Today, we look for the first time that the Green Lantern Corps was actually referred to as "The Green Lantern Corps."
In "When We First Met", we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, "Avengers Assemble!" or the first appearance of Batman's giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that.
Yaneck C. was looking for an answer to this question on Twitter and one of my Twitter followers, Aurélien Vives, suggested I could find it, and, well, how could I not at that point, right?
Okay, so the question is when the Green Lantern Corps was first referred to AS the Green Lantern Corps. The answer is shockingly later than you would expect (well, at least later than I expected).
HOW WAS THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS REFERRED TO ORIGINALLY?
Hal Jordan, the Silver Age Green Lantern, made his debut in 1959's Showcase #22 in a story by John Broome, Gil Kane and Joe Giella. Jordan is brought from a test pilot facility to a crashed spacecraft where he meets Abin Sur, a dying alien who explains that he is from a group of "space-patrolmen," but that's it...
As I noted in an old If I Pass This Way Again, besides the bizarre fact that Hal just strips Abin Sur naked and wears his actual costume, it is worth noting that Hal comes up with the name "Green Lantern" on his own. It was NOT Abin Sur's official name at the time, but rather something that Hal coined on his own...
After three spotlight issues of Showcase, Green Lantern graduated into his own ongoing series by Broome, Kane and Giella. In that first issue, we meet the Guardians of the Universe for the first time. Note, though, that when they meet Hal, they seem surprised to know that he's calling himself Green Lantern...
However, just five issues later, Hal Jordan meets Tomar-Re, another Green Lantern who, of course, refers to himself as a Green Lantern...
The next issue, Hal officially meets the Guardians of the Universe (they wiped his mind after his first meeting with them) and they tell him a story of a previous Green Lantern who went rogue, Sinestro, thus establishing that the name "Green Lantern" predated Hal getting the ring...
This was obviously a slight retcon by Broome as he realized that it was cooler for there to be other alien Green Lanterns out there.
However, note that when we first meet Tomar-Re, the Green Lantern Corps are not called that, they're just called "Green Lanterns"...
Green Lantern #11 (all of these early issues are by Broome, Kane and Giella unless I specifically note otherwise) was the first issue where Hal interacted with the Green Lantern Corps overall, and the cover of the issue has them refer to themselves as the Green Lanterns of the Universe...
Since they work for the Guardians of the Universe, that title makes a lot of sense, really.
In the issue itself, though, they just call themselves Green Lanterns as they deliberate on whether to expel Hal from their ranks (he's being manipulated and forced to do bad things, so he WANTS them to expel him). When Broome looks to use another way to describe them, he just says "intergalactic band"...
When Hal is assigned to keep Katma Tui from quitting in Green Lantern #30 (Sid Greene now inking Kane), again, there is no reference to a specific title for the collective Green Lanterns, they're all just simply "Green Lanterns"...
Green Lantern #46 (by Broome, Kane and Greene) was the next major meet-up of the Corps, as they are informed that Hal Jordan is dead (don't worry, he is not actually dead), and there, Broome tries out "Green Lanterns of the Cosmos"...
Green Lantern #55-56 (by Broome and Kane) is by far the most expansive storyline involving the Corps, and it opens by describing them as "The Green Lantern Organization"...
Then, in a television recreation of one of Hal's adventures, they're referred to as the Green Lanterns of the Cosmos, as well as "Emerald-Clad Knight-Errants"...
Then, when they all get together before the Central Power Battery, they are "Champions of Justice" and "Mighty Ring-Wielders"...
Then "Emerald Warriors" (which is a nickname that stuck)...
But still no "Green Lantern Corps." In fact, during the run of Broome and his occasional co-writer (by "Co-writer," I mean he would occasionally write issues or stories INSTEAD of Broome, not together, but you know what I mean, they'd share the book) Gardner Fox, the two never referred to the Green Lantern Corps AS the Green Lantern Corps.
WHEN DID THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS FINALLY GAIN ITS FAMOUS NAME?
In Green Lantern #63, Denny O'Neil joined Broome and Fox in the rotating roster of Green Lantern writers. In O'Neil's first issue (art by Jack Sparling and Sid Greene), he has Hal refer to the other Green Lanterns the same way that Broome and Fox had, just as simply "other Green Lanterns"...
However, in his third issue, Green Lantern #68 (art by Gil Kane and Joe Giella), Hal is duped by an alien pretending to be a scientist who has cured the yellow weakness of the Green Lantern rings. Hal presents the findings to the Guardians, and they are intrigued. They tell Hal to test it out some more and if it works, they'll implement the new addition throughout the Green Lantern Corps...
Once O'Neil was the sole writer on the series, starting with Green Lantern #76, he began peppering in "Green Lantern Corps" references throughout his issues and the name obviously stuck.
Thanks to Yaneck C and Aurélien Vives for the suggestion! If anyone else wants to know about an interesting comic book first, just drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!