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Cover: Gil Kane & Joe Giella

Green Lantern #5

Mar 1961 · DC · 0.10 USD

📊 ~97,878 copies sold its debut month

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“The Power Ring That Vanished!”

★ 1st appearance — Hector Hammond

About this Issue

Green Lantern (Vol. 2) #5 (April 1961) marks the first appearance of Hector Hammond, one of Hal Jordan's most distinctive Earth-based adversaries — a rare foil defined by psionic menace and psychological obsession rather than alien origin. His debut established a template of science-run-amok villainy that sits apart from the cosmic threats dominating the series, grounding the title's sci-fi universe in recognizable human corruption. The issue also spotlights the series' willingness to play with its own mechanics in creative ways: Green Lantern constructs a fully functional duplicate ring and disguises his mechanic Thomas 'Pieface' Kalmaku as himself, a narrative trick that foreshadows the ring's role as a storytelling device rather than just a weapon. As part of the fertile early run built by John Broome, Gil Kane, and Julius Schwartz, this issue contributed another durable villain to the Green Lantern rogues gallery that would remain in circulation for decades.

writer John Broome · artist Gil Kane · inker Joe Giella · letterer Gaspar Saladino · cover Gil Kane, Joe Giella

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VG) $59

CGC 9.4 · 2 in census $1,897*

CGC 9.2 · 11 in census $1,742

CGC 9.0 · 19 in census $652

CGC 8.5 · 15 in census $429

CGC 8.0 · 28 in census $394

CGC 7.5 · 29 in census $314

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CGC 7.0 · 26 in census $314

CGC 6.5 · 38 in census $145*

CGC 6.0 · 30 in census $145

CGC 5.5 · 41 in census $145

CGC 5.0 · 28 in census $144*

CGC 4.5 · 27 in census $125

CGC 4.0 · 24 in census $114

CGC 3.5 · 16 in census $92

CGC 3.0 · 14 in census $80

CGC 2.5 · 8 in census $68*

CGC 2.0 · 6 in census $49

CGC 1.5 · 5 in census $42*

CGC 1.0 none in existence

CGC 0.5 · 2 in census $32*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

This exact issue on ebay

CGC 9.8 $35 1 listing CGC 7 $400 1 listing CGC 5.5 $400 1 listing CGC 3 $200 1 listing Raw — FN $150 1 listing

Raw — VG ▾ $68–$111 4 listings

VG $68 VG $69 VG $71.47 VG $110.89

Raw — GD ▾ $55–$135 3 listings

GD $55 GD $85 GD $135

Raw / ungraded ▾ $1.5–$500 5 listings

Raw / ungraded $1.5 Raw / ungraded $3.99 Raw / ungraded $4.2 Raw / ungraded $4.99 Raw / ungraded $499.99

Verified matches for Green Lantern #5 · eBay asking prices, seen 26 days ago

More listings for this title

VF/NM · Newsstand $5.98 2nd print $9.99 CGC 9.8 $35

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History

The Silver Age Green Lantern series was launched by writer John Broome, penciler Gil Kane, and editor Julius Schwartz, who had revived the concept in Showcase #22 in 1959. By the fifth issue of Hal Jordan's solo ongoing title — on sale January 24, 1961 per Julius Schwartz's editorial records preserved at DC and the Grand Comics Database — the creative team was rapidly populating Hal's world with new supporting figures and adversaries. Broome and Kane created Hammond as a purely terrestrial villain, contrasting with the intergalactic threats that otherwise defined the book's identity, and credits for the pencils and inks have been confirmed from Schwartz's own editorial pay records.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance and origin of Hector Hammond, created by writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane; the character has continued to appear in DC Comics for over six decades.
The lead story is titled 'The Power Ring That Vanished!' — Hammond's debut tale in which he kidnaps four scientists, exposes them to a mutagenic meteor fragment, and steals a duplicate Green Lantern power ring.
Hammond is introduced as a petty criminal who discovers the same type of meteor fragments previously responsible for the hyper-evolution of Gorilla City's gorillas (including Gorilla Grodd), connecting him to the larger DC universe.
The issue features a notable ring-mechanics plot: Hal Jordan creates a fully functional duplicate power ring and disguises mechanic Thomas 'Pieface' Kalmaku as Green Lantern to use as a decoy while he investigates Hammond.
Cover date is April 1961; the Grand Comics Database records the on-sale date as January 24, 1961, with Julius Schwartz as editor.
Hammond's origin was later retconned multiple times, most significantly in the 'Green Lantern: Secret Origin' storyline, where he is reimagined as a scientist infected by the remains of Abin Sur's crashed spacecraft.
Hector Hammond was adapted for the 2011 live-action Green Lantern film, portrayed by Peter Sarsgaard as a xenobiology professor whose origin was substantially revised from the comics.
The issue has been reprinted in Green Lantern Archives Vol. 1, Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 1 (black and white), The Green Lantern Chronicles Vol. 2, The Green Lantern Omnibus Vol. 1, Green Lantern: The Silver Age Vol. 1, and the Green Lantern: The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1.