GREEN LANTERN vol.1 #10 (1943)
by Alfred Bester & Martin Nodell
cover by Irwin Hasen
Nowadays Vandal Savage can show up anywhere in the DC Universe; he’s been a Justice Society villain and for a while he was in the Flash rogues gallery, against Wally West.
Not too many people seem to remember he got his start against the original Green Lantern.
Apologies for the quality of the scans, it’s not easy to get good Golden Age scans unless you have Superman or Batman reprints/recolors.
Writer Alfred Bester is also the creator of Solomon Grundy (I’ll cover his first story soon).
Penciler Martin Nodell was the co-creator of Green Lantern’s and, believe it or not, part of the design team responsible for the Pillsbury Doughboy. Seriously!
One thing you have to know about the Golden Age Green Lantern is that his comic relief sidekick, taxi driver Doiby Dickles, was basically the co-star of the series.
In fact we begin with Doiby taking care of a very strange customer who has his same name.
After that odd interaction, Doiby is assaulted by a bunch of goons.
This sounds like a job for Green Lantern, SOMEHOW.
I think it’s rather cool that the Green Lantern oath is already there in 1943.
Green Lantern disposes of the goons and traces the guy from the first scene, who is none other than Vandal Savage. Who wants to hire him to find Alan Scott… Green Lantern’s secret identity!
This doesn’t work, of course. And it’s obviously a trap… meaning Green Lantern jumps straight into it.
Seems weird that Savage has to go through all that trouble to contact Alan Scott, but whatever.
He wants to buy a vault box that Alan owns, but he refuses to sell.
This means Vandal Savage has to steal from the vault. Green Lantern is there to prevent it, but an explosion buries him under the wooden ceiling… and wood is his weakness, so he’s knocked out.
But don’t worry. Since Green Lantern knew what Vandal Savage was targeting him, he might have taken precautions, right?
Vandal Savage might have missed the whole reason for stealing anything.
I don’t understand much about finance and stocks, but I get the feeling this makes no sense.
At this point you’re probably wondering what does any of this have to do with a superhero.
You’re not the only one to be confused: when people show up to sabotage the plant that Vandal Savage now owns… Vandal Savage is the one to save Green Lantern.
You’re giving me mixed messages here, mr. Savage.
Sounds legit.
And now we get to the real meat of the story: the origin of Vandal Savage.
He defines himself as a Cro-Magnon from 1 million years ago… which, at least according to modern anthropology, is WAY off… and apparently he was 40 years old at the time.
And the gas from the meteor turned him immortal.
That part of his origin story has basically stayed the same. There have been adjustments here and there… how long ago it was, what happened to the pieces of the meteorite… but minor stuff, really.
What has NOT stayed, though, is his claim to have been Cheops, Julius Caesar and Genghis Khan!
This is pretty hilarious considering Golden Age Hawkman, Green Lantern’s teammate in the Justice Society, was ALSO Cheops in a former life!!!
From a historical perspective, it’s interesting that at some point Vandal Savage became the prime instigator of several invasions and wars.
And now Vandal Savage wants to conquer to world because he’s bored.
That’s a pretty standard plot for an immortal character… but what does this have to do with taking control of the steel mill and threatening to expose Green Lantern’s identity!?
Well apparently he wants to get into politics!
So this becomes a race to stop Savage from getting a job before he can reveal Green Lantern’s identity.
So far the story has been underwhelming, but I do like Green Lantern’s deduction here.
And so Vandal Savage’s plans for world domination are spoiled… because he lacks the paperwork.
I also like Green Lantern’s reply to the threat of revealing his identity. Superman should really learn from this guy!!!
But Savage manages to escape (???) all the way to his secret lair in Kentucky (????).
So it’s Power Ring vs Random Gun.
Power Ring wins, of course.
And so we end with Vandal Savage either dead or exiled to the underground.
Except not dying is Vandal Savage’s whole deal, so naturally he comes back.
Historical significance: 3/10
Despite how often Vandal Savage shows up, there’s a reason this particular story is never referenced.
Silver Age-ness: 6/10
The emphasis on the secret identity (despite the interesting non-resolution), plus the comic relief.
Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
This one really shows its age. The artwork is not great, the plot is all over the place, Alan Scott has basically no personality, and in no point of the story you get the idea that Vandal Savage is really dangerous.
How close is this to the modern character? 6/10
Vandal Savage shows up EVERYWHERE. If you do a time travel story, there’s a 50/50 chance that he might be the villain in the past, or in the future.
He has claimed to be the world’s first cannibal, the inspiration for the myths about vampires, he’s claimed to be the biblical Cain, he’s been the leader of the Church of Crime, he’s been a drug lord distributing a formula that gives super-speed, he’s claimed to be Blackbeard, he’s had magic powers, he’s lost and regained his immortality a bunch of times, he’s used the façade of a benevolent billionaire a few years before it became Lex Luthor’s thing… and he’s had two personal heroic nemesis: the Immortal Man and the Resurrection Man. No hints about their powers.
Needless to say, Vandal Savage has been around. Nowadays he’s one of the go-to villains if you need a Big Bad for your story, but he’s not anywhere near as overused as Darkseid or Ra’s al Ghul.
And there are SOME hints of the future Vandal Savage here… he’s cold, detached and aristocratic, but there’s something ruggedly prehistoric in his looks.
Having said that, this Vandal Savage is quite underwhelming. His plan doesn’t make a lot of sense and you never get the feeling that he’s a true menace. Plus his immortality explicitly only means that he doesn’t age, whereas his future incarnations are nearly impossible to kill in any way.
