Expert: Grant Hudson - 5/21/2009

Question
Who would win, the green lantern or the silver surfer?

Answer
Wow -this is the sort of question I love!

Let's see...from Wikipedia:

Each Green Lantern wields a power ring that can generate a variety of effects, sustained purely by the ring wearer's strength of will. The greater the user's willpower, the more effective the ring. The limits of the power ring's abilities are not clearly defined and it has been referred to as "the most powerful weapon in the universe" on more than one occasion. Across the years, the ring has been shown capable of accomplishing anything within the imagination of the ring bearer. Stories in 2006 retconned the ring's long-established lack of effect on yellow objects, stating that the ring-wielder need only feel fear and overcome it in order to affect yellow objects. In one issue Kyle Rayner blows up an entire yellow sun in order to destroy a group of hundreds of unpopulated planets that held deadly sicknesses by manipulating the sun's energy to destroy itself.
Power rings as used by various wielders have exhibited (but are not limited to) the following effects:
Creates solid 'light energy' which is only limited by the mind
Constructs of green 'solid-energy,' often of tremendous size and/or complexity.
Flight, including flight at speeds beyond that of light.
Plasma bolts.
Ability to walk through walls by travelling through 'the Fourth Dimension' [Alan Scott]
The rings can act as semi-sentient computers, including accessing the Book of Oa, a massive database of everything from the laws of the Guardians and the Corps to the history of the universe.
Time travel.
The rings are still reliant on the lantern-shaped power batteries, but no longer limited to 24 hours' charge as they originally were. Kyle Rayner's ring was the first ring to absorb more power than originally thought, having stored the main power battery's energy following its explosion on Oa.
Telepathic powers.
Translation of virtually all languages.
Force field generation.
Radiation, including simulated kryptonite radiations.
Generate "earplugs" to block out all telepathic communication and manipulation.
Render user invisible.
Green Lantern: Rebirth revealed that only a certain type of willpower can use the ring effectively, as evidenced when Green Arrow's "cynical" willpower barely allows him to generate a single arrow and leaves him exhausted after this feat.
Put humans into a state of suspended animation

The Silver Surfer wields the Power Cosmic, granting him superhuman strength, stamina, durability, and the ability to absorb and manipulate the universe's ambient energy for a variety of effects. The Surfer can navigate through interstellar space, dimensional barriers, and hyperspace, which he can enter to exceed the speed of light when flying on his board,  and has even proven capable of time travel on several occasions.
The Surfer sustains himself by converting matter into energy, does not require food, water, air, or sleep, and can survive within nearly any known natural environment, including deep space, hyperspace, black holes, and the center of stars. The Surfer can analyze and manipulate matter and energy, and molecularly restructure or animate matter at will, even transmuting elements or creating objects. He can also project energy in various forms for offensive and defensive use, including the erection of force shields, and bolts of cosmic force powerful enough to destroy entire planets and planetoids. He can utilize the Power Cosmic to augment his superhuman strength to indeterminate levels. The Surfer can heal living organisms, though he cannot raise the dead, and he has proven capable of revitalizing and evolving organic life on a planet-wide scale. He can alter the size of himself or of other matter, cast illusions, and phase through solid matter.
His senses enable him to detect objects and concentrations of energy light years away and to perceive matter and energy in subatomic detail, including life energies of living beings. The Surfer can even see through time, and with concentration he can achieve limited perception of past and future events in his general vicinity. He has demonstrated telepathic ability, including mind-reading on occasion, and has proven to be able to influence human emotion and sensation.
The Surfer's board is composed of a nearly impervious, cosmically powered silvery material that is similar to his own skin. The board is mentally linked to the Surfer and moves in response to his mental commands even when he is not in physical contact with it. The board has a high degree of indestructibility, but on those rare occasions when it is damaged or destroyed, the Surfer is able to repair or even re-create it with little effort. The Surfer can attack opponents remotely by directing the board against them, and the board is capable of absorbing and imprisoning other beings, at least temporarily.
When Galactus exiled the Surfer to Earth, his means of imprisonment was linked to the board. When Surfer and the Fantastic Four realized this, Surfer put it to the test by leaving the board planet-side and entering space in the Four's spacecraft. Once he was free of Earth, the Surfer remotely converted the board to energy, recalled it to him, and reformed it in space.
Norrin Radd also possesses some knowledge of the advanced alien technology of the planet Zenn-La.

I think, when you look at this raw data, the main variable is really who is wielding Green Lantern's power ring.

The Surfer has the edge on power levels.

So... I think the Silver Surfer would win.

What do you think?

Grant