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Cover: Gil Kane & Murphy Anderson

Green Lantern #55

Sep 1967 · DC · 0.12 USD

📊 ~85,930 copies sold its debut month

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“Cosmic Enemy Number One”

★ 1st appearance — Charlie Vicker

About this Issue

Green Lantern #55 (September 1967) is the debut issue for two characters who would both become fixtures of the broader Green Lantern Corps mythology: Charley Vicker, an Earth actor deputized by Hal Jordan as a temporary Lantern, and Zborra, a reptilian Corpsman from Python IV. Beyond the first appearances, the story — 'Cosmic Enemy Number One' — stands as the first time that the Guardians of the Universe dispatched the Green Lantern Corps as a collective fighting force against a common, galaxy-wide threat, a narrative template that would define major Corps storylines for decades. The two-issue arc it opens (concluded in #56) also introduced the wry conceit of a fictional TV Green Lantern existing within the DCU, folding media self-awareness into the Silver Age cosmos in a way that felt fresh for 1967.

In "Cosmic Enemy Number One," the murder of a TV actor portraying Green Lantern ignites a deadly conspiracy that reaches across the cosmos. With Earth criminal Al Magone—once imprisoned by Abin Sur—unleashing a wave of vengeance and freeing powerful foes, the Green Lantern Corps faces its greatest threat yet. Hal Jordan turns to Charley Vicker, deputizing her as a new Lantern in the battle for survival. Written by John Broome and illustrated with dynamic precision by Gil Kane, with inks by Kane and letters by Gaspar Saladino, the cover by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson captures the tension of a universe on edge.

writer John Broome · artist, inker Gil Kane · letterer Gaspar Saladino · cover Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson

ComicBooks.com Value

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Raw (VG) $12

CGC 9.8 · 6 in census $1,180

CGC 9.6 · 15 in census $617

CGC 9.4 · 23 in census $219

CGC 9.2 · 9 in census $137*

CGC 9.0 · 7 in census $93*

CGC 8.5 · 12 in census $61

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CGC 8.0 · 10 in census $49*

CGC 7.5 · 3 in census $39*

CGC 7.0 · 11 in census $37

CGC 6.5 · 5 in census $27*

CGC 6.0 · 3 in census $24*

CGC 5.5 · 5 in census $20*

CGC 5.0 · 4 in census $20*

CGC 4.5 · 7 in census $20*

CGC 4.0 · 3 in census $20*

CGC 3.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 3.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 2.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 2.0 none in existence

CGC 1.5 none in existence

CGC 1.0 none in existence

CGC 0.5 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

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

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NM $11.91 NM $24 NM $24

Raw — VF/NM $96 1 listing Raw — VF+ $5.19 1 listing Raw — FN/VF $45 1 listing

Raw — FN+ ▾ $35–$38 3 listings

FN+ $35 FN+ $35.72 FN+ $38

Raw — FN $24 1 listing Raw — VG+ $18.95 1 listing

Raw — VG ▾ $5.99–$15 4 listings

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Raw — VERY GOOD $19.95 1 listing Raw — POOR $4.99 1 listing

Raw / ungraded ▾ $4.15–$43 13 listings

Raw / ungraded $4.15 Raw / ungraded $8.74 Raw / ungraded $8.99 Raw / ungraded $9.99 Raw / ungraded $10 Raw / ungraded $12.99 Raw / ungraded $15 Raw / ungraded $15 Raw / ungraded $15 Raw / ungraded $20 Raw / ungraded $25 Raw / ungraded $29.99 Raw / ungraded $43

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History

The creative team behind this issue was the same trio that built the Silver Age Green Lantern from the ground up: writer John Broome, penciller Gil Kane, and editor Julius Schwartz. By mid-1967 Kane had spent several years moonlighting at Tower Comics and Marvel — work on Hulk and Captain America that, according to contemporary commentary, was sharpening his taste for kinetic hand-to-hand action over ring-construct splash pages — and that shift in preference is visible throughout the two-parter, where the plot conveniently strips the Lanterns of their ring-power and sends them into physical combat. The cover was inked by Murphy Anderson, a regular embellisher on the title during this period.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of Charley Vicker (spelled 'Charlie' by later writers), an Earth actor who played Green Lantern on a TV show and was deputized by Hal Jordan with a spare power ring during this issue's climax.
First appearance of Zborra, a reptilian Green Lantern from the planet Python IV, whose species possesses the ability to detach and regenerate limbs.
Story title: 'Cosmic Enemy Number One!' — written by John Broome, with interior art by Gil Kane; cover pencilled by Gil Kane and inked by Murphy Anderson; edited by Julius Schwartz.
Published September 1967 (cover date) by DC Comics as part of Green Lantern Vol. 2.
The issue presents the first instance in the Silver Age Green Lantern series of the Guardians of the Universe deploying the Corps collectively against a single galactic threat — an escaped coalition of criminals led by Earth gangster Al Magone (a transparent nod to Al Capone), who had originally been captured by Abin Sur and imprisoned by the Guardians.
Part one of a two-issue arc; the story continues and concludes in Green Lantern #56 (October 1967), in which Vicker is formally inducted into the Corps and assigned to Space Sector 3319.
Charley Vicker went on to appear in Tales of the Green Lantern Corps #1 (1981), joined the Darkstars in Darkstars #27 (January 1995), and was killed in battle with Grayven in Green Lantern #75 (1996); Zborra was killed during Crisis on Infinite Earths and later reanimated as a Black Lantern during 'Blackest Night.'
This issue has been reprinted in The Green Lantern Archives Vol. 7 and Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 3.