Green Lantern:80 Years of the Emerald Knight the Deluxe Edition HC
Green Lantern:80 Years of the Emerald Knight the Deluxe Edition HC
Cover Credits
Penciller: Jim Lee
Inker: Scott Williams

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Title: "The Man Who Wanted the World"
Pages: 26

Feature(s):
Green Lantern (Alan Scott of Earth-2)

Writer: Alfred Bester
Artist: Mart Nodell

Reprinted From:
Green Lantern Quarterly #10 (1943)

Feature Character(s)

Supporting Character(s)

Villain(s)

Other Character(s)

  • Several U.S. senators (no further appearances)

Flashback Appearance(s)

Cameo Appearance(s)

  • William the Conqueror, King Philip, Napoleon, and Prince Bismarck (in flashback to Savage's past)

Comments:
Vandal Savage claims to be a million years old. He also says he was a cro-magnon man. Since cro-magnon men existed no more than 60,000 years ago, Savage's claim of being a million years old may be hyperbole unless the development of early man on Earth-2 followed a distinctly different timeline. It may also indicate that Savage is an unreliable narrator and is misrepresenting his own history. Savage also claims to have been Cheops who built the great pyramids, Julius Caesar, and Ghengis Khan in this story.

Synopsis:
Doiby Dickles provides taxi service to a bearded man who claims his name is also Doiby Dickles. After several thugs attack Doiby, he runs to Green Lantern for help. Green Lantern meets the bearded man who introduces himself as Vandal Savage. The man explains that he used the mystery to get Doiby to summon GL. Savage wants Lantern to introduce him to Alan Scott. Savage then offers to buy the contents of a safe deposit box Scott owns, but Alan refuses.

When Alan and Doiby check out the bank where the box is held, they interrupt a robbery. The thieves escape with Alan's box, but the contents were already removed. Alan returns home to find it ransacked. The stock that was in the box is now gone.

Savage uses the stock to gain a controlling interest in Consolidated Steel. Once the vote takes place, he returns the stock to Alan, claiming his men recovered it from the thieves. Green Lantern also stops some saboteurs at the steel plant, but Savage receives most of the credit. Green Lantern and Doiby are then captured.

Savage reveals to the captives that he is more than a million years old. He was a cro-magnon who was granted immortality when a flaming meteor crashed on Earth and engulfed him in its unique gaseous fallout. Throughout history, Savage has been a great men, sometimes as a leader like Caesar and Ghengis Khan, while other times advising leaders behind-the-scenes. His goal now is to cause the democratic powers to lose the war.

Due to his efforts against the saboteurs, Savage is named by the war department as the new War Labor Chief for the entire country. Green Lantern and Doiby try to stop him despite the fact that Savage has threatened to expose Lantern's true identity. GL uncovers the fact that Savage stole Doiby's birth certificate to stop the villain from being appointed to the Labor Chief position. He then follows Savage back to the Kentucky hills where Savage has his hide-out. After a confrontation, Savage falls into a seemingly bottom-less pit.


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