hes not satisfied with one color so he went to be the.....of course leaving out green

Rainbow Archer

Bingo! Your question.

When the Green Lantern Corps started they did not use power rings. What did they use?

They used stun guns, IIRC.

That is indeed correct. they used guns that were powered by the same thing as the Power Rings.

Ok, since I asked it above (and no WIki-ing, please)--

Why was the planet Maltus named that by denny O'Neil?

I'll go with my original suggestion that he was drinking a malted beverage when he came up with it.

(That also led to the rejected story idea wherein Bouncing Boy tried his bounce-slam on Validus, only to be knocked out of shape and end up egg-shaped rather than round; changing his name to Oval Teen.)

Ah, nope.

There was also that story where the Lock Ness Monster gets Johnny Quick's formula and becomes Nesquik.

You are close but not quite right and also not specific enough.

Maltus was named after Revened Thomas Malthus! He lived in the
19th century, and had made predictions about population overgrowth!

Cause Maltus did have a problem with population overgrowth, o´neil used malthus name!

Have read it in a reprint of Green Lantern/Green Arrow - Hard Traveling Heroes

Si, correcto!

Well, at least I was close.

Ok, then here is my question!

The young shepherd jebediah of canaan is known as one of the first superheroes on earth! What was his superhero identity and how did he get his super powers?