Green Lantern #59 (March 1968)

As regular readers of this here blog know, I'm a big fan of the Avengers, in particular the Kurt Busiek era. As regular readers of this blog also know, I am a big fan of the Justice League as well, the Justice League International era in particular. Much like the Justice League has their "Big Seven", I think the JLI has a "Big Five": Booster Gold, Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Fire, Ice, and Green Lantern (Guy Gardner). While the JLI is arguably the era that made these particular characters famous, many of them were around well before the JLI was a thing. The comic we're looking at here today is the first appearance of Guy Gardner. Let's take a look at Green Lantern #59!

The cover is a Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson piece.

"Earth's Other Green Lantern!"
Writer: John Broome
Penciler: Gil Kane
Inker: Sid Greene
Letterer: Gaspar Saladino
Editor: Julius Schwartz
Executive Editor: Julius Schwartz

The story begins with the Guardians of the Universe, our man Hal Jordan's bosses, showing him some important machines that they use to help protect the universe from evil and general skullduggery. 

One of the machines is a device designed to record the minds of Green Lanterns after they pass away. The Guardians ask him if they can show Abin Sur's last memories. Basically, this allows Hal to see Abin Sur's last moments from his own perspective. Kind of macabre, if you ask me.

However, Hal learns some new information from this. Evidently, the ring didn't just find one Earthman worthy of being Sur's successor, it found two. 

Besides Hal, the ring also found a man named Guy Gardner, who is a physical education schoolteacher. Abin is on his way to the great beyond, and he is unaware of how much time he has left. So, he picks the guy who was closest: Hal Jordan. Which does make me wonder, where did Abin Sur actually crash? I mean, Ferris Air is based in California, and at this time, Guy Gardner was working in an "Eastern school", presumably the East Coast of the United States. I mean, according to Green Lantern #182 (November 1984), Hal buried him in the Sierra Madre mountains. That makes sense, with Hal being closer and all...

Right right, sorry. So, after the recap, Hal gets a bit curious. He wonders what could have happened if Guy got the ring instead of him. Yup, he wants to play "What If", or "Elseworlds" in DC's case. The Guardians input the possibility into the computer, and we get to see what could happen. 

Gardner gets the ring, but he is shown struggling to master it.

“Ow! My funny bone!”

He continues his regular life, until he reads an article in a newspaper about a group of saboteurs at work. His first job as the Green Lantern! 

He's able to deal with the saboteurs, his ring protecting him from bullets, while his fists handle their jaws. His career as Green Lantern goes on, facing Hal's rogues gallery like Black Hand, the Shark, and even Sinestro. He would eventually get to Oa where he'd learn about his being a Corpsman. You'd think that they would have contacted him right away after getting the ring.

Anyway, Guy heads home, but he goes on a different route to Earth than Hal used. Some explosions go off around him and he decides to check it out. It might just be a natural phenomenon, but who knows?

“This planet’s version of Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots is WEEEEEIRD.”

The two beings blast at the Lantern, but Guy takes them down. He discovers these fighters are robotic, so he goes to look into it. The robots explains that guy is on a planet called Ghera...and the planet is inhabited by children. You may be asking where their parents are.

Well, there is an explanation. You see, the children's parents somehow all dies from a disease called the "Yellow Plague". The children were somehow immune to it. Without any parental guidance, the kids grew very bored. The plague also caused them to make like Peter Pan and never grew up. The kids now play endless war games, the two sides inspired by these robots that the parents made: An orange robot and a blue robot. 

Guy decides to talk to these kid armies and see if they can make peace. But as he flies off, something takes hold of his mind and makes him fly into a chair.

Captured by the Blue army, they make Guy into their weapon. He wrecks his way through the Orange Army's robotic war machines. One Orange Army kid tries to use his mental powers to force Guy to attack the Blue army. The mental tug-of-war allows Guy to fight them off and create a green suit of armor to somehow protect himself. Using his skills as a PE teacher...somehow...Guy convinces the kids to use sports instead of war to settle their issues. Guy heads back home to Earth. He recharges his ring, and finds that he's not feeling too well.

“But I’m a Winter!”

Yeah, he's somehow contracted the yellow plague. Nice work, Guy! You brought an alien sickness to Earth!

Well, using the last of his strength, he summons someone to take up his ring. And that someone? 

Hal Jordan. Yeah, so in this simulation, Hal still becomes Green Lantern. Hal is astonished. More on this later. Hal wants to meet the "real" Guy Gardner, and the Guardians are cool with that. The story ends with them presumably becoming fast friends, and Hal leaving for the next adventure.

This comic is...weird. I want to lean more on it not being that great. For one thing, for a comic that supposedly was about debuting Earth's other Green Lantern, we only really meet him at the very end. Most of the story is just a possible simulation of what would have happened if Guy Gardner was chosen to be Green Lantern instead of Jordan. And because of it being a simulation, we don't get any idea of what the "real" Guy is like as a character. This story has a lot of plotholes. 

If you want to read this for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2008 trade paperback Green Lantern: In Brightest Day. It's a nice trade, collecting a series of Green Lantern stories selected by Geoff Johns.