Tagged: Green Lantern

DC Comics: The Ultimate Character Guide

DC Comics: The Ultimate Character Guide
By Brandon T. Snider
DK Books, 208 Pages, $16.99

DK continues their line of lightweight, visually interested Character Guides. Joining the extant Marvel Universe and Star Wars books is a volume dedicated to DC’s heroes and villains, or at least some of them. With a mere 208 pages, there was no way this could be considered an ultimate guide, what with 75 years of characters to work with.

These franchises all share the complication that they are organic universes, ever changing so the books can, at best, capture a distinct moment in time. In each case, DK’s editors fail to tell you where that moment in time is for the dedicated fan. This volume, for example, shows us the current version of Aqualad but also includes the currently deceased members of the Fourth World (yeah, I know, they’ve been resurrected on Earth-51, but this book focuses only on New Earth). And Dick Grayson appears here as Nightwing, not as Batman II.

The entries, from young adult writer Brandon Snider, are all surface, skimping on details and often avoids origins or focusing on the elements that make characters unique. Adam Strange is no longer a trained archaeologist and Animal Man’s family is entirely skipped.

Visually, the book is attractive with a relatively consistent modern day look so if it was drawn earlier than 2005, it won’t be here. Unfortunately, the text and art don’t always mesh so you see the Cyborg Superman as he appeared in the Blackest Night stories but the text makes no mention of his role. Wonder Woman turns up in her new outfit but the text doesn’t address the current confounding status quo.

Most of the groups have appearances here with an odd assortment of rosters presented so it’s more a hodge-podge of group. Many members don’t merit their own pages with the classic Justice Society members getting omitted (with Spectre being merely Crispus Allen with no mention of him being the Wrath of God). Other incarnations of characters are either briefly referenced or skipped entirely, such as the multiple Atoms and Green Lanterns.

This can be a primer to the DCU and it does merit flipping through to verify names, heights, weights, and the like but just about every fact appears to be rendered irrelevant or dated just two months after the book goes on sale. That’s a shame because this could have proven to be an immensely powerful tool to support the revamped line. If Co-Publisher Dan DiDio really had been planning this move for over a year, there was ample time to coordinate with DK and this is just another missed opportunity.

Given that far more detailed and comprehensive data can be found online, DK’s challenge is to make these books relevant and to date, they have yet to figure out how to manage this feat, which is a shame since they usually do stellar work.

GL Nabs a Mere $52.8 Million

  • News
  • June 19, 2011

glposter-300x443-6455954Analysts gaze into a crystal ball and make educated guesses about how well a film will open. This week, they used a Power Battery instead and suggested that Warner Bros’ Green Lantern would open between $50-60 million. Box Office Mojo just released the numbers and they are estimated the Emerald Crusader brought in $52.7 million, placing it at the lower end of the spectrum.

For comparison purposes, a month earlier, Thor, one of Marvel’s ongoing series of films, opened with a god-like $65,723,338. GL’s modest numbers certainly have to be disappointing to both Warner and their DC Entertainment division. Mixed to negative reviews from the mainstream media no doubt blunted the film’s opening weekend so the better indicator of its changes will be next weekend when we gauge how much of a drop off there has been. This would be the “word of mouth” barometer and a chance for the fans to spread the gospel or take in a repeat showing.

No doubt 3-D fatigue is also a factor in the lower numbers despite being shown on approximately 2700 screens. That recent trend has shown that 3-D may actually be once more a fad and not a new form of entertainment. The jury remains out on this issue.

Coming in second was Super 8, the original thriller from J.J. Abrams. It took in $21.3 million for a two week total of $72.8 million.

In third place was the debut of Mr. Popper’s Penguins, adapted from the popular children’s book, starring Jim Carrey. It took in just $18.2 million demonstrating recognizable name value doesn’t always bring in audiences. It certain show how far Carey’s marquee value has dropped.

Speaking of Marvel, their X-Men: First Class nabbed an addition $11.5 million in its third weekend, totaling a pleasant $119.9 million, almost ensuring it a sequel order any minute now.

Warner no doubt is taking comfort in the wild success of The Hangover II, which earned an additional $9.6 million for a cumulative total of $232.7 million after four weeks.

The Ryan Reynolds action flick, directed by Martin Campbell, was made for an estimated $150 million with a nearly equal amount spent on marketing and promotion.  It was plagued with a weak debut trailer in November that meant a new plan needed be created. The spring buzz turned around after several minutes were shown at Wonder Con and a steady stream of new trailers helped reshape public opinion.

Box Office Mojo Editor Brandon Gray has written that any opening short of $70 million would make a sequel questionable despite Warners already asking for script treatments. Obviously, worldwide box office may turn the tide as an increasing percentage of a film’s performance is now coming from overseas markets.

Why Green Lantern Matters

  • News
  • June 19, 2011

In the wake of the release of Green Lantern in theaters everywhere, there have been a few interesting reveals from people. Heidi Macdonald reveals that she doesn’t get the character of Green Lantern, and Adam-Troy Castro shakes his head at what may be the most famous page of Green Lantern ever (reproduced above). Ty Templeton, as he is wont to do, goes full mock, as does Let’s Be Friends Again.

Here’s what they’re missing.

Quoting Heidi:

While I’m willing to shoulder the blame for shunning Green Lantern over the years, as I’ve been learning and growing, I have noticed a few things about the character that do strike me as flaws, dramatically speaking. It’s often noted that DC’s heroes for the most part lack the melodramatic emotional flair of the Marvel heroes, Batman and Superman being the notable exceptions. Marvel’s heroes are flawed and troubled and their powers echo and magnify those flaws and troubles; DC’s leads, generally speaking, are dudes who get some great idea to shrink or go fast and then proceed to shrink or go fast. Green Lantern is a prime example of this.

Hal Jordan is precisely that type of flawed character. He’s a cocky guy with tremendous willpower who gets a ring that runs on willpower and can create anything he can think of (although it’s often had a weakness for yellow) and is turned into an interstellar policeman. So far, so good– he has a science fiction version of Aladdin’s lamp, he can create whatever he wishes if he believes hard enough.

But the fuel of his power is also his greatest flaw– he thinks he can solve everything through sheer force of will.

(more…)

A note from the management: please avoid clicking Amazon links from here for a short while

A note from the management: please avoid clicking Amazon links from here for a short while

  • News
  • June 16, 2011

Apparently, Amazon has closed our Associate account without notification, or any reason given. Which means that if you’re buying items from us in order to help us pay for the costs of this site, we’d appreciate it if you could defer your purchases for a few days while we get this sorted out with Amazon, on the off chance that Amazon doesn’t credit us for the amount of time the site is down.

We’ll put up a notification when this is resolved. Thank you.

UPDATE: All better now. Feel free to click and buy. May we recommend something to do with [[[Green Lantern]]], or perhaps [[[The Original Johnson]]]?

Kermit Leaves Muppets for the Green Lantern Corps?

  • News
  • June 16, 2011

One look at this pic and we had to drop everything and post this.

Everything is pointing to the forthcoming Muppet movie as a return to its roots as a genuinely funny film without resorting to crudity or nudity, just their patented absurdity. The picture was accompanied by the following note:

Hi ho! Kermit the Frog here!  I sure hope you enjoy this “Being Green” trailer…and our other parody trailers—“Green with Envy” “Fuzzy Pack”.  Now,  after much ado—and Miss Piggy’s insistence that she get final cut—we’re finally ready for the world premiere of the official trailer for our upcoming movie, “The Muppets”.  You can watch it everywhere on Monday June 20th at 8 am Pacific Time.  Be sure not to miss it! – Amphibiously yours, Kermit The Frog

The November 23 release will star Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Animal, Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper and Walter. Directed by James Bobin from a script by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller, the movie will be the first Muppet feature in 11 years and probably the first funny one in closer to two decades.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUUcOmgYEhY[/youtube]

The official synopsis:

On vacation in Los Angeles, Walter, the world’s biggest Muppet fan, and his friends Gary (Jason Segel) and Mary (Amy Adams) from Smalltown, USA, discover the nefarious plan of oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to raze the Muppet Theater and drill for the oil recently discovered beneath the Muppets’ former stomping grounds. To stage The Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever and raise the $10 million needed to save the theater, Walter, Mary and Gary help Kermit reunite the Muppets, who have all gone their separate ways: Fozzie now performs with a Reno casino tribute band called the Moopets, Miss Piggy is a plus-size fashion editor at Vogue Paris, Animal is in a Santa Barbara clinic for anger management, and Gonzo is a high-powered plumbing magnate.

ComicMix Quick Picks: June 15, 2011

ComicMix Quick Picks: June 15, 2011

Natalie Portman at the TIFF 2009-01 at the pre...

Image via Wikipedia

Boy, migrate one server, and a lot of links can pile up while waiting for your computers to reboot. Here’s some of the stuff we have to do before we get to the stuff we didn’t get around to covering yet…

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.

Two New Cars 2 Clips

Two New Cars 2 Clips

  • News
  • June 14, 2011

While everyone is charging their power ring for this weekend’s premiere of Green Lantern, Pixar is revving up the anticipation engine for the following weekend’s release of Cars 2. They’ve just sent us two video clips to whet your appetites.

The movie from directors John Lasseter and Brad Lewis features the vocal talents of Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shaloub, Cheech Marin, Jason Isaacs, Joe Mantegna, Peter Jacobson, Thomas Kretschmann, Guido Quaroni, Lloyd Sherr, Paul Dooley, John Ratzenberger, Jenifer Lewis, Michael Wallis, Katherine Helmond, John Turturro, Franco Nero, Vanessa Redgrave, Eddie Izzard, Bruce Campbell, Michel Michelis, Jeff Gordon, Darrell Waltrip, Lewis Hamilton, and David Hobbs.

Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new places in “Cars 2” when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car.  But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage.  Mater finds himself torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret mission orchestrated by master British super spy Finn McMissile (voice of Michael Caine) and the stunning rookie field spy Holley Shiftwell (voice of Emily Mortimer).  Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world.  The fast-paced fun includes a colorful new all-car cast, complete with menacing villains and international racing competitors.

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