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Monday, December 31, 2012

Review Of Green Lantern Corps #15


From Comicbookandmoviereviews.com

Guy Gardener has finally had enough. He's going to show the Guardians he's tough. He'll bake them a cake. Then he'll serve them a steak. And finally he'll show them a picture of Hilary Duff.  Yeah. One cobbled together by the green creative team of Writer: Peter J. Tomasi; Artist: Fernando Pasarin; and Publisher: DC Comics in January 2013.

So what’s the STORY morning glory?
Without a shadow of a doubt, most of the characters seen in this story -- entitled 'Falling Star' -- are sure very emotional at the moment.

For example, whilst in outer space, John Stewart and Fatality are very perplexed about what's stopping Mogo reforming himself.
Meanwhile, on Oa, Salaak is shocked when the Guardians of the Universe suddenly catch him spying on them.
And finally, on Earth, the Gardner family are all over the shop.
Yeah. You know the Gardner's, don't you? Gerald Gardner is the happy one -- because he met the Justice League. Papa Gardner is the grumpy one -- because he's a b*stard. And Gloria Gardner is the disturbed one -- because she has to arrest her ring-less vigilantly brother.

Now can you guess who that is? Ha! To be continued...

What is the most memorable SENTENCE OR CONVERSATION spoken in this issue?
All in all I did like most of the dialogue on show in this story; particularly Papa Gardner's grumpy musings. But I have to say, the sentence that stood out to me within this issue, was the awkwardly phrased question John asked Fatality...

'Can you use that heart tether to zero in on the cage they're being kept in by vectoring away from the pieces that's pulling us?'

Is it just me, or does that sound silly to you? Go on. Say it out loud. And try to say it without corpsing (no pun intended).

What was the BEST thing about this issue?
When the Guardians caught Salaak spying on them -- My God! -- my heart skipped a beat nigh on straight away! Honestly, I thought they were going to kill him on the spot.

Also, I did like reading how Salaak justified his actions to them in turn. If I'm ever in trouble, I'm defiantly going to ask him to represent me. Ha!

What was the WORST thing about this issue?
As much as I'm very intrigued by the Mogo sub-plot, in the same breath, I'm not very keen on how this creative team are handling it. To me, a slice of this story is presented for the sake of titivation in each issue, without progressing the overall through-line in any real depth.

Please note: This is only a small gripe.

What was the most INNOVATIVE thing about this issue?
I thought it very innovative how each member of the Gardner family has been given a clear personality-trait that people can associate with. Gerald is the older brother. Guy is the rebel. Gloria is the one always trying to prove herself. And papa is the stubborn old b*stard.

Moreover, the interactions between these characters are priceless. I just hope no-one gets killed off too soon; I'd like to know them a bit better first.

If you had to CAST TWO CHARACTERS in this comic book, who would they be and why?
GERALD: Continuing with this month's plant-based casting-call theme, I'd have to cast the flower, 'The Armeni White', to be Guy's Brother, because they're both somewhat stoic to look at, yet can appear quite silly by default.

PAPA: When I clapped my eyes on this miserable only sod, I said to myself 'That man is a cactus'. Not sure why though. Must be something to do with his hard exterior and prickly temperament!

What QUOTE could you use to sum-up this story?
Stubborn people get themselves in a lot of trouble, but they also get things done -- Anna Paquin

If this issue were a MOVIE, an OBJECT, or a piece of MUSIC, what would that be and why?
Conceptually this story is about a man digging himself into a bigger whole than he's already in, right? So why not compare it to the Ben Stiller film, 'Meet The Parents', because basically that's what Ben's character does with his in-laws.

FINAL thoughts...
On occasion, I like to define what a particular comic book series is actually all about, just so I can't classify what it's supposed to represent to me and the universe around it. However, with the 'Green Lantern Corps', that's a tough thing to do.

On the one hand, it's pure science fiction fodder. On another hand, it's a drama based adventure. And yet on another hand, it's a crime tinged odyssey of the gala variety.

Please note, this isn't meant to be a slur toward this series at all. It's just sometimes -- when the parameters of a book is too vast -- its very difficult for the regular reader -- like myself -- to discerned what it's scope truly is.

Take the 'Batman' book for instance. By in large it's either an adventure story or a gum-shoe mystery, right? But can you say the same about 'Green Lantern Corps'?

No. Not really. But if you can, please drop us a spam. It'll be great to hear what you have to say on this matter.

MARKS out of 10? 8.8

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Red Lanterns #15 Preview


From MTV Geek


"Rise of the Third Army" continues in "Red Lanterns" #15 and we've got an exclusive preview before it hits shelves on January 2, 2013.

DC says:
Atrocitus battles the Manhunters in the ultimate grudge match!
Rankorr learns the true cost of his rage!

Written by: Peter Milligan
Art by: Miguel A Sepulveda
Cover by: Miguel A Sepulveda
Variant Cover by: Miguel A Sepulveda

Click the image below to read our exclusive preview:


Saturday, December 29, 2012

Titles For “Green Lantern: The Animated Series” Episodes Airing January 2013

Episode titles for Green Lantern: The Animated Series has been confirmed by Cartoon Network. The show return January 5th, 2013 to Cartoon Network as part of the DC Nation programming block. The majority of episodes set to debut in January 2013 were originally slated to air during October 2012 before the network unexpectedly pulled the DC Nation programming block for unexplained reasons. Continue below for the tentative schedule details provided by the network.


Saturday, January 5th, 2013
Green Lantern: The Animated Series
10:00am (ET/PT) “Steam Lantern”

Saturday, January 12th, 2013
Green Lantern: The Animated Series
10:00am (ET/PT) “Blue Hope”

Saturday, January 19th, 2013
Green Lantern: The Animated Series
10:00am (ET/PT) “Prisoner of Sinestro”

Saturday, January 26th, 2013
Green Lantern: The Animated Series
10:00am (ET/PT) “Loss”

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013
Green Lantern: The Animated Series
10:00am (ET/PT) “Cold Fury”

CHARACTER CLOSE-UP : Black Hand


Black Hand (real name William Hand) is a DC Comics supervillain and a recurring foe to Green Lantern. He first appeared in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #29 (June 1964) and was created by John Broome and Gil Kane. The character's name is a tribute to DC writer and Batman co-creator Bill Finger, on whom the character was based.


Character biography
William Hand is born an inventive genius; developing a penchant for speaking in extremely old clichés later in life. William's family, the Hands, are renowned in Coastville (a suburb of Coast City, California); however, he grows to dislike them early in life. He feels the best way to distance himself from them, especially his three brothers (David, Peter and Joe), is to start a life of crime. After extensive study, he becomes an expert criminal and evades police at every turn. Eventually, his criminal behavior escalates into becoming a costumed supervillain; dubbing himself "Black Hand" (an inside joke he conceives that refers to his status as the "black sheep" of the Hand family).

In preparation for an inevitable battle with the Coast City-based Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Hand makes his most noteworthy invention. The device he creates is able to absorb the residue of a Green Lantern power ring's energy from any object that it touches. Once fueled by this energy, his device can then be used much the same way as a Green Lantern ring. For a while, he retires from a life of crime and attempts to run an adult theatre. This new lease on life is ended abruptly by Guy Gardner and his girlfriend Ice. Black Hand develops a phobia of super-heroes. While trying to reorganize his life into more peaceful pursuits, he encounters Justice League members at the World Trade Center restaurant and has a mental breakdown.

Shortly before the events of Green Lantern: Rebirth, Black Hand's device locates a spare power ring that Green Arrow holds in case of emergency. Hand tries to claim the ring for himself, but is stopped by Green Arrow and Hal Jordan (who is serving as the current Spectre). As Hand attempts to wield the power ring, the emerald archer pins the villain's hand to the wall with an arrow and the Spectre turns his hand to coal; remarking that now "he can live up to his name." Missing his right hand and insane from the trauma, Hand flees. After hearing of Hal Jordan's resurrection, he decides to live in the rebuilt Coast City in order to stay close to his foe. While on board an airplane, he is targeted and abducted by the Kroloteans, a race of mysterious German-speaking aliens that are akin to the gremlins of myth. They perform experiments that enhance his powers, and abandon him in a public park.

He is seen in the Infinite Crisis mini-series as one of several heroes and villains observed by Kal-L and Superboy-Prime.


Post-Infinite Crisis origin
Black Hand's origin was rewritten in the Secret Origin storyline of Green Lantern, and further enhanced in the Blackest Night storyline.

In his updated origin, William Hand's parents run a coroner's office and funeral home, the logo of which is the same symbol William eventually adopts at the beginning of his criminal career. While still a young boy, Hand is shown as having a severe preoccupation with death and the dead that includes implied necrophilic tendencies. No particular trauma or event seems to have inspired this; even as a toddler, William is deeply fascinated by death and dead people, calling them "pretty". It is implied that his first kiss was with a corpse. At first William tries to control his urges by engaging in taxidermy; however, his hobby becomes a source of concern after he kills the family dog in pursuit of his favored pastime. From this point forward William is sent to various psychologists for the remainder of his life with the Hand family. William simply shrugs off every attempt to "cure" him, learning how to hide the most prurient manifestations of his necrophilia and accept the role of the "black sheep."

As part of his newly written background, his energy-absorbing weapon is now portrayed as being built by Atrocitus, a fervent enemy of the Guardians of the Universe. Atrocitus comes to Earth looking for the being who will coordinate the events that come to be known as the Blackest Night; that being is revealed to be William Hand. Atrocitus locates and attacks Hand, believing the black power literally lies within his body. Atrocitus is stopped by Green Lanterns Hal Jordan and Sinestro, while Hand (encouraged by a strange voice) pockets the weapon and flees the scene. He is later seen breaking into a hospital morgue, trying to steal one of the corpses there. When he is confronted by a security guard, he uses the weapon to kill him.

The mysterious voice that tells Hand to steal Atrocitus' weapon for himself traps him under its thrall and influences him into resenting the Green Lanterns. As beacons of light, they upset the perfect balance of darkness and death. Trying to extinguish the light of willpower but unwilling to fight Green Lantern as an "average joe", Hand sews himself a costume using a family cadaver pouch and begins calling himself "Black Hand." Jordan apparently never connects William and his energy-absorbing weapon to his earlier fight with Atrocitus (believing it to be an original creation). Never revealing his weapon's true origin, Black Hand continues to fight him over the years, always retreating to a desecrated grave after each failure. There, he lies with the corpses, hoping for peace and release.

Blackest Night
While being transported to prison, Black Hand experiences a sudden power surge that kills his guards and apparently began having visions of the dead planet Ryut and the Black Power Battery.
After the visions he roams the desert, hearing "Death" calling to him. It instructs him to reclaim all the souls it has lost in the DC Universe, including Superman and Hal Jordan. Black Hand returns to his family's house, kills his two brothers, his mother, his father, and then finally commits suicide. While these events unfold, the Guardian Scar arrives at the Hand house. She pronounces that the self-sacrifice "pleases him" and regurgitates the first Black power ring, which reanimated Black Hand. She reveals that Hand is the physical embodiment of death, in the same manner that Ion is for willpower, Parallax is for fear, and the Predator is for love. Hand then announces that he will use his new power to finally extinguish the light.

Black Hand later spies on Hal Jordan and the Flash as they pay their respects at the unmarked grave of Batman. After the two heroes depart, Black Hand digs up Batman's corpse and, speaking his own oath, begins the process of recruiting the deceased hero;

The Blackest Night falls from the skies,
The darkness grows as all light dies,
We crave your hearts and your demise,
By my black hand — The dead shall rise!
—Black Hand, Blackest Night #0 (June 2009)


While holding Bruce Wayne's skull, Black Hand tells the mysterious force behind the Black Lanterns (residing in Sector 666) that no one escapes death. He is later seen after Black Lanterns Elongated Man and Sue Dibny kill Carter Hall and Kendra Saunders. Hand enters the room and proclaims that Hawkman and Hawkgirl will not escape death this time. Two black rings fly out of Batman's skull and Hand commands the two fallen heroes, by name, to rise. Black Hand is also present when the Spectre is taken over by a black ring, gloating to the assembled magic users (such as Blue Devil and Zatanna) that their powers are useless against his "lord's" might.

When the Black Lantern's power levels finally reach one hundred percent, the Black Power Battery teleports itself to the outskirts of Coast City, right on top of the Hand Mortuary. Black Hand watches in delight as Nekron finally rises, and more black rings recruit the bodies of the people who perished when Coast City was destroyed.

When Barry Allen attempts to attack Nekron, Black Hand steps in, using Batman's skull as an "emotional tether" to weaken the hero. He is ultimately defeated when the White Entity is used to convert the several Black Lanterns into White Lanterns, and a white ring attaches to him, reviving him and forcing him to regurgitate several white rings, freeing the Anti-Monitor and destroying Nekron's physical form. He is later seen held in captivity by the Indigo Tribe, chained to the tribe's trademark power staff.

From Blackest Night #2, a back-up feature entitled "The Book of the Black: The Burned-In Thoughts of William Hand" is shown, chronicling Black Hand's childhood memories, and his own personal opinions regarding each of the seven colors of the Emotional spectrum. In the end, his thoughts of the Indigo Tribe turn out to be a scream after his capture, hoping to be released from the Tribe's captivity; but as much of the text is in the Tribe's language thereby remaining indecipherable, except for a few names and four translated phrases.

Brightest Day
Black Hand is later revealed to be in an unknown location on Earth somewhat trapped inside of Proselyte, the compassion entity, as the members of the Indigo Tribe gather around them.

When Indigo-1 and Black Hand confront Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Sinestro, Saint Walker and Larfleeze, Black Hand explains that the ring has 'cured' him of William Hand's sickness. This prompts the others to realize that, with their rings, the Indigo Tribe cannot feel any emotion besides compassion. Hal implies that given Hand's role in the Blackest Night, other Indigo Tribe members may have committed evil deeds in the past. Although the Indigo Tribe offer to take the remaining emotional entities into protective custody, Hal rejects the offer, concluding that he cannot trust them in the search for the entities with this new information. Then the being responsible for abducting the emotional entities appears with Parallax, proclaiming that any who feel emotion cannot be trusted.


The New 52
Black Hand returned when he confronted the currently-imprisoned Hal Jordan on the Indigo Tribe homeworld, the Tribe having abducted Hal and Sinestro now a Green Lantern once again with the intention of converting Sinestro into one of the tribe.With his ring depowered, Hal tricked Black Hand into manifesting the green energy of willpower and using him as a battery to recharge Hal's ring, although the charge was still limited compared to what the ring would have been capable of if recharged normally. Black Hand is freed when guardian Natromo destroys the Indigo Central Power Battery. When the battery is restored, Black Hand's indigo ring tries to reach him, however Black Hand kills himself rather than return to the Indigo Tribe. A Black Power Ring later emerges from his corpse, reviving him as a Black Lantern. Following his reanimation, he returns to Earth and murders everyone in a Chinese food restaurant, he then raises his family from the dead to "have dinner" with him. He lays out his plan to kill and reanimate as many people as possible, reanimating his victims as undead murderers. Meanwhile Sinestro takes Hal Jordan to the Book of the Black to reveal the plan of the Guardians of the Universe to replace the Green Lanterns Corps, however as he opens the Book, Sinestro and Hal Jordan are sucked into it and drawn to Black Hand. Although Hal and Sinestro are able to destroy Black Hand's makeshift army of reanimated corpses by detonating Sinestro's old yellow power battery, they are unaware that Black Hand has witnessed a new prophecy in the Book of the Black; that Hal Jordan will be the greatest "Black" Lantern. After trying to reanimate Hal's father, Black Hand is on the verge of being defeated by both Hal Jordan and Sinestro. The Guardians intervene, charging him up - which apparently grants him enough power to kill both his adversaries - before teleporting him in the Chamber of Shadows for unknown purposes "until he is needed".

Powers and abilities

Energy device
Black Hand possesses a device that can manipulate the energy of Green Lantern power rings. It can obtain this energy by directly draining it from a ring or through the residue a power ring gives off. Like power rings, however, the device needs to replenish its energy on a regular basis in order to operate. Hand usually recharges his device during battles with Green Lanterns, and has been shown to use it in order to help him locate nearby power rings. The device was recently revealed as being Atrocitus' creation, though it was previously assumed he invented it himself.

Black power ring
After his suicide, Black Hand is reanimated by Scar when she releases the first Black power ring, making him the first Black Lantern. Reanimatd by the ring, the head injury he inflicts upon himself during his suicide is erased, restoring his body to a working state. When the first Black power rings choose wearers, they present themselves to the deceased without a charge. The rings (which constantly ask for "flesh") are recharged by killing living beings and removing their hearts; each heart restores .01 percent power to every ring in the Corps. Black Lanterns are also able to read the emotions of the living as a colored aura that correlates to the emotional spectrum (red for rage, violet for love, etc.).


Indigo power ring
Main article: Indigo Tribe
After been restored to life, Black Hand is converted to the Indigo Tribe whose power ring allows Black Hand to perceive compassion in others and to force compassion onto those who feel none. Indigo light has the ability to heal individuals with great empathy and to expose people to pain they've inflicted on other people. Indigo Power Rings can teleport their users and others over intergalactic distances. This ability utilizes a great deal of power from an indigo power ring, and Indigo Tribe members try to use it sparingly. He has since lost this ability and is currently wearing again a black ring.

Friday, December 28, 2012

SATURDAY SHOWCASE : Cool Green Lantern Art





CLASSIC COMICS : Green Lantern Vol 2 #16 "The Secret Life of Star-Sapphire!"

Green Lantern Vol 2 #16
October, 1962
Executive Editor: Julius Schwartz
Cover Artists: Gil Kane, Murphy Anderson

"The Secret Life of Star-Sapphire!"
Writers: John Broome
Pencilers: Gil Kane
Inkers: Joe Giella
Letterers: Gaspar Saladino
Editors: Julius Schwartz

"Earth's First Green Lantern"
Writers: Gardner Fox
Pencilers: Gil Kane
Inkers: Murphy Anderson
Letterers: Gaspar Saladino
Editors: Julius Schwartz

Appearing in "The Secret Life of Star-Sapphire!"
Featured Characters: Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
Supporting Characters: Tom Kalmaku
Villains: Carol Ferris (First appearance as Star Sapphire)
Other Characters: Zamarons (First appearance)
Anamede (Single appearance)
Locations: California
Coast City
Ferris Aircraft
Zamaron (First appearance)
Items: Green Lantern Ring
Green Lantern Power Battery
Star Sapphire Gem (First appearance)
Vehicles: The Lady Carol (Carol Ferris' Plane)

Synopsis for "The Secret Life of Star-Sapphire!"
While out flying in her private jet, Carol Ferris is captured by the Zamarons, alien warrior women who have selected her to become their next queen based on her exact resemblance of their former ruler. Changing her into Star Sapphire, they dispatch her out into Coast City where she is to battle the Green Lantern to prove her worthiness as the Zamaron ruler.
Meanwhile, Hal Jordan and Pieface become worried since Carol has not returned from her flight and so Hal seeks to find her as Green Lantern. He ends up finding her all right, as Star Sapphire, who challenges him. Not realizing who she really is, Hal tries to dismiss her however she starts committing crimes to get his attention. Battling her, she manages to catch him off guard and he ends up being easily defeated.

Feeling she had not totally proved herself to the Zamarons, Star Sapphire requests to attack Green Lantern one more time. This time, Green Lantern is able to best her in combat. Before Green Lantern can do anymore she is teleported away by the Zamarons who find her defeat disgraceful, restore her back to normal, and return Carol to her jet. Out looking for Star Sapphire, Hal manages to find Carol instead who doesn't remember what happened to her. Before returning her home, Green Lantern finds a sapphire with a star symbol etched in it, which he takes for safe keeping.

Appearing in "Earth's First Green Lantern"
Featured Characters: Abin Sur (flashback only)
Supporting Characters: Hal Jordan (flashback and main story)
Tom Kalmaku
Villains: Larifars (Single appearance)
Balzona (Single appearance)
Locations: Earth
California
Coast City
Ferris Aircraft
Ungara (First appearance) (flashback only)
Athmoora (flashback only)
Pendara (flashback only)
Orlana (flashback only)
Items: Green Lantern Ring
Green Lantern Power Battery
Vehicles: Abin Sur's Starship (flashback only)

Synopsis for "Earth's First Green Lantern"
As Hal recharges his ring and changes back into his civilian guise, Pieface has some questions regarding about the Green Lantern that he succeeded: Abin Sur. Like why he never wore a mask and why he flew in a spaceship when Hal found him instead of using his power ring to fly like the other Green Lanterns. Hal tells Pieface that shortly after he became the Green Lantern, he asked his power ring the same questions, and it recounted Abin Sur's last adventure prior to crashing on Earth: Abin Sur was inspecting the planet Athmoora which has been perpetually stuck in a neo-medieval stage instead of being in an atomic age. Probing one of the inhabitants' minds he learns that the energy beings known as the Larifars have stunted their progress by robbing them of their intelligence. Abin then traveled to the Larifar home planet and imprisoned the entire race, except for Balzona, who was on another planet waiting for his fellows to arrive and drain the intelligence of another planet. When Balzona learns of his races fate, he goes after Abin Sur and terrorizes his home planet. Abin agrees to free the other Larifars, however convinces Balzona that his power ring wouldn't have the power to bring them to that location in time. Boarding a shuttle, Abin Sur uses the long space flight to trick Balzona is distracted by flying near Sirus's green radiation belt, Abin Sur is able to recharge his power ring without Balzona noticing. Abin then uses his power ring to imprison Balzona and send him to join his fellow Larifars. During the flight home however, Abin was struck by a yellow radiation belt negating his power ring long enough to be unable to prevent his shuttle from crashing on Earth -- and his destined meeting with Hal Jordan. Finishing his story, Hal gives Pieface the title in which he'll call the story once he writes it down in his case book "Earth's First Green Lantern."

Monday, December 24, 2012

CHARACTER CLOSE-UP : Sinestro


Thaal Sinestro is a fictional character, an alien supervillain / anti-hero in the DC Comics Universe. Created by John Broome and Gil Kane, Sinestro is the former mentor of Hal Jordan and the arch-nemesis of the entire Green Lantern Corps. Sinestro first appears in Green Lantern (vol. 2) #7 (July–August 1961). In 2009, Sinestro was ranked IGN's 15th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time. While he was under the possession of the White Entity he was one of the most powerful characters in all of the DC universe.


Green Lantern
Sinestro was born on the planet Korugar in space sector 1417. His dedication to preserving order originally manifested in his previous career, an anthropologist specializing in reconstructions of ruins of long-dead civilizations. One day while he was on one such site, a Green Lantern named Prohl Gosgotha crashlanded into the site, injured and apparently dying. He quickly gave his ring to Sinestro, just in time for Sinestro, who barely even understood what the ring could do, to defend himself from the Lantern's pursuer: a Weaponer of Qward; however, Sinestro had to destroy the ruins he had spent loving care restoring in order to crush the Qwardian. Afterward, Gosgotha turned out to still be alive and asked for his ring back to keep him alive long enough to get help. Sinestro, knowing this would mean not being a Green Lantern himself, instead allowed him to die and took over his post. The Guardians were unaware of his actions.
In Green Lantern #45, his wife is shown for the first time in a flashback, and revealed to be the sister of Abin Sur.
His desire for order did well by him in the Corps, and initially led him to be considered one of the greatest Green Lanterns. As the years passed, he became more and more fixated upon not simply protecting his sector, but on preserving order in the society of his home planet no matter the cost. Eventually he concluded that the best way to accomplish this was to conquer Korugar and rule the planet as a dictator.

Sinestro as a member of the Green Lantern Corps. Art by Alan Davis.
When Hal Jordan joined the Green Lantern Corps instead of Guy Gardner because Hal Jordan was closer to Abin Sur at the time, Sinestro was assigned to be his instructor. Jordan was horrified at his new mentor's totalitarian methods, though Sinestro maintained that his iron-fisted rule was necessary to protect his people from alien forces. During his training, Jordan helped Sinestro repel an attempted invasion of Korugar by the alien warlords known as the Khunds. When Jordan called for help from the other Green Lanterns, Sinestro's dictatorship was exposed and he was forced to appear before the Guardians for punishment. Katma Tui, the leader of a Korugarian resistance movement who felt that Sinestro's "protection" kept her people from growing as a society through contact with other alien races, was recruited as his replacement in the Corps. Though Katma Tui eventually grew into one of the most respected Green Lanterns, she and the rest of Korugar initially resisted her appointment to the Corps; due to Sinestro's actions, Korugar had come to consider the symbol of the Green Lantern Corps an emblem of terror and oppression.


Punishment and villainy
For using the power of the Green Lantern to instill fear rather than combat it, the Guardians banished Sinestro to the antimatter universe, a counterpart to the "real" universe made up of "negative matter". Sinestro ended up on the Antimatter world of Qward, that universe's counterpart of the Guardians' homeworld Oa, which was ruled by a race of warriors and scientists known as the Weaponers of Qward, who bore a fierce hatred of the Guardians and all Green Lanterns. By exiling Sinestro to a world ruled by evil beings who specifically hated him as a Green Lantern, the Guardians hoped to humble him. Their attempt at punishment would be a major miscalculation, however. Sinestro believed himself to have been wronged by his former masters and now hated them just as much as the Weaponers did. Through their mutual hatred of the Guardians, Sinestro and the Weaponers became allies, with the Weaponers offering to help Sinestro gain revenge on the Guardians and the Corps.
Creating a yellow power ring for Sinestro to use, the Weaponers sent him back to the "positive matter" universe to seek his revenge. Sinestro quickly became the Green Lantern Corps' most powerful nemesis, partially due to a weakness in their power rings that prevented them from directly affecting the color yellow. Despite this, skilled Green Lanterns like Jordan, Sinestro's most hated enemy, always found ways to defeat him.
Pre-Crisis Sinestro first met Hal when he had already made an alliance with Qward. Hal had already beaten the Weaponers three times. Sinestro tried to kidnap him using a device which could transport people to Qward and was able to imprison him in a yellow bubble by threatening to kill 100,000 people who had been kidnapped with the device when he used it on a city Hal was supposed to be at. However Hal used his ring to speed up a clock, making Sinestro think his ring had run out of power. When he released Hal from the bubble to eliminate him, he was defeated and imprisoned in a green bubble by Hal, who did not take him back to his Universe as it would go against the jurisdiction of the Guardians. However he escaped using a ring that could drain the Green Lantern's ring-power and continued to menace Hal. He tried to attack the Guardians after trapping Green Lantern, before disguising himself as him so he could occupy a meeting of Green Lanterns and absorb power from their rings by casting an illusion of a monster so they used their rings. However Green Lantern escaped and defeated Sinestro on Oa, who was placed in a green energy container which would orbit the Universe by the power of many Green Lanterns. But he escaped with a power ring hidden in his boot. He was very adept at escaping the ways the guardians tried to imprison him.
Before the Guardians took a leave of absence from their universe to attempt mating with their female counterparts, the Zamarons, they constructed an inescapable prison for Sinestro and thousands of others on Oa. However, Sinestro's cunning prevailed once again and he managed to free himself through the mental manipulation of the Mad God of Sector 3600. Now wielding nearly unlimited power, Sinestro murdered entire star systems until he was finally subdued by the Green Lantern Corps of Earth. Now guilty of multiple acts of genocide, Sinestro was put on trial again by the assembled membership of the Green Lantern Corps. Finding him guilty, they condemned him to death and executed him, but Sinestro managed to cheat death itself by sending his essence into the Central Power Battery, and shut it down. While in the Battery, he also made a startling discovery about the ancient weakness to yellow within the Green Lanterns' light.
Hal Jordan entered the Battery in a desperate attempt to restore the powers of his fellow Lanterns, and ultimately defeated Sinestro, whose spirit was condemned to remain trapped inside the Central Battery, powerless, for eternity. Yet Sinestro had earned an even greater personal victory as the so-called "Yellow Impurity" turned out to be a sentient entity known as Parallax, the living embodiment of fear. He also discovered the battery's power source was Parallax's green counterpart, Ion, the embodiment of willpower. Thanks to Sinestro's actions, Parallax successfully infected Jordan's mind, leaving the so-called "greatest Green Lantern" vulnerable to fear for the first time in his life and setting up Sinestro's ultimate triumph.


Parallax
In the meantime, the return of the Guardians resulted in the Corps being re-established. The newly restored Corps would be short-lived, however, thanks to the inadvertent efforts of the alien warlord Mongul and Hank Henshaw, a cyborg who was at the time impersonating Superman. As part of their ultimately thwarted plot to transform Earth into a new version of Mongul's interstellar fortress Warworld and gain revenge on Superman, Mongul and the Cyborg used several nuclear devices to completely destroy Coast City, California, which was Hal Jordan's home, and everyone living in it. Driven mad with grief by the destruction of his city and the Guardians' apathy towards his plight, Jordan's previously indomitable willpower was shattered. Parallax was thus able to possess him completely and push him towards a homicidal rampage that wiped out most of the Guardians and left scores of Green Lanterns dead or maimed, as Parallax sought to absorb the Central Power Battery's energies into his being.
As a last-ditch effort to halt Jordan's rampage, the Guardians freed Sinestro from the Central Power Battery and sent him to stop Jordan. Though Jordan snapped Sinestro's neck after the battle, apparently killing him, it would later be revealed that what the Guardians had actually extracted from the Battery was a hard-light construct of Sinestro, created by Parallax and mentally puppeteered by the real Sinestro from within the Battery. Parallax promptly finished off the Green Lantern Corps by absorbing the Central Battery's energies into himself. With the Battery destroyed, Sinestro escaped and went into hiding as he watched Jordan become what he had always hated Sinestro for being: a traitor and a murderer reviled by his friends and his allies. When the last surviving Guardian, Ganthet, gave the last remaining power ring to Kyle Rayner, Sinestro became obsessed with the young Earthman, realizing that despite Jordan's downfall, his plot to extinguish the Green Lanterns' light had failed.


Return
Sinestro eventually revealed the charade of his 'death' when Kyle Rayner discovered the existence of Parallax and revealed it to Green Arrow and the Justice League. Nearly killing the two heroes, Sinestro was stopped by the newly resurrected Hal Jordan, who reclaimed his ring and was purged of Parallax's influence. The two fought to a draw, with Sinestro escaping to the antimatter universe when his ring was damaged by Hal during the fight.
Sinestro later appeared in the miniseries Villains United, where he captured Lady Quark for the Secret Society of Super-Villains. Sinestro had been a member of the group in the past. Here he plays a major role in the Society's massacre of the Freedom Fighters, who are investigating the meeting place of other villains, but walk into an ambush. Sinestro begins the fight by blowing a hole through the chest of the second Black Condor, killing him instantly. He then defeats Uncle Sam, leaving him for dead.


Sinestro Corps

After the Battle of Metropolis, Sinestro retreated to the antimatter universe. He made a pact with the Anti-Monitor and embraced the doctrine of spreading fear. The Green Lantern Corps is once again reformed with the return of Hal Jordan so Sinestro decides to found the Sinestro Corps, offering yellow power rings and a role in the Corps to the most feared and savage warriors of the universe. He is also revealed to have masterminded the death of Kyle Rayner's mother by having the sentient virus Despotellis invade her as part of a plot to break Kyle's will so that he can become Parallax's latest host.
The Sinestro Corps War begins with an attack on Oa. Sinestro himself returns to Korugar to confront his successor, Soranik Natu. Sinestro defeats her, but makes it appear she has defeated him. This will force her to stay on Korugar to fulfill her responsibilities as "the Savior of Korugar".
Sinestro returns to Qward and joins the battle occurring there. He confronts Earth's Green Lanterns, and upon their escape, follows them toward Earth, the Sinestro Corps' real target. The Sinestro Corps begin attacking Earth. Sinestro reveals to Hal, Guy, and John that he intends to turn Earth into the new homeworld for the Sinestro Corps and the site of the new Coast City into a mass graveyard, "A mecca of fear". During the battle, The Guardians enacted new laws to the Book of Oa. The first new law was to give the Green Lanterns the ability to use lethal force. Sinestro claims he has achieved his overall goal because now the Green Lanterns spread fear by being unchecked. Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner beat Sinestro in hand-to-hand combat. Sinestro is then imprisoned in Oa's Sciencells where he learns from Hal Jordan that he has received a death penalty. Despite his personal defeat, Sinestro claims victory. Sinestro's overall goal through his war was to groom his former Corps for a more active, forceful role in the universe. With the enactment of the Corps' new laws and the approval of lethal force, the Green Lantern corps will inspire fear, creating the same effect as the Sinestro Corps: order through fear.
With the hunt for the members of the Sinestro Corps becoming one of the Green Lantern Corps' highest priorities, many of those who wield yellow power rings have been incarcerated in Oa's sciencells, with their power rings stored in the large chamber that houses the entire detention facility. Sinestro has been shown to have chewed a very large hole in his finger, and he used his blood to paint the insignia of the Sinestro Corps on his cell window. All Sinestro Corps members followed his example, with the result of thousands of emblems across the cosmic jail. Interestingly, when Sinestro formed his insignia from blood, the power rings stationed on Oa seemed to react violently, threatening to break free of their confines.


Rage of the Red Lanterns
Sinestro is to be executed on his homeworld of Korugar. During the transport a group of Sinestro Corps members attempt to free him. Atrocitus and his Red Lanterns intervene by attacking both Corps and kidnapping Sinestro. In the midst of the battle, a Blue Lantern named Saint Walker tells Hal Jordan that Sinestro's survival is crucial in order to stop the Blackest Night. After being taken to Ysmault, he is nailed to a cross to await his execution at the hands of Atrocitus who wishes to make Sinestro suffer greatly by taking his revenge on everything he has ever cared about. His targets include Korugar and Sinestro's hidden daughter. Sinestro breaks free and must go back to his home world to see to family business.

War of Light
After escaping the assault by the Red Lanterns, Sinestro finally reaches his homeworld of Korugar. After rapidly incapacitating Princess Iolande, he confronts Soranik Natu and reveals that his wife took Soranik and left him as he began his rise to power of Korugar. He was eventually able to locate his daughter and give her the mark on her face, his family's coat of arms, along with a micro transmitter so he could locate her. He visited Soranik throughout her life using his ring to alter his appearance. He even took a picture of her and the Natu's at her medical school graduation. Sinestro then says that he's proud of his daughter for succeeding where he could not, namely bringing order to Korugar as a member of the Green Lantern Corps. He then tells her that they must work together to stop the Blackest Night. After leaving Korugar, Sinestro travels to visit the grave of Abin Sur, and makes plans to lead an assault on the homeworld of the Star Sapphires.


Blackest Night

When he arrives, he first encounters Carol Ferris. While Sinestro holds no ill will towards Carol and only wishes to free his Corpswomen from Zamaron, he warns Carol that he will hurt her if she stands in his way. Carol then encases Sinestro in a crystal structure, forcing him to relive the death of his love, Arin Sur (Abin Sur's sister). Angered by this, Sinestro bursts free, staggering Carol enough for his Corpsmen to seize her. However, before he can capitalize on the advantage, the Black Lanterns invade, led by Amon Sur, shocking both Sinestro and Carol. Hal Jordan and Indigo-1 then appear, initially fighting off some of the Black Lanterns. Indigo-1 teleports the group to Korugar so that Sinestro may finally confront Mongul. Sinestro defeats Mongul by overriding his rings, then imprisons him within the Yellow Central Battery. Sinestro vows to keep Mongul alive (and torture him), then kill him when the Blackest Night is over. He also proclaims himself to be "leading this coalition" against the Black Lanterns. The Sinestro Corps' celebration is cut short when a ship crashlands nearby, containing Black Lanterns Abin and Arin Sur.
As the Black Lanterns attack, Sinestro is emotionally manipulated by the corpse of Arin. At one point, the corpse even alters itself to look more like a living person and addresses Sinestro by his full name (revealing his first name, Thaal, for the very first time). Just then Hal, Abin, and Carol burst through the streets to where the others are. With all four in place, they destroy Abin's and Arin's rings. Afterward, Hal and Sinestro debate whether to contact the Blue or Red Lanterns, respectively. Hal then makes the decision himself. Sinestro relents, tells his Corps that there is a temporary truce with the GLC, and travels with the others to Odym. After gathering the other Corps leaders, Sinestro and the others follow the Black Lantern battery to Earth, where Nekron has already risen. Under Indigo-1's direction, they combine their lights, thinking it will destroy the Black Lanterns' source of power, but this fails and in an attempt to bolster their ranks, Ganthet duplicates the corps leaders' rings, having them seek out candidates to deputize. Sinestro's ring chooses the Scarecrow. The Black Lantern Spectre then attacks the group. In order to defeat it, Hal releases Parallax from its prison, intending to let it possess him again. Sinestro offers to join with Parallax instead, but is rebuffed. When the restored Spectre manages to separate Parallax from Hal, Sinestro again tries to claim the fear entity as his own, but is foiled when Parallax is pulled away by an unknown force.
In the midst of the battle, Nekron kills a Guardian and uses its blood to summon a large white figure from the earth. Ganthet reveals this is the Entity, the living embodiment of the life force of the universe. It seems Earth is where life first began, a fact the Guardians did their best to hide so as to keep the Entity safe. Outraged at how the Guardians' need for control caused the death of Abin Sur, Sinestro stabs Ganthet with his ring. Hal Jordan realizes the Entity needs a mind to guide it and prepares to fly in but Sinestro cuts him off. He dives into the white energy and emerges as a figure all in white, declaring he's about to show the universe he truly is the "greatest lantern of them all". Entity intones "Thaal Sinestro of Korugar...Destiny awaits".
During the confrontation with Nekron, Sinestro is apparently killed by Nekron, but healed back to life by the White Entity, claiming to be in harmony with every living being in the universe and thus reborn as the true Guardian of the Universe. However, Sinestro proves unable to fully control the Entity's power because of his egomaniacal personality, and Nekron is able to separate them. Hal then comes to the realization that even though Nekron allowed the various resurrections of the heroes he transformed into Black Lanterns, it was they who chose to live again. This enables Hal to access the Entity's power and transform himself and the other heroes into White Lanterns, resurrecting Black Hand and breaking Nekron's tether to the living universe. As the various corps part ways, Sinestro notes that Larfleeze himself has changed, as he actually returns Lex Luthor to the other gathered Corps rather than keeping Luthor for himself after he was forced to briefly share his power with the bald billionaire.

War of the Green Lanterns
In the Brightest Day crossover, Sinestro discovers a white power battery in a crater on Earth. In the first issue of the "New Guardians" story arc, Sinestro reveals that the white power battery wants Hal Jordan. He and the other Corps leaders must pursue Krona, who is trying to capture all of the Emotional Entities. Sinestro must also work with Kyle Rayner and the Green Lantern Corps in an effort to rescue Soranik Natu from a Qwardian, who made Sinestro's original yellow ring.
In the War of the Green Lanterns storyline Sinestro and the other 'New Guardians' are trapped in the Book of the Black by Lyssa Drak while trying to recover the emotional entities from Krona. Hal Jordan alone is able to avoid the book and escapes with the other "New Guardians's" rings. He later uses Sinestro's ring when Parallax is returned to the Central Power Battery, allowing Krona to control all Green Lanterns- Hal and others escaped only thanks to their prior experience with Parallax granting them an immunity to the initial assault-, in order to give himself a weapon against the other Lanterns. While attempting to escape the Book- which forces the New Guardians to re-live their lives prior to acquiring their current rings-, Sinestro discovers Indigo-1 in a prison cell, angrily proclaiming that she will escape whatever Abin Sur has planned for her, although he chooses to focus on his own escape rather than remain to question her more about this, only for Krona to burn the page that Sinestro is on before he can escape. Sinestro and the other are later freed by Kyle Rayner, who 'draws' their escape. Sinestro's ring attempts to return to him, but is overridden by Krona, who wields all seven varieties of power rings. As Hal Jordan battles Krona, Sinestro hears him as he declares his dedication to the cause of the Green Lanterns, and is inspired to join his old enemy in battle. As he fights Krona, a green power ring comes to him, making Sinestro a Green Lantern once more. Sinestro is not interested in becoming a Green Lantern, but the Guardians of the Universe convince him to join the Corps. Later, when the Green Lantern Corps are in disagreement and attempt to kill him, the Corps break into the sciencells, but the Corps discover that Sinestro was in captivity by the Guardians, who are trying to remove Sinestro's green ring, but the ring will not be removed. Later, the Green Lantern Corps were in a meeting by the Guardians that they choose between discipline continuing the fight and starting a mutiny. The other Green Lantern Corps are in agreement.


The New 52
Sinestro is in the Guardians' room with the Guardians, angry that he has Green Lantern Power Ring. The Guardians feel the ring 'wishes' to redeem him. He leaves and finds Hal Jordan and tells him do as he commands to get his ring back.
The Sinestro Corps decides to kill Sinestro for 'betrayal', and he tells his former group they have forsaken his code of conduct and asks for Hal's help to kill the Corps by flying into their Power Battery's core and destroying it. Hal does and is hurt while accusing the regretful Sinestro of treachery.
Hal and Sinestro are imprisoned with Korugarians when Hal suggests using the ring's abilities to make duplicate rings for everyone so the prisoners can escape as well, but they attack their former leader instead before turning on the Corps while Hal and Sinestro escape.
Sinestro returns Hal to Earth with a powerless ring and witnesses the prophecy of the Guardians' plans for a 'Third Army' and returns to get Hal from Earth and is captured by the Indigo Tribe, who let him go after their Power Battery is destroyed and Hal says he can help Sinestro atone without an Indigo Ring.
The two are drawn to the once again evil Black Hand, whose corpse army is destroyed by detonating Sinestro's yellow power battery. The Guardians imply they are willed Hal's ring to 'claim' Sinestro to undermine all the other corps, especially his own.
Black Hand regains the upper hand and buries Sinestro and Hal alive, until they break out and the Guardians arrive and command Black Hand to kill them. As their life is draining away, Hal and Sinestro fuse their rings together with an unknown message and get trapped in a mysterious realm surrounded by darkness.
Sinestro and Hal then begin making their way through which has now been identified as the Dead Zone searching for way to escape, while attempting to avoid the attention of a cloaked figure observing them in the shadows.

Physical appearance

The visual design of Sinestro was based upon British actor David Niven. However, the alien features of Sinestro's physical appearance have been depicted inconsistently in both comics and animation over the decades.
Sinestro's skin color (and that of other Korugarians), although often diegetically described as simply "red", is rarely depicted as such, ranging from pink, deep scarlet, purple and, perhaps most commonly, magenta, depending on the colorist.
Additionally, many artists portray Sinestro with an upwardly elongated forehead (similar to the original design of Hulk villain The Leader, albeit less extreme), while others artists have bestowed him with more human cranial proportions. He was initially bald, but now boasts a human-like head of black hair. The villain's ears are also inconsistently depicted, being frequently drawn with tapering pinnae in the same manner as Vulcans and Elves, yet he is also commonly shown to have human-shaped ears instead. Oddly, other characters from Korugar such as his successor Katma Tui and even his own daughter Soranik Natu are virtually never depicted with these features of either the tall forehead or elfin ears.
Additionally, due to the fact that his name is derived from the Latin word sinestra, meaning "sinister" or also "left" and "left handed", and commonly associated to wickedness, Sinestro has been often depicted in the comic books as left handed. This trait has also been faithfully portrayed in other media, such as in the animated film Green Lantern: First Flight and in the live-action film Green Lantern.

Sunday, December 23, 2012

My Green Lantern Videos

Made these videos a while back, the first one is various Green Lantern covers, artwork, etc put to music done pre-Rebirth, the second was done at the beginning of Blackest Night, my "promo" video if you would, hope you enjoy.


Saturday, December 22, 2012

Green Lantern #15 Review

Simon Baz investigates the truth.
From IGN.com by Joshua Yehl.

After last month’s humorous run-in with the Justice League, Green Lantern Simon Baz is back on his mission to discover why the van he stole had a bomb in it. The political thriller elements of Simon’s story are what make it so compelling, so getting to the bottom of the mystery makes this one of the better entries in the Rise of the Third Army event that continues to drag its feet. While this issue is pretty intense thanks to the confrontation with the van owner, Geoff Johns still manages to earn a huge laugh with what is one of the best surprise cameos of the year.
Artist Doug Mahnke turns in his usual top-notch artwork here, save for the shots of Simon looking surprised, of which there are a few. Dude’s face just doesn’t look right. On the plus side, Mahnke delivers one hell of an astonishing title splash page. His use of scale makes the Third Army seem like a true galactic-sized threat for the first time, and his composition of the image is such that you have to look closely before the horror sets in as to what you’re actually looking at.
The threat of the Third Army seems palpable enough thanks to Mahnke’s art, but the actual concept feels flawed thanks to the weak motivations of the Guardians and the Third Army’s ability to only hurt supporting characters. What has me more excited is the thought of what new stakes the First Lantern might bring. In classic Johns style, the revealed identity of the First Lantern resonates from a long forgotten point in Green Lantern history. But just like the reveal of the Anti-Monitor, Nekron, and Krona from events past, it makes perfect sense.

THE VERDICT
Geoff Johns delivers a few stellar moments that help along this dragging Green Lantern event.

SATURDAY SHOWCASE : Cool Green Lantern Art





Wednesday, December 19, 2012

MAHNKE, KUDER SOLDIER ON WITH GREEN LANTERN'S "RISE OF THE THIRD ARMY"



From Comicbookresources.com

Across the Lantern corner of the DC Comics Universe, the "Rise Of The Third Army" crossover event marches on as the Guardians of Oa attempt to eliminate free will and destroy ever color Lantern Corps in one fell swoop.

In "Green Lantern," written by Geoff Johns with art by Doug Mahnke, the Guardians' instrument of annihilation, the Third Army, is still slinking around in the background even as new Lantern Simon Baz works to clear his name while simultaneously fleeing the Justice League, which remains hot on his trail after Baz stole a car with a bomb in it -- marking him as a terrorist in the eyes of the United States.

The Third Army has also been skulking in the fringes of "Green Lantern: New Guardians," written by Tony Bedard with art by Aaron Kuder. But while Kyle Rayner attempts to master the full emotional spectrum, with help from Carol Ferris and his ex-New Guardian teammates, it's clear that his path will cross with the Third Army's in the near future as it continues to assimilate and conscript human and aliens into their ever-growing ranks.

As the Third Army begins to make its presence known across the Lantern books, Mahnke and Kuder spoke with CBR about the artistic challenges in bringing this monstrous regiment to life, what fans have to look forward to and the trials and tribulations of drawing Hal, Kyle, Baz and the Lanterns that fight with and against them.


CBR News: From the artist's point of view, how does a crossover like "Third Army" work? Is this something where you meet and talk with the other artists and you all trade designs and ideas?

Aaron Kuder: The way it's worked for me so far is that a lot of the information that comes to me is through the editors. Because the process needs to have, especially with so many books involved, one person that oversees all of it, that's where Geoff [Johns] comes in and that's where people who have been on their series for a long time come in. With character design and stuff like that, I generally get rap sheets and character design sheets that I then figure out how to tweak their design into my style -- and hope they're OK with that!

Doug Mahnke: Regarding the original Third Army designs for the characters themselves, I think Ethan [Van Sciver] did that, and then some of the other stuff coming our way is stuff that I'd done. You'd think we would be a little more in each other's way and creeping up on each other, but surprisingly, no. I'm so ridiculously busy getting this stuff out, that by the end of the day, if I actually had an opportunity to talk with somebody, that would have been the day! That would have been, "Hey, I have some time on my hands and can actually communicate with other artists? No way!" [Laughter]

Was the final design all Van Sciver's, Doug, or did you come in and do a take before it went out to the other artists?

Mahnke: He did an initial drawing; I wasn't even aware of his very first sketches that he had done. I saw them through the interpretation of another artist, and then I saw Ethan's. As it has moved generationally through whoever has been drawing this stuff, it's evolved a little bit. Some of the detail gets shifted around and changed as each artist adds their own spin and interpretation. Then you see what somebody else does and you go, "Wow, I kind of like the way that turned out! Maybe I'll add some element of that to mine." As long as you're true to the original spirit of it, they're always a work in progress. Hopefully they'll all still look like the Third Army by the time we're done with them, but I do find it interesting to see what other people do, and then to see what I focus on.

The Third Army certainly has a distinctive look. When you get those designs and rap sheets, how do you approach turning that into your own style?

Kuder: Issue #15 is the first issue where you get to see how I represent that metamorphosis. I don't want to give too many clues to how I go about it, I don't think it's particularly different. When you're dealing with some sort of alien liquid, I like to represent it as if the liquid itself has thought, so every time it moves, it's a calculated move.

Mahnke: The first thing I did when I was even looking at [the Third Army] was, if you were to go over and see some of the original stuff, just try to add a little bit more of a monstrous quality to it. Like I said, it's still a work in progress: focusing more on their musculature, their sinews, make their eyes bigger or smaller, do they pop more? Less? I think I downplayed the eyes a bit -- it's little details in trying to make the face work for you. When you finally get it done, as I first interpreted the Third Army and then looked at Ethan's original drawings, for example, I go, "Ah, I was a bit off, but I started to pull it back in that direction." And then when I see what other people do, I think, "Oh, they're adding way more!" The brain part, the glowing part that sticks out, at first I didn't use very much of that because what I saw in the Annual was slightly different. Then I saw -- I think it was Ivan [Reis] who did a big poster shot of the books that is supposed to come together as one piece of art, and I saw how he interpreted them, which is always fun to see. There are little tweaks; it's not major stuff. Even their size, for instance, or how they physically work. I'll probably continue to try to take a little humanity out of them and put a little more monster in them.

How is the Third Army different from other foes the Lanterns have faced, and how do you visually approach depicting how they're more terrifying than, say, Arkillo or Sinestro or other villains?

Kuder: I think the way we represent terror in a story is always interesting. We're scared of the boogeyman, we're scared of vampires, we're scared of Frankenstein's monster and these are all different representations of the creepy crawlies in the back of the mind. Arkillo represents that big galoop of a monster, and he has one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, so we're representing him as -- I have a pit bull, and whenever I want reference for Arkillo, I look at my pit bull! [Laughs] He's the sweetest dog in the universe! I think if Arkillo were an animal on Earth, he'd probably be a pit bull, because he has a heart but he's got this appearance!

But with the Third Army, I love the fact that it's like giant space alien zombie beings; it represents that fear of this mass horde of something that we have such a hard time defeating, they're nearly indestructible. What do you do? I think they represent themselves in the story, and visualizing that is the easy part. Dealing with that element of a large army tromping down your steps, that's the story.

Mahnke: Yeah, they're supposed to all be the same, they're all interconnected. As they move through a population and go from one person to the next, they all become carbon copies of each other, and I believe they're all connected, nervous system-wise. I don't know if they have any intelligence or how they're supposed to operate, but you look at any group shot, and they're all the same. It's not like one gets to be any different than the next, which can be a tedious in terms of drawing them. Unlike, if I go back to "Blackest Night," where you have villains, once again, a mass of them, all of these creatures becoming the Dead -- but they were all still individuals. Maybe they had a theme running through them, but they were unique each to themselves. Third Army is really just a wave or a mass of monsters coming your way.

In "New Guardians," we've seen Kyle trying to master the emotional spectrum, and each time he does, he's been getting a new costume. Aaron, what's been the thinking behind each of Kyle's different uniforms?

Kuder: Well, I drew most of issue #0, that part of the script, so I did the rough outs, and Andrew [Bressan] who came in and did issues #13 and #14, he ran with most of the designs I did, but he came up with the Red Kyle, which I thought was just crazy cool! It was absolutely bizarre. I had a totally different design for it but I really liked his design more than my own. That's part of the fun of it, in this industry in general, that you get to take these longstanding characters and just every once in a while, you get to represent them in whatever way you choose. In issue #15, there's a scene where you see him in one of the color spectrums, and I got to go absolutely bizarre. It was really, really fun!

Besides a different uniform for each color of the Lantern spectrum, you're also going to have to tackle different ring constructs. Because Kyle is an artist himself, does coming up with those constructs make it easier or more challenging for you?

Kuder: [Laughs] Well, as of right now I haven't drawn him creating any particular constructs, and the theory that I have behind that -- I spent a lot of time sitting down and thinking, "OK, Green is the power of Will, Blue is the power of Hope, etc.," trying to come up with visual cues to show what each energy looks like on its own without a construct. With Blue, I use this water ripple effect because I want it to emphasize calm and cool, healing and stuff like that. Red is very fire-like, it's very jagged. Thus far, I've been trying to set a standard look for each power. Then, playing around with how Kyle has a very easy time moving from Green to Blue, I incorporate a lot more ripple effects in his power constructs and the way he represents things, because that seems more of an organic next step in visual cues. Whereas for my idea for how Fear is represented -- Fear and Rage -- I feel like there are a lot of gray zones in the way they're represented in the comic books, so I try to think about how Rage is pure anger and just ravaged and jagged and chaotic, and then Fear is a lot more calculated. The power constructs they create are going to be a lot cleaner lines, a lot smoother transitions in visual cues and the way that they're represented.

You've obviously put a lot of thought into the color spectrum. When it comes to drawing all the characters in your books (Carol, Kyle, Arkillo etc.), do you try to incorporate the way you draw their constructs or envision their powers into the way you depict them?

Kuder: Yeah. It's a little more difficult when it comes to page design, because when you have so many colors on the page, the colors are going to dominate the image. I try really hard to make sure that the design of the page not only represents the characters and the mood and the story and all of those sorts of things, but also isn't going to be a complete visual clash of colors. I try to make it as smooth as possible. Or, you know, if the clash is necessary, make the clash be more of a clash.

Doug, how do you approach creating ring constructs, not just for Hal and Sinestro, but Simon Baz as well? Is there a lot of car research going on?

Mahnke: Well, yeah. I mean, cars -- artists either love or hate them because they are complicated things to draw quickly. I have things that I've kind of fallen back on and rely on; I certainly hope we'll see some other stuff in the near future! For Hal, we pull off quite a bit the use of jets or something that has to do with his flying experience. The idea with Simon is that he's using the same thing. That's the nice thing about off-our-world type characters when they create something, like Sinestro for instance. I don't worry nearly as much about the construct for Sinestro. If he wants to create a weapon, he's coming from some technology that doesn't exist except for in our imaginations most of the time, so even a knife is fanciful and easy to come up with. But Hal has always been more detailed in terms of having to look at something. Simon, so far, hasn't been any different.

You're also dealing with multiple characters. How do you approach drawing long-running characters versus creating a brand new character like Baz?

Mahnke: Well, let's face it: I'm an artist, and I'm working with Geoff [Johns]! It's his concept, and he's very specific and very detailed about the character and motivation and who he is. So for me, it's not so much creating a character as much as trying to fulfill him visually, and Geoff's been pretty happy with the way things turned out. When it comes to designing his look, it was primarily me. Then, with feedback from Geoff, we got to the point rather quickly about the character design. When something clicks, it clicks, especially the way I see it. I really like the way Simon looks and he's easy to draw for me, highly different from any Green Lantern, but there's no doubt that's what he is. One thing that's interesting is to see how other artists approach Simon and how they deal with the details, because I know the costume really well. I'm always curious to see another artist put their stamp on him and see how they interpret the imagery.

While working on the Third Army event, what has been the biggest challenge for you as artists? What's been the biggest thrill?

Kuder: This is the first time I've done a major title series, so it's been a challenge to make sure I'm representing the characters in a way that is symbiotic to the way other people are representing them. On the other books I worked on, that wasn't really as important, or I had a little more freedom, or I was working with somebody who had a similar enough style so it wasn't a big jump.

Mahnke: Actually, out of the entire experience working on "Green Lantern," the part that I've enjoyed the most is to work with Sinestro and to develop his character in a totally different light from how he was perceived before and to create a hero out of a character who clearly hasn't been for -- who knows how long? Yeah, I know he has a history as a Green Lantern, but everybody knows Sinestro is a villain! Working from "Blackest Night" forward, to take a character with his history, we sort of reinvented him in a very logical fashion as Sinestro is a good guy. That was really very fun. I really like the character. I never thought I'd really enjoy this character as much as I do, his little mustachioed face and his eyebrows and all that! I always enjoy when I sit down and draw Sinestro, even more than Hal. Sinestro is pretty fulfilling as a comic book character, and I get to interpret him in my own way. Of course, you're using what people have done before, but I'm accentuating whatever I sought in him and wanted to use. There's definitely something specific to drawing him. I suppose everyone has their own interpretations of characters and, like Aaron said, getting to put your own personal spin on it. Even if you look at Sinestro in the past three or so years I've worked on him, what we're doing with him is dependent on how we presented him. He's not quite as evil and haggard looking. We really did have to noble him up to make him a good guy, but not completely!

Has anything surprised you about working on this crossover, either working with other people, how the crossover has functioned or what you're doing in your own books?

Kuder: It's all been one big surprise; I'm new enough to this that I don't really have any expectations. I'm just flat-out trying to represent the story as best I can. Hopefully I do it well enough that no one yells at me! [Laughter] I wouldn't say any surprises, no more than sort of just the fact I work in comic books is a surprise to me sometimes!

Mahnke: Not really on the crossover -- for me it's been so much about focusing on Simon and what's going on with him. Now that we've got this established with what's going on, we can move forward a little bit because we've just alluded more or less to just elements of Third Army-esque stuff. It's there, but it's totally been secondary to the story of Simon. Now, I think we can move past that and dig directly into the fun of this date with destiny and the Third Army.

Finally, without giving things away, is there an aspect of the Third Army or your books that you are most excited for fans to see?

Kuder: The thing I really like about working on "New Guardians" in particular is that it's far outside the regular Green Lantern titles. It's really fast-paced and you have to believe in a lot of different ideas and a lot of different storylines going on at the same time. I really appreciate that, because it's a difficult thing to be able to draw all those different stories and give them as much emotion and time as they need. I've really enjoyed that and I really enjoy the way they're coming together in the next few issues.

Mahnke: There's stuff I know I can't say, but I do know there are significant things that are going to change, the kinds of things that Geoff is famous for. He doesn't do anything halfway when it comes to writing, and he really likes to give fans something to chew on -- that is Geoff Johns! So the stuff I know that's coming their way is significant and the kind of thing they'll sit up and take note of because it changes the Green Lantern universe. Those are the things fans really get to enjoy, and a writer like Geoff, he doesn't disappoint where that's concerned!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Green Lantern: The Animated Series Preview

Green Lantern returns to DC Nation on Cartoon Network starting Saturday morning, January 5, at 10a/9c! Here's a look at what's in store.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Green Lantern Graphics






DC Nation Preview

Green Lantern: New Guardians #15 Preview

From IGN.com

Rise of the Third Army is spreading across the Green Lantern titles. In Green Lantern: New Guardians, it's causing a (bigger) rift between Kyle Rayner and Larfleeze as Kyle attempts to wield the orange light. I can't imagine that Larfleeze will like that very much.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #15 hits on Wednesday.








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