no surprise that everything is already there.