Blackest Night Titans #3 Review

When the first three "Blackest Night" tie-in miniseries were announced I'll admit that I wasn't sure if I'd pick them all up.  As much as I like Superman and Batman I knew I'd buy them, but I really am not into the Titans.  So I am surprised that I really think that the Titans miniseries was the most rewarding of the three.

Admittedly, the relationship between Tara and Beast Boy are lost on me because of my lack of familiarity, but I found this issue in particular provided for me the most character driven moment since the event began as well as what I think it important information about how the Black Lanterns work.  So I'm kind of surprised about that since it's been said by DC that readers don't need to read all the tie-ins to get the main story.  And while that may be true, I think fans who don't pick this one in particular up are missing out on some essential plot points.

J.T. Krul does a great job wrapping up what I initially thought was going to be my least favorite of the first three minis.  Cyborg and Starfire are having visions of what they most want - with Vick wanting to be human again and Kory longing to be with Dick Grayson.  We get the usual baiting by the Black Lanterns as the Titans fight to stay alive, but it's Donna's moments that shine from me.

The page where Donna deals with the Black Lantern version of her baby has got to be one of the most heart-wrenching emotional scenes I've read since Ralph found Sue Dibney's body in "Identity Crisis".  Ed Benes, who always to me seems to draw all his women's faces the same and really likes to focus on their breasts (not complaining about that part!), really creates a great sequence as Donna summons the inner strength to realize that the Black Lantern is not really her child and dispatch with him, and then breaking down in tears.  I found myself incredible moved by the scene and it's one that will stick with me for some time to come.

The key element to me from a plot perspective is the continuing inability for the Black Lanterns to be able to deal with Dove.  We see in this issue that if a Black Lantern touches Dove the ring is almost immediately disconnected from its host corpse.  As I mentioned in my review of the first issue, I really think that Dove holds one of the keys to fending off the Black Lanterns.  Dove is at peace, to me that means that there's not one dominant emotion to color here aura - it's white because all 7 emotions are equally present and represents the "white light" that Indigo-1 explained in that beautiful Ivan Reis splashpage back in "Blackest Night" #3.  I think Dove will be the key in how Earth's heroes hold the Black Lanterns at bay while Hal continues to put together his multi-corps team.

Donna now has the ability to see the auras of people like the Black Lanterns do, and while that definitely puts her on my own death watch list, I think that her new ability could be used to help the heroes gain control of themselves in tandem with Dove.  It'll be interesting at any rate to see if Dove's proximity to Donna will keep her from falling to the dark side.

I give this issue five lanterns.

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Green Lantern 47 Review

This week was a great one for Green Lantern fans with 3 different "Blackest Night" titles hitting the shelves.  Green Lantern #47 was among them, continuing to follow Hal Jordan as he attempts to draw the different corps together.  Along the way John Stewart lands on the recently recreated Xanshi and we get to learn more about how the Red energy works.

We first saw the Five Inversions back in 1986 in the "Tales of the Green Lantern Corps" annual (#2) and at the time they really didn't seem like they were that big of a deal.  23 years later we find that they have played a huge role behind the scenes.  So to see them back as Black Lanterns taking on their murderer is really a testament to Geoff Johns' ability to pull bits of continuity from years past and reshape them into great modern story telling.

It was the blood of the four dead members of the Five Inversions that created the Red Lantern power battery, so it's iron that the energy they involuntarily helped harness is what prevents them from taking revenge upon Atrocitus. The power of the red energy can keep a Red Lantern alive even when they get their heart ripped out of their chest.  It's also cool to see inside Atrocitus' head as he expounds on the different kinds of hate - with the hate born from personal pain being the strongest of them all.

That's really kind of interesting in that there's a certain kind of justice born out of acting out of rage over personal pain versus the rage that comes from other things like prejudice, which Atrocitus points out is hate derived from fear.  The red rings literally replace their broken hearts and keep their hate alive.  Kind of noble in a twisted way.

Back on Korugar Sinestro and Hal battle Black Lantern Abin Sur and his sister - and we get another glimpse into Sinestro when Black Lantern Arin tries to use her past relationship with Sinestro to get to him.  Apparently Arin died in Sinestro's arms on the streets of Korugar, but little more is revealed other than that her death is tied to Sinestro's action on his homeworld.  I hope we see more about this as we move forward, or that Geoff expands this in the not too distant future.

Abin Sur is predictable in his approach to Hal, trying to provoke him by throwing Coast City and his time as Parallax in Hal's face.  Four years since Rebirth and I'll be honest in that I'm a little tired of hearing about it at this point, but you have to expect this to be brought up in this kind of story.  Hal's response is what it should be - he acknowledges his past, but he's not going to dwell upon it and let it keep him from doing what's important now.

We get to see how effective four of the colors of the emotional spectrum work together as Hal, Sinestro, Carol Ferris and Indigo-1 dispatch the Black Lanterns, and then we have the anticipated fight for leadership of the group between Hal and Sinestro.  Sinestro wants to get to Atrocitus, while Hal wants to hook up with the Blue Lanterns.  Hal's ballsy attitude wins out in the end and Sinestro command his corps to guard Korugar in his absense and tells them that it's no longer Green Lantern hunting season....for now.

Abin Sur made a very interesting comment as the four members of the cosmic rainbow coalition start to take out the Black Lanterns.  He says, "Indigo? I know you. I...."  Again, more hints of things that we do not yet know about the past of these characters that I hope we learn more about down the road. My hunch is that Indigo-1 will turn out to be the child that Abin Sur rescued in the story, "Tygers", that is one of the stories that Geoff Johns is referring back to in the Blackest Night event.

In the Alan Moore story "Tygers", Abin Sur goes to Ysmault to rescue survivors from a crashed ship, encountering the Five Inversions who foretell Sur's death due to his ring failing him - a prophecy that in turns causes Abin Sur to question his ring and bring about the very events that Quill of the Five Inversions foretold.

John Stewart gets some face time on Xanshi, finding a mysterious green power battery on the surface.  We get a teasing glimpse of who John's been hearing, but not really enough to be able to tell who it is - but this person has both a green and black ring on.  Now I'm placing money on it being Katma Tui, but I could be wrong on this and it could turn out to be someone else entirely.  I cannot think of anyone else who could have the emotional connection to John and would have the impact that Katma would.

St. Walker proves why he's a Blue Lantern, displaying enormous hope in the face of certain death at the hands of the Orange Lantern Corps.  His faith is rewarded when Hal and company show up while Black Lanterns continue to chase Larfleeze back on Okaara.  Just as Larfleeze is about to be overtaken, along comes Atrocitus to save his behind, telling Larfleeze that he wants the orange battery and then...fade to black.  Next issue: The New Guardians?  Hmmmmm....... Mysteriouser and mysteriouser.

The pace of the story is pretty frantic all the way through, so it felt like it read really fast.  I've been really impressed with Doug Mahnke's art so far, but I have to be honest as say that this wasn't his best work.  Most of the issue is fine, and I thought he really did a great job of creating a creepy atmosphere when John lands on Xanshi.  But some of his work on Hal this issue just seemed uneven and maybe a little rushed.

I'd give the book five lanterns, but the artwork's uneven quality drops it down to a four.

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Blackest Night #4 Review

We reach the half way point this week with issue number 4 of "Blackest Night", and like the rest of the event this issue is filled with more death and mayhem - plus great character moments.

If I had to describe this issue and how the event has unraveled, it feels to me like a series of beats - like a heartbeat - and a building feeling of dread. And it seems to culminate in this issue with the arrival of Nekron, the presumed big bad of the event. Unfortunately the fact that Nekron was revealed a couple of months back takes a bit of drama out of the last page splash because it comes as no surprise. I'm not complaining about that - Nekron's appearance is surprise enough for Barry Allen.

For me "Blackest Night" is more about how the events impact the inhabitants of the DC Universe than the identity of the villian himself.  And maybe that's why DC chose to prematurely reveal his identity since it isn't so much about who it is, but the effects of his actions and those that bring about his arrival that are the most important.  And my hope for this story goes beyond the plot of the event, but how the plot reveals more about the characters in the story by it affecting them on a deeply personal level.

The main title in the event is heavy on plot and this issue is no exception.  Johns does a great job of continuing to include glimpses of the events of the supplemental mini-series so that they seem to be an organic part of the overall story.  So we do see some references to Wonder Woman and the Flashes, hinting that the events of those upcoming minis tie in here. 

I have to admit that Mera has probably been the biggest surprise for me as a reader.  I really don't care much for anything in the Aquaman vein of things, but his portrayal here and Mera's handling of it make me feel more of an appreciation for the characters.  And I'll go on record as saying that, while I wouldn't support an ongoing new Aquaman book, I'd plop down my $3 a month for an Aquawoman title at this point.

And I think that comes down to Geoff Johns' ability to create great character moments that show you in a few panels the essence of what makes each character special and important to the DCU.  While this event is supposed to be Green Lantern centric, key members of the universe have had spotlights shined on them - and in fact there's no Green Lantern in this issue at all, giving the limelight to Mera, Barry and Ray Palmer.  They all get there moments in the sun and they shine brightly here.

Barry Allen is particular rose to the occaision here.  His speech to Mera and Ray was heartfelt and direct, and you see the immediate results of his ability to lead and motivate in how Ray responds by getting the trio to the JSA.  While Hal Jordan didn't appear in this issue, Barry's views on him add more insight to both of them.  While Ollie and Hal have a special friendship, I've always felt that Barry was really the one who understood Hal the best and Barry's comments here underscore that for me.

Particularly interesting to me was the fact that Jason Rusch could fight for control of Black Lantern Firestorm and hold it at bay even if only for a moment.  Speculation in big stories like this are always fun and those few panels make me wonder if we'll see Deadman and Ralph and Sue Dibney somehow help in the resolution of the story for inside the legion of Black Lanterns. 

The issue also continues the trend of bumping off at least one character per issue - this time being Damage from JSA.  I thought that Damage has evolved over time and it such a great tragic character and it was a shame to see him bite the big one here.  Speculation time again - do all these deaths and the fact that this event is supposed to re-define death in the DCU fit together?  I'm thinking that somewhere along the way we're going to see an opportunity in dealing with Nekron to bring back Damage and other dead characters from throughout the history of the DCU before the abilty to traverse between the realms of the living and the dead is changed.  By the end of the event I could see something happening where whatever has made it possible for so many heroes to journey back to the land of the living is affected by the war with Nekron, making it nie impossible for it to be so easy in the future.  Just a hunch, but again it's fun to speculate.

Another point of interest here was the scene with the Scarecrow and how he could not feel terror at the sight of Black Lantern Azrael and his statement that nothing can scare him except for Batman.  I don't expect to see the return of Bruce Wayne in the pages of this series, so I don't quite understand the significance of his comment, but I know that Geoff Johns doesn't through those kinds of lines around lightly so we'll see where this plays out, if at all.  There seems to be several moments like this where you don't know where they are leading, like the one with the Spectre who hasn't been seen since he went all Black Lantern-y.

Black Hand's comments in the Coast City cemetary are really intriguing to me.  What exactly is the "Guardians' ultimate lie" and what is the big mystery behind sector 666?  And is this information what will supposedly lead Hal Jordan to go against the Guardians once again?  I think big revelations are coming and they are going to be mythos-shattering.  And I really hope that Black Hand walking past Martin and Jessica Jordan's graves weren't a throwaway image because I really want Hal to have that moment where he gets confronted with his past and how Black Lantern Martin Jordan might get to Hal with the information he's never had, his father's last words.

As for the art - it's Ivan Reis and he has just gotten better and better as the issues fly by.  I have to say that even though I like Doug Mahnke's work on the main Green Lantern title for the most part, I'm really going to miss Ivan when he's gone from the book.  Definitely five lanterns out of five.

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Sinestro Casting Rumor

Just days after The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that the Green Lantern movie will not be filming in Australia, we have new rumors about who Martin Campbell may be casting as Sinestro.  While it is all rumor, it could be a very interesting casting choice.

According to Ain't it Cool News, actor Jackie Earle Haley is up for the role of Sinestro.  Haley is very familiar to comic fans having recently played Rorschach in the Watchmen film and he will be starring in the new Nightmare on Elm Street reboot and playing a role in the upcoming Human Target television show. What this means is unclear at this point, and again it's a rumor without any information behind it besides it supposedly coming from someone working on the film.  It could mean anything from Haley being on Campbell's short list of people he's considering approaching for the film, or it could mean that he's tested for the role and is in negotiations to sign for the movie.

Collider spoke with Haley at the Spike TV awards that were filmed last night (10/17/2009) and asked him about the rumor, which he of course denied and said that he had just heard the rumor moments earlier as he made his way down the red carpet.  His denial doesn't really mean anything as actors frequently don't comment on those kinds of rumors and he in fact denied being the next Freddy Krueger just three weeks before it was announced that he had the role.  Collider has a video of the interview available here.

I have mixed feelings on the rumor.  I don't deny that Haley is a good actor and I don't think he would do a bad job with the role at all in the first film.  But when I look at how the character will transition from a mid-level character in the first film to probably the main villain in any hopeful sequel I'm not sure he could carry the role that far.  I could be very wrong, look at the initial fan reaction Heath Ledger got during the filming of Dark Knight.  And he will be doing similar duty as Freddy Krueger.

Martin Campbell has apparently had a lot of changes made to the script so he undoubtedly has a vision for what he hopes to accomplish here.  Haley would be far less stunt casting that say, Jason Isaacs, who film-goers already see as a bad guy.  So maybe Haley would be a good choice because he doesn't have that pre-conceived notion about him.  At any rate Campbell could make far, far worse choices and I am cautiously optimistic at this point.

For a glimpse at what Haley might look like in the role, fans have already begun working on photo manipulations of him as Sinestro.  The best one I've seen out there comes from poster "guymandude" over on the Superhero Hype forums.  

The bigger concern is the change in location and the impact it could have on the film.  If the Australian dollar was officially valued at $.62 when the process began, then Warners would essentially be getting almost twice as much value for the money they would have spent there.  With the move to the rumored Mexico, New Orleans, or Canada location Warners is not going to get as much for the dollars they spend.  Warners is probably not going to increase the film budget by that much, so where does the budget get trimmed?  If they cut salary will be we get actors who can bring the roles to life as well?  If they trim the special effects will it look like garbage?  Again, I'm placing my trust in Warner Brothers because they are relying on this picture to do well and it will be the first tentpole film in their DC Entertainment shared universe and there are high hopes that this film with do very well.  So I think they are going to work very hard to make sure that this film has the same level of success as Iron Man did.

The other rumor that continues to gain some steam is that Superman will indeed have a cameo in the Green Lantern film.  It's a strange rumor to me because Warner Brothers has been saying that there's no movement in a new Superman film but there have been other rumors out there contrary to that information.  But if there were going to be a cameo in the film I would think you'd need the role cast.  I think we definitely need to see some kind of shared-universe approach and I really want to see that happen, but if they are going to do it they need to make sure that they aren't putting someone out there that isn't going to be playing the same character later on.

I'm sure as we get closer and closer to the start of filming in April we are going to see more and more rumors surface about casting.  For now it's fun to speculate on who we'd all like to see in the film, but I'm just happy that we are finally going to get to see Hal Jordan on the big screen.

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Green Lantern Corps #41 Review

I've really come to respect Peter Tomasi as a writer.  As an editor he was one of the architect's for the return of the Green Lantern mythos, but he's really turned me into a fan with his work on "Green Lantern Corps" and he adds another great piece of writing with this weeks issue.

This issue really delivers some great moments for Kilowog and Arisia, who has always been one of my favorite Lanterns.  Both characters get some time in the spotlight as we see them deal with people from their pasts.  Now, if you didn't get the "Tales of the Corps" issue a few months ago then you probably won't understand some of the significance of the people who show up to feed on the Lantern.

If you fall into that category - here's the Reader's Digest version.  Lantern Ermey was Kilowog's trainer in his early days, helping shape Kilowog into the being he is today, and he's the one who originated the use of the word "Poozer" that the Wog has made his own as a tribute to Ermey.  And we learned that Arisia is one of four members of her family who have served the Corps, a rare legacy that Arisia strives to live up to.  Yeah, if you're jaded you'll say that the back story was created just for the moments in this issue, and you'd be right, but story is told well and furthers the growth of two long-standing members of the Corps who we really don't know a lot about despite how long they've appeared in the comics.

Jade continues her mental assault on Kyle and we get a couple of neat, but gross, scenes with Iolande and Soranik Natu trying to protect their fellow Lanterns in the infirmary before she goes to save Kyle from Jade's clutches.  Guy shows up for a page or two, freeing himself from He'Haan who had run one of his horns through Guy's thigh last issue.  As of this issue the Black Lanterns' power hits the 85% range and we know that the big bad of the event is one the verge of making his first appearance in the story.  Oh, and one of the Indigo Tribe show up to save Isamot Kol and Vath from some of the Black Lantern Lanterns.

When I first heard about the Blackest Night event my hope was that this would not only be a great action story, but that it would give us some great character moments as our heroes face the return of friends, family, and foes. Unlike the Sinestro Corp War event, this story should strive to be not only the superhero horror story it obviously is, but one that is deeply personal and character driven at the same time.  This issue of Green Lantern Corps accomplishes that very well, and if I have one major complaint of this story so far it's that we haven't seen this story get personal enough for Hal Jordan yet.  I'm hoping with Saint Walker's power level of hope that we see Hal confronted with a Black Lantern version of his mother.

But as far as this issue only one thing keeps it from getting five Lanterns, and that's the art.  Patrick Gleason has been hit or miss for me for that past several issues, and I have to say that there were things about the art in this issue that left me scratching my head.  Soranik Natu's contortions as the Black Lantern is forming around he seem anatomically impossible and there's some work on Kilowog's head that just leaves me longing for some Ethan Van Sciver Wog artwork.  And then there are a couple of panels where I just can't tell what the hell's supposed to be happening them.

Speaking of artwork, if have the chance to pick up the Greg Horn variant, grab it.  As much as I loved the creepy heart-holding kid on that Gleason did a great job on, Horn's variant of Jade and Natu is a piece of art.  Greg Horn is doing several more variant's for the series according to this story on Newsarama, including one really great Guy Gardner cover for next month's Green Lantern Corps.

This one gets four Lanterns.

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Blackest Night Batman #3 Review

The conclusion to Peter Tomasi's "Blackest Night - Batman" miniseries came to a close with issue number three today, ending with some more information about how the Black Lanterns' work.  I enjoyed the story and especially how Tomasi makes use of Dick Grayson's and Tim Drake's tragic past.

The Black Lanterns' strategy here changed quite a bit - shifting from a full-on frontal attack to some really clever mental tactics, trying to bring out strong emotion not by the nasty verbal jousting we've seen so far, but by forcing both Batman and Red Robin to relive the losses of their parents over again with both being unable to resist participating in the cruel game and trying to stop the deaths of the Flying Graysons and Tim's father at the hands of the now-Black Lantern Captain Boomerang.  It was a nice gambit considering the normal tactics weren't working on the two and it reflects the intellect behind the Black Lanterns.

Damian, Barbara and Commissioner Gordon are moved off stage to make room for more Deadman action - and his clever plan to get Jason Blood involved.  But what was more interesting was that not only couldn't  the Black Lanterns decipher an aura for the Deadman controlled Demon, they ceased their pursuits of Dick and Tim once they froze themselves.  In fact they left as though the two had simply disappeared off the planet even though they stood right in front of them. 

Had the Black Lanterns been sentient beings they could have simply thawed the two out and continued their plan to feed on them.  But, as we see Ray Palmer's theory that the rings control the bodies substantiated a little more, we discover that they can't really think for themselves, nor can they see the aura's of people if they are incapacitated.  I don't know how that fact might be useful in fighting the Black Lantern's off, but it does give the good guys an option to at least stop the Black Lanterns in their tracks if they are being pursued.

I'm not really familiar with Adrian Syaf's pencils, but the artwork was good.  I don't think it really stands out, but it certainly wasn't bad, either.  I have to say that I preferred the Alex Sinclair cover over the variant one by Bill Sienkiewicz.

While the miniseries really doesn't progress the overall Blackest Night event, it was a good story and explains why Batman, Robin, and Red Robin have been absent from the main series.  And that's certainly fair to the reader because DC has said that one wouldn't need to buy the miniseries in order to follow the event and that they serve as glimpses of how the Black Lanterns are affecting various parts of the DC Universe.  "Blackest Night - Batman" has done just that in offering a event flavored Batman story that entertains.

Four out of five Lanterns.

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Free Blackest Night PS3 Theme

To celebrate the awesomeness that is the Blackest Night event, I've created a custom theme for the Playstation 3 that you can download for free.  The theme features sixteen different backgrounds and icons for each of the different corps.

 

Some of the backgrounds screens used logos for the different color corps using artwork created by Chris Phillips and posted over on the DeviantART website.  So please feel take a minute to visit Mr. Phillips' page and check out some of the incredible work that he has there.  I'd like to thank Chris for giving me permission to use some of his work.

 

To get the theme, simply go to this site and download the .p3t file.  If you've never installed a theme before, here's a simple list of steps:

 

1. Prepare a memory stick by creating a folder called "PS3" (this is case sensitive, no quotes)
2. Inside the PS3 folder, create another folder called "THEME" (this is also case sensitive, no quotes)
3. Put the downloaded .p3t file inside the THEME folder.
4. Plug the memory stick into your PS3.
5. In the media bar, go to "Settings" and then "Theme Settings"
6. Go to "Theme" and choose "Install"
7. Select you memory stick and choose the theme and then "ok"
8. Once the theme is installed you can choose it by going to "Settings", "Theme Settings" and "Theme" and selecting the theme.

 

This is my first attempt at a theme so I hope if you use the theme you'll leave me some feedback to help me in making future themes even better.  Enjoy!

Update: I recently put together a new theme based on the upcoming Green Lantern movie which you can find here.

 

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Green Lantern to film in April 2010

A couple of new pieces of information have come to light since the Inside Film story broke a few days ago about the Green Lantern production moving to Mexico.  Comments from both Ryan Reynolds and Martin Campbell imply that New Orleans will be the site of the production once filming begins in April, 2010.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Reynolds appeared on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" the other day and the subject of the Green Lantern film was brought up.  Besides setting Jimmy straight on the GL mythos, Reynolds said that filming was four to five months away.  "It's crazy, it's the only job I've ever had that I'm not allowed to really talk about. I think there's like a representative from Warner Brothers who I'm sure is following me around ready to blow-dart me if I say a single word," joked Reynolds, "I probably have a chip in me somewhere, like if I start talking about it, I'll just pass away."

Reynolds is apparently wither getting up to snuff on the GL mythos or is already familiar with some of it.  Geoff Johns re-tweeted this from someone behind the scenes on Fallon's show on his twitter feed:

"I owe him a slurpee. RT @shoemaker @GeoffJohns0 I just went in Ryan Reynolds dressing and tested him on the GL oath. He nailed it!"

Incidentally, Ryan Reynolds is hosting Saturday Night Live this evening on NBC.

Meanwhile, over in the most recent issue of "Empire Magazine", director Martin Campbell talks about the upcoming film, saying, "It's daunting.  Just the process, something like 1,300 visual effects shots, is mind-blowing, quite honestly."  The article also says that production is being moved to New Orleans and that filming will start in April.

That's contrary to the Inside Film information, and the Empire article could have been written before Mexico entered into the picture.  Either way, it looks like filming is going to start soon so we will hopefully get more casting news in the coming weeks.

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