By Alison.
This is a big week for me. A whole slew of really great independent comics are coming out this week. Series are starting, ending, coming out in trades… Well, here’s what I’m looking forward to:
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Reviews
New Comics for August 26th
Thursday, August 20th, 2009By Alison.
GenCon 2009
Thursday, August 20th, 2009The Dragon’s Lair 
Report!
by Indy Arno, Dragon’s Lair’s very own Intrepid, on-the-scene Reporter
My trip to GenCon 09 began with an adventure in the form of a small plane with broken lavatories, no air conditioning, and a pair of engines that were finicky at best. Despite these tribulations, I, your dedicated chronicler, eventually made it to my sixth GenCon without falling from the sky like a huge meteor dropped by an angry DM. I met up with some of my old college friends from BSFFA (the largest student-run gaming and geekiness club in the country), and together we set out on an epic journey through Nerd Mecca.
For those who have never been to GenCon, a word of explanation: GenCon, advertised as “The Best Four Days in Gaming,” is to the tabletop set what ComicCon is to superhero fans. Board, card, miniature, role-playing and any other conceivable type of gaming companies and bulk retailers of such set up in the enormous dealer’s room, along with smaller niche booths for anime, costuming, gaming accessories, movies, art, and more to introduce hordes of curious gamers to old favorites or new gems and to preview unreleased material or make a grand début for their products. The belles of the ball this year were Wizards of the Coast‘s updated Dungeons & Dragons 4.0 Eberron setting book (actually released earlier this summer, but feted heavily at the Con) and Paizo‘s Pathfinder Core rulebook, which was so popular that the line for its release was nearly broken up by Con security because it was long enough to disrupt all the surrounding booths within about five rows. Interestingly, the Wizards’ pavilion this year was much smaller and not as centrally placed as in years past, while the Paizo booth was almost as large as Wizards’ and conveniently located on the far end of the hall (not the prime spot, but much easier to get to).
Paizo‘s booth notwithstanding, much of GenCon reflected Wizards’ reduced state, no doubt due to the poor economic conditions. The traditional celebrities row, which has in the past included such names as Peter Mayhew (Star Wars), Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica), Walter Koenig (Star Trek and Babylon 5), the crew of Mythbusters, and many other geek icons, was notably absent. This year, the only official non-author celebrity was Vic Mignogna of Fullmetal Alchemist, and, while he is always a popular face at cons, the lack of any other famous people was a bit odd for such a major convention. The monetary downturn showed up in a few other minor ways, such as the lack of life-sized (or more than) models of D&D monsters and characters, superheroes, etc. in the RPGA and CCG halls. Even so, there were as many games as ever and the dealer’s hall was still filled with more interesting stuff than I will ever have money to buy in my entire lifetime, so the cuts were nowhere near enough to make me stop having fun.
Some of the highlights that remained included the costume contest and parade, the dance (the theme was Masquerade this year, which I didn’t think was as cool as last year’s Steampunk Ball, but I may be biased), Dana DeVries’ always sold-out 7th Sea LARP, the Heroes of Rokugan L5R LARP, and the exclusive White Wolf party, which my friends and I managed to snag invitations to by showing up at the White Wolf booth dressed as canon characters from the Exalted RPG. I had never been to the White Wolf party before since it’s invite-only (and I’m not sure what else besides costuming can earn invitations), but it took place in a dimly-lit, trendy bar that is exactly the kind of place that shows up in virtually every Vampire game that has ever been run on the planet Earth. The décor and the vampire movies (plus Blade) playing on screens around the lounge convinced my group to get permission to run an old World of Darkness Hunter tabletop set at the party next year. While hobnobbing with the White Wolf crowd, I heard that the hotly anticipated and frequently delayed Scroll of Exalts should be available in the next couple of months, and rumor has it that the next book in the Exalted series will involve the return of the Scarlet Empress to Creation.
Another yearly feature of GenCon are the ENnies, the fan-chosen awards for gaming excellence, mostly for RPGs, but also including miniatures and accessories. D&D and Pathfinder made a sweep of the awards this year, but Mouse Guard, Dark Heresy, Song of Ice and Fire, and CthuluTech also made off with multiple wins. CthuluTech‘s Senior Art Director, Mike Vaillancourt, was ecstatic about the Best Cover win, claiming that he was never going to take his medal off. He also told me that everyone’s favorite alien-bound faction, the Tagers, were thought up by the creative team after a weekend of sake shots to “get them in a dark place”.
I was in a dark place when I heard that the Brobdingnagian Bards, a Rennaisance Faire-type duo native to Austin but frequently present at GenCon, had broken up. Marc Gunn, the autoharp-playing half of the pair, still made it up this year to promote his solo work and perform two standing-room-only concerts. The Great Luke Ski of Dr. Demento fame was also at GenCon, along with filk icon Tom Smith, and others, roaming the halls or dealer’s room like the wandering minstrels they are.
I can’t even begin to talk about the many other events that went on at GenCon; I just didn’t have time to even sample half of them, but I can give a partial list of the things I didn’t get to check out: video game tournaments of all sorts; the Terrorwerks AirSoft LARP; miniatures painting; costuming, writing, GM-ing, etc. seminars; Nintendo DS meet-ups for various games; all the CCG tournaments; the True Dungeon (which I’ve been trying to get into for years, only to have the tickets I finally managed to buy conflict with another event I was already committed to); numerous LARPS and table-tops of all sorts of systems and settings; anime and movie screenings; the Gaia Online meet-up; and things I’m sure I never even heard about. There was just so much going on, I couldn’t even hope to keep up with four days of 24 hour activity. And that’s what’ll always keep me going back to GenCon each year.
Green Lantern: First Flight
Thursday, August 13th, 2009Green Lantern: First Flight Animated Movie
It’s no secret I’m a Green Lantern fanboy. How could I not be? Green Lanterns are Jedi Knights, old west Sheriffs and interstellar explorers all wrapped up in one cosmically-powered package. Their power comes from will – or, just being plain stubborn.
Not that I empathize with that or anything.
So when I saw DC had produced a Green Lantern animated movie, I had to check it out. Like the Wonder Woman animated movie before it, First Flight is an adaptation of an iconic origin story, re-telling the thrilling tale of how Hal Jordan began his career as one of the most decorated and respected space cops in the DC Universe.
I came to the movie with certain expectations. Wry quips, derring-do, a bit of violence, and a lot of ring-slinging. I had hopes of seeing Sinestro’s fall from grace and of watching Hal Jordan show the Guardians of the Universe that humanity is more than capable of playing in the cosmic big leagues.
I was not disappointed. The movie is fast paced, leaving out a lot of unnecessary and distracting detail, boiling the story down to it’s foundational elements. The story is fluid and smooth and doesn’t leave anyone confused about what’s going on. Even newcomers to the Green Lantern mythos will know exactly who is who and what’s going on. Longtime Lantern fans will be able to appreciate some of the finer details and the subtle references to the decades of Green Lantern stories out there.
The story opens with Hal Jordan in a flight simulator, out (once again) to prove he’s the best pilot out there, but Hal’s infamous bad luck strikesm, and he finds himself transport – simulator and all – to a wrecked starship belonging to Abin Sur, the Green Lantern of sector 2814. With his dying breaths, Abin Sur passes on his power ring to Hal Jordan, because he is a man without fear. He is a man capable of wielding the awesome power of a Green Lantern. In a flash of bright green light, Hal Jordan is transformed from a brash test pilot into an interstellar policeman.
After being inducted into the Green Lantern Corps by the Guardians of the Galaxy in a somewhat probationary capacity, Hal partners with the greatest Green Lantern of them all – an alien named Sinestro. As Hal follows Sinestro on a mission to uncover a threat to the universe at large, Hal begins to doubt Sinestro and some of his allies, and he doggedly searches for the truth like any good police officer would – by asking uncomfortable questions, doing violence to the bad guys and poking his very human nose where no one wants him to.
Hal eventually does get to the bottom of the mystery, but solving the case comes with a price, and Hal is forced to act on his own and face his own limitations – and his own mortality – at the hands of a hidden enemy. If you’re familiar at all with Green Lantern, it’s easy to figure out who the villain is, but the revelation is handled so well you feel like you’re seeing it for the first time. Along the way, Hal meets new allies, many of whom are familiar faces to Green Lantern fans such as Kilowog, Bodikka, Tomar Re, Ganthet and the Weaponers of Qward.
Overall, the writing is superb, managing to capture the flavor of the Green Lantern comics without losing any of the action or adventure we’ve all come to expect from DC movies. The animation is crisp and clean and reminiscent of the original Batman animated series. The dialogue is fantastic, combining police and psuedo-military lingo with the witty banter superheroes are so well known for.
One cautionary note. This movie is rated PG-13 for a reason. It has it’s fair share of gore and violence, and even a bit of language, but nothing is over the top. Parents might want to preview this before letting younget children see it, because the movie – like the comics it is based on – does not shy away from the dangers of being a police officer.
I highly recommend checking out this movie (Dragon’s Lair has it for rent) and falling in love with the Green Lanterns all over again.
~alan m rogers
Blackest Night Review
Thursday, August 6th, 2009
by Alan M Rogers
In brightest day, in blackest night,
No evil shall escape my sight
Let those who worship evil’s might,
Beware my power… Green Lantern’s light!
- Oath of the Green Lanterns
Across the DC Universe, the dead are rising to slay the living.
It’s all Alan Moore’s fault.
No. Really. It is! I mean, if there’s anyone to blame for zombies invading the DC Universe and wreaking havoc, Alan Moore’s the guy to blame. After all, he wrote the story that created the idea of the Blackest Night in the form of a prophecy. Right around the time he created Mogo, actually.
Geoff Johns just took it to it’s logical conclusion.
For those of you who don’t know, Blackest Night is the third part of the Geoff Johns epic Green Lantern trilogy he began with Rebirth and continued with the Sinestro Corps War. Everything else Johns had written for the Green Lantern universe has been part of those three stories.
Blackest Night is the culimnation of War of Light that began with the Sinestro Corps and has continued through the Green Lantern Corps ‘Sins of the Star Sapphires’ and Green Lantern’s ‘Rage of the Red Lanterns.’
Hal Jordan has already faced the Star Sapphire, the Sinestro Corps, and even Parallax, the embodiment of fear itself. He’s come back from the dead and traveled the cosmos. He’s done battle with demons, gods and supervillains and has sacrificed himself in the name of the greater good more times than once.
He has done battle against Red Lanterns, been tempted by Agent Orange and has possessed the power of Hope. He has seen friends die and be reborn and has stood at the edge of the multiverse, fighting for existence itself.
Now, he fights the legacy of those battles. Black Hand posseses the Black Power Battery, and the dead rise. The teaser proclaimed that “…the armies of fear and must fight together, because the dead shall rise…”
Daxam has fallen and Sinestro is free to confront the usurper Mongul. Is this going to be the redemption of the Green Lanterns and the Guardians, the redemption of Sinestro and his followers, or is the cosmos going to fall into darkness?
Dramatic preludes aside, Blackest Night is the culmination of the Green Lantern story for the past several years, and will affect the entire DC Universe. Originally planned to be a story contained within the Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps titles, Blackest Night has become a galaxy-spanning story tying in to Superman, Batman, Titans, and even Wonder Woman!
The first issue was fantastic. Geoff Johns picked up storylines from Final Crisis, the aftermath of Battle for the Cowl and the recent Justice Society of America storylines and wove them together in a way that was not only accessible to new readers but respectful of the titles the Blackest Night story touched on.
The story starts with Hawkman on the phone with the Atom, Ray Palmer and leads into a heated emotional discussion between Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Geoff Johns is usually known for epic battles and dramatic moments manages to write a touching, bittersweet romantic moment between the estranged warriors.
Johns flashes between scenes as he sets the stage, giving the reader glimpses into the mystery of Bruce Wayne’s missing skull and the ongoing War of Light.
We see the legacy of Aquaman’s death – the arguments over whether or not he should be buried with his fellow heroes or if his remains should be taken to Atlantis. We see the Justice League’s morbid morgue of supervillains – a cyrogenic rogue’s gallery.
It is a moment of painful transition for the DC Universe as the last gasps of the Final Crisis work themselves out, and Johns presents it in a way that leaves the reader no doubt that Earth’s heroes are tired and worn down, just beginning to stand back up.
And we see the black power rings flying through space. They are unstoppable, tearing down every obstacle put in their path, no matter if it’s a Green Lantern of a Guardian of the Universe. The rings are Death, and no one can truly stop death.
For several pages, Johns lets us see the effects of the rings as the dead rise. Ralph and Sue Dibny. Aquaman. Pa Kent. And many, many others – familiar faces we may not even know are familiar yet rise from their graves.
It’s as wonderfully suspenseful, dramatic and epic as we could want, even from Geoff Johns. Ethan van Scriver’s artwork is breathtaking in scope, exquisitie in detail and vibrant in color, and brings the emotional story to life.
But the rest of this comic, already phenomenal, pales in comparison to the last three pages. These last pages are bittersweet, tragic, and some of Johns’ best work to date.
I won’t tell you the end, but I will tell you that if you read nothing else of Blackest Night, read this first issue. I will also tell you that if you read this first issue, you will be waiting for the second issue right along with the rest of us.
~alan m rogers
