Something I Like

Code Monkey see, Code Monkey do

2010-05-27T23:21:00.006+01:00

OK, two things:

1. I am now on Twitter. Why?

Well...

Um....

Because Tom held a gun to my head...?

Anyway.

2. I have gone back to DA, and have started drawing again. Three new pictures of my OCs so far:

Silrun Pepin, my main OC

Yuno Imzadi, Silrun's adopted brother and BFF

A rough sketch of Mewrah that will look nothing like the final picture, but rather was done to help me toy with her design.

#1 - Kyle Rayner

2009-11-14T15:26:00.007Z

Here's something I like, the Green Lantern Kyle Rayner.

Before I go into it I'm going to have to take a leaf out of Linkara's book and tell you some "Comic History You Don't Care About But Need To Know In Order To Understand This".

Origin

Back in the early/mid nineties, DC felt the Green Lantern "Hal Jordan" was to plain a character for fans to really relate to. Thus they decided to write a story that would remove Hal, the Green Lantern Corps and allow them to create a new Green Lantern. Additionally, without the Green Lantern Corps to back him up, this new guy would be the one and only Lantern in existence and thus would have to learn everything the hard way and through trial and error, making him a “green” Green Lantern. Enter Kyle Rayner.

However DC's plan to remove both Hal and the Corps resorted in the destruction of Hal's home town Costal City and the death of around 7 million people. When Hal sat in the ruins of his home and everyone he ever loved and cared about (with the exception of his on-again/off-again love interest and one of his brothers elsewhere and thus still alive), Hal snapped. He attempted to use his ring to comfort himself, only for the Guardians to step in, slap him on the wrist and telling him off for using the ring for personal gain. Hal, enraged by their decision, turned on them and subsequently killed everyone bar Ganthet, the only Guardian who chose to take a name and generally showed he wasn't part of the flock like the other Guardians.

To put it another way, think of Kyle as being like Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 2 - the writers wanting to take the series in a new direction, so they kill off the main protagonist and introduce a new guy so the plot can focus around him. Surprise surprise fans were OUTRAGED by this decision and when Kyle was introduced a large number of the fan base were turned against him simply because of the means they took to introduce him. None the less, the mantel of “Green Lantern” was passed down to the next in line, allowing the “legacy” to carry on.

How did I get introduced?

Growing up as a Marvel fan, I only really knew about the Trinity - Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. I was first introduced to a number of DC's heroes, including Green Lantern, when I picked up the 96/97 crossover "Marvel vs DC/DC vs Marvel". Though Kyle battled and lost against the Silver Surfer, the character's power left an imprint on me and I slowly looked at reading Green Lantern. In the mid 2000's Green Lantern was picking up a lot of praise after writing a story about homosexuality. Kyle had been given a new job and assigned a young assistant Terry. When Kyle proposed to his then girlfriend (who, fact fans, was the daughter of Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott), she turned him down but they stayed together (or something. That part of the story was never collected in trades so I've never read it. One trade latterly ends say an issue or two before that comic, and the next picks up say an issue or two after...). When Kyle told Terry, the young boy was heart broken and Kyle twigged Terry had a crush on him. Kyle let him down gently but the two became good friends, and Kyle later went on to become someone he could confide in. When Terry had difficulty talking to his parents about his sexuality, Kyle was there for him.

Ultimately Terry met and began dating a young man only for the two of them to be chased by three thugs after a date. Terry is cornered and beaten to near death and as soon as Kyle hears this, he is PISSED. It's said the Green Lantern ring is the most powerful weapon in the DC universe. It's fuelled by the Will of the wearer and how strong his/her imagination is. By day Kyle is an artist and it's been stated his imagination surpasses Hal's, Guy's and John's (the three other earth based GL's. Alan's ring is different to theirs). Anyway, one of the thugs is caught by the police and Kyle chose to pay him a visit. He then proceeds to torture him in order to find out where his friends are. The next page then shows the other two trying to escape, only for Kyle to appear. As he proceeds to vent his rage against him, he taunts them by saying the following across multiple panels:
"Here… I’ll even turn my back… C’mon… I mean it. You get a free shot. This is it boys. One free shot. One chance to get away. What? Are you dudes uncomfortable hitting a guy in the back? I didn’t think so. Although it’s not exactly your M.O. It’s only two against one… Instead of thee! And I’m not a 120 – pound teenager. Trying to defend himself against guys who are twice his size!"
and
PLEASE! Let me see some of that TOUGHNESS! Some of that MUSCLE it takes to beat a little boy to death!! I wanna SEE it!!”

Towards the end of the issue, Kyle realises he's no better than them. As mentioned, the thugs outclassed Terry in age, size and strength and Kyle outclasses them because he's wearing a Green Lantern ring. That scene alone made it stick in my mind as one of my favourite storylines. I later tracked down to trade paper back, "Brother's Keeper" and while the following storylines didn't quite have a scene to match it, the book was still a great read.

Why did I get hooked?

I grew up mainly reading Spider-Man and naturally developed a liking for the “Super hero with day to day problems”. In many respects, Kyle was DC's answer to Peter Parker, even if they wouldn't admit to it. Like Peter, Kyle has had little luck with women and protecting his loved ones. Two of his three key girlfriends (Alex and Jen) and his mother died because he was a Green Lantern. And again, like Peter he struggled to pay the rent. He was a freelance artist, doing whatever odd jobs he could to get money. It wasn't until the job that leads to him meeting Terry that he got a decent paycheck on a frequent basis. When it comes to the DC universe, I've never been a big fan of Batman, it's only recently that I've developed an interest in and respect for Superman and I never really knew anything about Wonder Woman. Kyle was the best example of a Marvel style hero (one who deals with real life problems) in the DC universe, and acted pretty much as the doorway for a Marvel fan like me to get interested in DC.

Hal was ultimately revived in 2004/2005 by Geoff John's "Green Lantern Rebirth". John had previously regained his power ring when Kyle left earth due to the events of Brother's Keeper, Guy also regained one during the storyline and the Green Lantern Corps were quickly reborn at the start of the fourth volume of Green Lantern. Kyle was bumped down to the bottom of the pecking order, and labelled as "Green Lantern 2814.4". For those who don’t know, 2814 is the space sector Earth resides in, and in the old days there was always one Lantern to a sector. Since the revival of the GLC in the new volume, this was bumped up to two per sector. Kyle featured in the twelve part series “Ion”, where he once again received the incredible power of Ion. Though I didn’t read it until after 2007's excellent "Sinestro Corps Wars", the story leads into it. After the amazing crossover story arc, Kyle and Guy Gardener became two of the key characters in the second volume of "Green Lantern Corps" (prior to SCW it focused on a large number of GLs). Though they interacted when Kyle was the only ring bearer, they became like brothers and I subsequently developed an interest in Guy because of this.

At the start of Blackest Night I just knew Kyle was likely to die. Many fans had theorised he'd become a Blue Lantern, as he'd shown to be the most hopeful of the four Earth based Lanterns. However most shot this down as just a fan theory and/or an idea that seemed good on paper but wouldn't really last. Towards the end of every month, fans get to see previews for comics that would get released in three months time. To put it another way, by the end of November I'll know what books will be available in February. Back in September's previews, the cover for Green Lantern Corps #43 showed Guy as a Red Lantern. This not only spoilt a major plot point that we wouldn't see for three months but also helped a Kyle fan like myself start to wonder if he'd make it out alive. To make matters worse, some comments I read for a review of GLC #42 said someone was indeed going to die (but not who). Three guesses who popped to mind first :p. I resisted temptation to look at Wikipedia as I didn't want to spoil it.

Sadly though, my suspicions were true, though he didn't die the way I was expecting. I thought a Black Lantern would succeed in ripping out his heart and using it to fuel the resurrection of Nekron (another thing spoilt thanks to previews!). Instead Kyle released a HUGE explosion of Green Light that vaporised all the Black Lanterns in the area (for now any way). Linkara has said he doesn't mind if a character dies so long as it's the greatest thing they've ever done and I think it's hard not to agree this is the greatest thing Kyle has ever done. However, for fans like myself, well, yeah. Of course there's a possibility he'll be revived. Maybe Ion will re-bond with him, or perhaps the Blue/Hope Entity will be introduced by bonding with him. Some fans have also wondered if he'd become the infamous "White Lantern". Guess we'll have to wait and see.

In Closing

I can understand why a large number of Green Lantern fans dislike Kyle. After all, anyone would be angry if the lead singer of their favourite band, or the director of their favourite film franchise was replaced with someone else. And regardless of the quality of what the replacement produces it just won't feel the same. However because Kyle was the one and only Lantern when I started to read, it was him I’d think of whenever I think of Green Lantern. Though I’m sick of seeing heroes die and re-born, I will admit I do hope he comes back.

TIL #1 - Comics with Gripping Plotlines

2009-08-30T17:10:00.004+01:00

TIL #1 - Comics with Gripping Plotlines

Here's something thing I like: comics with gripping plotlines

WARNING – I will discuss spoilers in this blog, and because this blog is about the impact they had on me and opinion I have on them, I can’t really recommend looking away at specific parts.

I love nothing more than a gripping plotline. My favourite TV series at the moment is "Supernatural", due to how the overall story arc grows with each episode and even each season. I feel I can go back to season 1 and see foreshadowing to elements that got developed in season 4. And I love nothing more than comics that have gripping plotlines. I've never really paid much attention to the artwork or the scenery, instead focusing more on what's happening in the overall plotline.

Despite being a comic fan for over ten years, I’ve never really read anything with “The Man of Steel” in. Granted I’ve mostly read Marvel, and it’s only been in recent months that I’ve tried reading DC. However, even then I never really read anything with Superman in, unless it was something based around the Justice League, or he guest starred. Like man fans I felt it was hard to relate to a man who, as Linkara once said, “Could juggle planets with his pinkie finger”. In fact, I found myself becoming a fast fan of Marvel’s “The Sentry” because the concept of “a Superman with mental and confidence issues” was more interesting than the Boy Scout.

I think it’s safe to say I didn’t really get Superman, but then I’d grown up reading Marvel, where the heroes all have one problem or another which you can relate too, rather than following DC where the heroes are represented as icons people can look up to. Anyway, I’m a HUGE fan of Geoff John’s work. I rarely take notice of the creative team behind the comic, instead focusing more on the content of the comic. I love what Geoff has done to Green Lantern since the launch of the current volume, and anxiously await every issue of Green Lantern and Blackest Night. He’s made Green Lantern the favourite superhero of someone who’s still 85% a Marvel Zombie! GL has replaced Spidey as my all time favourite hero, the guy I grew up idolising.

Anyway, I’ve recently become interested in reading more Superman as I feel I’ve never given Mr. Kent a fair chance. I picked up the graphic novel “Superman Brainiac” in my local comic book store about six weeks ago, and almost immediately noticed who wrote it – Geoff Johns. Despite not really being interested in Superman back at the end of last year, I found myself reading articles about the “New Krypton” plotline, and some of the story arcs that were going to tie in with it. I learnt about this Brainiac storyline and the rough synopsis of what happen, and was semi-curious to read more. With the book in hand and the name of one of my favourite writers on the cover, I had a strong feeling this book would meet my expectations.

Superman Brainiac

Brainiac is one of Superman’s longest running villains, and through out he years he’s attacked the Man of Steel in various forms, some robotic, some organic and some a mixture of both. However it turns out Superman has never actually met this foe face to face, as each of the incarnations he met were effectively “Life Model Decoys” – he’s never met the real version face to face. Brainiac is also interested in collecting the best city of any world, turning them into a miniature version and keeping it in a bottle. He then destroying the planet he took it on. Currently he has his sights set on Metropolis on the planet Earth.

In my opinion the most important part of the book, and the thing I like the most is the death of Jonathan “Pa” Kent. During the course of the story, Brainiac manages to capture Metropolis for his collection, and also beats and captures Superman and Supergirl. After Superman manages to break free, he goes to rescue Metropolis and notices Brainiac also has the Kryptonian city of Kandor. Superman grabs both cities and prepares to make his escape, only to be ambushed by Brainiac. The two of them have a fight in the middle of a swamp. I found this part rather interesting as Brainiac has always been inside his ship and never faced bacteria or anything like it before. World of the Worlds anyone? After defeating Brainiac (or so he thought), Superman flies off with the two cities with the intention of restoring them to their full sizes. What he doesn’t realise is Brainiac learnt of his home in Smallville and about the two people who raised him. Wanting the last laugh, Brainiac launches a missile from his ship at Smallville aimed at the Kent’s home. Though Jonathan is able to get his wife and himself far enough from the house to survive, he collapses not long after. It’s only after Superman has restored Metropolis and placed Kandor in (I presume) the North Pole that he hears his mother cry out and rushes to their aid. But it’s too late. Superman’s father is dead.

I myself lost my father a few years ago and remembered feeling the emotions Clark felt, which is a sign of a great writer. The two scenes that stood out most were Clark’s flashbacks to the gifts he had given his father – a baseball cap from the future and a horseshoe he engraved with his laser vision the last time he saw his father. The other and my favourite scene was him fantasising about tracking down Brainiac and in a fit of rage beating him to death. Though my father died due to a glider accident, I blamed the club he was part of for his death. For a period of time there was nothing I wanted more than vengeance against the building and glider planes they had there. The anger on Superman’s face, especially when his eyes are charged with his laser vision as he approaches Brainiac and in the last panel, with Brainiac’s green blood splattered all over it are both excellently drawn and capture the mood well. And the way the blood splattered around his eyes in the last panel made me think of tears, intentional or not. To see a man like Superman, one who’s always held himself to the highest degree possible want to beat someone to death is something we’ve never seen before and also extremely well done. The final page of the graphic shows Clark sitting on the floor, his glasses and horseshoe cast aside and his head in his hands. Even though I knew Jonathan was going to die before I read the book, the last page still was stirred me as if I’d never read any spoilers or articles.

Superman Last Son

The other graphic novel I wanted to talk about was "Superman Last Son". This storyline was released in 2006, a few years prior to the Brainiac storyline. In it Superman finds a young child. He takes him to the local laboratory, where they make a discovery - he's Kryptonian. After telling the boy his Kryptonian name, the two swiftly form a close bond. Superman even looked like a father to the boy, which I found touching. The boy asked him to stay the night, which he declined but assured him he’d stay until the boy fell asleep and return before he awoke. The following morning Superman is seen flying to the lab with a teddy in hand, another scene I found touching. However as soon as he arrives he’s shocked to see the boy is gone. Enraged he flies to the Pentagon and smashes his way in, grabbing the highest ranking soldier in their and slams him against the nearest wall. His eyes glow red as he demands to know where the boy is. Yet again, another scene I loved. Just seeing an enraged Superman is one thing, but knowing he’s doing this purely with the child’s best intentions in mind are, once again, touching. It brings the idea of a man like Superman as a father to the table, and it’s a concept I find quite interesting.

Sufficed to say, Clark and Lois adopt him as Chris Kent. Like the Brainiac story, I had heard of “Chris Kent” before and had read a few spoilers about him before picking up this book. However what I didn’t realise until I had it in my hands was the name – Chris Kent, a reference to the actor Christopher Reeve, and the man everyone thinks of when they think if Superman. The scenes of Lois and Clark as parents are, you guessed it, touching. Clark mentions how Batman helped them set up an identity for the boy. When Chris asks who Batman is, Lois comments “someone you won’t meet until your sixteen”. Clark also mentions how Batman had recently set up a civilian identity for Wonder Woman, and how he did a good job of it. Chris asks who Wonder Woman is and Lois replies saying she’s “someone you won’t meet until your eighteen”. Both comments, though perhaps cheesy also made me smile and empathise with the two of them. Originally Clark wanted his parents to raise the boy but they commented they were too old. Lois and Clark established they couldn’t really raise a child themselves, but decided to give it a chance.

As I’m sure you can imagine, the book ends with Chris leaving. It turns out he’s the son of General Zod, who used his son as a method of escaping the Kryptonian prison known as “The Phantom Zone”. Zod and an arm of evil Kryptonians manage to escape thanks to the portal Chris leaves behind and at the end of the book, Chris realises they only way to save the world is to return to the Phantom Zone, closing the portal once and for all. Because Lois and Clark can’t have children and the bond Clark and Chris established, it was sad seeing the two part. You knew it was coming as it’s often been said a child ages a character, which is why Peter and MJ’s child died not long after she was born, yet part of me had hoped that maybe, just maybe, a happy ever after would have been possible.

And that ladies and gentleman is something I like.

Blackest Night Blog #1

2009-08-15T15:12:00.006+01:00

Note - This Blog was originally written on Friday the 17th of July.

Here's another thing I like: Blackest Night, the BIG story arc for 2009.

I've been reading comics since I was around twelve years old. The first comic I remember reading was Astonishing Spider-Man number 24. Astonishing Spider-Man is a UK re-print of Spidey comics, usually two current age comics that were released two/three years ago and one from the 70s/80s. Though I recently stopped reading Astonishing because it caught up to where I had been reading, Peter has recently unmasked and joined Cap's side at the climax of Civil War, putting the comic about two and a half years behind where Spidey is now.

When my father died I turned to comics as an "Anti-Depressant", and my collection really started to grow. I mainly read Marvel comics (thus branding me a "Marvel Zombie"), including where Spidey was at that moment in time (2 or so years ahead of Astonishing). I think it was in 2006 when I picked up the trade paper back of "Green Lantern: Rebirth", which brought Silver Age GL Hal Jorden back to life. I had read some GL over the years prior to then, mainly when Kyle wore the ring. DC had written some great stories with Kyle, including my personal favourite "Brother's Keeper", which dealt with homophobia. Anyway in 2007 I jumped onto the GL bandwagon with Sinestro Corps. This eleven issue story arc was AWESOME! Pure AWESOME. But the ending was what made it better. Sinestro Corps introduced the "Yellow Lanterns" to the DC mythos and revealed yellow rings are powered by the emotion Fear. The green rings (for the record) are powered by Will/Willpower. So how did Sinestro Corps end? Well the GLs beat up the SCs and saved the day. YAY!

But wait...! There are seven colours in the electromagnetic spectrum - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet, and yep, you guessed it - there are Seven Emotions, each tying to a colour:

Red is Rage
Orange is Avarice
Yellow is Fear
Green is Willpower
Blue is Hope
Indigo is Compassion
Violet is love

But wait, there's more! The final pages announced there was going to be an eighth corps... A Black Corp. Black rings would fall upon planets, enter the graves of those we love and... Yes you guessed it... Revive them as zombies.

Zombies wearing Black Rings and targeting anyone they cared about while they were living. And THAT is how Sinestro Corps ended, a preview of the story arc "Blackest Night" that will launch in 2009. Back in late 2007 that sounded like forever, but the months slowly went by, and most placed an issue of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps in my hands. Each issue offered a little more on the puzzle of the other corps - the Red Lanterns of Rage were introduced last October and Hal ended up teaming up with the one and only Blue Lantern to survive. Meanwhile in GLCs, Kyle met a member of the "Star Sapphire Corps". The Star Sapphire had appeared in the past as a GL villain, but was re-envisioned as a ring wielding corp, powered by the Violet Light of Love. In April of this year we were introduced to Agent Orange, the one and only member of the Orange Lantern corps. His greed was so strong he never shared the ring and power with others, instead used his ring to create avatars of those he killed as members of his own corp.

And on the 15th of July the dead rose. Heroes, villains and civilians were paying tribute to those who had lost their lives in the battle between good and evil. What better day for Black Rings to rain upon Earth to revive those we had lost.

Blackest Night... Thinking about it makes the hairs on my neck stand up. It's here! After two years of waiting the dead has risen. Those who have died have comic back, seeking the emotions they once had. And BOY was it a GOOD read. Granted the GLs had a small role in the comic, which is a slight shame when it is meant to be their story, but I can look the other way when I think about what happened... Two of DC's most beloved characters - the Elongated Man and Sue Dibny - killed off another couple in the DCU. Now I didn't read many when Ralph and Sue were alive but they seemed like a nice, caring, friendly couple. So to see them brutally murder a pair of heroes and rip one of their hearts out... Twisted is an under statement!

And now I have to wait until August for issue number 2. Fortunately the tie-ins will keep me going and I can't WAIT for them.

This is Peter, signing off after talking about something he likes.