Posted By Dan Greenfield on May 17, 2020 | 1 comment

GREEN LANTERN WEEK EXCLUSIVE: The master artist returns to the characters that helped establish him as one of the greatest of all time…

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Welcome to GREEN LANTERN WEEK! On May 17, 1940, All-American Comics #16 gave us the original Green Lantern — Alan Scott — and the rest is history. All week long, we’re celebrating 80 years of the best of GL — from Hal Jordan to John Stewart and so much more. So click here for the complete INDEX of features — and beware Green Lantern’s light!

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If we’re gonna start GREEN LANTERN WEEK, we’re gonna start with Neal Adams, simple as that.

Adams and Denny O’Neil’s so-called “Hard-Traveling Heroes” Green Lantern/Green Arrow series of the early ’70s heralded a more mature approach to mainstream comics and made up one of the cornerstones of the Bronze Age itself.

Well, next month, DC Comics is publishing the one-shot Green Lantern 80th Anniversary 100-Page Super Spectacular #1 — complete with a series of decade-tribute covers. (Delayed from May 20.) You can click here to check them out, but one of them — the ’70s cover, natch — is by Adams:

Sans trade dress

But that’s not all. Adams has also created two retailer-exclusive variants that further spotlight Hal Jordan and John Stewart, the latter of whom was created by Adams and O’Neil.

Check out this EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK:

Now, how do you get the retailer exclusives?

Any of three ways: Adams’ online store (click here); the artist’s Burbank, California, comics shop Crusty Bunkers; or at any Adams convention appearance (once those resume).

They’ll be available about the time the issue is released by DC on June 23.

Meanwhile, take a gander at the rough layouts of all three covers, a bonus sketch, and the unlettered versions of the two retailer variants:

Rough of the ’70s decade variant

Rough of an unused anniversary cover

Rough of retailer variant

Rough of retailer variant

This isn’t all you’ll see of Adams this week, by the way. He’ll be back with our finale — an EXCLUSIVE column in which he discusses his favorite Green Lantern story.

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MORE

— The Complete GREEN LANTERN WEEK Index of Features. Click here.

— DC to Release GREEN LANTERN 80th ANNIVERSARY 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR. Click here.