Sunday, June 14, 2009

Giant Green Ring Things, Part IV

Starting with Green Lantern #7, we encounter Green Ring Thing #29:



This is the second green wave that GL has created (and both were used against the Qwardians), but again I have to rule against its giant qualities despite the text to the contrary. It's a big wave, to be certain, but not so big as to qualify as "comic-book giant".

Note there are a couple generic-type ring things that aren't really worth mentioning in this issue; some sort of green spikes intended to keep Sinestro pinned against a wall, and a green bubble in which Sinestro is imprisoned. Since these are generic objects, I don't think they count as real green ring things.



It's a shield and ridiculously big enough to qualify as a Giant Green Ring Thing, but dull enough to only get one Star Sapphire.

GL does some chemistry with a retort in #8, qualifying easily as a Giant Green Ring Thing. Since he goes on to give us a little chemistry lesson about Aqua Regia or royal water being the only acid that could dissolve gold, it's educational, so we'll give it four Star Sapphires.



After mixing up the Aqua Regia, he puts it in a test tube, with a cork and a test tube holder. This would be the trifecta of Giant Green Ring Things, except for one thing:



Arggghhh! None of it's green! We have not addressed what to do at this point, and the referees are huddling at midfield trying to figure out the call. And we have a decision. They are going to count the test-tube holder as it's arguably a coloring error. But the test tube itself and the cork appear to have been intended to have regular coloring. So GRT #32 is a test tube holder and since it appears in a pretty cool scene (and qualifies as giant), we'll give it four Star Sapphires.

Green Ring Thing #33 is a shield, not quite big enough to qualify as giant:



But GRT #34 rings the bell:



A giant fist that knocks them all out with one bop on the noggin? Five Star Sapphires!

GRT #35 is a parachute:



This is from the first Jordan Brothers story, which series was mostly remarkable for the antics of Hal's brother Jim's girlfriend (later wife) who became convinced over the years that her boyfriend/hubby was secretly Green Lantern. As I remarked when covering that series, Hal was a rare Silver Age DC character in that he actually had siblings. However nice the tie-in to an old post, I must conclude it's not a giant parachute.

GRT #36 is the every popular Green Prison Cell:



Always cool, seldom giant.

Running Tally:

Giant Green Net: 2
Giant Green Bird: 1
Giant Green Springs: 1
Giant Green Test Tube: 1
Giant Green Ice Tongs: 1
Giant Green Hand(s): 4
Giant Green Lock Wrench: 1
Giant Green Umbrella: 1
Giant Green Chiller Diller Menace: 1
Giant Green Stethoscope: 1
Giant Green Old-Fashioned Shopping Bag: 1
Giant Green Broom: 1
Giant Green Shield: 1
Giant Green Chemistry Retort: 1
Giant Green Test Tube Holder: 1
Giant Green Fist: 1

Nine issues into the main series and still no Giant Green Boxing Gloves!