Today in Comics History, July 16, 1940: Hundreds perish in tragic train wreck just so this guy can get a cool origin story

from "[The Origin of Green Lantern]" in All-American Comics (1939 series) #16 (DC/All-American Comics, July 1940), script by Bill Finger; pencils, inks, and letters by Martin Nodell
Here's that Earth-2 origin story retold in an eighties comic!


from "The Tale of the Green Lantern" in Secret Origins (1986 series) #18 (DC, September 1987), script by (who else?) Roy Thomas, pencils and inks by George Freeman, colors by Anthony Tollin, letters by Jean Simek
How do we know this happened on July 16? Why, thanks to this fly on the wall. OH YES THANK YOU VERY MUCH DOOMSDAY CLOCK rassing frassin Doomsday Clock


from Doomsday Clock #7 (DC/Black Label, November 2018), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Gary Frank, colors by Brad Anderson, letters by Rob Leigh
Well, I guess everything is okay herOH DOCTOR MANHATTAN YOU ARE A JERK


And so, Doctor Manhattan continues to be a jerk:


from Doomsday Clock #9 (DC/Black Label, May 2019), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Gary Frank, colors by Brad Anderson, letters by Rob Leigh
OH COME ON NOW DOCTOR JERKHATTAN


MAKE UP YOUR FREAKIN' MIND


from Doomsday Clock #12 (DC/Black Label, February 2020), script by Geoff Johns, pencils and inks by Gary Frank, colors by Brad Anderson, letters by Rob Leigh
And that's why Alan Scott was the first Green Lantern. DESPITE.