Marty Nodell dies, age 91

[Jumbie]

MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- Martin Nodell, the creator of Green Lantern, the comic book superhero who uses his magical ring to help him fight crime, has died. He was 91.

 

Nodell died at a nursing home in Muskego, Wisconsin, on Saturday of natural causes, his son Spencer Nodell told The Associated Press on Tuesday. He previously lived in West Palm Beach.

 

Nodell was looking for a new idea for a comic book in 1940 when he was waiting for a New York subway and saw a train operator waving a lantern displaying a green light, said Maggie Thompson, senior editor of Comics Buyer's Guide.

 

Nodell imagined a young engineer, Alan Scott, a train crash survivor who discovers in the debris an ancient lantern forged from a green meteor. Scott constructs a ring from the lamp that gives him super powers, and becomes a crime fighter.

 

He brought his drawings and story lines to All-American Publications, which later became a part of National Periodical Publications, the company that was to become DC Comics, Thompson said. (DC Comics is a unit of Time Warner, as is CNN.)

 

The first Green Lantern appearance came in July 1940, an eight-page story in a comic book also featuring other characters. The character then got his own series, and Nodell drew it until 1947 under the name Mart Dellon.

 

After its cancellation in 1949, the series was reborn in 1959 with a revised story line, and it has been revived several times.

 

Meanwhile, Nodell left the comics field for an advertising career. In the 1960s, he was on a design team that helped develop the Pillsbury Doughboy.

 

In later years, Nodell traveled the comic book convention circuit with his wife, Caroline, who died in 2004.

 

"There were myriad of fans who would come up to my dad and would say 'Green Lantern got me to read' or 'Green Lantern got me to do something in my life,' " Spencer Nodell said.

 

Nodell was born in Philadelphia and studied at art schools in Chicago and New York. Besides Spencer Nodell, survivors include another son, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

 

 

Nick and I met Nodell and his wife when they came by FIU in '99 I think. Wasn't too big a deal to me, but Nick flipped out. He got an autgraphed poster of Alan Scott, Hal Jordan and Kyle Raynor that was his pride and joy for a while.

[The NZA]

:misty: :misty:

 

this guy, he signed my shit *& talked to me like GL was an old friend wihout saying shit about it, just happy i was a fan of Rayner (the new guy then). One of the msot down golden-age creatores i ever met, no lie. This breaks my heart, even if i knew it was coming.

to you, Marty Nodell, for thinking up one of DC's finest. im forntuante to have met you.

in brighest day, in darkest night....youll be missed.

[Lycaon]

[The NZA]

2T, Skeet, SB? you guys gotta have somethin.

[Ganny McVagflaps]

DC is Greek to me

[The NZA]

Yeah, i dont know mcuh about it either, but GL is like my favorite non-batman guy over there, and this guy was his creator from the golden age, an FL local and a really great guy too, wish you coulda met 'im.

 

he sold me the lantern ring that one day, some lucky dame might have. in brightest day indeed.

[Ganny McVagflaps]

GL is also my favorite DC character, especially during the Peter David run in Action Comics Weekly.

 

I wish I knew more of Nodell's work, but DC....