We made it folks. The best first appearance in the entire run. Guy Gardner debuts. I've never read this one and I've been so excited to get into it. Little did I know it's like one of those "What if Machine" episodes of Futurama.
Writer: John Broome
Pencils: Gil Kane
Inks: Sid Greene
Letters: Gaspar Saladino
Cover: Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson & Ira Schnapp
"Earth's Other Green Lantern" - Hal is on Oa so the Guardians can show him some machines they have. One such machine allows them to view an alternate reality. One Hal had in mind was if the ring hadn't chosen him when Abin Sur died. As the machine shows, if Abin Sur had selected the other candidate, Guy Gardner would be the Green Lantern of sector 2814. Events follow fairly similar to Hal's journey, until the first fight with Sinestro. After Guy brings him to the Guardians and heads home, he takes a different route than Hal did. This route brings Guy close to a planet called Ghera where all the adults died out from a yellow plague, leaving only the children behind. Furthermore the children have all stopped aging. Their civilization was advanced so the children have lots of advanced tech and robotics to play with but they've also developed telepathy.
Guy is dragged down but two dueling robots, one orange and thr other blue. After stopping their shootout, Guy asks why they are fighting as the robots reveal they are in a war game set up by the children. An orange faction and a blue one have ever been at odds. Guy decides he will try to right this wrong but as he comes to a group of children, they telepathically take over his mind. Guy is but another robot to the blue faction who send him out against the orange faction. He destroys many orange robots until the orange kids and blue kids fight for control of his mind. Guy pushes his willpower to break free of both and finally gets them to settle down. The children agree to a truce and live in peace with the promise that Guy will visit again.
Guy rushes home to recharge his ring before it runs out of power, just making it before chanting his oath:
On world's afar or scenes at home,
Wherever the cause should make me roam,
Always I vow to fight the good fight,
To combat evil, with all Green Lantern's might!
Soon after, he finds he's contracted the yellow plague, and since the ring is powerless against yellow, it can't save him this time. Guy summons Hal Jordan as his replacement and acts as a pseudo Abin Sur for Hal. Hal takes up the mantle and creates his own oath.
With the story finished, Hal thanks the Guardians for that insight and asks if he can meet the real Guy Gardner. They say it is okay, so he heads out to find him. They make quick friends and promise to keep in touch.
Conclusion: Like I said before, this felt like Farnsworth showing Fry an alternate reality. I wonder if this is where Matt Groening got the idea? I'll be honest, I didn't know what to expect here. I knew this wouldn't be anything like the Guy we know now, but I guess I still thought he'd be rougher? I know he gets into a car accident later on that changes his personality some, but shit, this Guy is just regular.
Personality aside, the story itself is interesting, the alternate one that is. Planet Ghera sounds interesting and I wonder if Hal would try and locate it now to solve the problems there, but how would he avoid the yellow plague. Damn shame that Guy dies, but DC loves Hal Jordan that much I guess.
Finally, Hal locating Guy and becoming his friend is just weird considering the future. They barely get along and seeing them like this is almost unnatural. As a guy fan, I still loved it and I can't wait to see the real Guy again, 80s/90s notwithstanding.
8/10
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