"Green Lantern" creator Martin Nodell dies, 91

Posted:
Dec 12, 2006

Comic-book artist Martin "Marty" Nodell, who created famed superhero Green Lantern and later helped create the Pillsbury Doughboy, died Saturday morning at Muskego, Wisconsin nursing home.

Nodell, 91, died of natural causes.

He was a former resident of West Palm Beach, Florida. Green Lantern, his most famous creation, used a magical ring to help him fight crime, and appeared in several animated series. Nodell also made limited animation for industrial firms from 1947 to 1948.

Green Lantern (also known as Hal Jordan) was voiced by Gerald Mohr in Green Lantern and Justice League of America, two short-lived (three-episodes each) 1967 segments of Filmation Associates' The Superman / Aquaman Hour of Adventure.

In Warner Bros.' Justice League: The Animated SeriesandJustice League Unlimited, Green Lantern's alter ego was John Stewart. He was voiced by Phil LaMarr in both series.

Such Hanna-Barbera series as Super Friendsand Challenge of the Super Friendscast Michael Rye as Green Lantern/Hal Jordan.

Nodell once said he was inspired by a 1940 incident when he was awaiting a subway ride home to Brooklyn. Then 25, he saw a trainman waving a lantern.

"It was green, which meant things were safe. I wrote down 'Green Lantern.' I added elements of everything I liked -- Chinese folklore, Greek mythology, Wagner's opera (The Ring of the Nibelungen).''

Hours before he saw the lantern in the subway, All-American Publications asked Nodell to create a new comic book hero. A few days later, he brought some art and story lines to the new comic-book publisher, which later became part of National Periodical Publications -- which, in turn, became DC Comics.

"I thought the publisher would let me down easy," said Nodell. "He said, 'We like it. Get to work.'"

Born on November 15, 1915 in Philadelphia, Nodell was educated at the Chicago Art Institute, the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, and Pratt Institute in New York. He began work in commercial art in 1935.

In the comic book, Green Lantern was young engineer Alan Scott, the sole survivor of a train crash, who finds an ancient lantern forged from a green meteor. The lantern tells Scott to made a ring from the lamp. The ring makes Scott a superhero who can fly, go through walls and resist bullets.

Green Lantern first appeared as an eight-page story in a July 1940 comic book that also featured other characters. The character later got his own series. Nodell switched the letters of his last name when he first drew the comic, signing it Mart Dellon. He drew Green Lantern until 1947.

Nodell spent seven years with DC Comics and four with competing Marvel Comics (where he was a penciler on Captain America, Human Torch and Sub-Mariner). He left comic books in 1950, joining the advertising industry.

He became an art director at Leo Burnett Agency in 1965. He was part of the design team that created the Pillsbury Doughboy.

From 1970 to 1978, Nodell worked in newspaper advertising in Chicago. He was with the Palm Beach Post from 1979 to 1983.

Later in life, Nodell visited comic book convention circuits with his wife Caroline (Carrie), whom he married on January 4, 1942.

"There were myriads of fans who would come up to my dad and would say 'Green Lantern got me to read' or 'Green Lantern got me to do something in my life,'" son Spencer said.

His awards included an Art Directors Award, an Ignatz Award, an Inkpot Award and a Kansas City Convention Appreciation Award.

Predeceased in April 2004 by his wife, Nodell is survived by sons Spencer and Mitchell, six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A graveside ceremony will be held at 2:15 p.m. Friday, December 15 at Eternal Light Cemetery, Boynton Beach, Florida. The cemetery is on U.S. 441 (also called State Road 7) south of Boynton Beach Boulevard.

Spencer Nodell has asked that, in place of flowers, donations be made in Martin Nodell's name to The Hero Initiative (www.heroinitiative.org), the fund to help comics professionals in need.