Alan Scott is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, and the first character to bear the name Green Lantern. He fights evil with the aid from his own mystical ring, which grants him a variety of powers. He was created by Martin Nodell and Bill Finger, first appearing in the comic book All-American Comics #16, published in 1940.
Alan Scott was created after Nodell became inspired by the characters from Greek, Norse, and Middle Eastern myths and tales, including Aladdin from One Thousand and One Nights, and sought to create a popular entertainment character who fought evil with the aid of a magic ring that grants him a variety of supernatural powers. After debuting in All-American Comics, Alan Scott soon became popular enough to sustain his own comic book, Green Lantern. Around this time DC also began experimenting with fictional crossovers between its characters, leading towards a shared universe of characters. As one of the publisher's most popular heroes, Alan became a founding member of the Justice Society of America, one of the first such teams of "mystery men" or superheroes in comic books.
Following World War II, the character's popularity began to fade along with the decline of the Golden Age of Comic Books, leading to cancellation. After eight years out of print, DC chose to reinvent Green Lantern as science fiction hero Hal Jordan in 1959. Later, DC revisited Alan Scott, establishing that Alan and Hal were Green Lanterns on two different parallel worlds, with Alan residing on Earth-Two and Hal on Earth-One. Later stories set on Earth-Two depicted Alan becoming the father to the superheroes Obsidian and Jade, each with powers somewhat like his own. In 1985, DC chose to reboot its internal continuity, merging Earth-One and Earth-Two and re-establishing Alan as an elder statesman of the DC Universe, coexisting with the more science fiction-oriented heroes of the Green Lantern Corps.
In 2011, DC's New 52 introduced a new Multiverse, depicting a young Earth-2 version of Alan who was an out gay man. The "original" version of Alan is brought back into the mainstream continuity following the 2016 DC Rebirth initiative, and in 2020, comes out to his children as gay, retroactively establishing this incarnation of Alan as the first gay superhero.
Publication history
The original Green Lantern was created by an American artist named Martin Nodell. Nodell mentions Richard Wagner's opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung and the sight of a trainman's green railway lantern as his inspiration. After seeing this opera, Nodell sought to create a superhero who wielded a variety of magical powers from a magic ring, which he regularly recharged from a green lantern. Nodell wanted a colorful and interesting costume for his character, deriving from elements of Greek mythology. As Nodell recalled in an undated, latter-day interview,
Nodell chose the name "Alan Scott" by flipping through New York telephone books until he got two names he liked.
The character of Alan Scott made his debut in All-American Comics #16 (July 1940), fighting crime under the masked identity of "Green Lantern". He also appeared as part of the superhero team Justice Society of America in All Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940). He served as the team's second chairman in #7, but departed following that issue and returned a few years later, remaining a regular character. His villains tended to be ordinary humans, but he did have a few paranormal ones, such as the immortal Vandal Savage and the zombie Solomon Grundy. Green Lantern proved popular and was given his own series, Green Lantern, later that year. Most of his adventures were set in New York.
In 1941, Alan Scott was paired with a sidekick named Doiby Dickles, a rotund Brooklyn taxi driver, who would appear on a regular basis until 1949. In 1948, Alan also got a canine sidekick named Streak. The dog proved so popular that he starred in his own solo side-stories, even appearing on the cover without the title hero multiple times.
After World War II, superheroes declined in popularity. Green Lantern was cancelled in 1949 after 38 issues and All-American Comics dropped superheroes in favor of westerns. Alan Scott's final Golden Age appearance was in All-Star Comics #57 (1951). He remained out of publication for 12 years, and after his revival he did not get another solo series until 2023.