492 Days Left

Another bit of casting news has surfaced for the Green Lantern film. Tim Robbins has now joined the cast as Hector Hammond's father.

So, here is the cast breakdown thus far:

Ryan Reynolds - Hal "Highball" Jordan/Green Lantern
Blake Lively - Carol Ferris
Mark Strong - Sinestro
Peter Sarsgaard - Dr. Hector Hammond
Tim Robbins - Senator Hammond

Guardian & Sinestro Concept Art?

Here are some more supposed concept designs for the Green Lantern film. Sinestro looks like Diedrich Bader in Office Space or A Vampire in Brooklyn. The Guardians look like tall retards, which would be the opposite of how they are portrayed in the book. I am beginning to suspect that all these concept design pieces are not actually from the movie. I liked the Tomar-Re, Kilowog and Abin Sure designs, but these look really dumb.

Abin Sur, Tomar-Re & Kilowog Concept Art?

"Well, Kilowog will be..." "Tomar-Re is in it. Sinestro is in it. Abin Sur is in it. All the origin people."
- Martin Campbell (dir. Green Lantern)

ComicBookMovie.Com has posted the images above and claim that these are actual concept designs for Abin Sur, Tomar-Re and Kilowog from the upcoming Green Lantern motion picture.

I have no idea if these are real leaked designs from the production or not. If they aren't, I am sure the actual designs will look very similar. Another thing, even if these are actually designs from the production it doesn't mean that these are the final designs. In any case, they are still fun to look at. Kudos to whoever "brought these characters to life".

Consider me stoked!!

623 Days Left

I am sitting at work and i am bored. There is not much left for me to do here today, so i figured that i would post a blog. I really don't have much on my mind and i just read a chapter of my Green Lantern Archives and it made me think of the GL movie that is eventually going to come out.

I checked a countdown clock to see how much longer i had to wait and it looks like there is a lot of time left. I am glad that Where the Wild Things Are comes out soon and that LOST: Season 6 as well as TRON: Legacy are on the horizon! I guess we will get another Iron Man movie before then as well. Hopefully my brain can be preocupied enough so that i don't go insane by June 11, 2011.

I guess i can just keep reading all the GL related comics up until then.

Green Lantern: First Flight - Blu-ray Review

It's no surprise that i was looking forward to the first animated feature film Green Lantern: First Flight. The fact that there is the subtitle "First Flight" makes me hope for a sequel to this film.

With all of these DC Universe animated films, for some reason, there is a very limited run time. Clocking in at a mere 75 minutes, GL First Flight covers a lot of ground. Finishing up the origins story within the first four minutes, First Flight foregoes any kind of training and jumps right into the story, with some exposition sprinkled throughout. Even though there is no training on Hal's ring-slinging, at least the creators let us fans know that Kilowog is the trainer and is unhappy with the lack of official training that Hal did not receive, before Hal is thrust into his first case.

Hal is taken under Sinestro's wing and is sent on the trail to track down Abin Sur's killer. The more time that Hal spends with Sinestro, the more Hal becomes suspicious of Sinestro's motives and rightfully so. Sinestro is in league with Kanjar Ro in order to find the Yellow Element, which is the one power in the universe that can overcome the Green Element and take down the Guardians and restore balance to the universe.

The movie covers a lot of ground in the short time allowed, but it is handled pretty well. After watching Justice League: New Frontier, i think that it is okay that they did not spend more time on Hal's origins, but i think it would have been cool to see some training with Kilowog.

All in all i really enjoyed the movie and it looks fantastic on Blu-ray. I think all of the voice acting was great, but John Larroquette seemed like an odd choice for Tomar Re. It just seemed a bit off. I just never pictured Tomar with such a low voice. I wish that they did more with Sallak, who is one of my favorite lanterns.

There are a lot of cool extras on the Blu-ray including 5 Justice League episodes that center around GL as well as the Duck Dodgers episode where Daffy Duck becomes a GL when Daffy's and Hal Jordan's clothes get mixed up at the dry cleaners. There are a lot of special features that are all about the Comic series starring Geoff Johns. My main problem with the special features, which there are plenty of, is the fact that they do not have a history of Green Lantern documentary like they did with The Justice League, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman dvds. I was really looking forward to one of those. I also think that it is strange that nowhere in the special features is any sort of behind the scenes of the making of Green Lantern First Flight. All of the features pertain to the comics. Don't get me wrong, i LOVE the comics, but it felt like a big commercial for people to rush out to your local comic book store and buy DC Books.

I love Green Lantern and i have a feeling that the team of First Flight left a lot out, so that they dont step on the toes of Martin Campbell and the gang who are making the GL feature film. It is a great time for Green Lantern fans and i cannot wait to see what DC and WB has in store for the Emerald Crusader!

★ ★ ★ ★ ½

The Star Sapphires

For hearts long lost and full of fright. For those alone in blackest night, Accept our ring and join our fight. Love conquers all...With violet light!

The Star Sapphires just started off as a race of hot women that were recently infused into Geoff Johns' "War of the Light Spectrum" using the Violet color to represent love. For millions of years, the Zamarons, a race of immortal warriors, would choose mortal women of identical physical appearances to become their queen.

The first time we met the Star Sapphires they had chosen non other than Carol Ferris, the boss and love interest of Hal Jordan. It appears that the Star Sapphires are currently collecting anyone who has love in their heart and transforming them into warriors of the violet light.

Most recently the villainous Fatality has become a Star Sapphire and is seeking out John Stewart, the Green Lantern who feels incredible guild for destroyer her home planet of Xanshi.

In addition to Fatality becoming a Violet Lantern, Carol Ferris has once again slipped into the role as a Star Sapphire!!

Ryan "Highball" Reynolds!

I mentioned on Facebook about how excited i was for Ryan Reynolds to play Hal Jordan in the upcoming Martin Campbell film, The Green Lantern! I thought that i would post something over here, seeing how much of this blog is dedicated to one of my favorite comic characters ever.

I cannot wait for this movie to come out and i was really nervous about who they would get to play the Emerald Crusader. Although Ryan Reynolds was probably not the first person on my list, i have to tell you i am really excited (and at ease) about Warner Bros' decision to cast him.

I mean, think of how bad it could have been. Ryan is a good actor who has great comic timing. I could not ask for anything more in an actor for Green Lantern. And you have to admit, Ryan Reynolds definitely looks the part!

6/17/11 can't come soon enough!!

Only 700 days left!

BLACKEST NIGHT #1 - Review

Well, the summer just officially kicked off for me. All of the disappointing hollywood blockbusters have pretty much all passed and now it is time for the real fireworks, BLACKEST NIGHT!

As you can all tell from this blog, i am a big Green Lantern fan. The first line in the Green Lantern's Oath is, "In brightest day, in blackest night". Blackest Night, though it takes it's name from the Green Lantern mythos, Blackest Night is not a straight forward Green Lantern title. The events in Blackest Night affect the entire DC Universe. You see, Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps will continue to be published as Blackest Night goes on. Geoff Johns, the writer of both Green Lantern and Blackest Night, has some sort of weird knowledge of the entire history of the DC Universe, almost to the point where it gets a little tiring and cumbersome. Because this is a big event that stretches across the whole DC Universe, it has left Green Lantern out of the title, which i am sure is to appeal to a wider audience.

Because i am merely a green lantern fan, a lot of the first half of issue one is lost on me. There is a HEAVY amount of exposition that centers around all the people who have died in the past, from a bunch of books i have never read. Because i am a Green Lantern fan, i could care less about Hawkman or the hundreds of other DC characters that Geoff Johns insisted on putting in the book. It is almost to the point where it feels like Geoff Johns is saying, hey remember these guys? You don't? Well maybe i am a little better than you. After reading the first half of Blackest Night, i felt like i was sitting here reading off a checklist of characters.

Luckily Blackest Night issue one is a double sized comic and the second half moves away from the graves of the dead and moves on to OA, where Scar (a rogue guardian and leader of the Black Lanterns) unleashes all kinds of hell and sends millions of Black Lantern rings and begins to raise the dead! After a lengthy setup Blackest Night begins to unleash all kinds of hell!!

Imagine a universe full of Flesh craving undead super human zombies with power rings with a thirst for destroying and converting super heroes everywhere. The last half of Blackest Night is the greatest Sci-Fi, Horror, Superhero, Space Opera EVER! I hope that all of the people who died on Xanshi come back to haunt John Stewart.

After a slow setup, i am glad it is out of the way, so that Geoff Johns and artist Ivan Reis can unleash hell on the DC Universe!

★ ★ ★ ★ ½

COMIC CON '09 - Green Lantern: First Flight

Press Release

Green Lantern: First Flight, the highly-anticipated fifth entry in the popular DVD series of DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies, will have its world premiere at Comic-Con in San Diego on Thursday, July 23, 2009.

More than 4,000 fans will have the opportunity to see Green Lantern: First Flight on the big screen five days before the latest DC Universe film is distributed on DVD and Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def. The film will premiere in the San Diego Convention Center’s Ballroom 20 at 8:00 p.m.

A panel comprised of filmmakers and voice cast will be presented on the following day, Friday, July 24. Details on that panel and its participants will be announced next week.

Acclaimed actor Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) fills the lead voice of Hal Jordan aka Green Lantern. Meloni is joined by fellow Emmy Award nominee Victor Garber (Milk, Titanic) as the villainous Sinestro, Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) as the voice of Boodikka, and Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs) as Kilowog. The cast also includes Juliet Landau (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), John Larroquette (Night Court), Kurtwood Smith (That ‘70s Show), and David Lander (Laverne & Shirley).

Produced by animation legend Bruce Timm, Green Lantern: First Flight is helmed by heralded director Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman, Superman Doomsday) and scripted by four-time Emmy Award-winning writer Alan Burnett (The Batman).

Green Lantern: First Flight finds Hal Jordan recruited to join the Green Lantern Corps and placed under the supervision of respected senior Lantern Sinestro. The earthling soon discovers his mentor is actually the central figure in a secret conspiracy that threatens the philosophies, traditions and hierarchy of the entire Green Lantern Corps. Hal must quickly hone his newfound powers and combat the treasonous Lanterns within the ranks to maintain order in the universe.

Geoff Johns Signing!

I recently found out that in one month from today, Geoff Johns will be signing copies of Blackest Night #1 at my store! If you haven't been following this blog, Green Lantern has been kicking all kinds of major ass the past few years and it seemingly has all been leading up to this point!

Pretty soon i will be doing a large window painting of The Green Lantern along with the blackest night logo. The image of the Green Lantern i am going to use is a simple one, but not cartoony. It will be the version from the cover of "The Batman Strikes" #48. It is a simple drawing with a classic GL pose. I am looking forward to getting the shop ready and meeting my favorite comic writer working today!!

You have to come to the store if you are in the area.

Agent Orange

Larfleeze made a pact with the Guardians of the Universe thousands of years ago. The Guardians and their Green Lantern Corps would never set foot in the sector in which he resides, in return Larfleeze is to keep the power of the Orange Light buried deep within the planet of Okaara in the Vega system.

When a strange race of creatures, know as the Controllers, go searching for the Orange Light deep within Okaara, Larfleeze believes that the Guardians have not held up to their side of the bargain and decides to go after the Green Lantern Corps.

Larfleeze has fallen into the grasp of the Orange Light. The power of the Orange Lantern is that of pure unadulterated GREED! Anyone who dares come near his lair, deep beneath the planet's surface is sure to feel the wrath of THE ORANGE LANTERN CORPS and their master, Agent Orange!

Sitting safely in his underground hideout, Agent Orange steals the souls of fallen Lanterns and uses them against any of his enemies. Creating a whole army with his mind, Agent Orange will stop at nothing to get anything he wants.

After Larfleez decides to start picking off GL officers, the Guardians lift the no fly ban over the Vega System. Trying to fight off all of Agent Orange's "avatars" the Corps give Hal Jordan enough time to get into the lair of Larfleeze!!

Armed with his Green and Blue power rings, Hal Jordan faces off with Agent Orange. At each other's throats in a stalemate, Hal Jordan and Larfleeze decide to make an agreement. Hal Jordan wants to know all the details involved in Larfleez' and the Guardian's deal thousands of years ago. In return Hal Jordan will hand over the Blue Lantern ring that Larfleeze covets. Larfleeze adheres to his end of the bargain. Once Hal Jordan hears the entire story of the pact between Larfleeze and the Guardians, Hal finds out the the Blue Lantern ring of Hope will not come of his hand as expected. Hal continues to struggle to remove the blue power ring. The ever impatient and greedy Larfleeze becomes irritated with Hal Jordan. With the glimmer of Blue in his beady soulless eyes, Larfleeze takes the Blue Ring and Hal Jordan's entire left arm along with it!!!

Blue Lantern Corps

"In fearful day, in raging night, with strong hearts full, our souls ignite! When all seems lost in the War of Light, look to the stars, for hope burns bright!"

After being banished from OA following the Sinestro Corps War, the Guardians known as Ganthet and Sayd traveled to the world of Odym and forged blue lantern rings out of their hope for the future.

When the Red Lanterns attacked the convoy that was taking Sinestro to his home planet of Korugar to be executed, the Blue Lanterns used their Blue Power Ring to overpower the red ring that was placed on Hal Jordan's finger. Hal Jordan was able to strip the Red away, but the Blue remained on his left hand. The Blue Lanterns work in conjunction with the Green Lantern power rings. They actually keep a constant charge going so that the power ring does not need to be recharged every 24 hours. Back on Odym, the Blue Lanterns explain that they want to convert Hal Jordan completely over to the Blue Lanterns and act as their leader.

Hal Jordan does not want this duty and explains that he has taken the oath of the Green Lanterns and will not join them. But the Blue Lantern ring will not come off so easily.

Red Lantern Corps

"With blood and rage of crimson red, ripped from a corpse so freshly dead. Together with our hellish hate, we'll burn you all...THAT IS YOUR FATE!"

The Red Power Ring was created out of anger, blood and pure RAGE! The Red Lantern Corps was started by Atrocitus, a being that was once captured by the Green Lantern known as Sinestro. Once Atrocitus broke free of Sinestro's grasp, he vowed to destroy Sinestro.

Following the events of The Sinestro Corp War, the Green Lantern corps were transporting Sinestro to OA to be executed. Atrocitus and his Red Lantern corps intercepted the convoy and captured Sinestro. During the fight Sinestro killed a member of the Red Lanterns named Laira (who had a past with Hal Jordan). Once Laira was killed Hal Jordan went into a rage fueled fight with Sinestro. As he started to pummel Sinestro, Laira's ring found it's way onto Hal's finger, which turned him into a Red Lantern!!

Catch Up!

During a text chat with Kirk, I realized that, as cool as my little GL Universe Corps updates are, I have not given you guys a reading list. If you want to catch up to Geoff Johns upcoming "Blackest Night" I am here to help. For some reason DC doesn't concern itself with letting you know what Volume Number you are reading, so here is the order in which to read the complete story.

Vol. 1 - Green Lantern: Rebirth
Vol. 2 - Green Lantern: No Fear
Vol. 3 - Green Lantern: Revenge of the Green Lanterns
Vol. 4 - Green Lantern: Wanted Hal Jordan
Vol. 5 - Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War vol. 1
Vol. 6 - Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War vol. 2
Vol. 7 - Green Lantern: Secret Origins
Vol. 8 - Green Lantern: Rage of the Red Lanterns (also contains the Alfa Lantern miniseries)
Vol. 9 - Green Lantern: Agent Orange
Vol. 10 - Blackest Night

There is also "Tales of the Sinestro Corps War" which talks about a lot of side stories from Sinestro Corps War but are unnecessary to the main story line.

Geoff Johns has mentioned that he has been working on this Blackest Night story line since Green Lantern issue 4 (which appears in "No Fear"). If you just want to enjoy Blackest Night, without forking out all the cash for Vol. 1-9, i would suggest that you use wikipedia to catch up to and through The Sinestro Corps story line, then start reading volume 7 (Secret Origins).

I think that I am going to start doing reviews of the upcoming GL Monthly issues in addition to continuing my Corps Biographies. Let me know what you guys think.

The Sinestro Corps

“In blackest day, in brightest night, Beware your fears made into light. Let those who try to stop what's right, Burn like his power... Sinestro's might!”

That is the oath of the Sinestro "Yellow Lantern" Corps.

Trapped within the Central Power Battery of Oa was a space parasite known as Parallax. Parallax instilled great fear and was the reason for the impurity in the Green Lantern rings that rendered them useless against the color yellow.

Sinestro was the mentor to Hal Jordan and one of the greatest of all the Green Lanterns. Sinestro never really saw eye to eye with the Guardians and used his power ring to instill great fear into the hearts of those who did injustice. The Guardian's banished Sinestro to the Animatter Universe. It was on the planet Qward in which Sinestro joined forces with The Weaponers. He forged a yellow power ring and the Weaponers sent him back to our universe to seek revenge on the Guardians.

After being defeated, Sinestro returned to Qward and started to forge enough rings to make his own Corps and defeat the Green Lanterns once and for all. Due to the fact that the Sinestro Corps were so wide spread and killing so many GL Corp members, the Guardians had no other choice that to rewrite the Book of Oa and grant the Green Lanterns the use of lethal force on any member of the Sinestro Corp during "The Sinestro Corps War".

The Green Lantern

"In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those that worship evil's might, Beware my power...
GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!"

That is the oath that Hal Jordan takes as he charges his power ring and patrols the universe as a member of the Green Lantern Corps. The Green Lantern has always been my favorite super hero since I was a kid. I can't explain why I decided to follow him, but I knew he was my favorite of all the Super-Friends.

For those of you who don't know much about the Green Lantern Corps it is pretty simple. The Green Lanterns are pretty much the same thing as Jedi, but they each patrol a specific sector of the universe. Once a Green Lantern dies, his power ring, his or her main instrument in justice, is then thrust throughout the sector to find a worthy replacement. The ring scans the area for an individual who is has strong will power and who is without fear. The leaders of the Green Lanterns is a governing council known as The Guardians. They are small impish men and women who wear white and red robes and have blue skin. They live in the center of the universe on the home planet of the Green Lantern Corps. This planet is known as Oa. It is on Oa in which the Guardians build a giant power battery that keeps the Green Lantern's rings charge.

The Power Ring is the main weapon used by the Green Lanterns. They can use these rings for just about anything. They can create energy fields around the ring bearer and use these fields to fly through the universe. A member of the corp can create any tool necessary from the ring through will power. Anything a Green Lantern can think of, the ring can create! The ring can also function as a scanner and communicator with other Green Lantern members. It is an all purpose tool that really comes in handy. The one drawback is that the battery that powers all the Green Lantern rings has an impurity. That impurity makes the power ring useless against anything yellow.

For the last few years, Geoff Johns has been writing Vol. 3 of the Green Lantern story line. and i have to tell you, it is better than any blockbuster film that has come out over the last five years. The story is epic, the twists and turns and character developments have been outstanding. The creation of a Yellow Lantern Corps is fresh and new and exciting, yet so simple that it's insane that it hadn't been thought up before. The Sinestro (leader of the yellow lanterns) Corp War was so epic, but is nothing that is going to compare to this years big story line titled "Blackest Night"! More Lantern Corps have popped up in the Universe and I am going to cover all of them throughout the rest of the year!!

STAY TUNED FOR THE BLACKEST NIGHT!!