Conan offers a glimpse of Green Lantern: The Animated Series

Last night on Conan, he visited Warner Bros. Animation to basically ridicule them about DC effeminate character designs. But then he met with DC Animated Universe pioneer, Bruce Timm... and I noticed something in the background:


Here's a couple of screenshots:

After a bit of research, I found out that there was an under the radar announcement of the series all the way back in May, and that it would premiere on Cartoon Network sometime after the big Hollywood film starring Ryan Reynolds.

But still, when I saw this on TV I was giddy as hell because Green Lantern has long been my favorite DC superhero, and having grown-up on Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series, one can only hope that this new show follows in their footsteps and returns DC animation back to Bruce Timm's DCAU.

Not that there's anything wrong with shows like Teen Titans or Batman: The Brave and the Bold (the latter of which I really enjoy), but some shows I could never really get on-board with, i.e. The Batman and The Legion of Superheroes, and while the Young Justice pilot movie was okay, I still don't like the look of it. Regardless, color me excited!

The Alternate DC Comics Covers of Fringe

There was a subtle (I can't say very subtle, there's a shot where the Red Lantern cover is right in your face) inclusion in last night's Season Two finale of Fox's Fringe, which you can read my full review of here.

While the episode, and other alternate universe episodes of Fringe, included the usual subtle differences: an actual bronze Statue of Liberty, money with different Presidents on it, photographs of older versions of people that were killed in our world, etc; "Over There (Part 2)" included alternate DC comic book covers, framed on the wall of Peter's new apartment. And thanks to a helpful post at DC's The Source Blog, the covers from the episode have been posted online:


Their World


Our World

As cool as the concept of the alternate covers may be, I still prefer our world's originals. I mean, in concept, alternate comic book covers are an awesome idea, but the execution's a bit off. For instance, the Red Lantern one which was featured front and center on screen is perplexing, as the titles are all Silver Age, but the art is far too over-rendered to be conceivable from that era. You could maybe excuse it because in the Fringe alternate universe, the technology is better than our own and perhaps that also means they could have digital inking in 1970... but that's going a bit too far.

I still like looking back and forth between the real and alternate versions, but the over-rendering of the fake versions really bugs me, and that's just something about modern mainstream comics in general that really bugs me.

If you missed last night's Fringe or just want to get a second look at these covers on-screen (or even better, watch Leonard Nimoy's fantastic final acting appearance), watch the episode over at Hulu.

White Rings with Brightest Day #1

I called this like three months ago! But DC Comics made it true today, the sequel series to the current Blackest Night comics, Brightest Day, will have a White Lantern ring come with its #1 issue when it releases this April. Though, this should not be confused with the series' #0 issue, which will arrive two weeks before hand, as Brightest Day will be a bi-monthly series, instead of the current once a month release schedule for Blackest Night (whose sevneth issue released today, one more to go!).

Also announced by DC today was that DC Direct will be selling a set of all 9 Lantern Rings (Black, White, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet). However, unlike the rings released with the comics, the rings included in the set will have the ability to light up. The recently announced Flash ring is not included in the set for whatever reason, but all I ask is that they don't release anymore, because I only have 10 fingers, and the White Lantern and Flash rings bring the DC ring set to a full set of fingers.

via DCU Blog: The Source

DC announces more rings!

Damnit DC Comics! Stop teasing me! Now that I'm actually finding out ahead of time (instead of telling you once the promotion is over), I'd like to inform you that DC Comics will be releasing two more promotional rings this April in conjunction with the upcoming Brightest Day story-arc. The first of which, The Flash #1, releasing April 16th, will come with a pretty cool looking Flash ring.

And Green Lantern #53, which will release April 21st, will also come with a Green Lantern ring, however, this one looks just like the one that released this past November, so I'm not sure how much of a rush there will be on these.

Regardless, DC has two more promotional rings for you to pick up, and now you can't blame me for not tell you well in advance.

via DCU Blog: The Source

Blackest Night Rings

This is a few days late, but the Thanksgiving break has had be a bit busy. On Wednesday, DC Comics released the final two promotional rings for their Blackest Night story-arc, and I was able to finish my collection and photograph it for you:

Originally, DC only released the Black Lantern rings back in July with Blackest Night #1, but because the promotion seemed to do so well, they went and released all of the Lantern rings this month. So the first week had Doom Patrol #4 with the Sinestro Corps (Yellow) ring, and the 3 following weeks had 2 rings each released with a Blackest Night tie-in issue. Personally, I felt I shouldn't open these, but I really wanted Green and Black Lantern rings to wear so I bought multiple copies of their issues.

For those who don't know, Blackest Night is DC Comics' current major story arc that spans across the whole DC Universe. Basically, all of the DC Universe's dead heroes are being resurrected as Black Lanterns, undead beings that can sense emotion and eat the hearts of the living to gain power, and now it's up to Hal Jordan and a new spectra of other colored Lanterns to defeat them. I haven't been keeping up with every tie-in issue, but I will say the Blackest Night monthly issues themselves have been really good, especially the latest issue, number 5.

Want these rings for yourself? Stop by your local comic shop and ask about the promotional rings for Blackest Night, I'm sure someone there will able able to tell you all the titles that come with which rings.

Green Lantern: First Flight review

After Wonder Woman's stellar direct-to-DVD film, does DC's fourth ranked superhero reach the same level of success that the previous film did, or should Green Lantern: First Flight have been left on the drawing board?

As usual, I picked up the Two-Disc Special Edition DVD version (the bonus one from Best Buy actually, as it comes with a little Green Lantern figure), as I still have yet to be convinced that I need a 2D film in high-definition. The only difference between the Blu-ray and two-disc DVD release though is the addition of more Justice League episodes; so regardless of which you pick up you won't miss anything.

One dilemma that probably came to the minds of DC Universe fans was just how was this film going to work when Justice League: The New Frontier already focused heavily on Hal Jordan and his origin story as the Green Lantern. Thankfully, First Flight covers the origin story quickly, before the opening credits actually, and then rest of the film is completely off of Earth, which was interesting to see.

Because the film completely takes place in space, the film heavily revolves around the Green Lantern Corps, from the Guardians, to the Green Element at the center of Oa, it's all here. But essentially the film is a tale of "Good Cop / Bad Cop" between Hal Jordan and Sinestro; and if you're like me, and have a large awareness of the Green Lantern storyline and background, then the film doesn't feel very new, and in fact you can probably guess where it ends up long before the film starts going anywhere. Seriously, there's really no need for me to explain anything because all you need to hear is "Hal Jordan's first duty as Green Lantern" and "Sinestro" and you can pretty much get it you're first try.

But it's not just the story that fell flat for me, but it was the visual style too. While as intricate and stylized it may be, it reminded me way to much of Men In Black: The Series and Jackie Chan Adventures for me to really enjoy the film; it's the same reason I couldn't get into The Batman. I'm sure someone will enjoy the style, but when characters like Abin Sur and Kanjar Ro are completely unidentifiable from their traditional look, then something is definitely wrong.

For Extras, the first disc (what you get in the standard edition) of First Flight has a few offerings: a first look featurette at the next DC Universe animated film Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, some rehashed featurettes for Wonder Woman, The New Frontier, and Gotham Knight, some trailers, and a new featurette on the current Green Lantern comic story-arc, Blackest Night. But there is no commentary this time around, sadly, as it would've been nice to get an explanation on some of the creative decisions for the film.

AS for the second disc, that's where the real features are at. First off is an 8-minute long featurette on the Green Lantern's mythology, more specifically on Hal Jordan, obviously, so there's nothing about the other four Green Lanterns of Earth. Then there's two short background videos for Sinestro and the Guardians. Then there's an episode of Duck Dodgers, "The Green Loontern", and it's in my opinion the only decent episode of that show; and then there's the two-part Justice League Unlimited episode, "The Once and Future Thing", which is one of my personal favorite JLU episodes as it melds Justice League, Batman Beyond, and Static Shock, and even has Hal Jordan step in for a brief moment. And yeah, that's about it, no fancy 30 min featurettes, commentary tracks, its a nice variety, but nothing special. Oh, and like Black Frieghter, the digital-copy is Windows only, leaving us Mac users in the dust again...

Overall, despite being a decent film, I'm pretty dissapointed after watching Green Lantern: First Flight. Perhaps it's just due comparison of what DC Universe animated films have brought in the past, or that my expectations were set way to high after watching Wonder Woman, but there seems to be a lot missing this time around. There's no commentary, or cast interviews, really there's just no explanation for the creative decisions for the film, and they're what bothered me the most, particularly the visual style. As a Green Lantern fan, it pains me to say that this is the worst of the current DC Universe animated films, but it really is when compared to the rest and I hope the next outing fairs a bit better.

Overall Score: 7/10

Wait what?!: Ryan Reynolds is the Green Lantern

Um, I'm not sure where I was, but I'm sure it's because I was face deep in the Scott Pilgrim books this weekend and busy writing the reviews for them. But, just incase you missed it as well, Superhero Hype reported on Saturday that Ryan Reynolds landed the role for Hal Jordon in the upcoming Green Lantern film adaptation directed by Martin Campbell. Campbell is best known as the director for the best James Bond films in recent years, Goldeneye and Casino Royale. Let's hope he and Reynolds can pull off the same magic for Green Lantern that he did previously for James Bond.

Personally, I'm a little uneasy about this news, as Green Lantern is one of my personal DC Comics favorites, and I'm not a big fan of Ryan Reynolds... not a good mixture. Also, Reynolds recently played Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool in this summer's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and is also attached for a spin-off movie for the character. I'm curious as to how Marvel feels about this decision, and how they even planned to do a Deadpool movie consider Wolverine's ending... Only time will tell I suppose.

Green Lantern: First Flight trailer

Warner Bros. has released the debut trailer for the next DC Universe animated film, Green Lantern: First Flight, set for release on July 2st, 2009:

Looks promising, and has a style different from that of the previous DC Universe films. Let's just hope it can surpass the stellar Wonder Woman film, just as that topped the previous direct-to-disc movies.

Green Lantern: First Flight

With Wonder Woman hitting stores today, Warner Bros. and DC Comics decided to shed some light on its next direct to disc animated feature: Green Lantern: First Flight. Along with an official website, a featurette about the project is also now available:
Green Lantern: First Flight - Behind the Scenes


Full press release at SuperHeroHype