Green Lantern: The Animated Series

You guys know about Green Lantern, right? The guy with the ring who makes giant green fists to punch people? I always had sort of a passing fascination with Green Lantern, my only familiarity being with John Stewart from Bruce Timm's Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Sure, I read Blackest Night, but that didn't really require the reader to know much about Green Lantern that wasn't spelled out in the series.

When Geoff John's took up writing GL, he streamlined it a bit, making sweeping retcons to hopefully make the story make sense to newcomers, and added the emotional spectrum, different color Lanterns that ran off other "emotions" like Hope and Rage. Though I can't be sure if this increased the overall popularity of Green Lantern, at the very least it provided substantial merchandising opportunities.

At any rate, in 2011, they made the movie. They had big hopes for this movie (though now we know better) and decided to make an animated series to further capitalize on the movie's assured future success. Bruce Timm, the legend responsible for Batman the Animated series and the two Justice Leagues, and Giancarlo Volpe produced the series.

I'm going to be honest, I didn't think it was going to be any good. I saw production shots and parts of the first episode and decided it was too kiddy. CGI instead of a nice traditional animation? Laaaaame. It ran for one season and got cancelled, but only once it got put on Netflix did I finally watch it. This happens a lot. Let's just say I was pleasantly surprised.

The Good:

This show is pretty damn good. Good for a lot of reasons. Not the least of which is the characters. We got the usual Green Lanterns, like Hal Jordan and Kilowog, the Guardians, and Red Lanterns as the villians. What shines in this show are the original characters, Razer and Aya.

Being that they're the only ones not based on the comic, the writers could explore their characters more and create actual development. Razer starts as what seems like a recurring villain, but joins up with the crew and becomes a regular character. His arc deals with loss and despair, in a way you're not used to seeing on a cartoon. (Unless we're talking Avatar, but come on.)  Aya is the usual AI Gains Feelings type of thing, which I found a little annoying in the beginning. However, they take it to some different places and she makes a nice addition to the cast. She's where the series takes a real departure from comic-canon, which leads me to my other segment.

The series shines in its story. It's Green Lantern but simplified without a lot of the confusing elements that end up being a part of the essential story over its 50+ year history. See, I still hold that the New 52 reboot thing of DC Comics was a bad idea, but maybe it could've been useful for some characters. Not Batman, because everybody knows what's going on with him. Green Lantern had a lot to gain from some continuity pruning. Geoff Johns started that, what with Green Lantern: First Flight, but he took stuff that already happened and tried to force it into his new ideas and make it make sense. I mean, just look up The Predator for god's sake. It makes no goddamn sense!

Green Lantern starts over, more or less, and begins with the introduction of the Red Lanterns, branching out from there. We get a nice simple starting point and the weird stuff is explained to us by them explaining it to the robot. Green Lantern fans can spot the story elements as they appear, but new fans get introduced to them slowly, save for a few exceptions. Normally I'm the last guy who cares how "accessible" a comic character is, but damn could GL use it. The first half of the season goes through the Red Lantern story, bringing it (sort of) to a conclusion. The second half is where things get really interesting, when they introduce the Anti-Monitor.

The Bad

There's not a whole lot I dislike about this show, but it's there. The first thing is the steampunk episode.

Okay, maybe it's just me. I hate steampunk. If you convincingly build a world around it, maybe it's okay, but this is a sci-fi show. Don't dump me in an episode where everyone is vaguely British and wear top hats with cogs on them.

Then there's the Zamarons. (not to be confused with Tamaraneans or Pomeranians)

They're counterparts to the Guardians, but they think emotions are fine, so of course they must be entirely female and hate men. No wait, they need men because they suck the life out of them for eternity. (That's no Star Sapphire, THAT'S MY WIFE! OOOOOOOO) But seriously, they're introduced out of nowhere and are just... weird. Exclusively female, evil undertones, very scantily clad. Considering the changes made to the other Emotional Rangers, I'm confounded at how much they kept intact from the comics on these guys. I dunno man, I just don't get it.

Another problem, oddly enough, is the comic characters. Not Razer and Aya, they're fine, I mean Hal and Kilowog. They don't really get much development as the series goes on. Sure, Kilowog gets along with Razer more, but apart from that, there's not much difference between the main GL's in the beginning to the end. Hal's a generally good guy who bends the rules a bit to do the right thing, while Kilowog is by the book, but tends to use a brute force approach.

All in all, the gripes are pretty minor compared to all the good the show has to offer. If it was so great, you may ask, why was it cancelled? In short, toy sales. The Green Lantern movie was both this animated series' boon and doom. See, that film was a horrible flop, but they sort of already did the toy deals so you had tons of green see-through plastic lining every aisle of Toys R Uses across the nation. Because of that, nobody wanted to make the toys for GL:TAS, and that's the only reason anybody agrees to fund any of these stupid cartoons. So yeah, without the toy deals, the whole thing went down the toilet.

It's a shame, really. This cartoon had a nice visual style, a good sense of action, and the writing was excellent. The stories were built up organically and you can see the seeds of future developments if you look closely enough. The show had genuine emotion, you could tell the creators deeply cared about making something worthwhile. So yeah, if you haven't watched it yet, please do. I promise you won't be disappointed. It's on the Netflix, so marathon to your heart's content. Hoping my toy line pulls through, this is the W Defender!

Superman Batman: Public Enemies

In my second installment of DC Animated Movie reviews, we have:

Movie Review: Superman Batman: Public Enemies

This movie, rather than showing an origin like First Flight, it just transcribes a storyline in the ongoing series, Superman/Batman. Well, it's not so much a title, as it is just a picture.

Anyway, the movie starts by talking about how screwed the economy is, and that Lex Luthor is running for president in these troubled times. He then wins the election, and decides to devote his presidency to taking down superheroes. I don't see why anyone would be surprised by that, because they voted for freaking Lex Luthor. He also has, in his employ, Captain Atom, Power Boo- I mean Power Girl, and some other people I don't know the names of.

We first see Superman stopping a fleeing crook by using his signature ability, lifting. He's encountered by Luthor's superheroes, who try to convince Superman to join them. Obviously Superman is a bit distrustful, because, as he said, "Luthor's always up to something."

Luthor hears about a giant chunk of kryptonite heading towards Earth, but refuses to get superhero help, deciding he'll use missiles instead, because he did his own calculations. After his Secretary of State or something Amanda Waller urges him to ask Superman for help. Luthor agrees, and calls a press conference. Once Superman meets with Luthor, it's clear there was a double cross, as Superman collapses. It's revealed one of the secret service guys behind Luthor is Metallo, a Superman villain powered by kryptonite. A big battle ensues, that Batman quickly joins in.

Rather than try and beat the crap out of him, which never works, Metallo opts to shoot Superman with a chunk of kryptonite. Superman and Batman manage to escape to the Batcave, only to find that Luthor has framed Superman for killing Metallo, offering a billion dollar bounty on his head.

While Batman and Superman form a plan, Power Boobs meets with Luthor. She's reluctant to believe Superman capable of murder, but Luthor uses the argument that since he's changed so much, Superman could do the same.

Batman and Superman break in to the high security morgue, seeing Metallo's death was caused by radiation. After the guards come in, Superman and Batman fly away, only to be attacked by a cadre of villains. This is the start of about 3 waves of the guys, which encompass a giant fight scene between Batman, Superman and a whole bunch of random villains.

When things start to look bleak, Luthor's heroes show up, ready to take Superman in. This begins another fight scene, but Power Girl is uncharacteristically meek and unsure of herself. Superman and Batman escape with Power Girl using one of the Flash's usual moves, flying around them really fast so a whirlwind throws them into the air.

After their escape from Luthor, Super and Bats have a talk with Power Boobs on top of the Daily Planet building, where she reveals that she's unsure whether to trust Superman or Luthor. Before much can be said, Luthor's heroes show up again, for yet another fight scene. During a lull in the fighting, Batman accuses the Major Force (The red radiation guy) of killing Metallo, calling him stupid for trusting Luthor. He gets angry and attacks Batman, causing Power Girl to rush him, and punch him really really hard. Which, apparently, is his weakness.

A rupture appears in his suit and he starts leaking radiation. They attempt to contain it, but Captain Atom says that he can absorb the energy, so he does.

Back with Luthor, he tries launching some missiles, which don't work because the radiation of the meteor explodes them before they strike it. Then we see Luthor look at a glowy vile of green stuff in his desk drawer. Ooooh, foreshadowing.

Outside the missile base, Batman and Superman send Power Girl to some unknown location, then try to enter, but are attacked, starting, like, the tenth fight scene in this movie. It's Hawkman and Captain Marvel, trying to take our heroes down for their country. The fight between Superman and Captain Marvel isn't bad, but doesn't quite match up to their fight in Justice League Unlimited, wherein they destroy a whole city. Batman shoots a missile at Marvel, turning him back into Billy Baston. After a well timed Shazam, Marvel's back in the fight.

At that, we cut to Luthor's address, saying the missiles were just a research mission, and that phase two will make everything better. It's obvious most people don't believe this, as they loot shops and run around all panicked like. Waller goes to talk to Luthor, only to see him injecting himself with some Krypto-steroids. He rants that the meteor will kill tons of people, leaving only him and the rest of the elite alive. Then, in a move which shows he's truly lost it, he makes out with Waller.

He's called away by a message saying Captain Marvel and Hawkman have returned. He meets with them, only to discover it's really Superman and Batman, just dressed up differently. Superman is weakened by Luthor, but Batman demands the data on the meteor. Luthor goes to the computer and deletes all the files. Luckily, Waller is there with a backup, and gladly gives it to Supes and Bats. They fly away, and Luthor runs away to avoid being arrested. After another jolt of his steroid cocktail, he jumps into his usual backup, the purple and green powersuit, and flies away.

In Japan, we join Batman and Superman, where they meet Batman's contact, a rich kid engineer, calling himself the Toyman. He's built a machine that looks like a gaint Half-Superman Half-Batman Mecha to destroy the meteor. At first I thought this was incredibly impractical, but then again, he's Japanese.

Lex Luthor breaks in, and starts beating the shit out of Superman. His dialogue is here is really crazy, but awesome crazy. Luthor punches Toyman's computer before he can input the necessary data. Batman decides he'll fly the giant robot into the meteor, supposedly sacrificing himself in the process. Superman stalls Luthor as it takes off, and they continue to fight as it goes towards the meteor. Superman finally defeats Luthor as Batman explodes into the meteor. Everyone is happy, but Superman is sad.

After receiving a message from Toyman that there's still a chance, Superman flies up to the remains of the robot. Batman is, as you can predict, still alive, and Superman brings him back down to Earth. The movie ends as Lois comes from a helicopter and hugs Superman.

So how was the movie? I loved it. It had all the voice actors from Justice League, and they knocked it out of the park. Some of the characterizations were off, like with Power Girl, who's usually much more confident and brash. The animation style is quite a bit different, but they tried to match the artist who made the original Public Enemies. Frankly, I think the super-bulging muscles weren't too spectacular, but it translated pretty well into animation. I think they did a good job of putting Batman against people with superpowers and make him have a fighting chance. It may be less realistic than a normal Batman, but I prefer that. At any rate, if you like Batman and/or Superman, I'd suggest picking it up.

Green Lantern: First Flight

Considering I haven't had money to buy comics lately, and I've come into possession of some DC Animated movies, I'll be doing some reviews of them. First one is:

Movie Review: Green Lantern: First Flight



This film is one in a long line of DC animated products, started by Bruce Timm back in the 90's with Batman The Animated Series. After Justice League Unlimited ended, they instead began adapting specific storylines and characters to the screen, using different styles and directors. This specific movie being about Hal Jordan, the Silver Age Green Lantern, who's going to be played by Ryan Reynolds in an upcoming live-action flick.

The movie starts out with Hal Jordan, our test pilot main character, who is suddenly whisked away by a dying alien named Abin Sur, who gives him a super powered green ring, and that Hal will be contacted by the Guardians, leaders of the Green Lantern Corps. Not shortly afterwards, other members of the Corps come to bring him to their planet, Oa. The Guardians don't like him because he's a human, so of course he must be bad. However, one of the senior members Sinestro, offers to train him. Sinestro is investigating the murder of Abin Sur, so he brings Hal along. The man responsible is Kanjar Ro, an alien trying to create a weapon to wipe out the Guardians. Sinestro shows some discontent with the Guardians, and kills a suspect before he can be interrogated. As suspected with a guy named Sinestro, he's actually evil, and working with Kanjar Ro to get a yellow power battery, the only weakness of the Green Lanterns. He murders Kanjar Ro, frames Hal, kicks Hal out of the Corps, gets himself an ultimate yellow power, with a ring and a giant cannon/battery, and proceeds to destroy Oa. As the Green Lanterns get their asses kicked, Sinestro blasts the Green Battery, the source of their power. As all the Green Lanterns that were in space die, Hal puts on a ring, and goes to the deactivated battery. Like all problems, he fixes the battery by punching it until it works. As the only active Green Lantern, him and Sinestro start fighting, there's an epic space battle, and eventually Hal wins. He's a hero and everyone cheers.

The characters are all very good, especially Hal and Sinestro. The writing was one of the best parts, with Hal actually saying realistic things when weird shit happens to him, like his first words when encountered by crazy aliens is "What the hell?" Thing is, there's hardly any spoilers with this movie, because, well, do you expect a red-skinned guy named Sinestro to be a good guy? One thing I noticed was the alien designs, and although there were a few humans plus blank aliens, there were a whole lot which looked very alien.

At any rate, this was a very good adaptation of Green Lantern. If you're a comic fan, DC cartoon fan, or just a fan of Sci-Fi, I'd recommend it.

Oh, and this.