Comic Title: Green Lantern #16
Publisher: DC (National Periodical Publications, Inc.)
Address: 575 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
Cover Date: October 1962
On Sale Date: August 16, 1962 Copyright Date August 16, 1962
Source: Library of Congress, Periodicals 1962

Newsstand Date August 16, 1962
Source: Newsdealer Magazine, V17 #6

Frequency: Monthly, with the exception of Feb., May, Aug. and Nov.
Cover Price: $0.12
Page Count: 32
Editor: Julius Schwartz

Title: "Earth's First Green Lantern"
Pages: 10

Feature(s):
Green Lantern (Hal Jordan of Earth-1)

Writer: Gardner F. Fox
Penciller: Gil Kane
Inker: Murphy Anderson

Reprinted In:
Green Lantern #87 (1971)
DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #5 (1980)
Green Lantern Archives Vol. 3 HC (2001)
Showcase Presents Green Lantern Vol. 1 TPB (2005)
Green Lantern Corps Through the Ages #1 (2009)
Green Lantern Omnibus Vol. 1 HC (2011)
Green Lantern Chronicles Vol. 4 TPB (2012)
Green Lantern:The Silver Age Omnibus Vol. 1 HC (2017)
Green Lantern:The Silver Age Vol. 2 TPB (2018)

Feature Character(s)

• Green Lantern (last appearance in Green Lantern #16; next appearance in Justice League of America #15)

Supporting Character(s)

• Tom Kalmaku (last appearance in Green Lantern #16; next appearance in Green Lantern #17)
• Abin Sur (in flashback; last appearance in Green Lantern #26; next appearance in Showcase #22)

Villain(s)

• The Larifars (Balzona named; no further appearances)

Other Character(s)

• The citizens of Athmoora (no further appearances)

Comments:
The story of Abin Sur prior to his crash landing on Earth is revealed in this story. His home planet, Ungara, and his profession as a history professor are also learned for the first time.

Green Lantern learns the story of Abin Sur from his power ring, shortly after the events of the first story in Green Lantern #10.

Synopsis:
In the hangar of Ferris Aircraft, Green Lantern powers up his ring, then he switches to his Hal Jordan identity. He forgets to remove his mask, but Pieface reminds him before he can leave the hangar. The mask reminds him of Abin Sur, who gave him the power ring. He begins to tell Pieface of how Abin Sur crashed to Earth, just as he learned it from his power ring.

While patroling his space sector, Abin Sur comes to the planet Athmoora where he discovers the people are not as advanced as they should be. They have had the I-Factor, an intelligence which allows new ideas to evolve, stolen from them. On the planet Pendara, Abin Sur locates the Larifars who are responsible for the theft. He defeats them and imprisons them in a power ring bubble. Unknown to Abin Sur, one Larifar, Balzona, was not captured. He attempts to free his fellows but only the power of Abin Sur’s ring is capable of doing so.

Balzona tracks Abin Sur to his home planet of Ungara, where he creates disasters to lure Abin Sur into the open. Balzona then waits for Sur to return to his home and strikes when the power ring has run out of power.

Balzona takes control of Abin Sur’s body, but Sur tricks the alien into believing the ring can’t carry him to Pendara. Abin Sur instead takes a spaceship to the other planet, but secretly takes the invisible power battery with him. When Balzona leaves Abin Sur’s body, Sur charges his ring and captures his foe. He transports Balzona to join the other Larifar’s.

Just then Abin Sur’s ship is struck by a yellow radiation from Earth. The blinding light forces him to crash and leads to his meeting with Hal Jordan.