Creator of the Green Lantern dead at 91

Martin Nodell, the creator of comic book superhero Green Lantern, died of natural causes at a nursing home in Muskego, Wisconsin. Nodell was born in Philadelphia and attended art schools in Chicago and New York. A subway train operator swinging a lantern with a green light inspired the young Nodell, who envisioned a train crash survivor who discovers a green meteor embedded in an ancient lantern. The survivor, a young engineer named Alan Scott, fashions the lantern into a ring and in July 1940 Green Lantern appeared in the pages of All-American Publications, a precursor to DC Comics. Nodell drew the series until 1947. The original run of the character ended in 1949, but has been revived again and again. Green Lantern was also a charter member of the Justice Society of America. Nodell soon left the comics industry for an advertising career. Nodell was 91.

Sources: Associated Press, Don Markstein's Toonopedia, Wikipedia