It was in March of 1994 that I officially became a reader.I was eight years old and my dad gave me a brand new copy Green Lantern #50 to read. I had thumbed through comic books before, but I wasn’t quite literate enough to understand every word that I had read, so before Green Lantern, I mostly looked at comic books for the artwork.
Page one is a splash page of Green Lantern Hal Jordan looking as if he is ready to fight. The story was that Jordan had gone insane after his city was destroyed. On his way to gain ultimate power, he had murdered his friends all in order to become god-like to recreate the city he called home. I didn’t know any of this going into the comic. My father explained to me that Hal was once a hero and now he is fighting his old enemy, Sinestro. With one sentence, my father gave me everything I needed to know to understand and enjoy a comic book. He could have talked about how Hal Jordan had been Green Lantern since 1959 and that his only weakness was the color yellow. He could have explained that Hal Jordan’s home, Coast City, was destroyed in the Reign of the Supermen storyline that had just wrapped up in the Superman comic books. He could have explained that Green Lantern was one of the first comic books to tackle the issue of drug abuse in comic books and that it was a really important comic, but he didn’t explain anything except that Hal Jordan and Sinestro were enemies and they had to fight one another.
The fight was intense and very well choreographed. Even today, I look through the pages of the comic and get chills because I can relive that thrill I received as I was reborn as someone who loved to read. After staring at the gorgeous fight scenes in the comic over and over again, I decided that I wanted to actually read it. As I made my way through the comic, I would stop and ask my parents what a particular word meant, and it was on page five that I encountered a word that completed my transformation into a full-fledged reader.
Page five, panel four, in all of its four-letter glory was the word “damn.” I had never encountered the word before and after my mom explained the difference between “dam” and “damn,” she also explained that I did not have to skip over the word when I read it, but I couldn’t say the word aloud. Once I got to page sixteen, after Hal Jordan kills Sinestro, I couldn’t help but feel like an entirely new world had opened up to me when I understood what Hal Jordan meant when he said, “Damn you.”
I relate this story for several reasons. First, I believe that it shows that without comic books, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Comic books opened up the world of reading to me and it’s my love of reading and writing that caused me to want to be an English teacher. Maybe I’m going a little too far with this assertion, but I like to think that I wouldn’t be a teacher without Green Lantern #50. After my discovery of the word “damn” I went on to show my comic book to all of my friends and it excited me to see that they also enjoyed it. What is this if not teaching?
Second, Green Lantern #50 was the catalyst for one of the largest negative reactions in the history of comic books. Fans were so infuriated with Hal Jordan’s shift in character that they formed a non-profit organization known as H.E.A.T. (Hal’s Emerald Advancement Team). The purpose of this organization was to protest the comic book and DC comics until Hal Jordan returned as Green Lantern. They sent threatening letters to Green Lantern writer Ron Marz and polluted internet message boards with their hate. It’s this passion for rage that is so fascinating and also one of the key problems that face the comic book industry today.
And make no mistake, the comic book industry is certainly facing many problems.
This is the issue that got me reading Green Lantern on a regular basis. Prior to this, my only experience with the character was the occasional guest spot in another book. Why pick this one up? I blame the speculator affect that was all the rage back then.
Not only can comic books peak an interest into a childs imagination and make them want to read, but it can also teach children about physics so well that they can answer jeopardy questions.
My father, ladies and gentlemen, has entered into the Popgun Chaos world. What he is referring to is that at one point in time, my mom entertained the idea of banning me from comic books because of reasons that only parents can understand. We were watching Jeopardy one day when a $400 science question was asked ( I think it had to do with DNA or something along those lines) and I rattled off an answer. My parents looked at each other as if to say, “Yeah, right. Like that’s remotely the right answer” when a player buzzed in, said the same answer I did and got the question right.
My mom asked, “How did you know?”
“I learned it from Spider-man.”
The debate was put to rest at that point.
Thanks for the comment, pop.