Rich's Gulag

This volume of Showcase Presents Green Lantern while featuring some great artwork from Gil Kane (including one story inked by the late, great Wally Wood), Dick Dillin and Mike Sekowsky, has some of the lamest sixties' stories. This was the low period in DC Comics (well, one of them, anyway) between the Go-Go checked covers and the relevant period that started when Neal Adams took over the art on Green Lantern/Green Arrow (and Denny O'Neil was given more of a free rein with the story content) with what would have been the next issue after the last reprinted in this book. The book's description is a bit off as well. The only real member of GL's rogue's gallery that appears is Hector Hammond, who at the time was both big-headed and paralyzed. The Lamplighter makes one of his only appearances, and there's a guy who can control Hal Jordan's Power Ring by the force of his own will whenever Hal's actually using it. There's a couple tales that follow the stale-even-then storyline of an alien who comes to Earth/inept guy with powers, is able to beat up GL almost by accident, and then is used by a group of criminals. The Fantastic Four did this kind of tale best with the original Impossible Man and "Infant Terrible" stories, and it doesn't work all that well here. At least this book wasn't labelled "Essential" or anything like that, so no advertising laws were broken.