DC’s Green Lantern #16 hit store shelves and spinner racks in September of 1991, the same month that Bryan Adams had a hit with ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You’ and the number 1 TV show was Roseanne on ABC.

This issue tells the continuing story of Mosaic World, located on the planet Oa, Mosaic World is a patchwork of other civilizations in the galaxy, forced to live together when the last remaining Guardian on Oa goes mad from loneliness. John Stewart, custodian of Mosaic World, is forced to take drastic measures when distrust turns to violence among the different civilizations. 

The story concludes in Green Lantern #17

This story is written by Gerard Jones who had previously worked for National Lampoon and the fan run Comics Feature, DC was his first role in the comic industry. He would go on to work for Marvel, Dark Horse, Viz Media, Malibu Comics, and other publishers.

Mark Bright was the artist who also did the cover for this issue, Bright is best known for penciling the Marvel Comics Iron Man story "Armor Wars”. He typically also worked on Solo Avengers, G.I. Joe & Action Comics. Although Bright inked some of his covers, most of his interior comics artwork, including this issue, was created in collaboration with inker Romeo Tanghal.

Tanghal is a Filipino comics artist who has worked primarily as an inker. He became well known in the industry in the 1980s for his work on The New Teen Titans. A self–taught artist, he started doing comics illustrations after graduating high school. Tanghal began working for DC and Marvel Comics 1986. He inked the comic adaptations of such films as Labyrinth, Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, and Willow.

This issue was colored by Anthony Tollin, a prominent colorist and production artist for DC. Albert DeGuzman was the letterer, DeGuzman studied at the University of Santo Tomas and has a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts.

Andrew Helfer & Kevin Dooley are credited as editors for this issue, Helfer joined DC Comics in 1981, he became editor of the Justice League of America title and oversaw the title's revamp into Justice League International in 1987. Helfer wrote for the Superboy television series from 1988 to 1990.

Kevin Dooley meanwhile, served as the assistant editor to Andy Helfer before taking over many of the titles following Helfer's promotion. Dooley edited the various Green Lantern books and Aquaman. 

Dooley would go on to oversee the Emerald Twilight storyline, which marked a major shift in Green Lantern, specifically the Hal Jordan Green Lantern, a long-standing marquee character for DC comics, who was replaced by a younger character, Kyle Rayner. Beyond Green Lantern, Dooley also oversaw the Aquaman series, wherein Aquaman had his left hand chewed off by piranha to be replaced by a hook. 

Executive Editor Dick Giordano rounds out the team. DC Comics vice president Irwin Donenfeld hired Giordano as an editor in 1968, by 1971 he was frustrated by what he felt was a lack of editorial opportunities. Giordano left DC to partner with fellow artist Neal Adams for their Continuity Associates studios, which served as an art packager for comic book publishers. But in 1980 DC publisher Jenette Kahn brought Giordano back to DC as the editor of the Batman titles. Eventually Giordano was named the company's new managing editor in 1981 and promoted to vice president/executive editor in 1983, a position he held until 1993.

This issue features two primary races; humans and Xudarians. Xudarians are humanoid, but with a scaly pronounced beak and head-fin. Tomar-Re was the first Green Lantern from that world. Years later Hal Jordan met Tomar-Tu, the son of the Xudarian Green Lantern. At Hal's invitation, Tomar became the second Xudarian Green Lantern. 

This 4 part series prompted DC to generate a spin off Green Lantern series called Green Lantern: Mosaic. Starring John Stewart, the series began in June of 1992 and ended in November of 1993, lasting only 18 issues. It was written by Gerard Jones and primarily drawn by Cully Hamner.

Crystal based entity and Green Lantern Chaselon has a small part in this issue, a Green Lantern of sector 1416 Chaselon first appeared in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #9 in 1961. He is a silicon-based crystalline being with thirteen senses from Barrio III. Chaselon is one of the many Lanterns that were apparently killed when a maddened Hal Jordan attacks and destroys Oa. He is later smashed to bits by several Black Lanterns, his remains are then immolated when Kyle Rayner ignites his dislodged internal power battery to deal a suicide attack to the assembled Black Lanterns, man this lanterns stuff is wild.

Also seen, although briefly, is the Green Lantern of Sector 904, Brik. Brik comes from the planet Dryad and, like her sector partner, is composed entirely of organic rock. Originally recruited by Hal Jordan, Brik was one of hundreds of veteran Green Lanterns to return to active service upon the restoration of the Green Lantern Corps. 

So what ever happened to Mosaic World on Oa? Well John Stewart was eventually successful in maintaining the peace among the different communities. But when Hal Jordan, possessed by the Parallax entity, destroyed the Central Power Battery he slew all but one of the Guardians of the Universe, leaving Oa and the Mosaic a barren wasteland. Later it was revealed that The Mosaic World was evacuated by a multi-species coalition in anticipation of the battle between the corrupted Parallax and the Guardians. 

The survivors of the experiments were carried back to their homeworld. Mosaic's abandoned remains were finally destroyed when Oa was obliterated by Kyle Rayner during a battle with Jordan.

I’ll admit I’m not always a big fan of Mark Bright’s work, he tends to leave his panels open and lacking background and atmosphere, but he does open this issue with a bang. There are some questionable skin tone choices in this issue which confused me at first, I thought they were purple aliens! Back to Bright’s work I really dug the Xudarian speeders flying across Oa, its a great look. 

There are a lot of exposition boxes in this issue, not too sure if they always represent the omnipresent narrator or John’s own internal thoughts, they seem like both at times. 

The beings from Barrio III are drawn poorly, they are an unforgiving design I’ll admit, but I really hate their look in this issue. 

In 1991 sales from all comics were in the range of $300-$350 Million, with DC owning a 27% share of all comics and comic revenue, this equated to about $78M-$91M or roughly $180 - $210M today.

The 90’s comics bubble was growing exceptionally by 1991. Easy terms from the many competing distributors led to a ballooning number of comics shops, which in turn resulted in enormous orders. Other publishers were coming on the scene -- Voyager would become Valiant, and Malibu was growing.

At this point in time Marvel and the X-Men were dominating the market, leaving DC a distant second. However some DC prints were performing relatively well, particularly Robin II: The Joker's Wild - Issue 1, which was one of the top selling comics of that year.

Just 2 years earlier Warner Communications merged with Time Inc., making DC Comics a subsidiary of Time Warner. Thanks to the 90’s boom and several storylines which gained attention from the mainstream media, DC's extended storylines in which Superman was killed, Batman was crippled and superhero Green Lantern turned into the supervillain Parallax resulted in dramatically increased sales for DC. However sales were not destined to last as the bubble burst in 1993

DC's Piranha Press and other imprints like Vertigo & Helix were introduced to allow for specialized marketing of individual product lines. They increased the use of non-traditional contractual arrangements, including the dramatic rise of creator-owned projects, leading to a significant increase in critically acclaimed work and the licensing of material from other companies. DC also increased publication of book-store friendly formats, including trade paperback collections of individual serial comics, as well as original graphic novels.

Additionally throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, DC characters were mainstays on television. The visually striking Batman: The Animated Series featured superb writing by Paul Dini and won an Emmy for outstanding animated program. Live action Superboy and The Flash were on TV screens in 1991 as well as the animated Swamp Thing.

Advertising in this issue ranges from snack foods to video games, sports cards and other DC imprints like Impact Comics’ ‘The Fly’...no not that one.

Mars was advertising 3 Musketeers with a heavily inspired storyline from Indiana Jones, ‘3 Musketeers Adventures!’ were a series of ads featuring fearless jungle explorers.

TSR was prompting a Dungeons and Dragons game, complete with rule book, maps, die and more.

There are two Nintendo video game ads, the first is Bill & Ted’s Excellent Videogame Adventure. The other was a game based on The Lone Ranger.

Fleer was marketing their Football cards, the ad features the cards for Howie Long, Warren Moon & Dan Marino. 

Here is something I was not expecting; There is an ad for the Steven Seagal Fan Club that promises you a membership card, a T-Shirt, the official Steven Seagal Biography, a World Wide Martial Arts product line catalog, PLUS a full color poster, all for $24.95 or about $59 today.

I really love the old throwback ads they still had in comics in the early 90’s, AN ATLAS BODY IN 7 DAYS, Get your own ‘Shrunkenheads’ made by Amazon Indians! (oh my). And….whatever…this is.

I was happy to find an ad for ‘Comics & Collectibles’ and learn they’re still alive and kicking in Memphis. If you have the opportunity please visit them, check them out at 4730 Poplar Ave. Ste 2. Memphis, TN 38117 or visit memphiscomics.com

If you've read this far, Thank you!

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To celebrate 'VisonQuest' out on Disney+ today, let’s look at some of the comics that may have inspired its creation. Despite sharing its name with John Byrne's famous 1989 “Vision Quest” storyline, Marvel hasn't actually said the Disney+ series is adapting that story. Showrunner Terry Matalas says the series was primarily inspired by Vision's final confrontation with Ultron in 'Age of Ultron' and the Ship of Theseus scene from 'WandaVision', although members of the production team have confirmed they're also drawing visually from Vision's original 1960s comics and Tommy Shepherd's comic-book appearance. John Byrne’s “Vision Quest” storyline sees Vision kidnapped, dismantled and rebuilt as the emotionless White Vision, stripped of the brain patterns that had helped make him feel human. When he returns, his emotional connection to Wanda is essentially gone, beginning the collapse of their marriage and radically redefining Vision as a character. The series stars Paul Bettany as Vision with James Spader as Ultron but introduces several other AI assistants like Emily Hampshire as E.D.I.T.H. & Orla Brady as Friday. The show also introduces Todd Stashwick as mercenary Paladin. Check out VisonQuest on Disney+ today.

This is my issue of 1976's 'Freedom Fighters' #5, written by Bob Rozakis with interiors by Ramona Fradon and a shocking cover by Rich Buckler & Vince Colletta. The Freedom Fighters were originally Quality Comics characters. In 1956, DC obtained the rights to them, and re-introduced them 17 years later in Justice League of America #107. The team was then featured in their own series in 1976. This issue, titled "The Rise and Fall of King Samson" continues the Silver Ghost and King Samson storyline that began in the very first issue; although King Samson's story concludes here, Silver Ghost remains the team's recurring nemesis well beyond this issue.  The cover is recognized by collectors as an early example of the famous Pietà comic-cover composition — a hero cradling a fallen figure — years before George Pérez's famous Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 Supergirl cover. Pietà is an Italian word meaning roughly “pity” or “compassion.” Freedom Fighters ended with #15 in 1978 primarily because the book’s sales weren’t strong enough to survive DC’s attempt to reshuffle and expand its line. The Price Charting website lists near mint versions of this issue at $111.

This is my issue of 1976's 'Freedom Fighters' #5, written by Bob Rozakis with interiors by Ramona Fradon and a shocking cover by Rich Buckler & Vince Colletta. The Freedom Fighters were originally Quality Comics characters. In 1956, DC obtained the rights to them, and re-introduced them 17 years later in Justice League of America #107. The team was then featured in their own series in 1976. This issue, titled "The Rise and Fall of King Samson" continues the Silver Ghost and King Samson storyline that began in the very first issue; although King Samson's story concludes here, Silver Ghost remains the team's recurring nemesis well beyond this issue.  The cover is recognized by collectors as an early example of the famous Pietà comic-cover composition — a hero cradling a fallen figure — years before George Pérez's famous Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 Supergirl cover. Pietà is an Italian word meaning roughly “pity” or “compassion.” Freedom Fighters ended with #15 in 1978 primarily because the book’s sales weren’t strong enough to survive DC’s attempt to reshuffle and expand its line. The Price Charting website lists near mint versions of this issue at $111.

So, who decided the Green Goblin's whole look? Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Green Goblin made his first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #14 in July 1964. In an interview from 2001 Ditko recalled how Stan Lee wanted The Goblin to be a mystical creature unearthed in Egypt by a movie crew, Ditko opposed the idea and stated he wanted Peter Parker’s world to remain more grounded. So he changed Lee’s literal goblin into a human being pretending to be one. So the goblin mask, pointed cap, tunic, boots and technological flying device — is essentially Ditko taking Lee’s “Green Goblin” concept and translating a supernatural monster into a costume that a human criminal could actually wear. So we have his origins and costume, what about his color scheme? This is where Stan Goldberg comes into play, as Marvel's principal colourist during this period, including this issue, Goldberg later explained in an interview with Jim Amash that from roughly 1960–1965 he created about 90% of Marvel's character colour schemes. He said "Heroes tended to get red, blue and yellow because those colours reproduced brightly and made them pop. Villains, meanwhile, got green, magenta, gray, burnt umber and darker/muddier colours. Goldberg also said he remembered that he “cleared all the color schemes” for Marvel's superheroes from 1960–65. So who decided Goblin's look? The costume and origins go to Ditko, while the colours are thanks to Stan Goldberg.

The weekend haul! Bloodshot, Absolute Martian Manhunter and Spider-Man Brand New Day!