Green Lantern #59
Green Lantern #59 (March 1968) is the Silver Age debut of Guy Gardner, the second human ever identified as a worthy successor to Abin Sur's power ring — a piece of mythology that permanently expanded the Green Lantern concept beyond a single hero. Writer John Broome's central conceit — that proximity alone determined Hal Jordan's fate, and that an equally noble alternate candidate existed all along — planted a narrative seed that would eventually grow into the entire multi-Lantern Green Lantern Corps framework. Though Gardner sat dormant for nearly two decades after this issue, Steve Englehart and Joe Staton's 1980s reinvention of the character as an abrasive, ultra-macho foil to Hal Jordan made him one of DC's most distinctive personalities, and the fictional DNA of that reinvention traces directly back to this first appearance. The issue also functions as a rare Silver Age thought-experiment — an in-continuity 'what if' story delivered through the Guardians' Memory Machine — making it structurally unusual for its era and a forerunner of the alternate-timeline storytelling DC would later embrace more fully.
In "Earth's Other Green Lantern!", Hal Jordan confronts a startling alternate reality shaped by a single choice: what if Guy Gardner had been the one to inherit Abin Sur’s power ring instead of him? Written by John Broome and brought to life with dynamic art by Gil Kane, this 1968 classic uses the Guardians' advanced science to explore a world where the Green Lantern legacy took a very different path. The cover by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson captures the moment with striking contrast and tension.
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The issue was written by John Broome and penciled by Gil Kane, the same creative partnership responsible for creating Hal Jordan himself in Showcase #22 (1959), working under editor Julius Schwartz — whose editorial records were later used by the Grand Comics Database to confirm the pencil and ink credits. Kane modeled Guy Gardner's physical appearance on actor Martin Milner, best known for the television series Route 66 and Adam-12, giving the character a brash, everyman look distinct from Jordan's clean-cut test-pilot bearing. The character's name was a deliberate tribute to two figures from the DC community: the first name came from prolific fan and letter-writer Guy H. Lillian III, while the surname honored Justice League co-creator Gardner Fox. Broome's script introduced Guy as a physical education instructor from East City — a deliberately ordinary, working-class background — and the story ends with Hal Jordan making a point of traveling across the country just to meet the man who almost had his ring, the two becoming fast friends.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Guy Gardner (Green Lantern), created by writer John Broome and penciler Gil Kane, with cover inks by Murphy Anderson and interior inks by Sid Greene.
- Cover date: March 1968; on-sale date confirmed by Grand Comics Database as January 11, 1968; edited by Julius Schwartz.
- The story, titled 'Earth's Other Green Lantern!', is structured as an in-continuity alternate-timeline simulation: the Guardians use their 'Memory Machine' on Oa to show Hal Jordan what would have happened if Guy Gardner — the equally worthy but geographically farther candidate — had received Abin Sur's ring instead of him.
- In his debut, Guy Gardner is depicted as a physical education instructor (not a police officer or soldier) — a mild-mannered civilian whose brash, combative personality familiar to modern readers was not developed until Steve Englehart and Joe Staton reinvented him in the mid-1980s.
- The issue also functions as a partial retelling and mild retcon of Hal Jordan's origin from Showcase #22, establishing for the first time that Abin Sur's ring found two equally worthy candidates, with Jordan chosen solely because of his closer physical proximity to the crash site.
- Characters appearing in cameo (within Gardner's simulated adventure) include Sonar, the Shark, Black Hand, Dr. Polaris, and Sinestro — all established Hal Jordan rogues, used here to demonstrate that Guy would have faced the same threats.
- The issue has been reprinted multiple times, including in Green Lantern #184 (1985), Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 3, Green Lantern: A Celebration of 75 Years, Green Lantern: 80 Years of the Emerald Knight: The Deluxe Edition, the DC Finest: Green Lantern — Earth's Other Green Lantern collection (2025), and a DC Facsimile Edition (cover date February 2025, published December 2024).
- Guy Gardner's cultural profile surged significantly in 2025 when Nathan Fillion portrayed the character in James Gunn's Superman film; in connection with that release, DC belatedly acknowledged Steve Englehart and Joe Staton's role in reinventing the character by adding them to the film's 'Special Thanks' credits after a decades-long dispute over creator recognition.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Groene Lantaarn Classics #2712 (1970), Green Lantern #20 (1977), Green Lantern #184 (1985), Showcase Presents: Green Lantern #3 (2008), Green Lantern: In Brightest Day #[nn] (2008), Green Lantern: A Celebration of 75 Years #[nn] (2015), Green Lantern: The Silver Age Omnibus #2 (2018), Green Lantern: 80 Years of the Emerald Knight The Deluxe Edition #[nn] (2020), Green Lantern 59 (Facsimile Edition) #[nn] (2025), Top Comics Die Grüne Laterne #106
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