Although February 2014 was dubbed “Green Lantern Day” (because, by the American calendar, the date mirrored the space sector assigned to Earth in DC Comics, “2814”), the significance of this date has since passed so I prefer to celebrate the October 1959 debut of perhaps the most popular Green Lantern, Hal Jordan.
Story Title: “The Secret Life of Star-Sapphire!”
Published: October 1962
Writer: John Broome
Artist: Gil Kane
Quick Facts:
When fighter pilot Harold “Hal” Jordan reinvented the concept of the Green Lantern into an intergalactic lawman, he quickly amassed a colourful rogues’ gallery, but perhaps his most personal enemy was the gorgeous Star Sapphire. Debuting alongside Hal in Showcase #22, Carol Ferris served as Hal’s love interest during his early years but was upgraded to reluctant supervillain in this issue. While possessed by the Zamarons, Carol committed unspeakable evils as Star Sapphire but also became a force for good when DC expanded the concept into an entire corps.
The Review:
Hal Jordan’s first encounter with Carol Ferris’ seductive alter ego begins with Carol, the “pretty young boss” of Ferris Aircraft, taking her personalised aircraft, the Lady Carol, out for a flight. Carol was taught to fly by her best pilot, hot-shot Hal Jordan, a man who’s constantly on Carol’s mind as she’s tempted to marry him. However, she’s equally drawn to the dashing Green Lantern, unaware they’re the same man. While pondering this conundrum, Carol is shocked when her craft is suddenly ensnared by an invisible energy beam and forced to the desert floor with such force that Carol’s knocked out. The source of this invisible beam? Why, aliens, of course! Beautiful, armour-clad warriors from the planet Zamaron (or “Land of Lovely Women”) who approach Carol with an enticing offer. Heralding her their queen, they tell Carol all about their world, a scientifically advanced civilisation populated exclusively by immortal women…except for their queen. For whatever reason, the Zamarons are always ruled by a mortal and their queen’s successor must be an exact physical duplicate, so they revealed across the galaxy to recruit Carol rather than, say, using their amazing technology to produce mortal clones. Though amazed, Carol refuses to leave Earth and be crowned “Queen Star Sapphire” because she’s so deeply in love with Green Lantern. Unimpressed that their would-be ruler is distracted by a “man-creature”, the Zamarons offer to prove how superior females are by temporarily empowering. Using an organ, of all things, Carol is transformed into a magenta-clad warrior and given incredible powers thanks to the Star Sapphire in her crown.
Amazed that she can fly at will, Carol’s compelled to obey the Zamaron’s command that she confronts Green Lantern, who’s currently back at Ferris Aircraft worrying about her. After consulting his mechanic, the poorly named Thomas Kalmaku/Pieface, Hal takes to the sky as Green Lantern, musing over his desire to win Carol over as himself rather than by revealing his secret identity. In the space of one panel, Green Lantern bumps into Star Sapphire, who cannot help but challenge him to stop her from breaking into the “exhibit of ancient glass”. Though he dismisses her, Green Lantern’s forced to pursue Star Sapphire when she immediately makes good on this threat, stealing an ancient mirror placed in the exhibit by the Zamarons and giving Green Lantern no choice but to use his awesome power ring against her. Star Sapphire answers back with a “repelling ray” that strikes Green Lantern with such force that he’s knocked out after bashing his head off a ledge. Carol’s glad to see that his ring automatically cushions his fall and promptly vanishes, leaving Green Lantern perplexed by his alluring, and strangely familiar, new foe. The Zamarons are astonished when Carol begs to give Green Lantern another chance to stop her, reasoning that he was felled by an accident, and allows herself to be telepathically induced to confront Green Lantern again. This same telepathic power is employed by the Zamarons to clue Green Lantern into Star Sapphire’s location: the Coast City art gallery. Though sceptical of the mysterious voice in his head, Green Lantern figures following it is better than just hanging around like an idiot and sets off to stop the masked marauder.
Star Sapphire causes a stir in the art gallery by swiping a priceless miniature painting (also planted by the Zamarons). Though initially disappointed to see Green Lantern nowhere in sight upon her escape, Star Sapphire is immediately held prisoner within a cage constructed by Green Lantern’s willpower. However, she showcases her ability to teleport at will by escaping the construct and the two take to the skies to match their powers in a beam struggle, Green Lantern trying to not be distracted by Star Sapphire’s beauty and Star Sapphire employing “every super-scientific device” provided by the Zamarons. This sees her fire a second repelling beam that Green Lantern quickly protects himself from with an energy shield. Thanks to encouragement and the will of the Zamarons, Star Sapphire also conjures a shield to block Green Lantern’s ring beam, one he crumbles through sheer willpower. Somehow, this stuns Star Sapphire and causes her to plummet from the sky, allowing Green Lantern to use his ring to detect a strange radiation emanating from his foe. Thus, Green Lantern encases Star Sapphire within an impenetrable barrier to block the radiation, draining her power. As Carol is so besotted with Green Lantern that she cares little for being a strong, independent woman, she secretly rejoices at being defeated, leading the Zamarons to rightly brand her a “disgrace to [their] sex”. As they’re incapable of penetrating the barrier, the Zamarons simply teleport Star Sapphire back to their ship to berate her, disgusted that a “mere man” defeated her so handily and stripping her of her powers…and her recent memories. Carol’s returned, woozy and confused, to her craft, where she’s found by Green Lantern. After returning her home, Green Lantern ponders the connection between Carol and the mysterious Star Sapphire he found by her plane, apparently too stupid to put two and two together!
Final Thoughts:
I try to be lenient on classic comic book stories, especially those of this era, where the focus was more on colourful, whimsical adventures than anything else, but “The Secret Life of Star-Sapphire!” is a pretty awful and inauspicious debut for one of Green Lantern’s most complex villains. The art is atrociously simplistic, with many backgrounds being basic colours and locations and the characters appearing more like limited action figures than striking costumed heroes and villains. The entire concept is like something ripped out of the god awful Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane (1958 to 1974), where the ever-annoying reporter stooped to bizarre means to catch the eye of Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman, abandoning any shred of dignity or decency to try and force him to marry her. To be fair, Carol doesn’t want to be Star Sapphire, rule the Zamarons, or even fight Green Lantern but that almost makes it worse! When presented with the argument that living her life for a man is a fool’s errand and that she must take control of her destiny and realise her full potential as a queen and ruler, Carol would rather pine for a man seemingly beyond her reach (Green Lantern) and even champions Green Lantern’s virtues above her own, and those of all woman. Interestingly, despite Carol admitting to being attracted to Hal, he’s the furthest thing from her mind when the Zamarons offer to make her their queen, showing that she is besotted by a man she can never have, to the detriment of more suitable options and even her sense of self. Carol believes that Green Lantern is so awesome and inspiring that no one can compare, a concept the Zamrons find deeply insulting since, in their culture, woman are superior. The Zamarons have a lot in common with the Themyscirans in that regard; hell, they even resemble them in their decidedly Greco-Roman armour and mentality. This makes the Zamarons far less unique and interesting since they’re just Themyscirans from space and it would’ve been far more interesting to present them as visually distinct alien warriors.
Although Carol delights in her newfound powers, she’s merely a vessel for the Zamarons. She’s partially brainwashed by their telepathic commands and compelled to commit “crimes” and battle Green Lantern, but never delights in her abilities or feels tempted by their offer. Incredibly, she downplays her defeat of Green Lantern and begs them to give him another chance to prove himself rather than the other way around. Carol wants Green Lantern to succeed, and the story at least partially implies that this contributes to Star Sapphire’s defeat as much as the Zamarons apparently pushing Carol’s mental and physical abilities too far. Their desperate urge to prove their superiority apparently overwhelms Star Sapphire and this, coupled with her subconscious desire to lose, see her briefly pass out and be subdued. It’s an anti-climactic end, one that makes little sense in context and is ultimately rendered moot when Carol’s memories are wiped. Despite Green Lantern feeling as if he knows Star Sapphire and literally finding a Star Sapphire by Carol, he doesn’t realise Carol was the “masked marauder” he fought! This nickname is equally ridiculous as Star Sapphire barely does anything. She steals a couple of things, big deal! Green Lantern’s right there to stop her, the items were props provided by the Zamarons, and nobody got hurt by Star Sapphire’s actions. It would’ve been far better to have Carol inwardly horrified at being forced to endanger civilians and/or attack the city, and to aggressively attack Green Lantern with more than just her “repelling ray”. Have her go nuts, cause real chaos, and be depicted as Green Lantern’s true equal, forcing him to think of ways to stop her beyond just firing his ring. Instead, we get a few mediocre showdowns between the two, some atrocious characterisation for Carol that indirectly paints all Earth women as subservient to men, and an idiotic outing for Green Lantern.
My Rating:
Terrible
Did you enjoy Star Sapphire’s debut story? Do you agree that the Zamarons were too similar to the Themyscirans and that Star Sapphire should’ve been portrayed as a greater threat? Were you also annoyed that Carol was so besotted by Green Lantern? Did you enjoy the battles between Star Sapphire and Green Lantern or did you also find them lacking? What are some of your favourite Star Sapphire stories and moments? Which Green Lantern is your favourite and why? How are you celebrating this pseudo-Green Lantern day today? Whatever you think about Star Sapphire, or Green Lantern in general, leave your thoughts below, support me on Ko-Fi, and go check out my other Green Lantern content.
