GREEN to the CorpsAsi es con todo lo que ha pasado desde el regreso de Hal Jordan ( green lantern ) , Sinestro Corps War y Final Crisis, todo esto apuntaba hacia Blackest Night la cual esta afectando todo el universo DC, aqui les dejo un poco de unos datos que encontre x la red, enjoy!
Greetings, Maniacs! It’s time once again for Comicscape: a weekly
collection of four-color rants, ramblings and raves culled from the
deepest, darkest recesses of a mind that functions less like a steel
trap and more like a spinner rack. As usual, the contents have been
bagged and boarded, but they are not code-approved.For today’s
edition of Comicscape, I thought we’d take a moment to shine a
spotlight on the current golden boy of the DC Universe:
Green Lantern. He’s the star of a top selling comic book and the focal point of possibly the most anticipated event of 2009,
Blackest Night.
He’ll also be leading his very own Justice League later this year and
to top it all off, he’s got an animated feature on the way as well as a
feature film. It’s enough to make the rest of the heroes green with
envy.
The Golden AgeThere was a Green Lantern back in the
1940’s who also wore a ring and fought crime, but we’re not talking
about Alan Scott today. Not for any lack of awesomeness, but simply
because he isn’t the guy who’s going to be in the movies and the
crossovers and all that. That’s Hal Jordan.But Alan Scott was a
popular character in his day and still fights the good fight as a
member of the Justice Society of America. He’s still slingin’ the ring
and he’s still wearing a costume that doesn’t feature nearly as much
green as you’d think it should. Not that a purple cape and red satin
pirate shirt aren’t the height of fashion or anything; but you’d think
that a guy with the word “green” in his name would put a little more
emphasis on the color when picking out a costume. Whatever. You’re cool
in my book, Alan Scott.
The Silver AgeThree years after the Flash kicked off
the Silver Age, DC did another revamp with the Hal Jordan version of
Green Lantern, who first appeared in Showcase #22 (1959). This Lantern
was more of a sci-fi hero and less magic based than his predecessor and
he’s pretty much the GL that comic fans and non-comic readers are most
familiar with. He wasn’t just some random hero who got his powers
through a freak accident either; he was a member of the Green Lantern
Corps, sort of an intergalactic police man. It’s a pretty cool idea
that takes him out of the realm of the simple superhero and into a much
larger world.He also has a super-sweet costume. So sweet, in
fact, that I’d go so far as to call it downright iconic. Much like the
look of the Silver Age Flash, it is a costume so sweet, it’s barely
been changed over the years. Both heroes have been subject to minor
updates and revamps from time to time but their basic looks have been
altered very little since their creation. Here’s a lesson to
up-and-coming heroes: gloves that don’t match your boots = awesome. I’m
serious. I remember being a kid and seeing Flash and Green Lantern on
The Superfriends and being shocked that their gloves and boots weren’t
the same color. It seemed like the Batman-style look of matching boots,
gloves and underwear was the standard, so seeing a guy with white
gloves and green boots… it blew my mind. And those white gloves still
look awesome to this day.And let’s not forget the fact that Donovan mentioned him in “
Sunshine Superman” back in ’66. Green Lantern might be cool, but he’s got nothin’ on Donovan.
Amazing Artists, Social Relevance and More!I’d be
remiss if I didn’t take a moment to pay homage to two of my favorite
artists in the history of comics, both of whom worked on Green Lantern
at some point: Gil Kane and Neal Adams.Gil Kane… my god. I can’t remember what year it was, but I met him a long time ago at the
Motor City Comic Con,
probably not too terribly long before he died. At the time, I knew I
liked his work and that he was well respected, but I didn’t really
understand just how far-reaching his awesomeness was. I remember that
he seemed really fragile and his hands were shaky when he signed that
old Spider-Man comic I’d brought with me. Now here I am in 2009 wishing
I could go back and thank him for being such a freakin’ fantastic
artist. Gil Kane drew the first 75 issues of Green Lantern and his
sleek and streamlined style still excites me every time I see it.
Cover art to Green Lantern/Green Arrow #1 by Neal Adams
© DC Comics
And
then there’s Neal Adams. Now, Neal was working on the book with Denny
O’Neil during the Green Lantern/Green Arrow “Hard Traveling Heroes” era
when the book took on a lot more social relevance. No more little blue
aliens; the topics of these thought-provoking comics were
environmentalism, drug abuse and racism, with Green Lantern playing the
conservative lawman and Green Arrow cast as the liberal iconoclast.
It’s a bit dated by today’s standard and quite heavy-handed, but I’d
still call ‘em must reads for superhero fans.Anyway, back to
Neal Adams. I know that he’s probably better known for his work on
Batman as well as his advocacy of creator rights and the
expanding-earth theory, but Neal’s work on Green Lantern is pretty
spiffy as well. I guess “dynamic” might be a good word to describe his
work, as it seems to pop right off the page. Take a look at some ‘70s
Neal Adams pages and it isn’t hard to see that his influence is still
being felt today.
Weren’t We Talking About Green Lantern?Cover art to Green Lantern: Rebirth #6 by Ethan Van Sciver
© DC Comics
Oh
yeah, Green Lantern. I’ve always found the character to be pretty cool,
but I’ve never really been what you’d call a fan. Obviously, he had a
fantastic power (well, power
ring) and any time he appeared in
a comic or cartoon, I was impressed; but I could probably count the
number of Green Lantern comics I’d purchased prior to 2008 on one hand.
As usual, Geoff Johns changed all that with his uncanny ability to
reintroduce Silver Age elements to a character while modernizing him at
the same time.Prior to
Green Lantern: Rebirth, I was one
of those guys opposed to bringing a dead hero back from the grave.
Especially a square like Hal Jordan. Especially since I thought that
the
Emerald Twilight story was kind of cool. I liked the idea
that a hero could turn bad after facing a tragedy like the destruction
of Coast City. Oh well. Luckily for us, I was outvoted and Hal Jordan
returned. I read the first few issues of the Green Lantern comic, liked
‘em quite a bit, but still never picked up another issue until a few
years later with the
Sinestro Corps War – which, I am
embarrassed to say, I didn’t even read until it had wrapped. And now
here I am, loving every minute of green goodness and reading both the
main title and even
Green Lantern Corps every month.To
be honest with you, I thought the notion of anything other than green
and yellow Lanterns was kind of lame at first. A Sinestro Corps was
genius and one of those things that seemed so obvious that it was
shocking to me that no one had thought of it earlier. But a rainbow of
Lanterns? It sounded like something a 7-year-old would come up with. “
That sounds like a terrible idea!”
I said. Once again, I was outvoted and once again I was proven wrong.
Have you been reading Green Lantern lately? It may very well be DC’s
best book and one of the best comics on the stands right now. People
dog Dan DiDio all the time, but you’d better thank your lucky stars I’m
not in charge of DC, because the decisions I’d make would make DiDio
look like Stan Lee circa 1964.The notion of the emotional
spectrum and the manner in which it has been handled is nothing short
of brilliant. If green is willpower and yellow is fear, then of course
red would be anger and blue would be hope. Once again, it seems like an
idea that is so obvious I can’t believe no one else has thought of it
before. It’s been right there in front of our faces this whole time.
… In Blackest Night and Well On Into the MorningCover art for Green Lantern: First Light DVD
© Warner Bros. Ent. Inc.
And
now Blackest Night looms on the horizon. I’ve been suffering from
“event fatigue” for a long time now and didn’t even bother with
Final Crisis(which, from what I’ve heard, was a wise decision), but I can’t express
to you how excited I am about this one. It’s supposed to be a Green
Lantern epic, but with all the
Origins & Omens backup features we’ve seen in recent DC Comics, it would seem that this one is going to affect more than just the Corps.And then what? Well, fans who picked up the Wonder Woman animated feature no doubt watched the preview for the
Green Lantern animated filmthat will be hitting shelves on July 28, 2009. And Warner Brothers has
announced that Green Lantern will be the next DC hero to get the big
budget movie treatment. Shooting starts in September and
rumors are flying about Chris Pine, who we’ll soon see as Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek reboot, being offered the role of Hal Jordan.We
have the technology to make a Green Lantern movie look nothing short of
amazing. Even if the script sucks, it will likely be one of the coolest
visual experiences in recent years. Writers and directors (should, by
now) have the know-how to craft a great superhero story that will
appeal to long-time fans and newbies alike. This movie has the
potential to be the next Iron Man, raking in tons of money and
appealing to fans on both sides of the fence.If all goes well,
2009 will be Green Lantern’s year in the realm of comics and he’ll
dominate the silver screen in 2010. I’m looking forward to it.
Gracias a: mania.com