January 2011 ~ The Blog of OA

1/31/11

New Green Lantern Movie Art Preview

1/31/2011

My good buddies over at the Daily Blam have done it once again with their sneak peak of some new promotional artwork for the upcoming Green Lantern movie. With Toy Fair just around the corner you can guarantee that there is going to be a lot of Green Lantern news and images in the upcoming weeks.

Now the icing on the cake would be for the rumored second trailer that may be preceding Sucker Punch.

Source: The Daily Blam

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New Line of Green Lantern Childrens Books

1/29/2011

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In advance of the Green Lantern movie books geared for younger readers, Stone Arch Books has five new Green Lantern centric books as a part of their DC Super Heroes line. The books are available now from online and brick and mortar retailers and cover the comic book version of the Green Lantern Corps, even venturing into recent events including the formation of the Sinestro Corps and Blue Lantern Corps. The target audience is the age nine to twelve range with each book is fifty six pages long and selling for around six dollars each for the paperback version.

Here is a rundown of each of the books with hyperlinks on the title and cover image to take you to Amazon.com's listing.

1/29/2011

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Heroclix maker Wizkids announced today that they will be releasing a set of figures to bring the Green Lantern movie to the figure based game starting this May. The set will include ten figures and will be offered as a six figure "Fast Forces" pack and in single figure booster packs. The preview art reveals an alternate version of Tomar-Re and the inclusion of Green Lantern Black Ops member R'Amey Holl from the "Green Lantern Corpse" storyline as a Green Lantern from the movie.

Source: Heroclix

Heroclix six figure starter set

1/29/2011

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If you're able to purchase F*** Magazine in your area, the most recent issue to hit the stand this past week features Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan from the upcoming Green Lantern movie on a spectacular looking cover. No one has yet posted any of the contents of the magazine online and I have not been able to get a copy of the issue to review myself, but the cover teases that some of the character designs are revealed inside.

Abin Sur Plays a Role in Flashpoint

1/28/2011

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Over the past couple of weeks DC Comics has put out some cryptic message about the upcoming Flash-centric Flashpoint event, with a couple of them possibly connecting to Green Lantern. The first, "Where is his ring?" seemed a sure-fire connection to the Green Lantern universe, but subsequent clues lead more to this being Barry Allen's ring rather than Hal Jordan's. The second clue, "The Spaceship never crashed", seemed by many to be about Kal-El's Kryptonian ship, but it could just as easilly tie to Abin Sur's.

Today DC Comics announced that a startling fifteen three issue mini series would be released in conjunction with Flashpoint on the Source blog. Among them, under the heading "Whatever happened to the aliens?", is a listing for "Flashpoint: Abin Sur the Green Lantern #1-3", hinting that perhaps whatever changes in the DC Universe during the event does indeed involve Abin Sur and probably leads to him not crashing on Earth.

Look for Flashpoint to kick off on Free Comic Book Day, May 7th, with a special Green Lantern/ Flashpoint edition that includes a reprint of the first part of the "Secret Origin" arc from Green Lantern #30.

Source: DC's Source Blog

New Green Lantern Toy Images From Toy Fair

1/25/2011

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More images have been released today of the some the merchandise we will be seeing on store shelves to tie into the release of the Green Lantern movie, including an image of the Ring Blast Jet and one of Hal's Battle Shifter weapons that was discussed in the most recent issue of ToyFare Magazine. Images of a Green Lantern board game, what appears to be a nerf blaster type of role playing toy, a Kilowog t-shirt and a ring that will project the Green Lantern symbol fifty feet were released. Between all the toys and the Rubies Halloween costumes it looks like Green Lantern fans will have plenty of Green, just not in their wallets.

Variant Hal Jordan Figure with Battle Shifter construct that started life as a buzzsaw

Green Lantern Board Game

Kilowog T-Shirt

Projector power ring - displays the Green Lantern logo up to fifty feet away!

Hal's Ring Blast Jet that changes into a tank

Hal's "Colossol Cannon"

1/25/2011

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Online retailer Urban Collector is offering a pre-order on a new Green Lantern movie t-shirt that gives us an idea of what the Guardians of the Universe will look like, at least in art form. The designs don't stray too far from the original concept art that was leaked online in January of 2010, but it does give movie news hungry fans something more to look at as the June 17th release date creeps closer and closer.

A zoomed in view of the new artwork adorning the new t-shirt

Early concept art

Editorial - Is the Green Lantern Movie in Trouble?

1/23/2011

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Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively

Running this site and writing one hundred percent of the content has led me to some interesting places on the Internet and I've encountered so many opinions about the upcoming Green Lantern film that I have occasionally found myself confused in how I feel about it. It's no lie that this set of characters means a lot to me, Green Lantern saved my life after all, and there is no one out there who wants this movie to be a huge success more than I do. And that's where it sometimes gets hard to run this site and keep from getting too biased about what I see - hell, it's hard not to be a Green Lantern fan and be totally jazzed at seeing a serious take on a universe you are so in love with. And it's hard not to get discouraged as well.

Case in point is the negativity that's circling the movie right now and the negative buzz the film is garnering more than four months before any of us get to see it. The troubling part is how the media can shape the opinion of the average audience that make or break the success of films. With the slate of films scheduled for the summer of 2011 it's clear that it won't just be the quality of the films that will determine which among them will be the hits or the flops - marketing now more than ever will be playing a huge role with luring the public to spend their hard earned money in a poor economic climate.

1/23/2011

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This week's Green Lantern Corps #56 is filled with tons of action as the Weaponer storyline rapidly approaches its conclusion to make way for the War of the Green Lanterns. Sinestro makes his way to Qward to face off against his new adversary and he's bringing the rest of his Corpsmen with him - can Ganthet, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Boodikka and Hannu keep the peace without breaking the fragile truce between them and the Sinestro Corps?

The Story -

Backtracking a little from last month's ending, Sinestro rallies his troops on Korugar by calling them all to the Sinestro Corps central power battery and playing on the high regard with which he is held by his followers. The Weaponer, whom Sinestro would supposedly have called a brother in better circumstances, has stolen from Sinestro and he uses this to create indignation amongst the Corps against the man who would dare steal from their leader. But it isn't the kidnapping of Soranik Natu that should draw their ire, a fact that Sinestro continues concealed from his followers, but the Weaponer's attempt to steal Sinestro's dignity that should motivate the Sinestro Corps to kill the Qwardian.

New Green Lantern Promotional Photo Released

1/19/2011

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Here's a new publicity photo from Warner Brothers of Ryan Reynolds and Peter Sarsgaard from the upcoming Green Lantern film with Tim Robbins in the background. From appearances Hal Jordan and Hector Hammond are at a social function at Ferris Aircraft some point after Abin Sur's crash (as noted by the ring on Hal's finger) and before Hector's visible transformation as a result of exposure to Parallax. By the expression on Sargaard's face it may be that this scene marks the beginning of that transformation.

Peter Sarsgaard as Hector Hammond and Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan.

1/19/2011

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Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan

In an article on Variety today, many of this year's Hollywood blockbusters are targeting the upcoming Super Bowl as a prime opportunity to get their films in the public eye. A baker's dozen of films will be showcased during the event in which advertising costs millions of dollars just to get thirty seconds of air time. Among the films are both Thor and Captain America, however Warner Brothers is not spending a dime promoting either the last Harry Potter film or Green Lantern.

According to a spokesman for Warner Brothers the studio doesn't believe that the pricey advertising spots make much of a difference in the end for their movies' ticket sales. In a summer that seems to have never been as crowded a movie schedule as 2011's this could prove to be a big gamble on Warner Brothers part. It seems that the success or failure of this summer's films will be heavily reliant on the buzz and marketing that the studios put behind their product, and Warners has a lot to lose with a film that they are hoping to be a tent pole franchise to help fill in the bottom line once Harry Potter flies off into the sunset.

Source: Variety

1/19/2011

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In an article on the LA Times Hero Complex site X-Men: First Class and Kick-Ass director Matthew Vaughn takes a pot shot at the upcoming Green Lantern film. The fifth in the X-Men movie franchise, First Class is supposed to be released on June 3rd, but the movie is still in the principal photography stages and the pressure is mounting on the director to get the film ready for this summer's hectic movie schedule.

Perhaps it is this pressure and the fact that this movie will not feature any of the familiar X-Men that movie goers will recognize that has Vaughn looking for a way to generate some kind of buzz for a movie which hasn't entered the radar of most comic book fans, let alone the film going public. In trying to make his own project seem bigger than it really is, Vaughn goes out his way to trash talk the Green Lantern movie while taking swipes at the Thor and Captain America movies at the same time.

"With ‘Green Lantern,’ I don’t know about that one, I couldn’t get my head around the trailer, to be honest … look, I will say the following: X-Men as a brand is bigger than Captain America, Thor and the Green Lantern, all put together.”

While I wouldn't disagree that historically the X-Men books have had a huge following, that really has very little to do with the movies. Vaughn would have film goers believe that the other three comic book films launching this summer have a lot to worry about, however, unless he spends more of his energy trying to get his film done there won't be an X-Men film to compete with the other three blockbusters in the making. I had little interest in seeing an X-Men film without Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm or Jean Grey in the first place, especially after how poorly the last one turned out. But now I'm pretty certain I'll wait and let my my ticket-buying dollars somewhere else.

Source: LA Times

1/19/2011

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The new issue of Toyfare magazine hit the stands today with plenty of information on what fans can expect to see when the toys hit the marketplace on May 1st, a full month and a half before the film hits the theaters.

For starters, the 3 3/4 inch figure line which is geared towards younger fans will each come packed with a ring construct and youth sized power ring. The deluxe figures will include what Mattel is terming "Battle Shifters" - spring loaded constructs which will transform automatically at the press of a button. Ruben Martinez and Scott Neitlich from Mattel explained some examples of what these constructs are like.

Exclusive Toys R Us Green Lantern Figure Re-Offered

1/18/2011

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Over the weekend we learned that Toys R Us had canceled all orders for the exclusive Green Lantern early bird figure based on production issues and not being able to meet the shipping date. This morning the figure is back up on their website for pre-order with an estimated shipping date of February 25th - the same date as the original offer. Whether this is a mistake or the production issue has been resolved is unknown.

So get your order in now here and let's hope this is the last hiccup with the release of this figure.

Update: The figure is no longer available on the Toys R Us website, meaning that either the figure has sold out or it has been canceled again. No one has reported getting a cancellation email, so here's to hoping it was just immensely popular.

Exclusive GL Movie Figure Canceled

1/15/2011

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Many Green Lantern fans, myself included, were ecstatic the week after Christmas when Toys R Us offered an early bird edition Green Lantern figure on its website. Within a couple of days the limited run of 2814 figures had run out and fans who'd missed out were left to contemplate trying find the figure on the secondary market after the pending February release.

Over the past several days fans who pre-ordered this figure have gotten emails informing them that their orders have been canceled. It appears that a production problem with Mattel is the culprit behind the cancellation as a result of their inability to produce the figure to meet the release deadline. A customer representative from Toys R Us could not confirm whether or not the figure had a new release date, when or if they would be offering it as a pre-order item again, or even if the figure would be released at all

1/15/2011

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Does his choice to keep Kilowog and Arisia in the dark backfire on Guy Gardner? Is Sodam Yat really responsible for the drain on the Green Lanterns' energy? We get the answer to those questions and a whole lot of great action in this sixth issue of Peter Tomasi's run on Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors.

The Story -

Last month's issue ended with Atrocitus revealing the pact made between Ganthet, Guy Gardner and himself in front of Kilowog and Arisia, with Guy Gardner back pedaling to explain himself. Issue six picks up with the continuation of that conversation where Guy goes on to share the events that led up to the alliance between the Green and Red Lanterns, including the acknowledgment that Guy's visions revealed to him Krona's role as the main antagonist in this latest universal crisis.

Green Lantern Movie Will Connect to DCU Online Game

1/12/2011

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One of the benefits of the formation of DC Entertainment and having some coordinated planning with all the different projects using DC's characters is the ability to have some connective tissue between those projects. I've already lamented the lack of Green Lantern as a mentor and power set in the just released DC Universe Online game for the PC and the Playstation 3, but according to DC Co-Publisher and the executive creative director of the game Jim Lee, the new superhero MMO will feature Green Lantern via an expansion pack to leverage the excitement generated from the movie.

In an interview with the The Hollywood Reporter, Lee said:

"Fortunately, the Green Lantern that debuts in the feature film this June is based heavily upon the same core canon found in the pages of the comics," Lee said. "In that sense, Green Lantern is Green Lantern, so of course, future expansions of DCUO will want to tap into the same well of excitement and passion and awareness that's generated by such big blockbuster motion pictures.

"Themes of intergalactic heroism, conquering one's fears and making the galaxy a more just place translate well into both film and games," Lee said. "Fans just want great content, whether it be a hit movie or an awesome game. It's less important to have a game tied into a hit movie than it is to make the game fantastic on its own merits."

While the game and the expansions are more directly tied to the comic book universe, there will be some themes from other DCU based media will resonate in the game as well. Events such as Blackest Night would be a great expansion for Halloween time, and there are a number of major events from DC's 75 year history that would make great player experiences in an MMO. As a huge DC fan and a gamer I am really looking forward to spending a lot of time immersed in this new online universe and I am chomping at the bit to see how the games designers will incorporate the Green Lantern mythos into DC Universe Online - as long as I get to wear a power ring!

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Fourteen Inch Parallax Build a Figure, Krona and Bzzd Coming from Mattel

1/10/2011

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Parallax concept art courtesy of the DailyBlam

In June we learned that the upcoming live action Green Lantern movie had attracted over one hundred licensees and we've begun to see some the products emerge, ranging from the recent solicitations for books targeted at children to collectible Mezco figures and keychains to Halloween costumes. Toys R Us recently offered an exclusive early bird collectors' figure limited to an edition of 2814 that sold out in days and we've seen an increasing number of images of their action figure lines to support the film. Tonight comes word that some retailers are taking pre-orders on a set of two figures in Mattel's "Movie Masters" line of six inch figures that reveals a very unique over-sized collect and connect figure.

Retailing for around forty dollars, the set includes Krona, an unmasked Ryan Reynolds Hal Jordan and Bzzd, and a die cast collectors power ring. The set includes a piece of Parallax and it is, by the description, the first in a set of twelve figures that include parts of the fear entity. When assembled the Parallax figure is said to be a whopping fourteen inches long! The inclusion of a Krona figure in a movie line up of collectibles also adds a great deal of credibility to the rumor that we heard back in August that he figured into the back-story of the origin of Parallax that movie goers will see in the form of a flashback that includes the history of the Green Lantern Corps.

Green Lantern Videos from DC Universe Online

1/09/2011

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I've been somewhat enjoying the beta experience for DC Universe Online, which hits streets his Tuesday. Having played both the PC and PS3 version I have to say I enjoyed it more on the Playstation 3; there was just something that felt more natural using the controller. While I did have fun, frequent lagging and lockups prevented me from having a great experience - and the end event where beta players could joined in with Jim Lee was a disaster from a server performance perspective. Many players, myself included, couldn't even get on the game to participate and many more reported catastrophic lagging. But that is the way it goes with beta testing and I will withhold a full opinion until I have my hands on the actual game.

What is perhaps the most damning thing for me, however, it the inability to choose Green Lantern as a mentor or to be able to make your character like him as you can Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman or the Flash. According to the game developer they weren't happy with the hard light constructs so they've left this for later on. I can respect that to some degree, however knowing that there are missions already in the game pitting the Green Lanterns versus the Sinestro Corps really makes it difficult for me to accept that they couldn't have gone with what they have one to tweak things as they go. Despite this I can't wait to jump into the universe full on when the came comes out on Tuesday and I'm really hoping that we'll see some Green Lantern centric expansion material soon after game launch.

In the meantime feast your eyes on a few videos from the game, one featuring John Stewart talking about the power rings and the others a group of villains taking on Kilowog and the Corps.

1/09/2011

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Graphic Audio, the company who have done an absolutely fantastic job of bringing some of DC's greatest stories to the audio format, will be releasing their take on the Green Lantern: Sleepers trilogy later this year. Done with a full cast of actors with soundtracks and effects, Graphic Audio really does create "a movie in your mind" with their dramatizations that take you into the center of the story. I own a number of their recordings and I find myself getting a whole different experience when I listen to them.

In the past Graphic Audio has released audio versions of all three of DC's Crises and a virtually every DC inspired novel that's seen print, including Denny O'Neil's Green Lantern: Hero Quest novel. While I sincerely appreciate the work that the Graphic Audio gang puts into their work, the unfortunate thing is that there hasn't really been a good Green Lantern novel for them to adapt from, at least in my opinion. Hero Quest was by far one of the most difficult comic book novels I've read and I think only hallucinogenics could have made sense of it. Graphic Audio does a great job and I really want to listen to a great Green Lantern recording, but it's too bad that they just don't have some better source material to work with since they only work with novelizations and not comics directly.

One has only to read Christopher Priest's tale of how the Sleepers series of novels came to be to see that they were destined to be a flop. Had only he been able to tell the story he wanted then perhaps we would have had a better story for Graphic Audio to work with. I'll definitely pick them up just to see if they fare better than the books do, but it does leave me wishing that Greg Cox would do novels of Green Lantern: Rebirth, The Sinestro Corps War and Blackest Night - now those would all be great material for Graphic Audio to play with!

1/09/2011

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Photo taken of the runway display with a zoomed in inset

Rubies, one of the longest running Halloween costume manufacturers in the United States, is set to launch a product line of Green Lantern movie costumes for this Halloween. In LasVegas this weekend Rubies unveiled a number of Green Lantern products including masks of Tomar-Re, Kilowog, Sinestro, Abin Sur, Hector Hammond and a Guardian. What appears to be a power battery trick or treat basket accompanies the costumes and masks, as does alien hands and a Hal Jordan domino mask. It looks from the display that there will be both child and adult sized costumes.

1/09/2011

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The covers of the five youth books

Price Stern Sloan, the youth publishing arm of Penguin Books, have five books scheduled for release on May 12th that give young readers some exposure to the Green Lantern mythos prior to the launch of this summer's movie. Amazon has two level three readers, one paper figure book and two sticker books available for preorder from the publisher, all featuring the likeness of Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan and/or Kilowog.

Closeups of each cover can be found after the jump and clicking on the caption will take you to Amazon's page for each respective book.

Green Lantern Reshoots in Progress

1/06/2011

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According to an exclusive report by our friends at the Daily Blam, film crews are re-shooting sequences for the Green Lantern film at Warner Brothers Studios in California. Principal photography wrapped on August 7th in New Orleans, but it is a common practice on most major films to re-shoot portions of the film to give the director more options or work around post production complications. It could very well be that the elaborate cg work being done in post production on the film may have called for some additional or alternate footage to be shot. It's unknown at this time if any of the principal cast are involved in any of the filming being done or not.

Source: Daily Blam

1/06/2011

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With DC Entertainment working to get all the DC Universe characters more visible in the marketplace and the marketing for the upcoming Green Lantern movie getting ready to kick into full power, I've seen a number of unusual collectibles showing up on the marketplace. From Blammoids to the Funko vinyl and plush figures I thought I'd seen them all, but today I have seen what I think is the most unusual collectible so far.

They are called Squatz - miniature figures with interchangeable heads that look, well, squatty. They've released a DC Universe series of thirteen figures ranging from Superman to Batman to Green Lantern. What makes them so unusual is the way they are packaged - encased in an effervescent shell that reveals the figurine inside when you drop it in water. Now, they aren't targeted to the adult collector and are meant of the kids 4 and up, but they look like they would be fun for the intended audience. While this is perhaps the strangest Green Lantern toy out there, I have to applaud DC for trying to promote the characters in fun and unique ways in a time when it seems that Marvel's characters have been pimped out to every manufacturer on the planet.

The DC line of the Squatz figures come in two-packs containing one figure that you know the identity of and one mystery figure. Luckily for anyone who wants a Green Lantern figure he is one of the six "known" figures in the assortment. According to the manufacturer's website Squatz are available at Walmart retail stores and from online retailers Amazon and ShopWildPlanet.

Here is a video of a cute kid freeing his Green Lantern Squatz figure for anyone who, like myself, is curious about how the Squatz figures work.

First Look at Mattel's Large GL Movie Figure

1/04/2011

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We've had quite a bit of news in the last twenty four hours from Mattel in terms of the merchandising we can look forward to seeing on store shelves over the months prior to the June 17th release date of the Green Lantern movie. This morning we have an image of a very articulated fourteen inch large scale figure of Ryan Reynold's Hal Jordan that will feature both light up eyes and Green Lantern chest emblem.

And this is just the start!

Peter Milligan to Write Red Lantern Title

1/03/2011

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During the New York Comicon Geoff Johns indicated that a fourth title in the Green Lantern franchise would be released in 2011, but that this book wouldn't focus on any of the Green Lantern Corps. At the time I surmised that this would most likely be a book about the Red Lanterns given that they will feature prominently into the new animated series and Johns' comment came almost in the same breath as a statement about Atrocitus.

Today DC's blog, the Source, announced that the new series will indeed be called focused squarely on the Red Lanterns and will be written by Peter Milligan, the current writer on Vertigo's Hellblazer title. According to Milligan we'll be finding out much more about what happened in Sector 666 as well as what makes the Corps of rage tick.