Along with the rest of the Infinite Frontier both as part of the multiversal team called The Totality and through a significant personal development: Alan’s coming out as gay has retroactively made him the first LGBTQ+ superhero in comic book history.
Many fans have rejoiced at the sudden influx of Alan Scott appearances in newly released comics and at the news of the part he’s slated to play in the HBO Max Green Lantern series, but owing to a chronology stretching across decades and mostly unbroken by retcons, there are quite a few fascinating facts about Alan Scott that only longtime readers are privy to.
He Was The First To Fight Two Famous Supervillains
In the present day, Vandal Savage has become a sort of general threat for the superheroes of the DC Universe, and Solomon Grundy is generally accepted as belonging to Batman’s infamous rogue gallery, but they each had their beginnings going up against the original Green Lantern.
First appearing in Green Lantern (1941) #10, Vandal Savage became the first criminal to come close to beating Alan Scott through sheer intelligence. Solomon Grundy presented similar difficulties for the hero in matters of brute strength in All-American Comics (1939) #61.
He’s Completely Unrelated To The Green Lantern Corps
Despite the fact that Alan Scott is the very first Green Lantern, he’s unrelated to the Green Lantern Corps as fans know it. In fact, the Starheart grants him power that is magical in nature rather than just the very advanced technology of the rings provided by the Guardians.
In reality, the divergence was caused by the superhero resurgence of the 1960s being brought about by the public’s growing interest in sci-fi, but the in-universe differences are very clearly highlighted both during Alan Scott and Hal Jordan’s first team-up in Green Lantern (1960) #40 and in the flashbacks from DC First: Green Lantern/Green Lantern (2002) #1.
He’s Based In Gotham City
As the focus on the Justice Society of America has shifted and waned over the years, it’s become very easy to forget that the Golden Age Green Lantern has been based in Gotham City since his modest beginnings. In fact, with Batman’s 1940s adventures erased from modern continuity, Alan Scott is the city’s very first hero.
Fans can even find a humorous reminder of Green Lantern’s association with Gotham in Chase (1998) #8, where D.E.O agent Cameron Chase suspects Alan of being Batman after a gala attended by both him and Bruce Wayne.
He Had The First Animal Sidekick
While a lot of Green Lantern fans Doiby Dickles, Alan Scott’s best friend and sidekick during the earliest stories, not many are aware of the fact that the original Green Lantern also had the very first animal companion in comics.
An idea popularized by the likes of Krypto the Superdog and Ace the Bat-Hound, it was Streak the Wonder Dog, introduced in Green Lantern (1941) #30, who marks the first instance of the phenomenon. Streak was an ordinary stray dog whom Alan and Doiby befriended and took home, though the dog’s popularity eventually edged Green Lantern out of his own solo run due to audiences’ fading interest in superheroes after the war.
He’s Had One Of The Most Realistic Careers In Comics
There are few superheroes with no civilian alter-egos, but what sets Alan Scott apart from the crowd isn’t just his dedication to his career as his real self over that of Green Lantern but also the fact that the progress of his career can be very easily and realistically traced across his every appearance.
Though he started out as a train engineer in All-American Comics (1939) #16, Alan quickly switched gears after the accident and found a job at Apex Broadcasting in All-American Comics #20, where he proceeded to rise up in ranks throughout the 1940s as he went from handyman to radio announcer and beyond. As Justice Society of America (1991) #2 shows readers, by the early 1950s he’d moved on to television and become vice-president and general manager of the Gotham Broadcasting Company, of which he’s president and CEO by All-Star Comics (1976) #64 and for decades afterwards.
He’s One Of The Most Powerful Beings In The DCU
Unbeknownst to the majority of casual readers, Alan Scott is one of the most powerful beings in the entire DC Universe, more so than the average Green Lantern. Through his bond to the Starheart, Alan Scott’s power is virtually limitless and might have very well rendered him immortal, as stated in JLA/JSA: Secret Files & Origins (2003) #1.
Beyond the usual measure of power seen across various titles over his long history, it’s worth noting that in All-Star Squadron (1981) #20 Alan is showing capable of razing an entire city to the ground in a matter of minutes and Superman #676 has him holding back the Man of Steel himself with not much of an effort.
His Company Went Bankrupt
Throughout the better part of his latter appearances, Alan Scott is often shown as the president and CEO of the GBC, but something often neglected during more modern comics is that the company was often in financial dire straits under his command, though it did eventually recover.
Explored most recently in DC First: Green Lantern/Green Lantern #1, the first time the Gotham Broadcasting Company went bankrupt was in All-Star Comics (1976) #64 and the repercussions followed Alan around for years to the point that for a period of time during his backups in Green Lantern (1960) #108-110 he was living out of Jay Garrick’s guest room.
He Has A Short Fuse
Though evidently a noble hero trying to do what’s right, one famously little-known aspect of Alan Scott’s characterization is his temper. Often overlooked in modern comics in favor of putting him in the role of a mentor, Green Lantern’s short fuse was initially explored in Comic Cavalcade (1942) #19 when Alan makes a bet with Doiby Dickles not to lose his temper after one too many adventures that had ended with him whaling on the bad guys. In the end, Alan summarily loses the bet.
A consistent part of his personality between the 1940s and 1990s, other moments that stand out can be found in All-Star Comics #68, in which Alan’s response to his company’s bankruptcy is to hold up an airport for the sum of half a million dollars with the encouragement of the Psycho Pirate, and Infinity Inc. (1984) #9, in which financial trouble with GBC once again pushes him to try to take over a satellite and declare himself the "communications czar."
He Was Once Chosen As A Champion Of Chaos
With the immense power at his disposal, it surely comes as no surprise that Alan Scott would eventually be drawn into the never-ending struggle between the forces of Chaos and Order in the DC Universe, but it might startle fans to know that Alan – then calling himself Sentinel – was once chosen as a champion of Chaos.
The Book of Fate (1997), like Fate (1994) before it, features Alan’s attempt to take the artifacts of Fate from Jared Stevens under the belief that he’s not worthy to be the the latest wielder of Nabu’s power. More to the point, in the second issue, Alan is specifically chosen as a representative of Chaos due to his hatred of this new Fate and history of anger.
He Is The Starheart
The Starheart is often known as the source of Alan Scott’s power, but one element that has faded into obscurity is the fact that Alan is quite literally the Starheart after the events of Green Lantern Corps Quarterly (1993) #3-4, in which he was also de-aged when the mystical energy fused with him to save his life.
Despite the fact that Alan no longer looks unnaturally young and his erratic bursts of power along the lines of Showcase ‘95 #1 have lessened with time, the Starheart being a genuine part of him was closely analyzed in JSA (1999) #16-20 and remains part of current continuity.
