The Education of Green Lantern: Culture and Ideology

Comic books and comic strips are worthy and exciting areas of research. The primary reason is that neither comic books nor comic strips now are just a medium to entertain children and adolescents, but are manifestations of popular culture. They are purveyors of ideology. One example is the superhero comic book character who has embraced the United States' capitalist economy and its democratic political system and ideals, with Superman as a prime example. Another is the playboy comic book character of which Batman is the leading example. Playboy comic characters demonstrate that wealth does not blind the well-born to America's most pressing societal problems. Critics and supporters of the Batman character offer a number of interpretations (Pearson and Uricchio 18-32; Starr 33-46; Wertham, Seduction of; Wertham, "Comic Books" 24-29). Both superhero and playboy comic characters of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s contest evil forces that uniformed police seem powerless against. They also support, without exception, the socioeconomic order; the successful ones have a distinct personality, and are both the lonely outlaw and the staunch defender of justice and order. There are unquestionably relationships between comics, ideology, and the surrounding culture. This article addresses a medium-the comic book-that has had little airtime in current debates on popular culture. It focuses on the Green Lantern/Green Arrow comic series. Created by Dennis O'Neil, it is steeped in ideology. The series is a product of the culture of the 1960s, dramatizes social and political issues, and is a medium for engaging in social protest. Most important, it ushers in "the age of relevance in comic books" (Potter 140). The latter attracted the attention of the New Left, a group that sought to put a new and more humane face on those institutions considered the engines of the modern welfare state (Starr 298; Mills 101-14). Denny O'Neil's comic book scripts question the belief that justice, law, and order are exclusively the domain of the state (Collins 34; Breines; Wood). In fact, Collins, Breines, and Wood argue convincingly that government consistently has not been a defender of justice. Born on May 3, 1939, in St. Louis, Missouri, O'Neil graduated from St. Louis University. He taught in the public schools for a number of years before assuming the position of district news editor of the Southeast Missourian, a regional newspaper. O'Neil's next job was that of writer and editor of D.C. Comics, and editor of Marvel Comics. He also was the principal writer of the highly acclaimed television series Logan's Run, which aired on CBS TV during the 1977-1978 season (Locher 414). O'Neil's accomplishments as news editor and TV writer are many, but perhaps his major achievement has been in transforming the comic book from primarily an entertainment medium into a social protest organ. This feat elevated him into the ranks of Stan Lee and Steve Kitko, creators of the pace-setting Spider-Man comic series (Mondello 232-38). The Green Lantern/Green Arrow's scriptwriter notes, "[I brought] a journalist's curiosity and social concerns to comic books. It wouldn't have happened if I had just been a comic book writer" (Pearson and Uricchio 31). He covered topics such as drug and substance abuse, bigotry, drug pushers, religious sects and cults, feminism, poverty, environmental destruction, pollution, racism, sexism, overpopulation, the environment, corrupt politicians, the mistreatment of the Native American, exploitative businesses, and unfair labor practices. A self-proclaimed activist by the early 1960s, O'Neil characterized himself as follows: I was peripherally involved in those issues, a non-distinction I shared with millions of liberal, vaguely well meaning people of middle-class origin. I signed petitions. I went on marches. I argued against war and supported Martin Luther King, Jr. I subscribed to Ramparts and the Catholic Worker. …