First Appearance of Guy Gardner: Green Lantern #59 Value

Guy Gardner was first introduced in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #59, cover-dated March 1968, created by writer John Broome and artist Gil Kane (Wikipedia). DC's own profile explains the idea behind the story: Guy was almost the man who received the dying Abin Sur's ring instead of Hal Jordan, and only distance decided it. In #59 we see a simulation of what would have happened had Guy been chosen. PriceCharting adds that the issue includes a retelling of Green Lantern's origin.

PriceCharting values for Green Lantern #59 (1968), read on September 25, 2026:

• Ungraded: $150.00 (about 2 sales a week)
• CGC 4.0: $245.00 (about 1 a month)
• CGC 6.0: $338.39 (about 2 a month)
• CGC 8.0: $538.21 (about 1 a month)
• CGC 9.2: $1,292.50 (about 1 a year)
• CGC 9.8: $13,185.41 (about 1 a year)

PriceCharting also records a CGC 9.8 sold by Heritage Auctions on January 15, 2025 for $30,000, well above its current 9.8 figure, which shows how few top-grade copies trade. Most copies are worth a few hundred dollars; the value climbs steeply only from 9.2 up.

From DC's profile and Wikipedia:

• Backup Lantern: Hal Jordan and the Guardians picked Guy as the substitute Green Lantern in case Hal became unavailable; he later became a full-time member once the Corps decided Sector 2814 could support more than one Lantern.
• Personality change: his early appearances were gentler; his familiar rude attitude arrived after he woke from a coma in 1985, with brain damage from his earlier ordeal. The villain Dementor was later revealed to have tampered with his mind during that coma.
• Justice League International: he was a founding member after the old Justice League broke up in the 1986 to 1987 Legends storyline.
• Other power sources: a yellow ring taken from Sinestro; his own Guy Gardner: Warrior series from October 1992, in which he learns he is part Vuldarian; and a spell as a Red Lantern.

No source we read ranks him as the weakest, and his record points the other way. Besides the standard ring, Wikipedia lists a yellow ring from Sinestro, Vuldarian abilities that include limited shapeshifting, weapons formed from his own body and super strength it compares to Superman's, and a period wielding a Red Lantern ring. His reputation is for his temper and bowl cut, not for being weak.

Guy Gardner came first. He debuted in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #59 (March 1968); John Stewart first appeared in Green Lantern #87 (December 1971), more than three years later (Wikipedia). Hal Jordan, the Silver Age Green Lantern, came before both in Showcase #22 (1959); see Green Lantern's first appearance.

Nathan Fillion plays Guy Gardner in DC Studios' Superman (2025), where Wikipedia describes him as the pompous self-appointed leader of Maxwell Lord's corporate-sponsored hero group. DC says Fillion returns in Peacemaker season two and in the series Lanterns, and that he "fought for the bowl cut".

• Title and date: Green Lantern #59, March 1968, DC; the indicia should show volume 2 of the title.
• Story check: Guy appears in the story that replays Abin Sur's choice of ring-bearer.
• Grade first: raw copies average $150 while CGC 9.2 is $1,292.50, so a realistic grade matters more than any other check.

• Indicia: the small print on the first page or inside cover gives the title, issue number, date and publisher; reprints and facsimiles usually say so there.
• Cover price and barcode: a price or barcode format that did not exist in the year printed means a later edition.
• Paper and staples: old newsprint tans at the edges; bright white pages on an old date are a warning sign.
• Restoration: color touch, trimmed edges and replaced covers are common on expensive keys; a grading service can detect them. See spot a fake or restored comic.

Shoot the front cover flat, straight on, in even light, then the indicia and the back cover. The ComicLens app reads the title, issue number and cover and matches them to the checks on this page, and there are free scans every day. The indicia photo settles most reprint and variant questions.

Research and drafting were assisted by AI, and every fact was checked against the sources listed at the bottom of the page: Wikipedia (Guy Gardner), DC's Guy Gardner profile and PriceCharting. Prices are PriceCharting figures read on September 25, 2026 unless another source and date are named; they move with the market.