Posted in: ComicConnect Sponsored, Comics, Vintage Paper | Tagged: green lantern, guy gardner

Gil Kane's Art for Guy Gardner's 1st In-Story Appearance, at Auction

Green Lantern #59 page 7, written by John Broome penciled by Gil Kane, and inked by Sid Greene, introduces Guy Gardner and shows him accepting the power of Green Lantern.

Collector attention in the original comic book art market has historically been dominated by covers and splash pages.  Although there are many exceptions based on various other factors like artists and characters, cover and splash sales most often make the headlines.  But panel pages featuring the first story appearance or other key moments of important characters have steadily attracted attention in recent times.  The first appearance of Wolverine in the final page of Incredible Hulk #180, written by Len Wein with art by Herb Trimpe and Jack Abel, sold for $657,250 in 2014.  A record sale at the time, that hammer price looks like a bargain now.  In 2022, the original artwork for story page 25 of Secret Wars #8, the interior page which serves as the origin of Spider-Man's symbiotic black costume and Venom's origin moment, written by Jim Shooter with art by Mike Zeck, sold for an incredible $3,360,000.  There are other recent examples, such as the debut of the Kingpin in Amazing Spider-Man #50 page 10, story by Stan Lee with art by John Romita Sr. and Mike Esposito (2022, $240,000), and the story introduction of Nightcrawler written by Len Wein and drawn by Dave Cockrum for Giant-Size X-Men #1 story page 2 (2022, $102,000).  This week, Comic Connect has another interesting first appearance moment up for auction with the 1968 story debut of Guy Gardner in Green Lantern #59 page 7, written by John Broome penciled by Gil Kane, and inked by Sid Greene.

Of course, Guy Gardner is about to enjoy his highest profile ever due to his appearance in the upcoming Superman movie, with Nathan Fillion playing the character.  Fillion has described Guy Gardner in the film as a sort of fearless jerk, which is certainly how he is best known in comics.  However, Guy Gardner wasn't portrayed that way in his debut appearance in Green Lantern #59, even though the cover of that issue certainly implies it.  But the story in that issue, titled "Earth's Other Green Lantern," tells a very different tale.  Transported to Oa, the homeworld of the Guardians of the Universe, Green Lantern Hal Jordan learns that the last few hours of the life of his predecessor Abin Sur have been preserved by recording them directly from his brain.  Watching the recording, Jordan sees that when Abin Sur realizes he is near death, he uses his Battery of Power to check if there is a worthy and fearless successor on Earth.  Two equally deserving candidates were found — Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner.  Hal Jordan was chosen because he happened to be closer to Abin Sur's location at that time.

This situation was a revelation to Hal Jordan, and on page 7 of the story, he told the Guardians he couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Guy Gardner had become the successor to Abin Sur as Green Lantern.  The Guardians tell him that they have a computer that can construct an audiovisual representation of the hypothetical possibility of Guy Gardner as Green Lantern, based on "alternate postulates of events."  We actually see Guy Gardner for the first time on panel 4 of this page, and in the next panel, he accepts the ring from Abin Sur and promises to do his best as Green Lantern. Hypothetically.  The rest of the story shows Guy Gardner on a sequence of hypothetical adventures as Green Lantern, and he does indeed try his best.  A physical education teacher in his civilian life, at one point, he resorts to using his fists against bad guys instead of his power ring, fearing he will crush them to a pulp with its power.  By the end of this hypothetical adventure, Guy Gardner is shown dying of an alien plague, and like Abin Sur before him, he sought out a successor — finding Hal Jordan in the process.  It seems Hal Jordan was fated to become Green Lantern even if the other choice had been made.  Returning to Earth, Jordan befriends Gardner without revealing his identity as Green Lantern.

Gardner next appeared over three years later in Green Lantern #87 (1971), where he played a role in the debut of Green Lantern John Stewart.  In that issue, Guy Gardner is badly injured while attempting to save a child during an earthquake in southern California.  With Gardner incapacitated for several months as a result, John Stewart is chosen as the alternate Green Lantern, and even sees action in that role in that issue.  Gardner is finally shown assuming the role of Green Lantern in Green Lantern #116 (1979).  In Green Lantern #123 (1979) he suffers serious brain damage during a conflict with Sinestro in the antimatter universe of Qward.  Later, during the Steve Englehart and Joe Staton era of the title, it was revealed that Gardner had been in a coma since that time, awakening from it in Green Lantern #190 (1985). During the Crisis on Infinite Earths saga, as it played out in the Green Lantern title over subsequent issues in 1985, it quickly became apparent that Guy's brain injury had altered his personality, and that transformation of the character is largely how he is still known today.

Gil Kane based the original look of Guy Gardner on actor Martin Milner, best known for his roles on television series such as Route-66 and Adam-12.  Both highly accomplished creators with long and noteworthy careers in comics, Kane and Broome are the definitive Silver Age Green Lantern creative team, creating Hal Jordan in his debut in Showcase #22 (1959), and going on to work together for most of the first 75 issues of the Silver Age Green Lantern title.  They also created or substantially developed many now-familiar Green Lantern characters and concepts along the way, including Guy Gardner.

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