Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #59

Release Date: November 17, 2010
Cover Date: December 2010

Story: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Doug Mahnke
Inks: Christian Alamy, Keith Champagne, and Doug Mahnke
Cover: Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy
1:10 Variant Cover: Gene Ha

Paramedic Shane Thompson is involved in a terrible automobile accident while trying to save his patients, which makes him ripe for possession by Proselyte on behalf of the Indigo Tribe. Meanwhile, Barry Allen confronts Hal Jordan about working with the likes of Atrocitus and Sinestro, but Hal makes excuses for all of his actions to date. On Oa, Salaak reports his findings on Hal to the Guardians, and they agree that someone needs to keep tabs on the rogue Green Lantern. As the Flash continues to chew out his friend, the Indigo Tribe arrives to take custody of Adara. Hal is wary of their motives, as they have Black Hand working for them, but the Tribe tries to take what they want by force. They’re interrupted by the arrival of the entity thief and Parallax, and the fear entity possesses the Flash.

I’m starting to really get sick of the emotional entities, particularly Parallax. This has nothing to do with my dislike of the giant space bug concept itself, but the fact that it just keeps popping up over and over again to possess people. Even if you thought the fear entity was a great idea, you must admit that it’s becoming overused. I keep holding out hope that the entities will be gone for good or at least put on the far back burner after Brightest Day comes to a close, but sometimes I worry.

And whatever happened to the Hector Hammond/Ophidian hybrid? Hal and crew tried to head it off in Las Vegas, but it never showed up. Even when Saint Walker contacted them about Adara, you’d think that an extremely dangerous hybrid such as Hammond/Ophidian would have taken priority.

That aside, I did enjoy this issue. I loved that we got more nuggets of information on the Indigo Tribe; does that come as any surprise, given the title of this blog? It was obvious from the end of Blackest Night #8 that Black Hand was being mind-controlled by the Tribe, but the possibility that the rest of them may be clenched in the iron grip of Proselyte and the indigo power rings is eyebrow-raising, indeed. (Of course, this potentially causes a severe continuity problem when we consider the case of the Atom; he did become a temporary member of the Indigo Tribe at the end of Blackest Night #6, but the ring sure as hell wasn’t controlling him.) The next issue will expound upon this, hopefully; we also have yet to see what Abin Sur’s connection with the Tribe was.

Barry’s argument with Hal was fantastic, as well. For every bullshit excuse Hal came up with to defend his actions, Barry rightfully knocked it down like a house of cards. This honestly surprised me a bit, as Geoff Johns and DC editorial have positioned Hal to be the perfect Green Lantern, but we’re finally seeing him make some serious mistakes and possibly second-guess himself. That happened all of the time before his death, mind you, but all of that was retconned away as the result of Parallax’s influence. Barry does point out that perhaps some lingering Parallax influence is left in Hal, but the fact remains that the space bug is not possessing Hal right now, so he’s completely responsible for his actions. That kind of humanization makes superheroes a hell of a lot more interesting, and we can only hope this will continue in future issues.

Green Lantern Corps (Vol. 2) #54

Release Date: November 17, 2010
Cover Date: January 2011

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

Kyle Rayner and Sinestro get into a violent fistfight, but Sinestro still refuses to help save Soranik Natu from the Weaponer. On Qward, the Weaponer explains the history of his world to Natu, and how the coming of Sinestro led to its eventual downfall. Killing Sinestro will help set things right, and the Weaponer is not above killing Natu in order to push her father’s buttons if necessary. Kyle then shows up on the Weaponer’s doorstep along with some of his friends: John Stewart, Boodikka, Ganthet, and Hannu. He was expecting Sinestro, but the Weaponer gleefully looks forward to facing the group of Green Lanterns in combat.

Believe it or not, the Kyle/Sinestro fight was actually expertly handled. Diehard Kyle fans may be steamed that Sinestro won, but hear me out. Kyle may be an extremely capable warrior, but Sinestro simply has more experience in hand-to-hand combat. There’s nothing wrong with that. Even though Kyle’s probably still pissed at Sinestro for ordering the death of his mother (during the Ion: Guardian of the Universe maxiseries, and leading up to the Sinestro Corps War), he’s shown himself to be the better man by not going down the revenge route. Plus, Natu’s life is hanging in the balance right now, so any thoughts of revenge Kyle might have can certainly wait! Lastly, Hannu being impressed with Kyle’s fisticuffs was a great moment. That’s high praise indeed from a warrior who thinks power rings are for pussies!

In at least two panels, the power rings are drawn incorrectly. Sinestro’s ring is a simple yellow band, and a shot of Natu’s ring in the Weaponer’s device is missing its symbol face also. (A later shot does have the face.) Now, I had thought that the last issue retconned Sinestro’s original ring (which he does not have anymore) to be a featureless band, but now it seems like it was merely an art error, just like the ones in this issue. Tyler Kirkham’s art is great, but this is something he should not have missed.

Speaking of power rings…”fistifcuffs enabled”? Really? Sinestro’s ring needs to tell him that he can fight barehanded? That line was seven shades of awful.

Anyway, on to greener pastures. The Weaponer’s history lesson was great, as it showed the Qwardians to be more than just a one-dimensional people. This was also done for the benefit of newcomers to the Green Lantern comics, as the Qwardians haven’t really done much except function as slaves to the Sinestro Corps in modern times. Even then, we only saw them working in the power ring factories and getting murdered by Arkillo. Fleshing out their history and culture is a wise move, and we can only assume we’ll see more of it amongst the massive battles that are sure to come.

Brightest Day #14

Release Date: November 17, 2010
Cover Date: Late January 2011

Story: Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi
Pencils: Ivan Reis and Joe Prado
Inks: Ivan Reis and Joe Prado
Cover: David Finch
1:10 Variant Cover: Ivan Reis

Boston Brand forces the white ring to take him to Batman, as he’s convinced that the Dark Knight is destined to be the new protector of life. The ring flies off and turns Batman into a White Lantern, but the Entity speaks to Brand through the hero. Brand is shown the mistakes he made before his death, and is finally given a new appreciation for life as he gets the ring back and passionately kisses Dove. Batman has already taken off, though, and is communicating with someone about Max Lord.

Make no mistake: Batman became a White Lantern in this issue solely to sell action figures. The constant barrage of various Lanternized heroes and villains in the Green Lantern, Blackest Nigh,t and Brightest Day action figure lines have been extremely popular, and this is just another one to add to DC Direct’s bottom line. There was no in-story rationale for Batman’s transformation whatsoever, and it actually made no sense for two reasons. One: you need to die and be resurrected in order to become a White Lantern, and Batman has not done that (as he clearly stated within the issue!). Two: since when does the Entity need a host in order to communicate with Brand? It’s always talked to him through the ring (and in one case, through the White Lantern power battery), so there’s no need for it to possess someone else just to have a chat. The worst part of this whole thing is that if DC Direct just produced a random White Lantern Batman figure by itself, without any comic book apperances…collectors would buy it anyway. You don’t need to shoehorn a variation of a character into a story to sell it!

Let’s move on. Remember the amnesia that I mentioned? There is what appears to be a partial explanation here, though it’s still quite a stretch. Brand mentions that the Entity resurrected the twelve characters at the physical peak of their lives. Perhaps this means that they are simply younger versions of themselves, which would certainly apply when you look at the physical appearance of Hawk and Firestorm. Of course, everyone else retained their memories, so there’s still that gaping plot hole.

Brightest Day #14 was okay overall, but the cheesy White Lantern Batman ruined an otherwise good issue. That whole sequence left a sour taste in my mouth. The only neat bit of intrigue was Batman’s interest in the Lord case, as he was not around when Lord mindwiped everyone. Of course, this story will unfold in Justice League: Generation Lost instead of Brightest Day proper, so even that is a bit of a downer.

The Green Lantern film trailer

At long last, the first full Green Lantern movie trailer has been released. If you haven’t seen it yet…then what are you waiting for?! Go watch it now, then come back here! I’ll wait.

Hi, welcome back. Now that we’ve all seen the trailer, it’s time for me to chime in with my random thoughts:

• Ryan Reynolds channeling old-school Hal Jordan. Some fans had worried that Reynolds’ previous comedy roles would influence his portrayal of Hal the wrong way, with far too many jokes and goofing around. Hal does make jokes in the trailer, but it doesn’t seem out of character. In fact, Hal’s sense of humor in the film is far better than it is in the current comics; in the monthly series, Hal’s one-liners and “comedic” dialogue are forced, painful, and just not funny at all. The movie may be loosely based on the Geoff Johns Green Lantern universe, but Reynolds evokes the Hal of the classic era of Green Lantern comics in that his humor is much more natural.
• The costume is a bit more detailed…and comes from the heart? As opposed to the early look we saw over the summer, it’s very clear that the movie Green Lantern uniform has clearly defined green and black sections. Strangely, though, when the costume is “activated” it begins and spreads out from Hal’s chest, not his ring. This doesn’t make any sense, since the ring is what generates the costume in the first place! I’m guessing it’s just a marketing thing to get audiences to really focus on the Green Lantern symbol. It’s a minor nit, though, and the costume design still looks pretty good.
• Sock it to Oa. There’s some great scenes where Hal is first summoned to Oa, and he looks surprised and terrified at the same time as he’s literally yanked through space by his ring. The planet itself looks fantastic, even from the brief shots shown in the trailer. I can only imagine how stellar (no pun intended) Oa will look in 3D. And yes, I loved the cameos by Kilowog, Tomar-Re, and Sinestro. Speaking of whom…
• Mark Strong makes a perfect Sinestro. This is based on visual aesthetics alone, as Sinestro does not speak or do much of anything in the trailer except float around and look grumpy. The look of the character is dead-the-fuck-on, right down to his arrogant gaze. I’m sure Strong’s performance in the film itself will be just as good, as he’s a highly capable actor. (His villains in Sherlock Holmes and Kick-Ass sold me.)
• Some of the CGI doesn’t look so hot. There’s a ton of special effects work in a movie like this, and while most of what we see in the trailer looks great, some of the CGI — specifically, the costume — isn’t up to par. The costume design does look good, but the CGI suit seen in the trailer just looks a bit “fake,” especially in the scene where Hal is showing off his new garb to Tom Kamalku. Apparently, the powers-that-be at DC Comics have repeatedly said that it’s a work in progress, which is commonplace for films featuring a lot of computer-generated imagery. Hopefully it’ll be cleaned up for the next trailer (and definitely for the film’s release next summer).

I could go on and on, but I think I’ve hit the high points. Tag, you’re it: what did you think of the trailer?

Duck Dodgers: “The Green Loontern”

Back in 2003, the venerable Green Lantern Corps welcomed its newest member: Daffy Duck.

No joke.

Perhaps I should elaborate: in a first season episode of the television series Duck Dodgers, the titular hero (“played” by Daffy Duck, of course) did indeed become the latest in a long line of Green Lanterns. I was familiar with the Duck Dodgers television show before this aired, but I had never gotten around to watching it. Of course, once I heard there was going to be a Green Lantern-centric episode, I made it a point to plop down in front of the boob tube to check it out. I’m glad I did, as “The Green Loontern” was fucking hilarious! And now, seven years later, I’m finally doing a writeup on the episode. The idea to review this episode came to me out of nowhere; I was sitting on the toilet dropping a deuce, thinking of what to post…and lo and behold, “The Green Loontern” just popped in there.

So, do you want to know how a wisecracking Earth duck could have become a Green Lantern? Read on…

In the 24½ century, interplanetary hero Duck Dodgers picks up his laundry from the cleaners, but accidentally gets someone else’s clothes: a Green Lantern uniform, complete with power ring. He quickly realizes what the ring is capable of, and manages to abuse his newfound powers in no time. Before he gets into too much trouble, he’s called to Oa to defend it against Sinestro’s robot army. With only a few Green Lanterns left, they track down Sinestro’s secret headquarters and send Dodgers in on an infiltration mission. Dodgers gets captured, of course, and Sinestro reveals to him his master plan: he’s built an antimatter vortex generator that will reshape the universe according to his whim, and he’s using the captive Green Lanterns as a power source. Dodgers tries to trick Sinestro by claiming he’ll join him, but the duck ends up annoying the piss out of the villain. As a last-ditch effort, Dodgers wakes the comatose captives, and the timely arrival of Kilowog, Katma Tui, and Ch’p puts an end to Sinestro’s nefarious plans. Shortly thereafter, the rightful owner of Dodgers’ ring and uniform shows up: Hal Jordan, who had somehow received the wrong clothes from the cleaners. The Corps heads back to Oa, but Dodgers is actually left behind in the ruins of the fortress.

Naturally, 99% of the comedy in “The Green Loontern” comes from Dodgers. His monologues, actions, and sarcasm in this episode are hysterical; for example, he uses his power ring to give the Cadet a wedgie, refers to Ganthet as “Papa Smurf,” mangles the Green Lantern Corps Oath, and comments on Sinestro’s uncanny resemblance to the Devil (which the villain reluctantly agrees with). And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as “The Green Loontern” is riddled with great humor.

There’s boatloads of comic book and pop culture references in this episode, but here’s a few of my favorites:

• One of Sinestro’s robots responds to his orders with “By your command.” (This is a catchphrase of the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica.)
• When Dodgers is sneaking into Sinestro’s fortress, a robot declares “Lowering shield in Red Sector A.” (The progressive rock trio Rush has a song called “Red Sector A.”)
• Dodgers can’t understand Ch’p's screeching complaints, and refers to him as “Alvin.” (From Alvin and the Chipmunks. You knew that already, I hope.)

All of the Green Lanterns seen in this episode did appear in the comics, though some were a bit visually different due to the show’s art style. Aside from Kilowog, Katma Tui, and Ch’p (who all had starring roles), we saw Guy Gardner, John Stewart, Chaselon, Boodikka, Salaak, Tomar-Re, and many more. (Why no Kyle Rayner? Because this was clearly meant to be the “classic” Corps of the 1980s. Katma Tui was still alive, fer crissakes!)

While the Looney Tunes characters’ voices are spot on, it’s the guest stars that deserve special mention. John de Lancie, who is famous for playing Q on Star Trek: The Next Generation, does a wonderful job as Sinestro. He’s simultaneously serious, dangerous, and over the top. Kevin Smith was chosen to voice Hal Jordan simply due to his star power, but I think the producers could’ve made a better selection. Smith’s voice just doesn’t “fit” the character.

“The Green Loontern” may not be a dark, serious Green Lantern story that too many fans demand as the standard nowadays, but that doesn’t make it any less great. It’s hilarious, filled with tons of Green Lantern comic book references, and features a unique art style for our favorite Corpsmen. Put simply, if you’re a Green Lantern fan, track this bad boy down and give it a watch. You won’t be disappointed. Oh, and the theme song to Duck Dodgers is sung by Tom Jones. What more reason do you need to watch it?

(Want to see “The Green Loontern” for yourself? Well, you’re in luck. The episode is included as a bonus feature on the Green Lantern: First Flight DVD and Blu-ray Disc, so it’s incredibly easy to find.)