The Blue Lanterns of WildStorm

I’ve mentioned the “Blue Lanterns” that have appeared in WildStorm comics once or twice, and I figured it was high time that I got off my ass and went into more detail about them, since many readers may be unaware that they even existed.

Believe it or not, the Blue Lanterns did not first appear in Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #25, as most are wont to believe. The actually appeared nearly a decade earlier in a few WildStorm comic books: namely, Stormwatch, The Authority, and Planetary. Alright, alright, I’ll grant that these are Blue Lanterns from a separate universe, designated Earth-50 for you DC Multiverse nerds out there. The concept is still the same, however, and with good reason. Writer Warren Ellis specifically created them as an analogue to the Green Lanterns, and you’ll see exactly why in just a few moments.

First of all, before we encountered the rest of WildStorm’s Blue Lanterns, we met a superhero named Lamplight. He made his first appearance in Stormwatch (Vol. 2) #4, released in early 1998; and as you can see, he’s got a big blue lantern embedded in his chest.

Jazz hands!

Lamplight was part of a team of heroes created by that bastard Henry Bendix, along with the well-known Apollo and the Midnighter. His powers were different than those of the later DC Universe Blue Lanterns, but he was certainly no slouch: Lamplight could create energy constructs of the spirits of the dead to help him!

“Come forth, my stereotypical immigrants! Dig for me!”

This is similar to what Larfleeze can do, but Lamplight is obviously more selfless. Sadly, this Blue Lantern did not survive his first mission, and was horribly burned to death along with most of his other teammates. (Apollo and the Midnighter were the only survivors.)

So where did that blue lantern in Lamplight’s chest come from? Well, that question was answered in 2000, when Planetary #10 hit shelves. This issue featured analogues of legendary DC Comics heroes: Superman, Wonder Woman, and of course, Green Lantern. It was revealed that the WildStorm Universe has its own corps of “space policemen,” representing hundreds of different races and bringing the promise of finer worlds across the cosmos.

(Click for fullsize version)

The group’s leader is clearly a Guardian knockoff, right down to the red vestments! Anyway, this issue features the leader inducting a new member, and bestowed upon him a powerful blue lantern as his badge of office.

“Be the light in blackest night.” Just making sure we’re driving the point home.

Much like his successor Lamplight, this guy unfortunately didn’t last long. While he was passing through the Solar System, the rookie space cop was shot down near Jupiter’s Great Red Spot as per the orders of Dr. Randall Dowling. The villainous leader of the Four interrogated and executed the alien, then strapped his corpse to an operating table.

What’s that you’ve got on your face?

Dowling managed to surgically remove the blue lantern, and contacted Henry Bendix. The then-leader of Stormwatch was obviously interested in the mind-controlled weapon for his own nefarious ends, so he reverse engineered the technology, ultimately using it to create Lamplight.

Yuck!

But wait: there’s more! Later that year…Lamplight returned from the grave as the WildStorm equivalent of a Black Lantern!

Undead vengeance, that is.

Here, the hellishly resurrected Lamplight was able to fire directed energy beams from his chest and change their direction at his whim. Of course, the Midnighter still took the zombie down and destroyed him by ripping out his lantern.

It’s a shame that Geoff Johns didn’t use the WildStorm Blue Lanterns in his “emotional spectrum” model, as they certainly would’ve fit in just fine. I’m sure Johns was at least aware of Planetary. Since DC Comics owns the now-defunct WildStorm and its characters, there wouldn’t have been any red tape to cut through. These Blue Lanterns have a rich history of their own just begging to be explored.

At the very least, there’s a story to be told about the space policeman that Dowling murdered. Don’t you think his fellow officers would come and investigate his disappearance?

Brightest Day #12

Release Date: October 20, 2010
Cover Date: Late December 2010

Story: Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi
Pencils: Patrick Gleason, Scott Clark, Ivan Reis, and Joe Prado
Inks: Mark Irwin, David Beaty, Tom Nguyen, Rebecca Buchman, Mick Gray, Christian Alamy, and Patrick Gleason
Cover: David Finch and Scott Williams
1:10 Variant Cover: Ivan Reis

The Martian Manhunters enters his pyramid on Mars, and finds his target: D’Kay D’Razz. She’s the mutant green Martian that’s been murdering people across Earth and sending telepathic messages to J’onn, and of course she’s a stereotypical crazy bitch who wants to be with him for all eternity as he rebuilds Mars. He’s rightfully disgusted by her behavior, so she tries to use her formidable psionic skills to trick him. J’onn is able to resist the first assault, but when D’Kay tries making J’onn believe he’s successful in restoring Mars and his race, he falls right into her trap like an idiot. Meanwhile, Firestorm’s chasing down Deathstorm, and the villain gleefully plans to annihilate the hero with his army of Black Lanterns. Before Deathstorm can act, however, the mysterious voice that commands him orders him to stop wasting time and bring forth the White Lantern. Deathstorm and his undead minions teleport away, leaving Firestorm alone with his thoughts. Finally, Dove is helping Boston Brand in his search for a successor by sifting through files of every hero either connected to light, or who had been brought back to life at some point.

Brightest Day #12 has a notable problem: it feels like we missed an issue between Brightest Day #11 and this one. All of a sudden, J’onn knows exactly who the monster he’s been chasing is, specifically where to find her, and her full name. It’s almost as if a history between the two is implied, but none exists, as D’Kay is a new character (to the best of my knowledge). You could argue that D’Kay told J’onn all of this stuff telepathically before he got to his pyramid, as this issue shows that some of his earlier visions were indeed her doing, but that seems like a copout.

The Firestorm scenes were brief, but I can understand that; his storyline took up most of the preceding issue. I have no problem with only one or two stories in each issue of Brightest Day; there’s so much ground to cover, things can get cluttered if we keep jumping back and forth. Even the scene with Boston Brand felt a little unnecessary; I don’t see why it couldn’t have been placed in the next issue that focuses on his story.

Before I wrap this up, here’s a fun little art “error.” in the first panel showing Deathstorm and his minions, the Black Lantern Captain Boomerang is missing. Is he off performing some dastardly deed? Nah, I just think the art team didn’t have the space to him cram him in, which is no big deal. The focus in this panel is on Deathstorm, anyway, not his lackeys. (Besides, in the next Black Lantern panel, the undead Aquaman is missing, likely for the same reason.)

Green Lantern Corps (Vol. 2) #53

Release Date: October 20, 2010
Cover Date: December 2010

Story: Tony Bedard
Pencils: Tyler Kirkham
Inks: Matt “Batt” Banning
Cover: Tyler Kirkham and Matt “Batt” Banning
1:10 Variant Cover: Patrick Gleason and Christian Alamy

In the past, a man known only as the Weaponer forged a fear-fueled ring for the disgraced Green Lantern Sinestro on Qward. On modern-day Korugar, Kyle Rayner is dealing with a literal train wreck. The Sinestro Corps have a truce with the Green Lanterns, but they’re certainly not helping the Korugarians. One of the Sinestro Corpsmen tries to pick a fight with Kyle in blatant violation of the truce; his comrades promise to look the other way and take off, but Kyle’s unfazed by the new recruit. Kyle calmly reminds the upstart of the excessively powerful foes he’s faced and defeated, which makes the newest member of the Sinestro Corps think twice. This moment of reflection doesn’t last long, though, as the poor bastard is brutally murdered when the Weaponer shows up. He wrecked the train as a trap for Soranik Natu, and he’s pretty pissed that the “wrong” Green Lantern showed up. Kyle does his best to fight off his opponent, but the Weaponer’s mastery of offensive tools combined with the white energy net he’d stolen give him quite the edge. Natu does eventually arrive, but even two Green Lanterns are no match for the Weaponer. He takes Natu prisoner, ordering Kyle to bring back Sinestro; the Weaponer wants revenge, and taking Sinestro’s daughter hostage is just the way to do it. Kyle flies back to Earth at top speed to fetch Sinestro, but the villain doesn’t give a shit. Kyle’s had enough of Sinestro’s arrogance, so he makes his point by belting Sinestro in the jaw.

Kyle Rayner fans, rejoice: this issue was all about him, and portrayed the veteran Green Lantern as a capable warrior indeed. Even though the Weaponer bested him in combat with his White Lantern-powered hammer and shield, Kyle brushed off three Sinestro Corpsmen and even had the guts to deck Sinestro! This showed that Kyle has balls the size of a football stadium. In fact, this issue felt like it came out of the Ron Marz years on Green Lantern (Vol. 3), and that’s a good thing. I’m not saying that Tony Bedard is trying to ape Marz’s writing; he’s just writing a good Kyle story filled with action, humor, and character development that reminds me of that bygone era. And that’s just the way it should be!

You knew that new Sinestro Corps member was going to get his comeuppance in rapid fashion; they didn’t even bother to name him, and a little pissant like that screwing with a member of the Honor Guard? Not going to end well. Sure, the Weaponer surprised him and struck the killing blow, but it’s made quite clear — a “No-Brainer,” if you will — that Kyle would’ve mopped the floor with the little punk.

Speaking of the Weaponer, I see the makings of a great new Green Lantern villain in him. He’s a powerful, prideful man, and boasting about his weapons knowledge isn’t arrogance: it’s a simple fact. The way he used his weapons to literally pick apart Kyle’s constructs was very cool, and the hornet swarm he used to take out Natu was clever. Sure, the white net augmented his power considerably, but he seems like the kind of intelligent foe that could’ve won the battle without it. Aside from this storyarc, I hope we see the Weaponer in many tales to come.

Aside from the excellent story, Green Lantern Corps (Vol. 2) #53 also marks the debut of a new art team: Tyler Kirkham and Matt Banning (who often goes by his “Batt” pseudonym). Ardian Syaf’s pencils will be missed, but given the great art in this issue, Kirkham is more than up to the task in replacing him. Batt is no slouch in the inking department, and his experience inking the hyper-detailed pencilers at Top Cow Productions (Kirkham included!) in the past serves him well here.

One big question: how does Kyle know that Natu is Sinestro’s daughter? Natu has only confided in Iolande about this (in Green Lantern Corps [Vol. 2] #35), and Iolande swore to keep it a secret. We can probably assume that Natu eventually told Kyle herself, since they’ve been dating for a while now, but it would’ve been nice to see some acknowledgment of this on-panel.

Surprisingly, this issue also fell prey to some retcons as far as Sinestro’s original ring is concerned. Fortunately, they’re rather minor, and one is merely a natural extension to a previous retcon. They’re nothing to get upset about, but they do bear mentioning. Allow me to explain.

The first retcon is the visual design of the ring, as it’s now shown to be a simple circular band with no adornment. When Sinestro first appeared wielding the yellow ring way back in Green Lantern (Vol. 2) #9, it looked just like a Green Lantern Corps ring, except that it was yellow. For once, I do not think this new rendition is a case of artistic license. (Perhaps the later appearances of the ring, with a spherical face, was the result of “upgrades” made by either Sinestro or the Qwardians.)

The second retcon is the ring’s composition. The Weaponer explains that it’s made from “the distilled terror of a dying planet.” This follows suit with Geoff Johns’ complete overhaul of Green Lantern history starting with Green Lantern: Rebirth. Yellow rings are now fueled by fear, rather than just being the opposite number to Green Lantern rings; it only makes sense that this retcon applies to Sinestro’s original ring, as well.

First look at the movie power battery

An image of Hal Jordan’s power battery from the upcoming Green Lantern film made its way onto the Web over the weekend:

(image source: Daily BLAM!)

As with the costume reveal earlier this year, fans are fiercely debating the battery’s design. Time for my two cents!

• It’s certainly…alien. Even though a “lantern” is a tool developed by human beings on Earth, this thing makes no bones about the fact that it comes from another world.
• It reminds me of Kyle Rayner’s battery. That was my first thought when I saw the shape and basic design of this thing. It’s not exactly like Kyle’s version in the comics, but the resemblance is obvious, especially with the “seam” bisecting the battery:


If this was at all intentional (the likeness is too close to be a coincidence), it was a very smart move on the filmmakers’ part. Since both Hal and Kyle have legions of fans, putting aspects of both characters on film will only add to fans’ enjoyment of the movie. (It’s likely that Kyle himself will show up in the sequels, anyway.)

• I bet it pulses and flows with energy. We already know that the Green Lantern uniforms will glow accordingly based on the wearer’s actions, and it makes sense that the battery will do something similar. This may only be a still image, but we can see flashes of some sort of energy running through it already. Perhaps it’ll look as though Matrix code is running over its surface.
• Will there be an actual battery prop? I’m not talking about a collectible; we know that’ll happen at some point. I mean in the film itself. The energy pulses I mentioned above will likely be animated through some CGI magic, but it’s also possible that the entire battery itself is just a CGI model pasted into the film. Or, if it’s something that Ryan Reynolds will physically pick up, the object he lifts will likely look nothing like that. It may be just a flat blue (or green!) shape that the CGI model is pasted onto in post-production.

While I’m not drooling over the battery, I certainly have no big problems with it. Its overall design fits in with the rest of the film universe that we’ve seen so far, and that’s the way it should be. The only glaring “error” is that it looks nothing like the Green Lantern symbol, and the entire point of that symbol is that it’s meant to be continuous across the uniform, rings, batteries, and Central Power Battery. Oh well.

Now I’m left wondering how long it will take before this new battery design appears in the Green Lantern comics…

Untold Tales of Blackest Night

Release Date: October 13, 2010
Cover Date: December 2010

Story: Peter Tomasi, Geoff Johns, Adam Schlagman, J.T. Krul, Jeremy Love, Ethan Van Sciver
Pencils: Patrick Gleason, Ivan Reis, Jason Fabok, Ed Benes, Brett Booth, Ethan Van Sciver
Inks: Sandra Hope, Oclair Albert, Ryan Winn, Ed Benes, Brett Booth, Ethan Van Sciver
Cover: Tyler Kirkham and Matt “Batt” Banning
Variant Cover: Ethan Van Sciver

Lyssa Drak fights within the Book of the Black far below Oa. She experiences horror stories from Blackest Night as the Black Lanterns spread across the universe: Ragman costume is torn asunder by the souls of the dead within it, and the Rainbow Raiders commit mass suicide. Animal Man and his family are attacked by extinct animals as Nekron rises, and later on in Coast City, he’s turned into a Black Lantern. After Starfire fights him off, Animal Man briefly becomes a White Lantern as the Entity brings him back to life, and he resolves to work harder than ever. Donna Troy fights a losing battle as she slowly becomes a Black Lantern, but Wonder Girl vows to keep fighting and bring her back. Scarecrow receives his Sinestro Corps ring, and within his own mind, a monstrous vision of Batman as the Headless Horseman finally allows him to experience fear. On Korugar, Karu-Sil has to face the Black Lantern versions of her wolfpack, but is able to defeat them with the assistance of the Green Lantern…who she promptly murders. Lyssa’s visions continue as she whirls about inside the Book, but she’s finally rescued by the entity thief. She recognizes this mysterious figure, and the thief requires her services as a chronicler of the new era it wishes to usher in.

Some of these tales were originally meant to end up in Blackest Night proper, but instead became “deleted scenes” (as explained in this one-shot and Blackest Night Director’s Cut). I’m glad these tales were resurrected (har har), as the outline of the Ragman tale in Director’s Cut piqued my interest. Setting them up as “untold tales” within the Book of the Black was clever, and the ending of this issue leads into Brightest Day, of course. Since the few deleted scenes alone weren’t enough to sell, new stories were added. The bookend story (again with the bad puns!) with Lyssa Drak was good, but the rest are hit or miss.

For example, the Animal Man story was cool as we got to see what was going on in Buddy’s head as he felt other living things die, and his own transformation into a Black Lantern. However, there was a serious continuity problem in this story: the zombified Animal Man immediately turns on Starfire, but then he becomes a White Lantern in a matter of seconds. That transformation did not happen that quickly in Blackest Night #8!

Meanwhile, the various Lantern deputies were about as useful as tits on a bull in Blackest Night, so I was excited to see a story that expanded upon one of them; in this case, the Scarecrow. As neat as the Scarecrow story was, he still didn’t do anything. That fact alone drags it down a bit.

The Donna Troy tale wasn’t too bad, but it didn’t really break any new ground. The Karu-Sil story, however, was easily the best of the bunch outside of the Lyssa Drak stuff. It helped develop the character a bit more, and even though we knew she’d kill the Green Lantern at the end (all the more obvious since he looked ridiculous!), it was still a well-written, emotionally driven story.

Some stories were good, others bad…but all of them had phenomenal artwork. Kudos to each and every artist on Untold Tales of Blackest Night, as they really went all out on their respective tales. All things considered, Untold Tales of Blackest Night is a mixed bag. If you were a fan of Blackest Night, it’s still an invaluable piece to add to your collection. Otherwise, you can probably skip it.