Green Lantern #38
Green Lantern #38 (July 1965) is the debut issue of Keith Kenyon, the man who would evolve into Goldface — a villain whose gold-based powers exploited Hal Jordan's ring weakness to yellow in a way that felt genuinely earned within the Silver Age's science-fiction ruleset. The issue plants a seed that grows across decades of DC continuity: Kenyon begins here merely as a clever crook who hoards sunken gold, but his later transformation into Goldface and subsequent career arc — from Green Lantern nemesis to Flash rogue to reformed union organizer — traces one of the more unusual rehabilitation stories in Silver Age villainy. It also represents the creative team of Gardner Fox and Gil Kane operating at a peak mid-run moment, the kind of tight, imaginative two-story format that defined DC's Silver Age anthology structure under editor Julius Schwartz.
In "Menace of the Atomic Changeling!", Hal Jordan teams up with Green Lantern Tomar-Re to stop a mysterious atomic entity that hijacks bodies and turns inanimate objects into living forms. Written by Gardner Fox and brought to life by Gil Kane’s dynamic art and Sid Greene’s precise inks, this 1965 classic features a chilling threat that tests the limits of willpower and ingenuity. The cover by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson captures the eerie, otherworldly tension of the story.
In "Menace of the Atomic Changeling!" from Green Lantern #38 (1965), Hal Jordan teams up with Green Lantern Tomar-Re to stop a mysterious atomic energy entity that hijacks bodies and turns inanimate objects into living weapons. When the creature's shifting form makes it nearly impossible to pin down, Hal must think fast to outwit the being before it strikes again.
In "The Elixir of Invulnerability!" from Green Lantern #38 (1965), Hal Jordan’s tropical getaway takes a dangerous turn when he uncovers the secret operation of Keith Kenyon, a rogue treasure hunter who’s not only hoarded sunken gold but also forged weapons and an elixir said to grant invulnerability. With his willpower tested and his instincts sharp, Hal must stop Kenyon before the elixir falls into the wrong hands.
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The issue was produced under the editorial hand of Julius Schwartz, whose records later confirmed the credits for script, pencils, and inks — an important detail because the Silver Age did not routinely credit its creators in print. Gardner Fox wrote both stories, Gil Kane penciled them, with Sid Greene inking the interior stories and Murphy Anderson inking the cover — a division of inkers between cover and interior that was standard practice on the title at the time. The Grand Comics Database notes that the credits were formally verified from Schwartz's own editorial records, supplied by DC Comics in April 2007, giving them unusual archival authority.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: July 1965; on-sale date confirmed as May 27, 1965 (National Periodical Publications / DC Comics, Volume 2 of the Hal Jordan series).
- First appearance of Keith Kenyon, the criminal scientist who collects sunken gold to forge weapons and an invulnerability elixir — the character who will become Goldface in Green Lantern #48.
- Kenyon's gold-based nature made him an immediate tactical threat to Hal Jordan because gold's yellow color counters the power ring's traditional weakness to yellow, leaving Hal uncertain at the story's end whether Kenyon was truly invulnerable or simply benefiting from the ring's limitation.
- The issue contains two complete stories: 'Menace of the Atomic Changeling!' (Hal teams with fellow GL Tomar-Re to contain an atomic energy entity) and 'The Elixir of Invulnerability!' (Kenyon's debut, set during Hal's scuba-diving vacation).
- Creative team: script by Gardner Fox, pencils by Gil Kane, interior inks by Sid Greene; cover pencils by Gil Kane, cover inks by Murphy Anderson; edited by Julius Schwartz.
- Goldface went on to become a recurring foe of both Green Lantern and the Flash (Barry Allen and Wally West), eventually reinventing himself as a legitimate union leader in Keystone City — one of the more complete villain-to-reformed-character arcs of the Silver Age.
- Goldface was adapted into animation (Justice League Unlimited) and live action (The CW's The Flash, portrayed by Damion Poitier).
- The issue has been reprinted multiple times: Green Lantern Archives Vol. 5 (DC, 2005), Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 2 (DC, 2007, black and white), Green Lantern Omnibus Vol. 2 (DC, 2011/2012), Green Lantern: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 2 (DC, 2018), and Green Lantern: The Silver Age Vol. 4 (DC, 2019).
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Groene Lantaarn Classics #2725 (1972), Groene Lantaarn Classics #2730 (1973), Green Lantern #5 (1974), Green Lantern #8 (1975), Green Lantern Archives #5 (2005), Showcase Presents: Green Lantern #2 (2007), The Green Lantern Omnibus #2 (2012), Green Lantern: The Silver Age Omnibus #2 (2018), Green Lantern: The Silver Age #4 (2019), DC Finest: Green Lantern: The Defeat of Green Lantern #[nn] (2025), Top Comics Die Grüne Laterne #119
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