Cover: Neal Adams

Green Lantern #82

Feb 1971 · DC · 0.15 USD

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“How Do You Fight a Nightmare?”

About this Issue

Green Lantern #82 is the final chapter of Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams' original Hard-Traveling Heroes run — the arc spanning issues #76–82 that redefined what mainstream superhero comics could say about American society. As a capstone, it pivots away from topical social commentary toward classical mythology, demonstrating the creative range O'Neil and Adams brought to the series even in its closing beat. The issue also delivers Medusa's first substantial physical appearance in the Bronze Age DC Universe, transplanting a Wonder Woman-associated mythological figure into the Green Lantern corner of the DCU and giving Black Canary — rather than either male hero — the decisive role in resolving the conflict through compassion rather than force, a quietly progressive storytelling choice for 1971.

In "How Do You Fight a Nightmare?", Green Lantern answers Green Arrow’s call when the duo is ambushed by harpies, leading them into a trap set by the Witch Queen and her brother Sinestro. With help from a group of Amazons who’ve returned from exile, the heroes uncover a sinister plot tied to ancient magic and a legendary monster, racing to free Green Lantern before it’s too late. Written by Denny O'Neil and illustrated with powerful precision by Neal Adams, with inks by Dick Giordano and Bernie Wrightson, and lettered by John Costanza, the cover by Neal Adams captures the story’s eerie intensity.

writer Denny O'Neil · artist Neal Adams · inker Dick Giordano · inker Bernie Wrightson · letterer John Costanza · cover Neal Adams

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Fine) $9

CGC 9.8 · 9 in census $1,581

CGC 9.6 · 32 in census $404

CGC 9.4 · 53 in census $222

CGC 9.2 · 54 in census $113

CGC 9.0 · 39 in census $84

CGC 8.5 · 33 in census $84

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CGC 8.0 · 33 in census $75

CGC 7.5 · 17 in census $75

CGC 7.0 · 16 in census $68

CGC 6.5 · 19 in census $68

CGC 6.0 · 10 in census $50

CGC 5.5 · 9 in census $49*

CGC 5.0 · 3 in census $46*

CGC 4.5 · 8 in census $42*

CGC 4.0 · 1 in census $40*

CGC 3.5 none in existence

CGC 3.0 none in existence

CGC 2.5 · 1 in census $22*

* 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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History

The issue was written by Dennis O'Neil, pencilled by Neal Adams, inked by both Dick Giordano and Bernie Wrightson, lettered by John Costanza, and edited by Julius Schwartz — the same core team responsible for the preceding Hard-Traveling Heroes issues. Giordano, by this point Adams' most frequent inker at DC, had joined the series two issues earlier and would remain through its cancellation at #87. The cover's memorable tagline — 'The Harpies Are Coming!' — was not planned: Giordano, unable to resist riffing on the then-popular film The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!, improvised the phrase aloud upon first seeing Adams' cover art, and editor Schwartz immediately adopted it as the final cover copy.

Trivia · 8 facts

Cover-dated March 1971 (no Green Lantern issue was published for January 1971, leaving a gap between #81 and #82); published by National Periodical Publications (DC Comics).
Story title: 'How Do You Fight a Nightmare?' / cover copy: 'The Harpies Are Coming!' — the latter coined on the spot by inker Dick Giordano as a riff on the 1966 film The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!
Final issue of Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams' original Hard-Traveling Heroes run, which spanned Green Lantern #76–#82.
Features the first significant physical appearance of Medusa in the Bronze Age DC Universe, depicting her as a serpentine gorgon ruling a pocket dimension, with her aggression framed as coerced manipulation by Sinestro.
Introduces the Witch Queen — identified in the story as Sinestro's sister — and establishes that Sinestro's yellow power ring was concealed within her scepter, enabling him to neutralize Green Lantern's ring.
Black Canary (Dinah Drake Lance) serves as the issue's decisive hero, entering the 'Dimension of Furies' (forbidden to men) to rescue Hal Jordan and persuading Medusa to release him through empathy rather than combat.
Creative team: writer Dennis O'Neil, penciller Neal Adams, inkers Dick Giordano and Bernie Wrightson, letterer John Costanza, editor Julius Schwartz.
Has been reprinted in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #16 (1981), the 1983 Green Lantern/Green Arrow reprint series, the 1992 Hard-Traveling Heroes trade paperback, the 2004 and 2012 collected editions, the Absolute Green Lantern/Green Arrow (2016), the Hard-Traveling Heroes Deluxe Edition (2018), and the 2024 Hard-Traveling Heroes Omnibus, among others.