Alan Scott is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, and the first character to bear the name Green Lantern. He fights evil with the aid of a magical ring which grants him a variety of powers. He was created by Bill Finger and Martin Nodell first appearing in the comic book All-American Comics #16, published in 1940. His original design was based on Alan Ladd.Alan Scott was created after Nodell became inspired by the characters from Greek and Norse myths, seeking to create a popular entertainment character who fought evil with the aid of a magic ring which grants him a variety of supernatural powers. After debuting in All-American Comics, Alan Scott soon became popular enough to sustain his own comic book, Green Lantern. Around this time DC also began experimenting with fictional crossovers between its characters, leading towards a shared universe of characters. As one of the publisher's most popular heroes, Alan became a founding member of the Justice Society of America, one of the first such teams of "mystery men" or superheroes in comic books. Following World War II, the character's popularity began to fade along with the decline of the Golden Age of Comic Books, leading to cancellation. After 12 years out of print, DC chose to reinvent Green Lantern as science fiction hero Hal Jordan in 1959. Later, DC would again revisit Alan Scott, establishing that Alan and Hal were the Green Lanterns of two different parallel worlds, with Alan residing on Earth-Two and Hal on Earth-One. Stories set on Earth-Two thereafter showed that Alan became the father to two superheroic children, the twins Obsidian and Jade, each with powers a bit like his own. When in 1985 DC chose to reboot its internal continuity, it merged the worlds of Earth-One and Earth-Two, and Alan was again reimagined as an elder statesman of the DC Universe, the magical Green Lantern of an earlier generation who coexists with the more science fiction-oriented heroes of the Green Lantern Corps. When DC brought back its internal Multiverse concept in the 2000s, it reintroduced a new, young version of Alan on the new Earth-Two, this time as a gay man and the owner of a media conglomerate whose magical powers stem from his role as champion of the Green, an entity embodying plant life on Earth.