Green Lantern Sleeper Issues: Undervalued Keys Worth Watching

Green Lantern is one of the few DC characters to span every era of American comics: Alan Scott (Golden Age, 1940), Hal Jordan (Silver Age, 1959), and the succession of ring-bearers — John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner — who mark the Bronze Age and the modern era. This 80-plus-year editorial continuity has produced a constellation of key issues, several of which remain undervalued relative to their narrative importance — especially since the HBO series Lanterns (scheduled for August 16, 2026) has placed Hal Jordan and John Stewart back at the centre of DC's cultural conversation.

This guide sticks to the verifiable: eBay medians from our estimator (eBay.fr + eBay.com, June 2026) and records documented by Heritage Auctions and GoCollect. The flagship Golden Age issue (All-American Comics #16, 1940, 1st Alan Scott) and the Silver Age grail (Showcase #22, 1959, 1st Hal Jordan) belong to separate series not covered by our tool — their values come from auction records, not eBay medians.

Green Lantern key issues to watch (data June 2026)

The eBay medians below reflect all grades combined — from poor to ungraded fine — which mechanically produces a low figure for Silver Age and Bronze Age issues whose high-grade copies reach five figures at auction. Documented records apply to CGC-graded copies in very high condition.

Record sources: Heritage Auctions, GoCollect, Hake's Auctions, CGC Census.

Green Lantern #87 (1971): the first appearance of John Stewart

Published in December 1971 / January 1972, Green Lantern #87 is the flagship issue of this selection. Writer Denny O'Neil and artist Neal Adams introduce John Stewart, a Black architect from Detroit selected by the Guardians as an emergency backup for Hal Jordan. Adams deliberately modelled the character on actor Sidney Poitier to create a strong, nuanced portrayal. The same issue also contains the second appearance of Guy Gardner — his first having appeared in Green Lantern #59 in 1968.

On eBay, the all-grades median is €9 across 66 listings (a reliable signal). In high grade, a CGC 9.8 copy sold for approximately $10,500 at Heritage Auctions in January 2025 — down from the 2022 peak of $20,000 for the same grade, but firmly back in the spotlight ahead of the Lanterns HBO series, in which Aaron Pierre plays John Stewart. Awareness of the issue's value is growing but uneven among sellers: low-grade raw copies still circulate at prices that have not fully reflected the character's renewed prominence.

Green Lantern #59 (1968): the first appearance of Guy Gardner

Published in March 1968, Green Lantern #59 introduces Guy Gardner in a story written by John Broome and drawn by Gil Kane. The premise is straightforward: the Guardians reveal to Hal Jordan that another human — a physical education instructor named Guy Gardner — was equally worthy of the ring and could have been chosen instead. This late Silver Age issue flew under the radar for decades, but the casting of Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner in the Lanterns series has sharply increased collector attention. A CGC 9.8 copy sold for approximately $30,000 (GoCollect, January 2025). The all-grades eBay median sits at €9 across 59 listings — a wide gap between the raw-copy market and the graded auction ceiling that defines the sleeper opportunity.

Green Lantern #76 (1970): the O'Neil / Adams run begins

Published in April 1970, Green Lantern #76 opens the legendary Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams collaboration that would run for 14 issues and redefine what a superhero comic could say. The iconic cover — Green Arrow confronting Hal Jordan over his indifference to social injustice — has become the defining image of the Bronze Age of American comics. Neal Adams's original cover artwork itself sold for $442,150 at Heritage in 2015. For the comic itself, only two CGC 9.8 copies have been documented; one reached $31,000 in 2014. The all-grades eBay median is €9 across 69 listings.

Green Lantern #40 (1965): first Krona, origin of the Guardians

Published in October 1965, Green Lantern #40 is a doubly significant Silver Age issue that often goes overlooked. Written by John Broome and drawn by Gil Kane, it introduces Krona — a rogue Guardian whose forbidden experiment unleashed evil upon the universe — and tells the full origin of the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern Corps. The all-grades eBay median is €9 across 98 listings (the strongest volume signal in this guide). Mid-grade CGC copies trade for a few hundred dollars; CGC 9.2 copies have reached the $1,500–$2,000 range at Hake's Auctions. For a Silver Age DC key with this narrative weight, those figures suggest room to grow.

The Golden Age and Silver Age grails beyond the eBay estimator

All-American Comics #16 (July 1940), the first appearance of Alan Scott created by Martin Nodell and Bill Finger, is a Golden Age grail handled exclusively through specialist auction houses. The series sits in a separate catalogue not covered by our tool. Showcase #22 (October 1959, John Broome and Gil Kane) launches the Silver Age Green Lantern with Hal Jordan: a CGC 9.2 copy — the highest grade on record in the CGC census — sold for approximately $150,000 at Heritage in 2017. Both issues are priced in the auction room, copy by copy, and fall entirely outside any eBay median.