So What's All THIS About Green Lantern Being Gay? Not That There's Anything Wrong With That...

Well, this whole thing was a big hullabaloo about nuthin'.  I made a prediction in my last blog entry, based on the words coming from the DC Comics publicity machine that a "male" character who is a "major icon" was going to be reinvented as "gay" for the New 52-verse wherein DC rebooted their entire comics universe of comic books in September 2011.  Where my guess was "The Atom" as the closest thing to a "male" who's a "major icon" who had not been already established in the New 52-verse as straight.  Even then I felt I was stretching the "major" aspect of those clues with the Atom, but he has been a member of the Justice League since issue #14 of the series way back to the '60s.  He also appeared in the SUPER FRIENDS  a few times in the 70s and on the more recent JUSTICE LEAGUE cartoon series.  As the premiere size-changing super-hero of the Justice League, he's pretty iconic.  Major?  Well....I was giving DC grace on that.  As a secondary guess, if DC had a different concept of "major icon" than I, then I found myself gravitating towards Capt. Atom -- although, a much bigger stretch, I kind of thought DC might see the archetypal inspiration for WATCHMEN'S Dr. Manhattan as "iconic."

I was wrong on all counts.  DC comics editorial and publicity machine have an entirely different concept of what constitutes a "major icon."  I'm tempted to just laugh because it's really kind of ridiculous.  Get ready....in case you haven't seen the network news coverage from CNN (owned by the same company that owns DC Comics, natch) -- it is......GREEN LANTERN!

Oh my god! Green Lantern? Really?

No.


Not really.


Well....not who you think they mean.

What only serious comic books geeks already knew (until last summer probably), the Green Lantern isn't just one character, he is a bunch of characters.  The recent Green Lantern movie starring Ryan Reynolds introduced to the masses the concept of the Green Lantern Corps, plus a couple of fully-animated DVD features, and currently airing cartoon series.  These all feature the character of test pilot, Hal Jordan, as the iconic Green Lantern and the various other Green Lanterns as supporting characters.

Within the comics world, since 1958 when the Hal Jordan version of Green Lantern appeared, there have been quite a few human beings who have joined the Green Lantern Corps.  There is John Stewart, Guy Gardner, and Kyle Rayner.  For racial diversity, the African-American John Stewart version of Green Lantern was the only version featured in the JUSTICE LEAGUE/UNLIMITED cartoon series, and the Kyle Rayner version appeared as the only Green Lantern in a single episode of SUPERMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES.  Other than that, Hal Jordan has been the only version of the character really marketed to the masses and is easily the face that most people associate with the Green Lantern persona.

Lesser known in this history of the character is the character of Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern, as created by cartoonist Mart Nodell, was the wielder of a magic green ring and who first appeared on newsstands in ALL-AMERICAN COMICS #16 (1940).  His last "golden age" appearance was in ALL-STAR COMICS #52 (1951).  This character disappeared out of the collective consciousness of the public and 7 years later, the Hal Jordan version of Green Lantern (reimagined completely) appeared with his science-fiction based ring and has been the iconic version of the Green Lantern ever since.  Alan Scott reappeared in comics again in the 60s and off-and-on throughout the last 4 decades, but always as either the Green Lantern of a parallel Earth (called Earth 2) or later, after a major continuity jumble, as a redundant and past-retirement-age elderly Green Lantern who has no direct ties to the Green Lantern Corps.

So, does this mean that DC Comics was progressive enough to have a "gay" super-hero all the way back to 1940.  No, it does not.

As most readers of this blog will know, DC Comics did another massive continuity jumble back in September 2011 resulting in a rebooted universe of characters they now market as "The New 52."  And within the New 52, there is a new ongoing comic book called EARTH 2 in which writer James Robinson has reimagined the entire concept of the Earth 2 parallel world for the New 52.  In the New 52, the world called Earth 2 is not a world in which the comics of the 1940s actually happened, it is a modern parallel to our own Earth but where a battle 5 years ago ended with the deaths of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.  That power vacuum leads to the rise of a whole new and different generation of young heroes and this new 20-something Alan Scott, who will become the Green Lantern of Earth 2 this month, is gay.   I really never even considered any characters on "Earth 2" (DC's alternate universe of same-named heroes) to be iconic.  They are redundancies.  You can tell good stories about them, but they really only exist as redundancies.

Most importantly, this is not the Alan Scott who first appeared in 1940.

I am not quite sure by what leaps of logic the DC editorial and publicity machine can, with a straight face, identify a brand-new version of a character with absolutely none of the previous version's history beyond a name and a hair color as a "major icon."  At best, the original character from the '40s is the inspiration for the iconic version of the character (Hal Jordan), but even in the '40s he was in the realm of the lesser-knowns.  In the '40s, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman,  and Capt. Marvel would be the major icons.

So, the new Alan Scott, Green Lantern turns out to be gay in the reimagined Earth 2 of the New 52.  That's fine.  They want to diversify the line.  That's fine.  Don't bullshit me with the major icon thing and don't try to drum up media coverage under the misleading header of "Green Lantern is Gay" and that sort of thing.  It's all just silly and DC never surprises me by actions like this that have no real impact.  Making a major character gay would be somewhat dramatic.  Making an alternate version of a character in a parallel world gay is essentially meaningless.



Writer, James Robinson, gave some insight on his thinking process in a recent interview where he pointed out that in the old continuity, the elderly (and straight) Alan Scott had previously fathered a daughter (Jade) and a son (Obsidian).  In that old continuity, Obsidian was gay.  Since Robinson was going to make these new versions of the characters much younger and at the start of their super-hero careers; there was no place for Jade and Obsidian, so he decided to let Scott himself fill that role.  Robinson has a pattern in his comic book writing of nearly always including an "out" gay character, so it makes sense that he would look for who might fit that bill in this new EARTH 2 series.  And, in truth, since he of any of the writers at DC seems to understand the latitude available when reimagining a world from the ground up, he is probably the best suited for handling this type of characterization with respect and without exploitation.  However, he is doing it under the guiding hand of the editorial direction of Dan Didio who approaches the world of comic book marketing like a carnival barker, so it is no real surprise that Robinson's characterization choice became a media circus.

All that being said (and this is what will likely piss off friends and enemies both)....I have a conceptual problem purely from an intellectual standpoint.  From my own research and reading and observation of the human condition, I take the position that human sexuality is a continuum and not a bright line.  I don't believe anyone is actually born straight or gay outright....although I admit there is likely a genetic propensity that makes it more likely one or the other.  Sexuality is a convoluted mix of genetics, environment, and sexual imprinting.  And even more than that, sexuality involves choice and not just attraction.  We aren't just animals with a determinative direction that we can't control.  It's why there is such a thing as situational homosexuality -- most notably within prisons by otherwise heterosexual men and women who become exlusively homosexual until out of prison and then revert back.  There are experimenters who toy with one side or the other, but eventually settle exclusively on  one.  There are people who simply don't have a sex life of any kind and choose to dive into the gay experience because they want the intimacy of sex and that lifestyle is more open to accept them.  There are people who find themselves with no real interest in sex at all -- hetero or homo.  There are some who are simply addicted to sex and don't care who or what gender so long as they are gratified.  It's not always easy to mark the dividing line.  The whole debate over what is "normal" and "abnormal" is obfuscatory.  No form of sexuality is objectively "normal", however heterosexuality is objectively  "normative".  They are different words and connote different things.  "Normal" carries with it a judgment based on one's moral values.  "Normative" is just an objective recognition of the way the vast majority function. If homosexuality had been "normative" then the human race would have died out millennia ago.  Homosexuality, by necessity, will always be nonnormative.  But that itself is not a moral declaration and shouldn't be taken as one.


Sexuality is complicated and it's a lot more than just simply "I was born this way", regardless of the efforts by various political and activist groups who vociferously demand validation for their nonnormative lifestyle choices (which is nobody else's business so why demand it?).  My point of view is very simply that I am not going to impose my own morality on anyone else when it comes to something as personal and intimate as their sexuality.  That is between themselves, their own consciences, and their philosophical/religious values.

Now that I've said that, my only problem with the choice to make the new version of Alan Scott into a homosexual is simply that I think it smacks of tokenism at this point -- "Let's see....who can I make gay????" -- that sort of thing.  By using the name "Alan Scott" there is an intention to evoke some sense of history to the character that ties him back to the version from the previous continuity.  For some reason, that to me, almost belittles his sexuality choice a bit to think it can be changed so matter-of-factly.  I guess that more than anything bothers me from an intellectual standpoint.  I can separate the 2 characters well enough in my own mind to have no problem at all enjoying EARTH 2 and Robinson's excellent storytelling abilities.  But I also know that this whole thing is going to get muddled and confused in the public's mind and give off a wrong-headed message that something as intensely personal as our own sexual identity can be switched around as easily as a couple of keystrokes.

Worst of all, whenever James Robinson leaves the EARTH 2 series and stops writing the character, I have absolutely zero confidence in whoever succeeds him that they won't turn the new Alan Scott character into an embarrassing gay caricature.  The best we comic readers can do is hope Robinson stays in the writing seat for a good long time.

Out of the Closet and into the Phonebooth: DC gay-ifies a "major icon" in June

As reported all over the comics and mainstream media the last few days, DC Comics is planning in June to reveal one of their "major iconic" characters as gay.  You can read the ABC News report here.

It's nothing new for comics to feature gay characters, but DC wants everyone to believe this is something groundbreaking.  We are still within the first year of their linewide relaunch, known as the "New 52", which asserted as one of the reasons for relaunching an express intention to "diversify" their stable of characters.  However, other than shoehorning the African-American character, Cyborg, into the Justice League rather than the Teen Titans (where he had been introduced and was a longtime member), the major iconic characters have all stayed pretty much like they always have:  white and straight.  However, DC did make efforts to prop up some of the second and third tier characters and give them a different racial or sexual spin more reflective of the modern world.  The top tier are all still mired in their 1940s roots regardless of their updated costumes or attitudes.

Last summer, I pointed out on this blog that DC had quite an opportunity here of giving themselves a clean slate so that they could reintroduce a more diverse group of primary players.  My suggestion was to take the Billy Batson/Captain Marvel character and just make him black. I also thought Barry Allen/Flash was a great opportunity to reimagine with an ethnic bent of some sort.  We all kind of knew Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern were going to stay the way they were because of the various film and tv licenses wrapped up with them.  But as far as I'm concerned, everyone else was fair game for a major makeover.


In my opinion, DC wussed out.  But that's their call.  At least they seem to be more fully realizing the potential of a clean slate with the new EARTH 2 comic (which I love).

I am curious who they are going to "out" next month in their comics.  If not for those pesky new "Non Disclosure Agreements" that DC gets everyone to sign now, we would probably already have the news fully leaked out.  Instead, we all get to speculate.  So, what do we know?  Assuming veracity from those who've spoken on record, we know this much:

(1) It's a male.
(2) It's a "major iconic" character (which means no more second banana types like The Question, Voodoo, or Batwoman)
(3) It's either someone who has not had a lot of focus as a character yet or not been reintroduced yet for the New 52.

When I think "major iconic" DC male characters, that puts a specific image in my head that is limited to these guys:
SUPERMAN, BATMAN, GREEN LANTERN, FLASH, GREEN ARROW, HAWKMAN, ATOM, CAPTAIN MARVEL/SHAZAM, PLASTIC MAN, AQUAMAN, MARTIAN MANHUNTER

However, it is possible that DC might have a different definition of "major iconic".  I could see them also include these guys:

BOOSTER GOLD, BLUE BEETLE, MR. TERRIFIC, CAPT. ATOM, FIRESTORM, ANY OF THE VARIOUS ROBINS, ANY OF THE VARIOUS OTHER GREEN LANTERNS, ANY OF THE LEGION OF THE SUPER-HEROES OR TITANS.


We can rule out Superman, Batman, Flash, and Aquaman.  Each of them have a love, temptation, or wife that is female. Green Arrow has been shown in the New 52 in a major hetero sex scene with multiple women, so we can probably remove him from consideration. Shazam too.  I don't think they want to deal with underage teens turning into adult gay super-heroes. That might make the mainstream a bit uncomfortable, so we'll take him out of consideration. Hal Jordan has been shown to be pretty straight too, so Green Lantern is out of consideration.

This leaves us with Hawkman, Atom, Plastic Man or Martian Manhunter if we are talking actual "major icons".  Since Hawkman has already been headlining his own title in the New 52, I don't think he qualifies under the limited info we have been given.  Martian Manhunter has been featured in the STORMWATCH title, but that series features the gay Superman and Batman analogues, Apollo and Midnighter, already so I just don't see DC opening the door for a gay trifecta so J'onn gets a sexual reprieve I think (plus the fact that he's a shape-changing alien technically means he is probably asexual but we won't get into that right now).

This leaves us with a toss-up between Plastic Man and Atom.  Plastic Man is just too silly. I don't think DC wants to take this marketing opportunity to make their new gay character the quite insane and slapsticky Plas.

So...my money right now is on THE ATOM.  I don't even know who they have under the mask in the New 52, but regardless of who it is, it makes the most sense (and thus, the least likely to be overly controversial) to make the Atom gay.  He's a positive role model. He's smart, clever, and iconic with tons of potential for a TV series or film with modern f/x.  The worst the gay community and DC might have to deal with would be lame jokes about him only being "six inches."

COME JUNE, I PREDICT

THE "GAY" CHARACTER WILL BE THE ATOM.  

I'll be curious to see if I'm correct or if they surprise me.

Now, to hedge my bets and lower my opinion of DC's commitment to truly being bold, what if they wuss out once again and go to the secondary characters instead?  I don't think it will be Blue Beetle or Mr. Terrific.  Both of them are already representative of different ethnicities. Why would DC waste their diversification by doubling up again? They've already done it with The Question, Voodoo, and Batwoman. I don't think they will.  It could be Firestorm, but since the character combines 2 characters into one, I just don't think it counts and Firestorm is far from a major icon.  It could be one of the Robins.  However, I don't think they would do it simply because of the bad press over the years about Batman and Robin as a gay fantasy.  I think DC doesn't want to step in that pile of manure. So, none of them are likely.

What about John Stewart, Guy Gardner, or Kyle Rayner (3 other male Earth-based Green Lanterns)?  I've read some online speculation that Gardner is the one.  If DC does that, I think it will be insulting to the gay community rather than a positive move.  Gardner is an asshole.  That's his character.  While it is true that oftentimes a repressed homosexual is aggressively homophobic as a reaction to his desires.  However, that's really not been who Gardner was in the past (and I would expect him to be the same in the New 52) where he may act like a jerk, but when it comes to doing the right thing he would step up to the plate.  I could see DC do this, but I think it could backfire on them because I don't think the gay community would want Gardner on their team.

Honestly.

John Stewart? Highly unlikely and has a history of deep love for women. Kyle Rayner? A definite possibility as far as I'm concerned.  He's young and artistic. Prior to the New 52, he did have a love of his life, but in the New 52? I could see DC going this route to distinguish him even more from the other GLs.

If it's any of the Legion of Super-Heroes or Teen Titans, then it's a total fake-out on DC's part.  None of those characters rise to the level of "major iconic" status unless you are a completely disingenuous corporate mouthpiece.

Which leaves me with CAPT. ATOM as my number one pick

from the secondary characters that DC might try to convince me are "major icons."

Just a few days to weeks to find out.  But it is definitely another interesting bit of widespread Internet speculation.

Asking the Most Vexing Question of Our Time!

Doodles & Sketchifications

Sometimes when I'm just sitting around waiting for things, like computer programs to finish running, I tend to doodle and sketch.  Recently, while digging around trying to find my sketches for my original character "Capt. Kaboom" (fodder for a future blog), I came across some random sketches and I'm tossing them up here for posterity.  

First up is "Red Lantern."  I did this years before DC actually introduced the "Red Lantern" to their GREEN LANTERN comics.  What was in my mind was giving modern teen sidekicks to some characters who had never had sidekicks.  GL had never had a sidekick and I just started thinking along the lines of Green Arrow and Speedy with the green/red costume compliment.  And voila'.  My own Red Lantern.

This is little more than just a doodle, but it's me trying to visualize Phileas Fogg from the Jules Verne AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS novel.

The next 4 were all done in one session of doodle-sketches of the Justice Society characters, Flash, Atom, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman.

GREEN LANTERN (New 52) #1 Reviewed!

GREEN LANTERN #1
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artists: Doug Mahnke (pencils) & Christian Alamy (inks)
Publisher: DC Comics

“This ring chose you to once again become a member of the Green Lantern Corps.  After your betrayal, most would call that act heresy.  But we do not.  We see this for what it truly is.  A chance at redemption.” – Guardian to Sinestro

I really wanted to like this one.  For years, Geoff Johns was the guy I could depend on to resonate with me as a reader.  He really “got” Hal and Green Lantern as far as I was concerned. I was not only on board with his introduction of the other colored lanterns, I thought (and still do) it was simplistically brilliant and opened up avenues for stories in the longterm. However...somewhere between the “Blackest Night” event and now, he lost me. By the time of the “War of the Lanterns” storyline, I realized I had no idea what was even going on anymore with the Lanterns, or Hal, and worst of all...I didn't care anymore.

And I stopped buying GREEN LANTERN.

Yes...I stopped buying GREEN LANTERN.


I've been pretty vocal in my cynical distaste over the reboot-that's-not-really-a-reboot of the DC line, but I've really tried to keep my criticism focused on the editorial and corporate side and give the creative talent their due.  I never want to just crap wholesale on talent who are working, earning a living, and giving their best to try and produce quality stories within the confines of the editorial constraints.  Lots of people are really enjoying the new DC books overall.  At this point, I've only read 2 of them, the JUSTICE LEAGUE and GREEN LANTERN.  Both of them written by Geoff Johns. 
GREEN LANTERN is a better single issue comic book than Johns' JUSTICE LEAGUE.

I can at least say that much.  It doesn't feel like the first issue of a comic, it just feels like the first part of a story in an already ongoing series.  So, I would expect that any newbies who come along will feel mildly out of the loop, but I expect that most longtime comics readers understand how the game is played and will feel like they get all they need to know to follow the story.
Sinestro has become the most interesting character in the entire library of GREEN LANTERN characters...including Hal Jordan himself, so the idea of having Sinestro forced against his will to become the Green Lantern for our Space Sector again and stripping Hal of the ring is actually a welcome change.  Most especially welcome given the fact that some sort of brain aneurysm has apparently occurred in Hal somewhere between GL: REBIRTH, the previous GL #1 and this GL #1 (and we might as well throw JL #1 in there too) and given him brain damage.  The Hal in this comic book is a total idiot. 

No.  I take that back. 

What is stupider than an idiot, but not quite to the level of actually being mentally challenged?  Sub-moronic perhaps? 

I won't even go into it in this review, but the “action” sequence that Johns puts Hal through is just unbearably stupid.  I think it's intended to be funny, but it's really just stupid and paints our “hero” in an especially....stupid (God, I wish I could come up with a better word) light.  Then the exchange between Hal and Carol where he is so incredibly dense and uncouth that even an uncouth lout would be embarrassed?  I really cannot believe what I'm reading.  But, thankfully, we don't get a full-on Trademarked Johns “decapitation”...but we do get a NEAR decapitation of a Sinestro Corps member by Sinestro himself.  I guess that satisfies our decapitation quota for this GL comic. 

The art is competent, but not dynamic.  There's a stiffness to Mahnke's work on GL that has just never rung my bell like, say, the exciting work of Ivan Reis or Carlos Pacheco.  Because of that, the art unfortunately doesn't step in and win me over when the writing is lacking.  I'm starting to think that top-tier artistic storytellers collaborate with Johns to create great works, but when Johns is paired with a merely good, but lackluster, artist that the flaws in his writing start to weigh it down.

On its own, this is not necessarily a bad comic.  When Sinestro is on the scene, I'd give it a B+.  Every time Hal shows up, however, it stinks down into the C- and D range.  If you are a Sinestro fan and you hate Hal Jordan, this is the book for you.  I hope they keep Sinestro as Green Lantern and forget about Hal at this rate.

Look for this and other reviews tomorrow @AICN Comics!

What SHOULD have been in the DC Relaunch: METAMORPHO: THE ELEMENT MAN

As a, sort of, tribute to the passing of the old DC Comics 2.0 and ushering in of the DC Comics 3.0, a popular blog concept has been making the rounds.  I'm talking about the "DC Fifty-TOO!" blog where cartoonist Jon Morris picked the mind and talents of 52 artists out there to "imagine" their dream title that is noticeably missing from the new DC Comics relaunch of their line with 52 new titles. 

I am not a participant in Morris's DC Fifty-TOO, but I loved the idea and on another website I participate on occasionally a smaller group of us decided to do our OWN cover designs and concepts.  I chose "METAMORPHO: THE ELEMENT MAN."  Probably second only to Green Lantern in terms of my hierarchy of favorite DC heroes (though the way DC has been portraying GL recently, I may be moving Metamorpho to the number 1 spot). 

This is my cover art and the series  concept I envision is that Metamorpho is sort of a type of "Alchemical Messiah" empowered by the Orb of Ra. He's torn between the thrill of power and adventure versus the vanity of the loss of his humanity and looks. Java, of course, is jealously in love with Sapphire who is still in love with Rex in spite of what has happened to him. Sapphire is still heiress to the Stagg empire but, in an attempt to make her way out of the shadow of her father, became an NBI agent. She still functions as an at-large agent working with international agencies on behalf of the U.S. in investigating and taking down global threats. She thinks she employs Java as her own personal bodyguard and assistant. But in truth, Java is controlled by Sapphire's sinister father, Simon, who has his own secret agenda in play. What role the fugitive Dr. Will Magnus and his mysterious "Metal Men" play in this drama is unknown, but Doc Magnus seems particularly interested in this "Metamorpho."

GREEN LANTERN: A Film Review

GREEN LANTERN

Release Date: June 17, 2011

Director: Martin Campbell

Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Mark Strong, Peter Sarsgaard

Website: http://greenlanternmovie.warnerbros.com/

It's very different coming into a GREEN LANTERN movie than, say, THOR or GREEN HORNET--both comic-related movies this year that I've enjoyed. GREEN HORNET is one I went into with such low expectations and limited knowledge of that I had no preconceptions. As a result, I was able to watch it strictly on its own merits and as such, it worked and had me laughing from start to finish. THOR was quite different. There's a comic mythology at work there and visual design from Jack Kirby that hits me deep within and I was pleasantly pleased by the way that film unfolded as it's own story but also as just another set-up chapter in the Marvel Movie-verse rolling towards the big AVENGERS movie next year.

Now we have GREEN LANTERN. The Green Lantern as a concept has been a part of the comic book pantheon of heroes since 1940 when the original version (Alan Scott) found his magic ring, dressed up like a Douglas Fairbanks Jr. swashbuckler, and devoted himself to combating evil wherever he found it. He spoke his solemn oath as he charged his power ring on the magic lantern:

...and I shall shed my light over dark evil.

For the dark things cannot stand the light,

The light of the Green Lantern!

That version of the Green Lantern lasted until 1951 and then he just...disappeared.

Eight years later, in 1959, DC Comics dug the concept out of mothballs and reimagined the "magic" ring with science-fiction instead and came up with the idea of fearless test-pilot Hal Jordan (thinly modeled on Chuck Yeager) being chosen by a dying alien to receive a fantastic ring powered by his will, limited only by the color yellow (originally because of an "impurity" in the ring but later explained that yellow is the power spectrum of "fear"). The idea was unique to the super-hero genre in that "Green Lantern" was not unique, he was one of 3600 other alien "Green Lanterns", a universal police force that patrols the billions of worlds and combat the greatest of evils throughout all creation.

Which brings us to the film adaptation.

Overall, it is a film that glimpses greatness but always seems to be afraid to achieve it. It's almost like the film itself is metaphorically represented in the opening Earth-bound sequence in which brash pilot Hal Jordan nearly pulls off an impossible feat but chokes at the last minute and bails out of his plane, leaving the plane spiraling down into an expensive explosion.

Now, I'm not saying the movie is an explosive wreck. What I am saying is that I almost think the director choked at some point.

The film crams almost too much into this one film and as a result, the film never feels fully complete. But it's still a fun ride from beginning to end. Any real disappointment is just that it felt like it could have been more. The individual sequences are good, and some are great. It was the weaving them together into a single story that got iffy at times.

In terms of structure, the story begins with a lengthy narration, with visual effects, from Tomar Re detailing the history of the Green Lantern Corps and what Parallax is. Then it jumps to Earth so we can set up a few aspects of who Hal Jordan is. Hal is directionless, reckless, a bit foolhardy, but also an amazing pilot. We learn he is haunted by seeing his father die in front of him in a horrible fiery explosion. We learn he has a bit of a rough sibling relationship with his brother but a close relationship with his nephew. And we learn he has a lifelong complicated relationship with Carol Ferris, the daughter of his employer, Carl Ferris of Ferris Aircraft.

In the comics, Carol is not a pilot but an executive at Ferris Aircraft. In the film, they merge Carol with the more current character of "Cowgirl" who is one of Hal's fellow pilots. This way, Hal (Highball) and Carol (Saphire) can get some action sequencing in while also demonstrating that they know way too much about each other to be "just" co-workers.

I really was a bit shocked when Blake Lively first came on the scene as Carol because it seemed like she was extraordinarily stiff and bland. I will say that as the movie went on, it seemed like she loosened up and I came to like her more by the end. In fact, the sequence that sort of spoofs the sequence from the SUPERMAN movie where Superman comes to visit Lois on the balcony was hilarious and received a huge reaction from the audience. It hit all the right notes.

The sequence where Hal meets Abin Sur, the alien, and receives the ring was outstanding and had resonance. The first time he uses the ring and conjures up that huge fist to take out the three guys beating him up. That was great. The trip to Oa was an amazing visual treat that pulled me right in. I wanted more on Oa. Sinestro, Kilowog, Tomar Re, and the Guardians were all fantastically visualized. Mark Strong's Sinestro commanded the screen whenever he was on it.

However, it seemed to me as if the director, Martin Campbell, was almost afraid to dwell too long on Oa. Branagh really let us take in and relax within the hallowed halls of Asgard. I wanted to lose myself in Oa too, but Campbell wouldn't allow that. In fact, he burned through Hal's "training" by Kilowog in just a couple of minutes and then let Hal get his ass handed to him by Sinestro -- one in a long line of humbling moments for Hal that help prod him through his character arc of maturation, responsibility, and self-less heroism. I am sure the same criticism that some had of THOR as to how quickly his transformation from selfish-boy to self-less hero occurred will also be painted on to the criticisms of this film. It's a legitimate criticism, but not a heavily-weighted one because this is a super-hero film and the transformation is going to happen. It's a conceit of the genre. You either accept it or not. I accept it as a means to an end. That end being Hal fully in charge of his powers and coming up with a plan to accomplish the impossible.

Which is exactly what he does.

Criticize it all you want, but everything was set in place very well by the director to make sure that there were very few plot holes. You may not like how he filled them in, but the holes are few if any.

My feelings about Oa and the other Green Lanterns is that they really should have gone with an almost entirely Earth-based story (with just a glimpse of the bigger picture at the end as a tease for a second film) or downplayed Earth altogether and made this movie more about Hal and his extended training and inculcation into the Green Lantern Corps. Instead, we have a movie unsure about which way to go with all of that and it makes it all seem a bit uneven in terms of storytelling.

The parallel origin arc was excellent. The way Campbell cut back and forth between Hector Hammond's descent into villainy and Hal Jordan's ascent into super-heroism was perfect. In fact, Hector was such a sad character that the audience feels no malice toward him. The setup for him and Peter Sarsgsard's performance won everyone's empathy and made him a very sympathetic villain. Sinestro's arc was also excellent as the audience sees a stern, but basically good soldier, not corrupted BY fear but by the power to CONTROL fear. He also goes from outright distaste and disgust in reaction to Hal to a grudging respect teetering on the brink of outright jealousy.

Ultimately, the bottom line for me really has to do with how I felt about Hal once he was up and fully going with his ring and costume. I have absolutely no complaints there. The costume was amazing. It's heart-stopping for me to see it so perfectly visualized and look so real and believable. I couldn't take my eyes off of it, soaking in how the power just seemed to be pulsing through it at all times. The costume itself reflected Hal's emotions, which makes sense in the mythology of the Green Lantern Corps where the different colors are reflections of emotional states.

I loved the way his imagination used the ring to construct things. His first constructive use after his training on Oa had the audience I was with whooping and laughing through the whole sequence. The manner in which he confronted and defeated the Parallax entity was brilliantly simplistic and consistent with the reckless heroism he had demonstrated earlier. And the appearance of the other Green Lanterns who are a bit dumbstruck by this lowly "human" pulling off what none of them could was uplifting and satisfying.

The greatest moment for Hal, as a character, and the audience, in terms of cheering for the hero has to do with the moment in which Hal finally digs down deep inside and with that will that only he has, pours out his oath from the deepest parts of his soul building in intensity before blasting Parallax with a force the corrupted Guardian has never felt before:

In brightest day,

In blackest night.

No evil shall escape my sight.

Let those who worship evil's might.

Beware my power

GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!

Like I said, the film has its flaws but I could do a lot worse in terms of my first live-action GREEN LANTERN movie. I thoroughly enjoyed myself from start to finish. Ryan Reynolds totally sold me on his version of Hal Jordan. He was identifiable, flawed, but intrinsically good. And it takes this story to draw that out of him and make him realize the potential within him he has squandered all these years. The audience I was with (a capacity crowd) was rambunctiously into it and launched into spontaneous applause at the end. My teenaged son couldn't wait to get his hands on a light-up Green Lantern ring of his own after seeing it. My wife and daughter went into the movie with no idea what it was about and came out totally digging it. This is a movie that can be enjoyed more than once and I will surely be seeing it again in the theaters. 

As a friend of mine put it after she came out of a midnight showing:  "That was wonderfully Silver Age."

And I totally agree!

I saw it in 3D and can confess that the difference in the 3D for this movie and, say, THOR, is exponential. The 3D effects in GREEN LANTERN are the best I've ever seen them. 

*Note for fans of the GREEN LANTERN comics* Yes, you will want to stay past the first round of credits at the end to get to a payoff scene that you will have been waiting to see...and it is worth it. Also, as the great pounding GREEN LANTERN score plays over that first credits sequence, you will notice the space effects giving us just the barest visual hint about the other color lantern corps. It's subtle, but an obvious homage for the comics fans.

A Call for Help from Comics Fans (Yes YOU can help a Moose!)

It's a refrain that is becoming way too familiar in this country right now.  I am talking about the disastrous healthcare and health insurance system as it stands right now.  Particularly within the Comics' industry where the vast majority of writers and artists build their careers on relatively low-paying work with no feasible options for affordable health or life insurance, much less retirement.  So, when the work starts to dry up and a medical emergency hits, there are few options available to these people.

I got to meet fan-favorite award-winning comic book colorist William "Moose" Baumann on the weekend of my 39th birthday at the Wizard World in Dallas.  He was there with Ethan Van Sciver and the two of them had an exclusive Green Lantern print that was my birthday present to myself. :)  Easily one of the best colorists working in comics today.

Moose has for a number of years been supporting his wife through a courageous cancer battle.  Medical bills have racked up to extraordinary amounts and I would describe their financial situation as one that has reached a dire point.  Moose is the type who would be reluctant to come right out and ask for help, but he has set up a web page where he is offering gorgeous 13x19 prints featuring his beautiful handiwork.

He is only asking $20 per print (includes shipping worldwide) and every penny goes to this important cause.

I would like anyone who reads this to check out the prints and order at least one of them.  I ordered the fantastic SPIRIT/DOC SAVAGE print by Neal Adams with Moose on colors (it was published as a variant cover for the FIRST WAVE series last year).

Also, if you would please repost and spread the word across the web-o-sphere, I think we can all make a difference in a real and practical way.

All my prayers and best wishes to Moose and his family.

You can view all the prints HERE and then PayPal $20 to Moose's email: moosebaumann@mediacombb.net

GREEN LANTERN CORPS (New Hi-Res Banner Poster Image)

No comment really needed other than...

In brightest day,

In blackest night,

No evil shall escape my sight.

Let those who worship evil's might,

Beware my power...

Green Lantern's Light!

GREEN LANTERN may be a Secular Religious Experience!

The world is a funny place these days. What's funny to me is that while the world at large (especially the Western world) falls further and further from an overtly “religious” society, we find ourselves substituting the craziest things for whatever it is within us that craves that transcendent religious experience. We see it at Lady Gaga concerts where the throngs whip themselves into a religious furor worshipping at the altar of their modern pagan goddess while throbbing repetitive techno-beats induce altered states of consciousness. We see it every year in the nation-wide unofficial religious holiday known as “Super Bowl” where everyone's lives are sacrificed on the altar of the modern gladiators battling over dominance in the grid-iron game of “keep-away” known as American Football. In the ever-increasing world of the geeks and nerds, the San Diego Comicon is as close to a secular “Mecca” as we have seen. And just as the faithful Muslim who hopes to trek to Mecca at least once before they die...likewise the average geek prays to Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth that one day...even he (or she) may make it to San Diego.

This weekend marks another lesser Comicon, this one is “Wondercon” and it is held in San Francisco. However, Wondercon has garnered much attention in the realms of the geekstrati online for Wondercon is the place that glorious footage from the much-anticipated GREEN LANTERN film was finally unveiled (and subsequently placed online for all to see).

For those not in the know, GREEN LANTERN is a film adaptation of a popular comic book super-hero who wields a magic ring that can turn his thoughts into physical form.

I realized after I watched these 4 minutes (repeatedly), that the closest I could come to explaining my reaction was that I was having a secular religious experience. I don't mean that I touched the mind of God or anything, but I am not kidding that the first time I watched it I got choked up and literally found a tear welling in my eye. In my life, that's only happened a handful of times over something this silly and inconsequential– not counting the death of Mr. Spock in STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN because if you didn't cry when you saw that in 1982, you have no soul– and it led me to write this.

Here's the thing with me, myself, and I. I don't remember when I started reading comic books. I've always read them. I remember when I started “collecting” them in Jr. High, but “reading” them? They were just always a part of the mix of books, magazines, and comics that I read. But I am and always have been an unabashed fan of the super-hero. The visual appeal. The archetypal imagery and mythological construct underlying them. The fun factor. The fantasy factor. Even the silliness. I love it all. And that's not to dismiss comics or graphic novels as just super-hero stuff either. While it may be the bread-and-butter end of the business, there are works of literature and art done in comic book form that far outstrip and surpass most prose literature. But super-heroes are what this is about today.

GREEN LANTERN specifically. Since at least third grade, I have proclaimed GL to be my favorite super-hero. I have huge love and appreciation for my other top heroes, Superman, Capt. Marvel, Iron Man, Thor, Capt. America, and lesser knowns like Metamorpho and Dr. Mid-Nite. I remember playing super-hero with my friends back then and us choosing heroes. There was always the smart-ass who quickly declared himself “Superman” so he could be the most powerful. I, the bigger smart-ass, always came back with “Green Lantern.” To which, and this was back in the early 70s, the reaction was usually a bit of ridicule as they snickered “Green Lantern?? Haha! Why him?” And I would respond that “He's the most powerful super-hero of them all.” They would laugh more and start throwing super-hero names out and I would quickly inform them how GL would take them out, then eventually they'd throw out “Superman!” and smirk. I confidently declared that as GL, I would use my ring to make “Green Kryptonite” and kill Superman. Which always left them unable to come up with a retort. Battle done and won and I smirked on the inside and led the way as “Green Lantern.”

I'll confess now, at 44, that even then I knew I was blowing smoke because I knew GL couldn't really make “Green Kryptonite.” He could make a green rock, but that's all it would be. But I always relied upon the collective ignorance of my Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man obsessed friends to NOT know that.

And I was always correct.

Well, after this summer, the collective ignorance surrounding the Green Lantern character will go by the wayside as he enters the zeitgeist in a huge way if this amazing piece of 4-minute footage from the film is any indication.

Now as to my reaction to that footage. Why did I tear up? It has to do with seeing something visualized for real that I never expected to ever see in my lifetime. And in GREEN LANTERN, there is so much more, in terms of concept, than just a magical ring and the best super-hero costume ever designed (by the late, great artist Gil Kane). Hal Jordan is an adventurous former Air Force pilot who is “chosen” to receive a gift of what is essentially access to absolute power limited only by his will and strength of character. The story of GREEN LANTERN is about overcoming fear, it is about the seduction and abuse of power, it is about the conflict between totalitarianism and individualism, it is a story about sin and redemption, and it is about hope and collective goodness and good-old-fashioned super-hero action and cosmic space-opera.

To me, he is the ultimate in super-hero concept and to see it so perfectly visualized as if it were real...it is a transcendent experience.

I did believe a man could fly!

As a super-hero nut all my life, this isn't the first time this has happened, but it may be the most fully satisfying time (I have to wait until June to find out)! Back in December of 1978 was the first time I encountered something I never thought I would ever see. At 12 years-old, I had myself dropped off at the first showing of SUPERMAN on December 16^th (Saturday) and sat back and felt myself choke up the first time I saw the opening sequence with the “Daily Planet” sphere on top of the skyscraper fully lit up and revolving and then the bursting into space for the bombastic flight to the planet Krypton. I was in another world for 2 hours. When it was over, I walked out the doors of Cinema 6 in Temple, Texas and bought a ticket for the next show starting in a half-hour, and went back in and sat back down to wait for it to start again.

I can never regain that 12 year-old's sense of wonder ever again, but I am hoping for as close to it as a 44 year-old can get this summer.

It wasn't until the first teaser trailer for the BATMAN film came out in 1989 that I got another tingle of excitement. By this time, I was out of college and into my adult life, but I remember the first time that trailer played. My fiance and I were at a movie in Austin at the Arboretum theater (which is now The Cheesecake Factory) and the trailer came on and the entire audience erupted into thunderous applause when the trailer was done. This was Batman....done....seriously? I knew at that moment that “super-hero” movies were about to become a reality as never before after those in charge of the SUPERMAN movie franchise had let it deteriorate into the embarrassments of SUPERMAN III & IV.

The first time I saw Sam Raimi's SPIDER-MAN swinging his way through the skyscrapers of New York City, I felt that little tickle of a choke in my throat seeing something I thought was impossible. The opening credits of WATCHMEN (a film I truly thought was unfilm-able but was proved wrong) that established the background and history of the world of WATCHMEN while Bob Dylan's “The Times They Are A-Changin'” plays.

That brought a tear to my eye the first time I saw it. The upcoming CAPTAIN AMERICA and THOR movies are thrilling as well. The first time I saw Asgard visualized and it looked like Jack Kirby's art come to life, yeah, I got choked up.

  

But nothing has hit me like the first SUPERMAN movie until these 4-minutes of GREEN LANTERN hit the web this weekend.

“In Brightest Day; in Blackest Night. No Evil shall Escape My Sight. Let Those Who Worship Evil's Might....Beware My Power....GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!”