I've been around for awhile (I'm 45) and I have been a firm believer that true Rock and Roll died some time ago and I haven't heard anything on the radio worth going out and buying.  In fact, the last time I got excited about a new music release was when Brian Wilson finally released "Smile".  But this year I discovered for myself some great music made just for us, the comics/gaming/sci fi crowd, brought to us by the awesome nerd/geek rock bank Kirby Krackle from Seattle, Washington.

March 9th marks the release of their sophomore album, "E for Everyone".  I got my copy this past weekend and I think I've already worn it out!  Since discovering this new genre of music I've been seeking out other like minded bands, but what makes Kirby Krackle stand out for me is their smart lyric writing and the production value behind their music.  And you know that when the CD cover features drumsticks as Wolverine claws and a GL ring created guitar that this CD's going to be a treat.

Kirby Krackle just plain sounds great, and they aren't making fad songs to play off of our interests to sell some cd's at cons - they make music inspired by the things we love because each one of these guys is one of us and they love the same stuff we do. 

"E for Everyone" kicks off with the energetic "Vault 101", an ode to "Fallout 3", one of the greatest video games of the past few years.  I don't know how many hours I spent last year wandering the Wastleland in search of bottle caps and blasting mutants and this first track captures some of that experience we had venturing out from that vault with our trusty PipBoy on our arm.  The song captures the player's need to believe that, despite the world gone to hell in a handbasket landscape, there's hope out there somewhere for a better tomorrow.  As the chorus goes, "And in a world gone mad I've got to believe...there's something better."

The CD's second track is a great "day in the life" look at the world from Wolverine's point of view.  From fighting in the Savage Land, dealing with the Hand and the Wrecking Crew, this song really shows the band's understanding of the character.  And for those people like myself who ordered the CD, the included booklet of lyrics cleverly takes Wolvie's signature claws into account.  The song rocks and the lyrics give us a glimpse into the character and how some of his life experiences may affect him more than what he reveals to world around him.

"Secret Identity" is a fun look at what the life of a superhero inside of all of us and how we'd all like to don costumes and kick ass at the end of the week, after we mow the lawn and trim the hedges of course! This is a great song that could easily be used in a film like "Kick Ass" with a lot of pop flair.

"Roll Over" is a fast paced bombardment of pop culture references shouting out to everything from the Thundercats to the Smurfs to Skrulls.  It's a fun play on the "Roll Over" song I remember singing to with my son when he was little, with some great riffs and a rap interlude that kicks it hard.  I'll admit that I questioned my geek cred when I didn't get all the references in the song!

The fifth track, "Henchman", is a rocking light-hearted look into the interview of an aspiring henchman.  Balancing accomplishments ("I fired lasers from a sub / one year I blew a whole bridge up") to inquiring as to the retirement fund options and health plan our singer's point of view of someone who has risen up the ranks from "peon to goon" mirrors the same type of nervous "need a job" interviews we've all had with a delightful villains' slant.

"Ring Capacity" is the song that helped me discover Kirby Krackle.  A single that I missed out on when it was sent out for free last summer, "Ring Capacity" is a hard rocking song that puts you in Hal Jordan's head as he encounters Sinestro in deep space.  The clever chorus counts up and down the charge level of Hal's ring as he deals with his greatest foe.  I've got a small collection of Green Lantern themed songs and "Ring Capacity" easily knocks J-Sin Stars's "Green Lantern: Hal Jordan" track of the top of stack for best Green Lantern inspired song.  I really hope that this track makes its way to the new Rock Band network and it would be amazing if this track somehow found its way into the soundtrack of the upcoming Green Lantern movie.

Check out the band's live performance of the song:

"Can I Watch You?" is a funky look at the Watcher.  How can you beat a lyric like "You love my baby head / And my piercing white eyes / So say if you want to / You can call me Uatu"?  Not even possible!  Pure gold!  And who knew he could make zucchini souffle?

Of all the songs on the disk "Take it from me" was the only song that didn't grab me.  And that's not a knock on the song at all - it's a good rocker.  I just missed the Mega Man bandwagon by a few years so the references are completely lost on me.  Again - that's nothing against the song, it just doesn't resonate for me personally.

"Great Lakes Avengers" demonstrates the band's ability to write a clever lyric about a guy with pretty pathetic powers and his attempts to get into a good super team, but alas he's too lame to be considered by anyone but the GLA.  Turned down by everyone from the Fantastic Four to the Green Lantern Corps to the Justice League and not willing to join the likes of the Doom Patrol, Alpha Flight, the JSA or the Birds of Prey ("you're a dude!") our protagonist finally decides that the GLA might be right for him after all.

Every CD has to have a ballad or two, and "Dusty Cartridges & Long Boxes" is the love song between two geeks sharing their common interests.  The song has kind of a Kenny Loggins / James Taylor vibe to it.  And what girl geek wouldn't swoon at a lyrical line like "CGC say 9.3 but you're a 10 to me..like Bo Derek."  It reminds me personally of years ago before my wife and I were married, two young naive Star Trek geeks spending every moment surrounded by memorabilia and other fans, reveling in our geekness while falling in love.

"E for Everyone" ends with "Going Home" - a song which should become the anthem for everyone making the pilgrimage to a con where you've crammed your vehicle beyond capacity, of course never realizing that you'll be bringing home more stuff that you left with and have to leave stuff behind.  You and your bud's hit the road, Root Beer and Twinkies stuffed in a cooler as you hit the road for mecca.  This song captures the fan experience like no other and deserves a music video to set it off - in fact G4 needs to use this in their Comic Con coverage this year - you hear that Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn!?

"E for Everyone" will be available by various digital download stores, but you can also order the CD directly from the band.  It's worth a couple of extra bucks to get the art and lyric book - and this is a band worthy of our support.  If you find yourself becoming a Kracklehead like I have you'll also want to seek our their first CD that's also filled with great music any geek would want on their MP3 player.

Definitely five out of five lanterns.

With the start of principal photography looming on the immediate horizon, there has been surprisingly little new official information released regarding more of the casting for the film.  In fact the only official announcement from Warner Brothers revolves around film format.  

The enormous success of 3D and "Avatar" has led to studios jumping on the 3D bandwagon.  Warner Brothers has officially announced that the Green Lantern film will be released in both 2D and 3D versions.  While I haven't seen any movie in the new 3D format myself, I have to admit that the thought of seeing ring constructs in three dimensions makes more than a little giddy.  Those who've seen 3D films seems to be of the mind that in order for it to look right the movie has to be filmed in 3D for the effect to look right, not rendered in post production.  My hope is that no one starts changing things to create hokey 3D moments - I still haven't recovered from Friday the 13th, Part 3.

Reynolds mentioned Green Lantern going 3D on the red carpet at the 2010 Oscars during a very brief conversation with MTV's Splashpage blog.  The clip is pretty funny since the guys at MTV keep trying to get Reynolds to say the oath on camera and he's not having any part of it.  Happily, Reynolds hair looks very Hal-like in the video they have on their site. Check out their post for written details of their dialogue and a brief video.   

Other news that has made it's way to the 'net regards test footage being filmed near New Orleans with film crews shooting footage of a stunt car near a high bridge.  What makes this interesting is that there really isn't a lot of car action in the first draft of the script other than Green Lantern dealing with some criminals in a car chase or two in what amounts to little more than a montage of GL making an impact around the globe.  So whether this test footage is in preparation for that or not remains to be seen since we there have been several re-writes.  So long as it's not going to be used for an "Emerald Dawn" inspired DWI incident I'm happy.

Bobby Strom, fitness guru to the stars, has the Green Lantern movie listed on his website as one of his current projects.  Strom worked with Ryan Reynolds before on "Blade: Trinity".  Reynolds himself confirmed that he is working with Strom in another red carpet interview, this one with E! Online.  Reynolds also hints a little at the type of costume he'll be wearing, calling it "snug" and proclaiming that it may take him some time to not feel embarrassed by how form fitting it is.

What a difference a day makes! Blackest Night #7 was released today and it's a doozy! Now there are things that I'm sure that some fans will not be pleased with. I, on the other hand, found it all made sense even though it's not necessarily what I wanted to see happen. But the reality is that the emotional spectrum pretty much predicates that what takes place in this issue is the only thing that could have happened.

I'm also really happy that I was at least exactly right on one of my pieces of speculation from yesterday, and pretty darn close with the Guardian's great lie. So, without further adieu, here's my review of Blackest Night #7, and it's not spoiler free.

Nekron continues his battle at Coast City, posing the question to a Guardian about why they guard the universe, to which the Guardian replies, "I do not remember".  The rings of the New Guardians still have no effect on Nekron himself and Black Hand finally enters the fray for real.  

Johns reminds us that Atrocitus and Black Hand have met before, when Abin Sur crashed on Earth, which is important because the missing piece to the puzzle of the death of Abin Sur is the reason why he came to Earth.  What was it that he was looking for.  By the end of the issue we'll have the answer to that puzzle that exonerates Hal's predecessor.

While Hal is dealing with Black Hand, the problem of giving a power ring to the likes of Lex Luthor and Scarecrow becomes evident and the influence of their respective power source drive them to become more of a liability than an asset.  Luthor's avarice knows no bounds and when he decides that he wants all the rings he causes more problems for the New Guardians that they can handle.

Meanwhile John and the Black Lanterns from Xanshi battle high above Coast City and Airwave prevents John from communication with his compatriots just as all the Corps arrive on Earth, effectively bringing the Green Lantern Corps title fully into the main story after the Indigo Tribe teleported them all from Oa at the end of Green Lantern Corps #45.  Ivan Reis once again out does himself with a great two pager:

While all the corps fight, we get a glimpse that something is inside the Black Lantern Power Battery; that something being the Anti-Monitor, who's defeat at the end of the Sinestro Corps War led to the infamous teaser for Blackest Night.  It's then that the revelations of the story begin to make themselves known as Black Hand kills a Guardian and places his heart at the center of an emblem that has formed on the ground - the symbol of the Brightest Day that DC revealed a few weeks ago.

Ganthet tells Hal that Nekron is making contact, but does not elaborate with whom.  Nekron then says "Trespasser....Rise" and bursting from beneath Coast City is an entity bursting with white light.  Nekron's assault on the being causes pain to every living being.  Then we bear witness to Ganthet's revelation.

While the Guardians may be the oldest living beings in the universe, life began on Earth.  Not far from what I was guessing.  This makes so much sense - it explains several things from the Guardian's reluctance to involve humans in the Corps, what Abin Sur was looking for, and why, once they let one human in the GLC, they added many to try to protect their secret.  So important is this to the security of our universe that the Guardians allowed Abin Sur to loose face with the Corps and cast him in a bad light to discredit his belief in the prophecy he was told back in the "Tygers" story by Alan Moore.

The presence of the white entity also means that it probably has nothing to do with the disappearance of the Parallax entity in Green Lantern #51 as I speculated, so somewhere out there Ion, Parallax and Predator are embroiled in events with some unknown being that I'm sure will be revealed to us in the issues to follow.  If anything, I'm pleased that Geoff continues to lay groundwork for the future even in the middle of an event like this.

As the entity lay there defenseless, Hal realizes that someone must act as the host for it and he flies to embrace his destiny as the greatest lantern of them all.  But before he can, the one guy I thought might rise to the occasion does and Sinestro stops Hal long enough to get there first.  And the issue ends with a two page splash of Sinestro bathed in blinding light wearing the uniform of the White Lantern and proclaiming "I am the greatest lantern of them ALL!"

The color work this issue was exceptional.  Alex Sinclair has done a great job throughout this miniseries and I feel bad for not mentioning it before.  It would be so easy for an event like this to look pretty ugly with all the different colors of the spectrum represented in the wardrobes of the characters and the their various energy signatures and constructs.  But not once throughout the Blackest Night have I felt like it was starting to go too far and that's a credit to the whole art team.

There's also another great macabre tale from "The Book of the Black" that continues to paint the twisted portrait William Hand's childhood.  This issues tale of murder and mayhem shows just how driven Hand is to kill anyone and how utterly without redemption he really is.  I really love this little bonus tales of depravity and I'm still hoping that we'll see them collected in some sort of replica leather bound volume.

I know that many fans were not thrilled with the idea of a White Lantern from the very beginning when so many fans saw the possiblity, but really you have to know that there's no way you can have all the colors represented as part of an emotional spectrum, throw in the idea of Nekron and Black Lanterns, and not somehow have there be something using white.  And it just makes sense no matter how corny it might sound.  Hey, were suspending our disbelief pretty far as it is, so it's not too much of a stretch in my opinion.

And it had to be Sinestro.  While it may be lead to his ultimate redemption for all his past actions, it just makes sense.  He's the real Darth Vader in the Green Lantern mythology - and he's the one who will benefit the most from this new journey.  In the end will he keep the white power?  I don't think so, but I suspect that Geoff Johns has a plan for him that we're going to love to read in the coming months knowing that Green Lantern is one of three regular books that he's going to continue to write in addition to fulfilling his duties as DC Entertainment's Chief Creative Officer. 
 

Once again Geoff Johns has taken all that we know about the DC Universe and added something new to it that we never knew before without undoing the reality created by his predecessors.  I've read Green Lantern in particular for over thirty five years and while I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge, I feel that I have tred a path that covers pretty much all of the carpet of the the Green Lantern mythos.  And, like he did with Green Lantern: Rebirth, Geoff has revealed that the carpet is bigger than we thought it was and that we'd only been walking in the areas we were aware of, completely in the dark to the existence of a much larger, ricer tapestry.  To me that's a hallmark of a great writer who can add more without taking anything away.

It's such a great time to be Green Lantern fan - five out of five lanterns.

To me a part of the fun of being a comics fan during events like Blackest Night is speculating on the mysteries and potentials surprises and then seeing if you guessed right. And personally I love being wrong when a writer goes in a different direction than I'm thinking and presents story elements that I never considered - and blows me away with it. 

For example, on the Raging Bullets podcast I recently talked with the co-hosts, Sean Whelan and Jim Segulin, that when Kyle Rayner died back in Green Lantern Corps number 42 we speculated that Kyle wouldn't stay dead and maybe bring reinforcements from Nekron's dimension.  While we were right in that Kyle wouldn't stay dead, he certainly didn't visit the Realm of the Dead.

So with Blackest Night hitting the last two issues and number seven on the immediate horizon I thought maybe I'd put some of my hunches out there to share with people.  So if you're sensitive to spoilers you may want to look away, although I assure you I have no inside information and haven't seen issue seven yet - so my thoughts are not based on any knowledge of what's to come and represents my GL fanboy speculation.

The biggest thing I've been thinking about is the "Guardians Great Lie" that Black Hand has alluded to.  And I've been under the impression that Nekron's origin is not exactly the great lie that death sentinel was referring to.  I think there's a revelation yet to come that will really make us think about the Guardians' methodology and question the decisions they've been making even more.

A while back Geoff Johns made the comment that the light spectrum split when the first living being used willpower to move under its own power.  He's also made it sound as though this is the second war of light.  I've also been considering the original "Tales of the Green Lantern" miniseries where Nekron first appeared and how he had no knowledge of our dimension until an immortal Maltusan, Krona, was killed by the Guardians and passed through the Realm of the Dead.

The contradiction to me is that if there were a war of light prior to the aforementioned story, then Nekron should have known of our dimension from the start.  So did the Guardians banish Nekron to the Realm of the Dead and somehow managed to mind-wipe him?  Or are the Guardians only immortal because they made a deal with Nekron and created the Realm of the Dead for him to rule in exchange for him granting them immortality - and then they reneged on the deal?  Certainly a far less altruistic origin for the Guardians than what they have told us.

My other theory has to do with the thought that the first being who shattered the white light was Ion, and that the entities for each emotion sprung forth from a common source, a white being who fractured when it conjured the will to move against Nekron.  The fractured entities fought against Nekron and defeated him.  The Guardians later manipulated things to keep the entities out of the reach of other beings to ensure that they would be able to control the destiny of the universe.

Furthermore my hunch is that this first war of light took place on Earth and that Earth, for all the disdain the Guardians and other species have for it, is so primitive and ruled by emotions because that is the birthplace of the emotional spectrum.  And this is why the Guardians allowed four Earthmen to be Green Lanterns in order to protect Earth and prevent the Guardians' manipulations from coming to light.

I think that the entities are being pulled back to reform the white entity, explaining why we haven't seen Ion or the Predator for months - and why Parallax was yanked away by an unseen force in Green Lantern 51.  I think we're going to see the white entity and he/she/it will be choosing a herald, the dreaded White Lantern that many fans have hoped we wouldn't see since it does seem like it's from a Saturday Morning cartoon.

Contrary to the popular notion that Hal Jordan will be that White Lantern, I think it will be someone else entirely because Hal is pure willpower, and even though he has proven capable of wielding several of the rings I think that he's already the poster boy for willpower.  I think that the white being will be looking for someone who knows about order, even when that order calls for choices that some might think are wrong.  I'm thinking order is the driving forces based on Dove's ability to destroy the Black Lanterns with a touch and display a white aura.  

And who better to redeem himself than the guy who's sense of creating order drove him to cross the line, the White Lantern to be....Sinestro.  As much as the return of the Green Lantern mythos was a focus of everything Johns has done since Green Lantern: Rebirth, it's also been about the rise and fall and redemption of Sinestro.  If I'm guessing right I don't know what that will mean for Sinestro once the dust from Blackest Night settles.

I recently had an opportunity to preview this week's direct-to-dvd release of "Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths" and jumped at the chance since I've really liked almost all of them so far (Batman: Gotham Knight being the exception).  I'm a sucker for stories set in the multiverse so this is one I've been looking forward to since it was first announced.

Before the review itself there's a little bit of back story to this movie.  Between the "Justice League" animated series and the start of "Justice League: Unlimited" Bruce Timm and company felt that there needed to be a story that bridged the "Starcrossed" movie and the start of the new show to explain how and why there were so many new members.  So Dwayne McDuffie wrote a script for a story called "Justice League: Worlds Collide" that was to be shot as a direct to video production.  This film was scrapped and it's this script which was retooled to become the script for "Crisis on Two Earths".

With that said my first impression of the new film is that, like "Public Enemies", it's got a lot of action, but that's about it.  I liked it, but it once again felt like a movie starring the Trinity with a few other characters thrown in to say it's a Justice League flick.  Flash and Green Lantern aren't given anything of note to do other than take up a few minutes of film to show them in action, at least the Martian Manhunter got a subplot, albeit one that's a little silly in my opinion and derailed the main plot.  I was more taken with the appearance of some of the potential new Justice League members than I was with the use of Flash and Green Lantern. 

The film looks great on bluray and some of the fight scenes have some really smooth animation sequences, particularly those between Wonder Woman and Superwoman.  The soundtrack by James Venable fits the darker tone of the movie as well.  And there are some cool cameos in the alternate universe Earth, I geeked out at seeing the interaction between our Flash and the alternate version of Green Arrow.  Lobo was also cool to see as well.  And I won't spoil who the U.S. President is for those who haven't already figured it out or read that elsewhere.

The Crime Syndicate is handled well and you get the sense of them really functioning as a super powered mafia complete with a "family" structure.  The voice work is really good as well.  James Woods is perfect and he's given a meaty role as the psychotic Owlman.  Mark Harmon does a good job with Superman, as does Gina Torres as Superwoman.  Brian Bloom does a great job of channeling Ray Liotta for Ultraman. 

I was really excited to see Nolan North's name associated with Green Lantern and Power Rings' voices, him being the voice behind Nathan Drake in the "Uncharted" games for the PS3.  Oh, and for the record he's the first guy to be both Green Lantern and Deadpool on film having voiced the merc with the mouth on the "Hulk Vs" feature last year.  Unfortunately he just doesn't get enough to do here, although I did enjoy his interactions with the Flash.  My one complaint on the voice acting is William Baldwin as Batman.  I don't know if it's just because Kevin Conroy has become so synonymous with the dark knight that the bar is set too high for us to like anyone else, but Baldwin just doesn't have the right intonations for what I think Batman needs to sound like.

In terms of the character design, everyone's costume is pretty much dead on, including GL's white gloves.  I think they got Hal's body a little too spindly and not enough bulk for my own tastes, but other than that he looks okay.  In terms of ring usage we of course get the prerequisite boxing glove and giant hand, but nothing of note in terms of creativity.    I had my hopes up with Hal partnering up with Wonder Woman, but alas he didn't get to do much.  Not to make any accusations, but I wonder how much Green Lantern action got cut from the script when it was changed from John to Hal knowing how much McDuffie likes John.  I can't imagine John's role was so minor in the original script.

Speaking of the script, while it's "dark" there's a couple of things that really kind of bothered me.  Without giving away too much there's a bit where Batman crosses a line that I really didn't think he would with a decision he makes regarding the Flash and Johnny Quick.  The story could have reached the same overall conclusion without having occurred happen, so I question why it was decided to do what they did.  I know that sounds a little vague, but I don't want to spoil anything since this review is coming out before the film is. 

My other issue is Owlman's whole plot - I mean I know he's supposed to be out of his mind but even his plan was a little too irrational for a crazy guy.  In the end it just seems like the film is another "bad guys plots to destroy the universe" action movie without anything thought provoking to make it stand out.  I think the multiverse concept lends itself to some high-concept stories that have a balance of narrative and action and they missed the boat with the ability to tell us more. 

The first of the DC animated shorts is also on this disk, this one being the Spectre. I won't say much about it here other than the plot was little too predictable for my tastes.  The animation style is markedly different from the main feature, which is okay because it is a standalone story and it appears like it jumps off the pages of a 1970's comic book.

I think the Spectre is one of those characters who may be too powerful to be used very often, but he'd be a great character to base a horror animation anthology on, preferably on a premium cable channel like HBO that could get away with the adult level animation that should accompany a being who can turn a human into a pile of melting wax.  In fact, after watching this it makes me wish that DC Entertainment would do just that. This short is well done even if the plot is a little predictable, and if this is any indication of what future holds for these DC Showcase episodes I'm looking forward to rest of them.

The preview of "Batman: Under the Red Hood" has me concerned.  The voice acting in the sneak peak sounded awful.  Maybe I'm being over critical and I hope I'm wrong but I didn't end up feeling any anticipation for this one after watching the feature.

The bluray has the pilots for the Lynda Carter Wonder Woman TV show from the '70's and "Mercy Reef", the unaired Aquaman pilot starring Smallville's Green Arrow, Justin Hartley.  I didn't get the chance to watch them yet, but they are a nice bonus to getting the bluray edition.

We of course have the obligatory addition of episodes from the Justice League animated series.  They're good episodes, don't get me wrong, but I think that the majority of people that are buying these features probably already own the Justice League episodes and I'd much rather have some real behind the scenes features on these DTV's or at least a return of the commentary tracks.  And of course there are the "First Looks" for the last three DTV's in the line to advertise them to people who didn't already pick them up - again a waste of space for the majority of the audience who most likely own them already.

"DCU: The New World" is the lone documentary type special feature on this disk, featuring Dan DiDio, Geoff Johns and others discussing the role of the Crisis events in the history of the DC universe.  There's not really anything new for DC fans who've read the books, but it's always cool to see some of the DC talent used to promote the comics on a disk that may help bring a new audience to the medium.  

All in all I'd give this three lanterns.  If you have a bluray player I'd recommend getting that version (why you'd buy it on DVD escapes me anyways) just because of the better picture quality and the extra goodies.

Succeeding Levtiz is Dan DiDio and Jim Lee, two familiar faces who are now sharing co-publisher duties.  Whether or not this mean Didio will be stepping down as Editor in Chief or not remains to be seen and Didio has remained nebulous about that issue at this early stage of the game.  

John Rood was named as the Executive Vice President in charge of sales, marketing, and business development, returning to Warner Brothers after working at Disney/ABC for several years.  Patrick Caldon will be in charge of finance and administration.

Geoff Johns has also earned a new title in this new endeavor, that of the Chief Creative Officer.  Johns will, in essence, be given the keys to the kingdom to make sure that the toys in DC's sandbox are played with nicely, as well as having a role in the ongoing stories being generated by DC Comics as well as the Vertigo and Milestone brands.  Using his experience with Richard Donner, Johns will be working with Warner Brothers to develop and advise on film and television productions featuring DC's characters.

Some good news for Green Lantern fans is that Johns has met with director Martin Campbell and actor Ryan Reynolds about the upcoming Green Lantern film and he's done some work with the script and met with various departments of the production.  So I'm hoping beyond hope that the insipid scene where Carol and Hal's kiss recharges the ring has long since been exorcised from the script since that first draft leaked on the Internet.  Johns made an interesting comment that Green Lantern is sort of a model for what they want to do going forward and commented on the film, Blackest Night, and "everything spinning out of that", a comment that I find intriguing since Geoff has made several comments on big things coming down the road.  

So what does this mean for us?  Is it a good thing or a bad thing?  I think it comes down to what you think about DiDio and Johns and the work they've done so far.  Personally, I think it's a good thing.  While I may not agree with everything that either of them have ever done, I like how DC Comics have been overall since DiDio came into power and Johns has evolved into one of the best writers in this generation.

It's my opinion that DC is in the best hands it could be in creatively with the formation of DC Entertainment.  I think that the fact that Warners looked within the company to choose its creative leaders shows that they understand that the people who've been doing the job are the best people to lead the charge.  And for all the doubters I would ask them to name their picks for people who have anywhere near the passion that Lee, DiDio and Johns have for DC's stable of characters.

My initial concern with this announcement is that Johns would be cutting back on his writing workload.  But Geoff has said that was also one of his concerns during the negotiations for his new role and that he would continue his work on Green Lantern, the new Flash series, Brightest Day and the Batman: Earth One series of one-shots.  That's a huge relief in my book since I think that John's run on GL has been the best I've read in the thirty five or so years I've been following the characters.

My hope in this is that Nelson and Warner Brothers have found the right mix to bring DC to the forefront in a number of arenas besides the publications of the monthly books.  DC really needs to embrace the digital age with digital comics as another choice for getting the content in addition to the print medium.  And games like "Batman: Arkham Asylum" shows how these characters can so easily transcend the printed page and stories can become interactive entertainment experience when both the intellectual property and the audience is respected.  We need more of those kinds of games to keep the DC universe alive for the next generation to appreciate, not games like "Justice League Heroes".

Likewise it's the same kind of pro-fan attitude that needs to be used when they bring any of the characters to film through tv, motion pictures and direct-to-dvd products.  There's no surprise that "Smallville: Absolute Justice" did so well in the ratings with fans - the characters were handled with the respect for which they are due and we as fans embrace that.  

I think we've had a dynamic shift in how today's audiences respond as compared to my generation.  In my day we got drawn into comics through the comics themselves because it was pretty rare to see superheroes in other mediums.  Sure, we had Superfriends, Power Records, the Superman films and a few tv shows, but not the broad variety of media forms that this generation has access to.  And for many of them video games and all the other things that are out there are what bring them into comics - the comics are their gateway to the characters.  So it's up to the leaders in the industry to find creative ways to harness all the different types of entertainment to draw people to the original printed media in order to keep it alive.  

The comics industry faces some huge challenges as the audience of my generation dwindles.  The only way is to embrace all the new forms of media distribution and use that as a strength, harness the mass appeal that they offer and put the characters out there for them to get the audience that they need to continue to thrive.