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spirits-reviews · 2 years

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Rise of the Blue Beetle!

Review+Summary

Batman: The Brave and the Bold (season 1, episode 1)

Let’s start with the opener for the episode.

The first voice line spoken in the entire season (and series as a whole) is said by Clock King. There is nothing wrong with this, of course, as he’ll be a reoccurring villain in the series. Though it’s an odd choice to open with an originally Green Arrow villain instead of a stereotypical Batman one like the Joker.

However, this makes more sense when we pan down to Arrow and Batman in a trap together. Both look mildly inconvenienced by this. Naturally they escape the trap while bickering. However Batman has a little mental monologue? Narration for the audience? Which goes as follows;

‘Sure, Green Arrow and I have our squabbles... but that’s because we go way back. As competitive as we are, the truth is we make each other better. And though I’d never tell this to his face... there’s no one else I’d rather have at my side in a tight jam than him.’

Straight away we know that this version of Batman isn’t a loner and actually cares deeply about his friends. Actually wanting to work with them over just working with them out of necessity.

And freeze frame into the intro. So far we know that Batman is friends with Green Arrow and Clock King is a villain in this universe. Not a bad opener for a kids show.

Speaking of the intro, part of it shows heroes in single colours. The order is as follows;

Etrigan the Demon

B'Wana Beast

Doctor Fate

Deadman

Fire

Red Tornado

Guy Gardner

Plastic Man

Bronze Tiger

Blue Beetle

Kamandi

Jonah Hex

All of these characters are seen in about 6 seconds and the expectation is that we’ll see them at some point in the season. (I won’t list the intro again unless it changes.)

And from the intro we go straight to posters that I can only assume are meant to be Easter eggs for future episodes. From what I remember about watching the series as a kid, it seems likely. Either that or being a superhero doesn’t pay the bills so they all sell merch in this universe.

Back to the plot though. We’re introduced to 2 teens talking about a hypothetical situation with Batman and Superman. Then they switch channels to the news, showing that Batman and Green Arrow are stopping Clock King. Once he’s defeated, we finally learn the names of the teens.

Paco (right) and Jaime (left). Jaime asks if Paco could ever see him as a hero up on a poster and Paco’s response is pretend to scan him, ‘detecting high levels of geek.’ Jaime is obviously hurt by this, but brushes it off as him just having to sleep. Personally I feel like Paco was kinda a jerk here, but moving on.

Batman shows up and when Jaime expresses sadness at his friend not believing he could be a hero states;

‘Secret-identity thing’s a bummer, huh?’

First off Batman just said bummer. Second, he just sympathised with Jaime rather than just being there to get him for the mission. This small bit of acknowledgement sets up Batman as more of a mentoring figure, instead of just a boss-like one.

Blue Beetle!

Oh and I should also mention that there’s a meteoroid heading straight towards a space station. On the way out of the atmosphere the pair have this conversation;

Blue Beetle: This is like a dream come true. Partners with Batman.

Batman: We’re not partners. Not yet at least.

Blue Beetle: I know. You teach. I learn.

Batman (inner thoughts): I’m here to learn something too. I could’ve asked Green Lantern to help me with this mission. But I wanna find out if Jaime has what it takes to be a hero.

Once again setting Batman up as more of a mentor.

Also Batman’s regular suit can just allow him to go to space. I guess this is a kids show and and understandably follows these rules.

Anyway, Jaime loses control of the suit. Batman asks if this happens often and we get a flashback to him trying to get a cat out of a tree. The suit clearly takes control in the flashback but Jaime says no to it happening often.

The suit opens a portal to another planet and both heroes go through it. Obviously the meteorite has not been dealt with. Where are the other heroes who can fix this? I refuse to believe that all of them are busy.

So there’s these little alien blob creatures getting attacked and abducted by these guys. One alien tries to fight back but is wounded. I assume this one will be important as they’re a different colour to the rest.

These two are awfully calm given that they’re lost on another planet with currently no way home. They get surrounded by the aliens and look at that, I was right, the one that’s a completely different colour is indeed important.

This one states that the ‘great one’ has once again returned to save their people. Beetle assumes that they mean Batman, but Batman looks at a statue of an alternate Beetle while saying that they’re not talking about him. Jaime is understandably shocked.

We then learn that Kanjar Ro is the name of their attacker and he wants to harvest their bodies for fuel. Kids shows in the 2000s did not mess around. There is mention of a previous encounter where the last Blue Beetle faced a gamma gong. All shudder before referring to their people as ‘Gibble.’

I will be referring to this character as P Gibble (short for Purple Gibble) unless a different name is given.

‘All hail the blue one!’

Jaime is being very polite despite having no idea what’s going on. Batman points out that it’s probably the scarab. He backpedals on saying the last host could’ve been killed after he realised that he scared Jaime.

‘Sidekick... why do you not bow?’

While Jaime tries to explain that Batman is the bigger hero, Batman just goes with it.

Playing the part of the sidekick and even bowing to Beetle.

Beetle doesn’t like this. Thinking the plan is bad given that he can’t even work his suit fully and doesn’t think he can save them.

A child handing him a drawing makes him change his mind. Speaking of which, why does the paper look the same as earth’s? Are there the equivalent of earth trees on this planet? It looked completely made of rocks earlier.

Batman realises that the Gibbles will be needed if they are to win this fight. Beetle manages to convince them with some minor encouragement from Batman.

I would also like to point out the closing statement;

Blue Beetle: ...and, um, you know, better to die on your feet... than live on your knees.

Batman: They don’t have knees.

This got a decent laugh out of me I must admit.

And the attack begins.

Then we get to see what Kanjar Ro is doing to the Gibble people. I have to point out that what looks like a pile of Gibble corpses is actually a pile of still alive Gibbles. They’re screaming in pain so we know that they’re alive. Thanks writers. This isn’t horrifying in the least.

From that we swiftly move onto the fight. The Gibbles go to find their kidnapped friends and Kanjar Ro initiates a fight with Jaime believing him to be the original Beetle he fought.

Jaime blasts Kanjar Ro into a console. The latter yanks a blaster off one of his men and just starts firing. He almost blasts Batman but Jaime defends him. Earning a ‘way to go kid’ from Batman.

From here we get some nice stylised action shots as Kanjar Ro is seemingly defeated. However while they’re celebrating it is revealed that Kanjar Ro is still in the fight.

Jaime lets the victory go to his head, giving the Gibbles a hypothetical situation between him and Kanjar Ro. Similar to the one he gave Paco at the start of the main plot.

An explosion in the ship’s deck reveals Kanjar Ro. Batman says he should take the lead but Jaime brushes him off to rush in.

This leads to him getting struck down by the gamma gong that was mentioned earlier. Black Beetle in young justice was also defeated with the same tactic, though there was no gong used.

Everyone is defeated. Jaime is taken by Kanjar Ro while Batman and the Gibbles are left as bait for... giant space squid leeches? That’s the best description I’ve got. Honestly.

I mean look at these things. What else could I describe them as? The most concerning thing here is that someone will want to smash these things. I know.

Anyway, Batman gets an arm free and punches the leech things. P Gibble wishes that they could find the power within that Blue Beetle spoke of. Batman responds by pluging a cable into them which makes them super-charged. Making P Gibble realize the power within.

Cut back to Kanjar Ro throwing water on Jaime. Given in the next shot he’s hitting the gong to try and vibrate the scarab off his back, I can only assume Jaime passed out from the pain and was woken back up with water.

Batman gets dropped off by the Gibbles. Takes out the guards and then hits Kanjar Ro into the gong which causes the scarab to jump off Jaime’s back. The gong is then bashed into his head by Kanjar Ro.

Kanjar Ro puts on the scarab and begins to fight Batman. Meanwhile, Jaime reflects on his arrogance and spits on a lever to escape. Picking up the gong on his way out.

Using the gong, Jaime removes the scarab from Kanjar Ro. He recovers it as Kanjar Ro reaches for a blaster on his calf. P Gibble blasts him twice before he can do anything.

The episode ends with the Gibbles thanking both heroes before they return in time to stop the meteoroid. With Batman’s final words being;

Batman (internally): Of course, that’s just a fancy way of saying “That’s weird.” But half the things I encounter on this job make no sense. Take this mission. I wanted to see if the kid had hero potential. Instead, I got to see him become one.

Batman: Ready, partner?

This ends the episode on a good note. Jaime finally gets to be Batman’s partner like he wanted to be at the start.

Overall I’d rate this episode a solid 8/10

#batman the brave and the bold #jaime reyes #blue beetle #dc #batman #kanjar ro #gibbles #green arrow #clock king #review #animation #nostaliga #dc cartoons

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doctorslippery · 22 days

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#justice league of america #adam strange #kanjar ro #superman #flash #black canary #green lantern

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aboutzatanna · 6 months

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Zatanna, Wonder Woman and Barry Allen go undercover in this issue of DC Retroactive: JLA- The 70's #1 (2011) and Diana is absolutely terrible at it:

For those who don't know DC Retroactive are untold stories set in past continuities mostly by writers from those eras.

This issue was written by Carey Bates with art by Andy Smith.

(Side note: While Diana being 'bad' at going undercover is just a two page gag, it makes more sense for me that Diana, former 'Goddess of Truth' and wielder of the Lasso of True wouldn't be comfortable with secret identities. I never liked the idea of Diana needing a secret identity. )

The plot of this issue mainly revolves around Adam Strange, who is accidentally transported to Earth Prime following a fight with Kanjar Ro so Barry, Diana, Zatanna and Ollie travel to Earth Prime to rescue him while Hawkman and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) take on the newly empowered Kanjar Ro.

Earth-Prime is basically "our world" where the JLA are all fictional characters and the writers and creators exist on that earth. It's also the world where Superboy Prime originally came from. Since Adam had his mind zapped at a mental institute, the only solution is to find DC editor and Adam Strange super fan Julius Schwartz who can jog Adam's memory.

I'm not really a fan of creators writing themselves or their collegues into the story. It feels very self congratulatory. Especially since WW's lasso could have solved the whole thing. I much prefer how Marvel did it, like an Easter Egg, where Stan and Jack would sometimes appear as themselves in issues of Fantastic Four. But I guess you can look at this issue as Carey's tribute to Schwartz. This issue also came with a reprint of Justice League of America #123 where Carey Bates wrote himself (or rather his Earth Prime counterpart) as the villain of the story.

Adam Strange himself is a character that I have mixed feelings about. He's very much a product of his time but the ordinary guy with a space suit, jetpack and helmet really appeals to the young boy in me who loved the Rocketeer. I don't think anyone has ever quite figured out how to make him relevant today. Tom King tried in his mini but it was the usual trope of 'lets reveal this innocent Silver Age character is actually a horrible person' variety of reinvention.

Anyway, enough rambling, since this is a Zatanna blog, here is a few moments with her that I like:

-The League chilling on the tower, Diana looks like she is oogling at Zee plus Hal being a Pink Floyd fan:

-Zatanna and Barry interactions plus Barry taking a leader ship role:

-This bit about mind wipes:

Knowing how much of a nerd Barry is he probably folded inside when she called him boss.

Also while this was most likely an excuse to bring in Julius Schwartz, Zatanna not tampering with minds is more in character for her during this period especially since the arc with her mom also had a subplot of her being mad that her father played with her mind. Another point deducted from Identity Crisis.

Blink and you miss it panels where the artist is clearly showing off their ability to draw human body in perspective:

And Diana wanting to take a selfie after the League defeats Kanjar Ro:

(also Diana's clearly a history geek, only a history geeks would drop random facts about Incas completely unprompted):

Overall, it's an old school issue. Very much a throwback. Still it's noteable that the writer of this issue didn't do the almost obligatory 'Zee gets gagged or taken out early so other characters can shine' plot. Every one has a role and everyone contributes their fair share to help defeat the villain.

#zatanna #zatanna zatara #wonder woman #diana of themyscira #flash #barry allen #adam strange #green arrow #oliver queen #hawkman #katar hol #green lantern #hal jordan #justice league of america #dc retroactive justice league of america the 70's #carey bates #julius schwartz #andy smith

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vintagegeekculture · 1 year

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Written by comics scribe Marv Wolfman and illustrated by Ross Andru, the Fisher Price audio story book “Justice League of America: the Lunar Invaders” (1982) was unique in that it was directly based on the DC Comics of the “Satellite Era” instead of the animated continuity of “Superfriends,” and the audio tape included with the book did not use the Super Friends voice cast. Red Tornado and Atom, two characters who seldom appeared on TV, were members. Though not explicitly named, eagle eyed comics fans will notice that the events of the story mention the original Happy Harbor Cave Base, and deep lore objects in their trophy room like Kanjar Ro’s Gamma Gong and the Key’s Key-Blaster.

Full audio of the included tape can be found on youtube.

youtube

#jla #justice league of america #fisher price

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marvelman901 · 1 year

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Justice League of America vol 1 139 (1977) . The Cosmic Conspiracy Against Adam Strange! . Written by Cary Bates Penciled by Dick Dillin Inked by Frank McLaughlin Edited by Julius Schwartz Cover by Neal Adams . The Justice League and Adam Strange fought Kanjar Ro... . See more relevant content here: #marvelman901justiceleague #marvelman901greenlantern #marvelman901batman #marvelman901nealadams #marvelman901dickdillin #marvelman901adamstrange #marvelman901wonderwoman #marvelman901superman #marvelman901flash #marvelman901blackcanary #marvelman901greenarrow #marvelman901aquaman #marvelman901hawkman . #justiceleague #70s #batman #superman #wonderwoman #aquaman #flash #greenarrow https://www.instagram.com/p/Co5YTLKMPIY/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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ashley-slashley · 2 years

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actors i didn't know played characters in one of my favorite shows from when i was a toddler (it's the justice league cartoons from the early 2000s) (excluding mark hamill since he's in literally everything and kinda overrated)

garrett morris - al mcgee

renee auberjonois - kanjar-ro, desaad, galius zed,

robert englund - felix faust

john rhys-davies - lord hades

david ogden stires - solovar

david naughton - the streak

robert picardo - blackhawk, amazo

ron perlman - orion, clayface

michael dorn - kalibak

alfred molina - king gustav

keith david - despero

rob zombie - ichthultu

michael york - ares

laraine newman - medusa

jeffrey combs - the question

j.k. simmons - general wade eiling

malcolm mcdowell - metallo

#justice league #justice league unlimited

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oneandonlyalfredo · 2 years

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*Jaime and Bruce protecting blob aliens from Kanjar Ro*

Jaime: so like.. action? Move it or lose it?

Bruce: ..Attack?

Jaime: oh. Right. ATTACK!!

#brave and the bold #batman #dc #dc comics #memepage #funny quotes #tv series #blue beetle

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orange-s-mario · 1 year

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Future (41st-853rd Century)

this list also includes some, but not all possible futures. Also, this list skips a lot more than the last one did

41st Century

Superman X (????)

K3NT (????)

45th Century

Giant (4457)

46th Century

The Unknown Superman & Batsman (????)

50th Century

Lita Lang (????)

Professor Thaddee Lang (????)

Headman Thorz (????)

Professor Xerxes (4956)

52nd Century

R.J. Desmond (????)

Pygor (????)

58th Century

Korlian Dasor (5700)

Pol Manning (Hal Jordan) (5700)

Pol Manning (Dr. Strangehate) (5707)

Pol Manning (Salaak) & Iona Vane (Post-5707)

60th Century

Metropolis Police Department (5921)

61st Century

Ironwolf (????)

63rd Century

RIP

Porcine Aliens

Reality TV Producers

64th Century

Abra Kadabra (????)

Brainiac 13 (????)

73rd Century

Green Lantern of 2814 (...this is technically Kanjar Ro, but his design is distinct and maybe he disguised himself as how the actual G.L. of that era looked like) (????)

75th Century

Anti-Lad (????)

88th Century

Scientists (????)

100th Century

Behemoth (Bob Brunner) (?????)

Avatar (Ava) (?????)

Metallica (Melissa Trask) (?????)

Ultra-Man (Gary Concord Jr.) (?????)

Evil Clones of the last 4 (?????)

Protectors of Nevlor (?????)

120th Century

Xotar (11960)

216th Century

Kryptonite Cloud (21574)

257th Century

Kaston Tharn & Dav Inlam (25673)

501st Century

Blaze Barton (50017)

800th Century

Assault Monitor (80000)

853rd Century

DC One Million (85271)

863rd Century

The Wildflame, Dav, Vara and Chec (?????)

8020th Century

Civilians (??????)

Zotan (1000000)

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phantom-le6 · 2 months

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Film Review - Green Lantern: Beware My Power

Our look into the films of 2022 now steps away from cinema releases to explore the animated direct-to-home-release market. More specifically, we’re checking out the fifth instalment in DC’s Tomorrowverse continuity, or as it’s better known, Green Lantern: Beware My Power…

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Former US Marine and Medal of Honor recipient John Stewart, struggling with civilian life after the military, witnesses a spaceship crash nearby. The occupant, one of the Guardians of the Universe, dies of his injuries, and the Power Ring he carries, previously owned by Hal Jordan, attaches itself to Stewart's finger. The ring flies Stewart up to the Justice League Watchtower, where he meets Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, and Vixen. With the Guardians of the Universe unresponsive and Jordan's apparent death, Stewart and Green Arrow use Ganthet's repaired ship to travel to Oa, which they discover in ruins and the Green Lantern Corps slaughtered. They also encounter Thanagarian warrior Shayera Hol, who indicates security footage showing a Rannian ship docking at Oa just before the attack.

Shayera explains that the Thanagarian-Rannian war had briefly ended, with Jordan overseeing a joint project using Zeta-Beam technology to benefit both planets. The experiment went haywire, transporting Thanagar into Rann's atmosphere, upsetting the ecosystem of both planets, restarting the war, and apparently killing Jordan and thousands of Thanagarians and Rannians. Shayera accuses Rann of sabotaging the experiment and attacking Oa, but Stewart and Green Arrow insist they investigate further.

The team travels to a Rannian military outpost that was raided by Thanagarians, where they encounter Rannian hero Adam Strange, presumed deceased but teleported at random by Zeta-Beams' attraction to him. Strange denies that Rann attacked Oa and leads them to Rannian forces, engaged in a battle with Thanagarian forces. Rannian Captain Kantus reveals that Rannian scientist Sardath has converted the Zeta-Beam project into a doomsday weapon to destroy Thanagar, the location of which is known only to the Rannian High Command. Shayera and Strange review footage from past attacks and discover that a third party has been impersonating both Rannian and Thanagarian ships to further the war.

Retracing the trajectories of the imposter ships, the team discovers a base hidden inside an asteroid, where they battle the Yellow Lanterns, along with a group of galactic assassins including Lord Damyn, Kanjar Ro and Despero, before being captured by their leader Sinestro. Jordan is revealed to be alive, having released his ring and been taken prisoner after Sinestro sabotaged the Zeta-Beam experiment. They escape as Sinestro and his Lanterns attack Rann to find the location of Sardath's doomsday weapon. Using the Zeta-Beams, Sardath teleports them to his secret base, but Sinestro and his Lanterns follow and attack. During the battle, Stewart reluctantly kills Sinestro and Jordan brutally kills two of Sinestro's assassins leaving Green Arrow and John Stewart suspicious of his actions.

After obtaining the Zeta-Beam data, Jordan suddenly kills Sardath; he reveals that, when he was captured, Sinestro had infected him with the Parallax Entity, corrupting him. After Sinestro had destroyed the Green Lanterns, Jordan had claimed all their rings for himself, enhancing his power to a godlike state. With the Zeta-Beam technology, Jordan intends to destroy both Rann and Thanagar in a quest to end conflict across the galaxy.

Stewart and Jordan battle until Green Arrow is forced to shoot and kill Jordan. They are unable to stop the weapon from firing, but Strange flies in the path of the Zeta-Beam, teleporting it and himself to parts unknown. Stewart and Green Arrow return to Earth, and Stewart sends Jordan's rings to their new wearers to rebuild the Green Lantern Corps. Shayera departs from Earth, in Ganthet's spaceship, promising to Green Arrow and Stewart they would meet again soon knowing Rann and Thanagar will need the new Green Lantern Corps to help rebuild both worlds when a ceasefire is ordered. Stewart proposes dinner and a toast to "absent friends" to Green Arrow, to which he replies "and maybe a few new ones".

Review:

For me, the Tomorrowverse continuity started off well but not brilliantly on Superman: Man of Tomorrow with a 7/10, then improved to 9/10 on Justice Society: World War II before hitting top marks with the two films that comprise an adaptation of Batman: The Long Halloween. Now we get a fifth film centring on Green Lantern, or more specifically John Stewart, one of two humans added to GL lore in the so-called “bronze age” of comics that runs throughout the 70’s and 80’s at a rough guess. John Stewart is one of the earliest Black superheroes in the DC universe, and while he’s had a lot of screentime thanks to his use in DC’s Justice League and Justice League Unlimited shows of the early 2000’s, he’s not been as utilised in any film productions, with most home-release animated films favouring the use of Hal Jordan as the main Green Lantern for Earth.

Given this, one might think this film would be a welcome change of pace, and for people coming to it without much comics knowledge, it probably is. Regardless of whether you have that knowledge or not, the film is well-animated, well-acted and has a decent plot, albeit heavily packed with characters some people may lack a wider awareness of. This is an on-going issue with DC animated films, and indeed with superhero films as a whole now; failing to provide sufficient exposition for less well-versed audiences to pick up all the references to hand. One can only hope that as Marvel completes its Multiverse saga in the MCU and James Gunn reboots DC’s live-action film continuity, they start to learn this and better inform new audiences about key information.

Going back to the other issue I mentioned, let’s consider why this John Stewart-centric film might not be favoured by people who know the source material. Of the two plot threads being used from the comics, one is the story of Hal Jordan’s downfall into villainy that destroyed the Green Lantern Corps back in the 1990’s. Now in the comics, John Stewart and Guy Gardner had already been Green Lanterns alongside Hal for years by this point, so the original story didn’t involve either of them taking over as sole remaining Green Lantern. Instead, it was freelance artist Kyle Rayner who fulfilled that role, with John appearing during Kyle’s tenure initially as a kind of mentor figure, then later returning to the GL role when Kyle needed to leave Earth. Eventually, after Hal was resurrected and redeemed, he, Guy, John and Kyle were all GLs together.

What this means is that this film, while trying to tout DC’s diversity credentials by putting John Stewart in the spotlight, isn’t giving us a story that is truly John Stewart’s own story. It’s taking stories that focused on other Green Lanterns and putting him in their shoes, and this is where a lot of superhero storytelling that touts equality and diversity falls down at the moment. Yes, you’ve got a Black man wearing the GL ring and uniform, and you’ve got his prior backstory of being in the US Marine corps, but then he’s basically just slotting into other adventures that were had by other GLs originally. Why not adapt stories that heavily featured John in the comics, or give him a new and original story unique to him? Alternatively, John Stewart had five seasons of animated screentime in the DCAU and guest appearances in the DCAMU, whereas Kyle Rayner has only had two guest appearances and one non-appearance mention in the DCAU. If they wanted to use the Parallax story arc, why not use Kyle Rayner since he was actually part of that story?

The fact that Hawkgirl shows up in the film is a nice nod back to John Stewart’s DCAU incarnation, and the reference will help fans of those animated shows accept the various departures from source material, but for me, it spoils things a little to have John Stewart headline an adaptation of stories that belong to other Green Lanterns. I can only hope that once the currently unfolding Crisis on Infinite Earths film trilogy concludes the Tomorrowverse, the Parallax storyline can be re-adapted in a more comics-accurate way while John Stewart gets to headline stories that his and his alone. Overall, I give this film 6 out of 10.

#film review #tomorrowverse

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leandrospan · 1 year

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Tirando vantagem de um fenômeno ocorrido em sua prisão no planeta Rann, o poderoso Kanjar-Ro, parte para roubar o planeta Terra sem que a Liga sequer desconfie! Para obter sucesso em seu nefasto esquema, ele deve primeiro atraí-los para as missões falsas para a Liga da Justiça!

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bumblebeekarenbeecher · 2 years

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#DC Super Hero Girls #DCComics #Search for Atlantis #Bumblebee #Cyborg #Miss Martian #Raven #Mera #Wonder Woman #Chapter 2 #kanjar ro #Brainiac

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popculturebuffet · 3 years

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Justice League: In Blackest Night Review: A Case Study in Why John Stewart is Awesome

Hello my Green Lantern Corps and happy black history month! And happy 40th Anniversary Year to John Stewart. And let’s get this out of the way now not the one replaced by trevor noah who handed Tucker Carlson his ass on television and got his show canceled, please do it again John i’d be greatful, and has a weird obession with how Pizza should be. No i’m of course talking about the Green Lantern, the third from earth and the second to headline the book itself, John Stewart. But to me.. he was my first Green Lantern and one that gave me a deep and abiding love of the Corps since all thanks to this very episode. It’s thanks to John I’m the green lantern loving nerd I am today and without him I probably wouldn’t of found Guy, Jessica, Simon, Alan, and Kyle not to mention got into the varoius other corps. It’s thanks to this episode I wanted to seek out these wonderful characters eventaully and in part why I got into JLI, one of my faviorite teams, among many ohter great things and books.

So quite obviously both this episode, which I haven’t seen in probably a decade, and John have a great place in my heart. And thus it warms said heart to FINALLY see John getting the recogntion he deserves: he’s going to be one of the starring roles in the upcoming HBO Max series, he was on Scott Snyder’s justice league, and he’s now going to be headlniing the main Green Lantern book going forward under writer Geoffry Throne, who like me was VERY sick of the Hal Jordan show the Green Lantern franchise could become at times, and also like me gave out about it a LOT. The fact DC hired him despite a very public and easily accesable record of him slagging of their use of Hal instead of him ESPECAILLY in the new 52 reboot aka why Cyborg is in the Justice League movie as Geoff kinda shoved hal in there despite John being a more sensible pick and doing so not only shoving the Martain Manhunter, who this show also gave me a deep lasting love for, out of the team but forcing Cyborg onto the team despite fitting with the titans better and, AGAIN there being a black green lantern and given the New 52 kept the history of there being multiple lanterns, no reason Hal could’ve been SECOND instead other than DanDiDio’s bitchy habit of EVERYTHING WAS BETTER ON MY EARTH that poisoined the company for a good decade before recently.

And yes I felt the need to rant about that, yes Green Lantern the animated series is still good mind you, I just got tired of bland white guy over “Really awesome, really layred especailly thanks to this series black guy”, “stubborn asshole white guy whose hilarious and has a heart underneath the layers of douchebag”, “creative and imaginative white guy who has as personality and really uses the ring in fun ways”, and more recently “A muslim superhero struggling with his past who’se also really energetic and fun and has an intresting family life” and “Latnix superheroine who struggles with anxiety and actually struggles with constructs and once she gets past that has very unique ones”. In other words, yeah I’m bitter because everyone else was more intresting than Hal, and it’s only in recent years with Jessica gaining promience and John regaining it that DC’s finally broke out of that and is actually using the intresting ones, and again without John I wouldn’t be a fan, so they had no real excuse to barely use him outside of the comics if at at all after a while.

So yeah as you can tell by that rant and by how specific it got for each lantern, this is one of my faviorite franchises, as said this episode is responsible and so for Black History Month I felt i’d be a huge mistake on my part if I DIDN’T cover my boy John and this episode and see how it held up. The fact it’s his 40th anniversary wasn’t something I was aware of, but now I am, expect more Johncentric episodes from Justice League sprinkled throughout the year to celebrate one of my first and possibly best GL.

Naturally before we get to the episode we have to get to the series itself. The series was launched as Batman Beyond was winding down. Bruce Timm wanted to keep the crew together, something I could empathize with since Owen Dennis and JG Quintel have ran into that same problem lately, with most of their crews drifting off during the gaps in production and Owen desperate to get the show renewed before he lost everybody. A good crew isn’t had to find in animation but KEEPING them for multiple shows or seasons can be. And there was one project the fans wanted more than anything: The Justice League. After all BOTH Batman and Superman had had tons of guest stars, especailly the latter, with Batman having Zantana show up and Superman having the Flash (Wally West), Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) and Aquaman all show up. There were seeds there.. but Timm was relcutant as he had trouble ballancing 2 or 3 heroes in a fight scene, wanting to keep them al lin focus so fans didn’t wonder where they were and they didnt’ have to cut back and forth, the idea of juggling 7 was daunting. So as Beyond was finishing production a few things happened: The first is that they did the episode The Call, focusing on a future version of the League, and while only a two parter, it showed Timm his crew might be able to juggle a team of heroes after all, and second was the pitches Timm made BEFORE justice league. Since Kids WB had been hteir partner for a while now they tried pitching both a batman anime, he did not provide many details, and in his own words a “Kidified” justice league, basically the justice leagued mashed with the titans including a female version of cyborg. It was the latter pitch, which was rejected by Kids WB, that finally convinced Timm they could do this, but if they did it couldn’t be half assed or having compromises. it had to be what it SHOULD be. So they went to somewhere new, if in the same family and asked cartoon network, who said...

And here we are. They took their time to work out the characters, apparently taking a lot of delbiration, mostly on which GL to go with, and if they were going to do a hawk wether to go for hawkman or hawkgirl. In the end the roster was the iconic big 7 one, in large part thanks to Grant Morrison taking that concept and reviving it in his run on the team, but shaking it up slightly: Barry was naturally replaced with Wally West flash as he was THE flash in the comics, gave a slightly younger member for the others to play off of, and was more popular.. something Dan DiDio plugged his ears and went LALALALALALAL about for a decade before FINALLY leaving the company so he could stop screwing with a character he hated for reasons that can be summed up as ‘MY FLASH IS BETTER. YOU’LL LIKE MY FLASH.. YOU’LL SEE I JUST HAVE TO MAKE THE OTHER ONE A MASS MURDERER.. THAT’LL SHOW YOU FOR NOT LIKING WHAT I LIKE”... I still have maybe a smidge of lingering issues over how wally was treated the last few years after his return. I do not apologize for htem or for doing a little dance when I found out Didio was gone.

Point is it wasn’t the only subsitution as Hal Jordan was replaced by John, obviously and rather than use Aquaman, they went with Hawkgirl, though Arthur still got an episode focusing on him fairly early into the series which has the iconic moment of him cutting his hand off to save his son. I dare you to find something more badass. Bruce both liked her deisgn better and felt it helped with the gender ballance.

So with all that set and with some growing pains to get through they had their show so join me under the cut to see how it turned out. Spoilers: It good.

We open INNNNNN SPACCCEEEEEEE, as a coaltion of neat looking aliens wants justice and has gone to a space court lead by three weird alien faces, likely inspiried by the kryptoian tribunal in the donnerverse superman movies, with their prosecutor sending a group of mysterious robots known as the Manhunters to go fetch the accused for a trial: John Stewart. Given he’s voiced by Kurtwood “Red Forman” Smith, i’m very surpised he didn’t order them to also put their foots up his ass. Maybe he’s saving it for the trial.

After the titles we cut to John himself whose in shades and trenchant for reasons.. I mean it looks neat, but he’s in his old neighborhood not hunting down his exes killer or trying to hide the fact he’s a ninja turtle. Why is he all disguised. I mean sure WE know people are coming from him and given what he thinks he did he knows.. but he has no intention of running from what he did. It’s just a weird stylistic choice. That said we do get a cool sequence when while casually walking he notices a robbery, and stops it simply by first stopping the wheel then levitating the car.. and while he does get a little showy shaking the guy upside down to return the money.. it’s all very controlled. It shows off how John works. While we’ve seen him at work as Green Lantern before this this small sequence says volumes about john in the span of a few minutes, showing that shilw he HAS immense power, he only uses the amount he needs, knows when to hold back, and only shows off a tiny bit, and even then he’s likely still keeping the theif absolutely safe. It also provides excellent foreshadowing for later as to why the League takes his side even when he refuses to defend himself, as it shows that John really is a professional true and true.

He runs by a basketball court and fails to make a basket when throwing a ball back to a kid before meeting his old gym teacher, who turns out to be the kids uncle or something like that, and invites John to join them as they go to the barber shop. The kid wants John’s haircut, his granpa says the usual and i’m wondering why as John’s haircut isn’t that radical: it’s a miltiary style cut, belying the fact that for this series, while it dosen’t come up in the plot here, John was a former marine instead of an architect. Honestly.. this wasn’t a bad change, giving us the deciated and measured john we know, to the point the comics gladly retconned it in. Not that it’s really a huge deal given it meelrly adds shades to the guy and dosen’t prevent him from being an architect. It just adds lairs by giving a reaosn he’s so focused and driven. He had it drilled into him and carried it with him.

Meanwhile on the watchtower The Flash clumisly tries to get to know Hawkgirl better and maunver into asking her out, though it’s clear sh’es not intrested. Still even if he can’t help flirting, and it sometimes gets creepily obnoxious, it’s still better than I expected remembering this running subplot, as he DOES try to get to know her and what she does in her off time, even if it’s to set up asking her out, and is trying to ask her out instead of just hitting on her or doing anything far more creeptacular. It’s still not great mind you and hasn’t aged well at all.. but for the time it’s not TERRIBLE and again it goes away pretty quickly in favor of the much more intresting John and Shierya relationship.

Flash accidently shoots himself in the foot.. conversationally though given how Wally is at this point in the series I wouldn’t be suprised, by asking the Martian Manhunter, who gives Hakwgirl an easy exit if he’s ever felt alone.. you know the guy whose entire race including his wife and child died horribly. He quickly apologizes though and John understands he just stuck his foot in his mouth at lighting speed. And it’s not the MOST insensitive he’s been about Jonn’s dead wife.

But things are soon interupted as Jonn notes “We have an incursion!”

But the Avengers are dealing with all of that so they can instead focus on the Manhunters shooting toward earth. I really like this as the primary reason Batman set up this station was to monitor for alien threats, it just because the Leagues base because superman had the idea to stay as a team and it was a good un, and given earth JUST had an invasion, as this likely isn’t too long after that given it’s only the second set of episodes, it’s understandable they’d be on high alert.

So our heroes move to intercept. As the first episode after the pilot this one also sets up a recurring part of the show and a necessary one: only a handful of Leaguers would feature in each two-parter, as the episodes for the first two seasons were essentially one hourlong story split into two episodes. The only exceptions were the three part premire, the three part finales for each season, and the sole solo episode comfort and joy which is fucking awesome and my faviorite christmas episode period. But even with the extended run time the crew simply felt i’td be unwiedly to juggle 7 characters eveyr episode, feeling it’d eventually get to original series star trek leevels of having one just manning a console or something. So rather than try and cram them all into every episode, they choose who they needed and gave valid excuses for the rest when necessary. In this case Batman and Wonder Woman have solo missions their busy with , as does Superman whose adressing an earthquake. Our heroes try talking to the Manhunters.. who refuse to talk to them and then also say their coming for John, and aren’t explaning why. So naturally a brawl breaks out as the League SHOCKINGLY dosen’t want their friend who as far as they know has done nothing wrong taken by a brutish paramilitary force who won’t actual talk to the citzens their policing or try and be coporative. More on this in a second. The fight itself is pretty awesome as our heroes fight as evenly as they can.. but it’s clear their outgunned outplanned outnumbered and outmanned, as while their you know the justice league and do their best and Jonn is in Superman’s weight class the battle makes it VERY clear their barely holding in there and that the blast from the manhunters rods are just too potent for them to stand up against.

But help and hope arrives and things get a bit less lopsided when Superman shows up! Unfortunately it’s season 1 superman, and something a lot of fans noticed but I as a kid didn’t and the crew themslves did not until it was too late to course correct for the season, was that Superman came off as a bit of a wimp in this series. See they had the good intention of having him struck down to show a threat’s serious, something TV Tropes calls the “The Worf effect” after the fact that Worf on Star Trek TNG would get knocked on his ass a lot for the same reason, but it has the side effect of making a character look like their made of paper mache if done too often. To the crew’s credit they realized this and not only made sure this didn’t happen as much in season 2, but dedicated the first episode of Season 2, twilight, to showing Superman as a badass by having him try and cave Darkseid’s skull in. Granted they overcompensated in places in that episode, but that’s a story for another day. Point is he had a habit of getting knocked around and it varied between really effective and overselling it. Here it works as the manhunters had already knocked Jonn around a bit, knocking him into some poor kid’s apartment whose really wondering what the fuck just happened too much to enjoy meeting the martian manhunter, so him not being too on top of them simply sells this threat is equal, and possibly past the League.

Meanwhile John is talking to his former teacher who says the kid reminds him of John... it’s not only a nice bit of depth to show the restrained John used to be a bit of a hellraiser before the Marines.. but also shows John’s guilt as he hopes not.. but before he can unload, he notices the fight and suits up to his old mentors shock and the kids joy, I mean I would too if a guy suddenly because a green lantern in front of me, and dashes off.. to surrender and break up the fight, handing over his ring and going with them and telling the League not to interfere. Their response can be summed up thusly.

To John, he’s peacefully surrendering for a crime he comitted to a bruitsh and unfair police force but one who is duly deputized and as an officer himself, for the unaware the Green Lanterns are space cops and given the reason rightfuly reconing on the police I will certainly be discussing this as we go, is trying to coparate and prevent any collateral. While LIKELY Bruce pays for any that happens, as beneath his batdick demanour at times he’s a very good man and if he has the pockets for a space station, space craft, commuincators and all the good stuff a superhero team has on hand, he probably has a dedicated fund set up to paying for collateral since insurance might not cover it, and not only that would likely give any impacted extra to do any upgrades they coudln’t before because he’s a philanorphist .. one who dresses up like a bat to punch people in the face, but that itself is still philathophy in a way.

But to the League? Their friend was taken by a bunch of shady paramilitary robots who didn’t bother talking to them, is trying to keep them out of it and for all they know only surrendered to prevent a fight, and even if he had valid reasons, as his friends-ish and teammates, they have a right to answers. So while John sits in his cell completlating his apparent crimes.. the JL have taken off in the Javelin, the spaceship I mentioned batman funding. And of course Batman has both spaceship money and had a design for one so ready it likely took a month at most for him to get it up and running, if not less, and only didn’t have one in the batcave because he hadn’t neededed it yet and likely didn’t want to embezle more money than he has to from his company. Jonn uses the stars John saw, say that three times fast I dare you, to find a location and our heroes head there. Our heroes arrive.. and are attacked by the local security despite Superman geninely trying to hail them, the Javelin not firing back and our heros only going out to intercpet personally so they don’t die, and even then making careful certainty not to attack. So we get another thrilling battle, with our three flying heroes all pitching in, and the flash realizing he dosen’t know how to fly the thing and me cursing out bruce in my head for you know, not either forcing flash to learn the stuff, or having the forsight to put a manual on board for any members who forgot something, aka so when Wally inteivibly goofs off and eats candy instead of reading it the first time, he can speed read it and at least retain it long enough to land the thing in a crisis. If it were anyone else i’d be understanding but this is the guy who again, either had spaceship plans lying around or could get one together in the span of a month or so and while not thinking of the ship in terms of a team, still also paid for and likely created the commuincators they used, so he’d know his team well enough to know he needs this.

My nitpicking aside, our heroes land, make quick work of the locals, and then crash in on John’s trial after he’s escorted in, passing his fellow lanterns who rightfully treat him with disdain.. but for the wrong reasons as we’ll see. John gives groaning “oh no” , like he’s embarassed. When REALLY..

Seriously John, again you were as far as they knew kidnapped, and the way the manhunters acted, they had no reason to think they were legitamate, and you didn’t take five minutes to tell them, “They have every reason to be takning me” or “I blew up a planet I deserve this” . They still would’ve came mind you, they just might of realized this wasn’t a traditional rescue mission and actually tried to use some subtly. You also COULD have told the manhunters they might show up so the security wouldn’t attack them. They probably woudln’t o LISTEND or attacked themselves, so i’ts a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation, but you still did absolutely nothing. It’s the one mistep with John here and even then it has the justification of his self loathing at the moment being so high, he assumed they’d rightfully write him off without question.. not to mention given the team is mostly white guys, two aliens and a princess who woudln’t know better, he probably assumed like most white dumbasses they’d assume the police were correct and not give him the benifit of a doubt. To their credit, especially since you know one of them’s superman and the other one’s a professional dumbass, they didn’t think that for a second. Some would not be such a good person.

But Prosecutor Forman and the big giant heads aren’t much better than the manhunters, so Prosecutor Forman sends some orange guys to put foots up their asses.. and since unlike the manhunters their just... some ambigiously gendered aliens with no powers, they go down quick and before the manhunters enter, superman RIGHTFULLY calls them out, as he points out they just wanted to know what the hell was going on, didn’t throw the first punch, and have been under attack since, and the heads admit this IS a public trial, and they kinda overreacted so as long as the superfriends don’t do any other antics and watch like anyone else, their good. Superman has his team play it safe for now as they really don’t know what’s going on and given they could only stalemate the manhunters on even footing, they know they can’t take them on their home turf.

The trial is soon underway, and Prosecutor Forman calls the witnsees.. Kanjar Ro, also voiced by Smith. This is neat little bit as Ro was one of the first foes the League fought in the comics, a space pirate, and while he originally was just going to be some random asshole, someone brought up the idea of him being Ro and the crew really loved it. It’s a nice nod to the comics and honestly if you have a vast superhero universe with decades of continuity to draw from for your show, why NOT make the secondary villian of the episode be someone from the comics.

Ro is, like the comics, a pirate and seemingly came forward because what John did was so bad even he can’t stomach it and has to say something. So we FINALLY find out what John did.. well okay the audience as a whole does I remember this from being a kid. He and Ro had a routine cop and robber interaction, Ro was smuggling shit, and John was doing his job as GL of Sector 2814 and stopping him and cut out his engine.. but seemingly said engine drifted off, and destroyed a planet as result via chain reaction, and thus the debris right outside the planet John’s being tried on are apparently thsoe of the planet he accidently killed. The court takes a break and while the League, understandably, assume that the obviously shady man was lying John ends part one by confirming that no he did it. And this is why I put a pin in things... because the episode being about a space cop being arrested by worse space cops and dealing with his friends in the badge turning on him while some of his other friends try to prove he’s innocent, and the man in question being an african american... tackles some very loaded issues that, givent he writer and most of the staff, Dwayne McDuffie accepted, were very much white, i’m thinking they just kind of fell backward into and it only came out as good as it did either do to McDuffie or just blind luck that it didn’t turn out entirely awful in hindsight.

And if anyone is complaning: “Wait you dont’ need to get political leave politics out of this”.. please leave my fucking blog. For one, the recknoing with the police was long overdue, I feel ashamed for not having it sink in how fundementally broken the police were and not realizing it for my whole fucking life, I knew some cops were bad but I hadn’t realized the institution was inherently racist and bad and feel so much deep and lasting shame for that, and for another again it’s a story that at it’s core is a black police officer being arrested for doing something wrong, taking full responsiblity for his actions like a police officer SHOULD, and having friends of his try and prove he didn’t really do it, while his fellow officers, rather than find the act itself abohhrent, come out as either being loyal to john no matter what (kilowog) because fellow officer, or assholes who ONLY are upset because it makes them look bad, and are ONLY distancing themselves because of that, and not because you know JOHN MAY OF CAUSED A GENOCIDE BY INCOMPETNECE. So yeah, i’m not ignoring the real world implications, I couldn’t and wouldn’t if I wanted to, and i feel if done right ANY medium, animation, comics, what have you, for kids or not, can tackle such issues and should be able to.

So i’m not ignoring the elephant in the room, and as we get into part 2 we get the good and bad of this in full: Superman feels something’s off about this whole thing, a hunch admitely but given an engine falling in a crater seems a bit too convinent, he has a right to investigate and takes MM to do so, while he leaves Flash and Hakwgirl to stall. Both take diffrent approaches: Flash signs on as GL’s lawyer.. and it’s an awesome scene as we find out, in your standard evil lawyer joke, that the tribunal of faces solved this by simply having the lawyer share the punishment.. but it also shows Flash’s loyalty and faith that his friend did not do this and something worse is at work, as he still agrees after learning he’ll probably die if his other friends don’t fix this.

And now we have full context i can get into where this episode really does the issue justice for the most part: John is presented as the model of both what the GL Corps and what police should be: He’s professional, uses minimal force despite having a weapon that can do anything, and when he THINKS he did something horrible, he dosen’t run from his crime: the most he does is go back home to see it once last time, simply waiting for someone to come and get him for what it did wether it be his own brothers in arms or as we saw the manhunters and he doesn’t defend himself because he dosen’t feel he should as he screwed up, got an entire planet killed, and rightly thinks he should pay for it. He’s likely, as a black man in the early 2000′s, been falsely accused, pulueld over and fucked over by police and seen people in his community he knewe and care about die because of shit like this so when given the chance to take responsibility, even from a clearly broken system, he does. Because in the same situation a lot of officers back at home would not and would walk away clean and that’s not who John Stewart is, how he was raised, or what he or the corps stands for.

But the episode gets to have it’s cake and eat it too, as the League does belivie John didn’t do this on purpose.. and the blind faith they especially superman did come off as wince inducing.. until I realized it’s not because of some “brotherhood of the badge” bullshit.. but because it’s Superman. He belivies in the good of most people. In this very series despite Lex Luthor having tried to kill him dozens of times at this point, he STILL shows the guy empathy when he finds out Lex is dying of cancer. Lex spits at the notion of course and dosen’t take it seroiusly.. but Superman is just that good a person, so if he has a hunch somethings’ wrong.. it probably is. And even if he and Jonn found nothing... it’s the right thing to do. A crime should ALWAYS be properly investigated to make sure someone dosen’t hang for something they did not do. This is what I meant by have it’s cake and eat it too: the episode tackles police brutality.. but the accused is also the victim, and it thus tackles the unfairness in the us courts, how black people are often assumed guilty when that’s horribly racist and biased as fuck and how Police are assumed correct. Our heroes are assuming john is right based on optisim but are not wrong for wanting him to at LEAST get a fair trial and full investigation that clearly was not done. It also covers, again probably intetioanlly, how some are often not able to get proper representatin, with this court outright getting rid of it, which is wrong and bad, and the flash being the best John can do and not very good at it, mostly stalling for time. It shows the system’s brokena nd soemtimes you have to directly fight iht and can’t just take it , and even if your convinced your guilty and want to rightfuly take the blame for something your sure you did... you still deserve a fair trial and a compitent one.

It’s not all good: as said the gl’s are portrayed as bad for not wanting anything to do with john, and in order to make them unsympathetic they care more about their rep than the fact a friend may of comited genocide and kilowog showing up and providing character witness is seen as a good thing, even if he provides no actual character evidence other than “Johnny’s a good guy” and that’s not ideal. It’s not perfect and again it was writtne by an old white guy so of course it isn’t but the fact it gets so much right the more you dig in despitei t’s awwkardness and being written and aired 20 years ago... that is nothing to sneeze at.

We have more to dig into here too with the manhunters but first moreof the plot: While the other stuff mentioned happens, Superman and Jonn investigate as said.. and we find out WHY superman was supscious: while it was part hunch.. he did in fact have valid reason to suspect something was off, and as we saw actually heard the case against his friend first, and only went against it because the evidence was off.. in that the MOON of the planet is still there and should’ve flown off. He and Jonn soon find a MASSIVE device that John identifies as a bigger version of a toy he had as a kid, something that created images... and again shows whya PROPER investigation was needed. Had the court actually looked into it instead of presuming John guilty, they would’ve found this thing too. Naturally though Kanjar Ro has followed them and wants to kill them.. but with her subplot wrapped up Hawkgirl went to seei f they needed backup, stealing one of the guard ships which given they attacked people on ap lanet iwth a PUBLIC TRIAL going on without haling them yeah don’t blame her, and kicks his ass. Our heroes find out the truth as I mentioned earlier: Ro was paid to lie and be in on things for an assload of money.. byt he Manhutners.. who at the moment are plotting to strike while Oa, the home of the green lanterns is weak, as the Guardians who created them and monitor them mostly left to go to the trial.

As we catch up with them, THe guardians speak on each lantern being trusted with the ring and given little oversight.. because they pick wisely. The prosecutor just wants John to hang, calls for a sentence, which is death and John and Flash nearly die, in case you thought I was pulling those parallels out of my ass. But Superman rushes in, and in a small, subtle gag he and Jonn do so thorugh a small pain of glass put over where they enterted last time, fight off security and save them, and before prosecutor foot in the ass can harumph about it more.. Superman claims jonn’s innocent..a nd has Shiera smash the generator, showing he indeed is, getting John aquitted. John also attacks Ro, who they brought along as a witness, rightfully so, but the League get him to stop as they don’t have time for that: the Guardians are strangely leaving after that, the manhunters are clearly doing something given their asbent, so John retakes his ring, restored to who he was now knowing he truly WAS innocent and was simply set up.. and he wants to find out why.

We soon get the why as the Guardians explain the manhunters after the League won’t let them just.. brush by after they aburbtly tried to leave. They AREN’T behind the current attack.. but did create them, feeling robots would be better policeman. They were wrong, with the manhunters lacking empathy, being far too military in their job, and generally not being up for it so they simply gave them smaller jobs as bounty hunters, court balifs that sort of thing ans assumed they were fine because they didn’t say anything. As John puts it perfectly “Not outloud. “ And this itself is the other thing that makes the episode work as an allegory, if a very unteitonal one: The Manhunters are the police as they are now, violent brutes with way too much power, no restraint in using it and no ounce of mercy or sympathy for those they protect. And the Guardians rightfully removed this system, and replaced it with the corps. And while the Corps STILL have a lot of leway and power, being free to investigate on their own provided OA dosen’t call them to do someting specific, and given a ring that can do anything within corps guidelines, which basically means “don’t kill” and “don’t be a dick with it”, the guardians still watch them, do not interfere in trials and choose very wisely. not only that ther’es only one officer per sector, each sector being galaxies wide.. but that’s because that’s only what’s NEEDED. One Lantern with the power to take on entire fleets if needed, which is a fair amount of power given the scope of the job, and come in as requested by the people themselves, honestly isn’t a bad system. Granted the corps is wonky from time to time in the comics as are the guaridans depending on the writer, but at it’s core the corps really sounds like a more responsible versoin of the police: given just the gear necessary, the men necessary, and only called in when truly needed or if they spot a crime in process. THat’s what the people protecting us should be like and that’s why this episode still works.

Obviously though I was aware of none of this as a kid, and the real reason I loved this episode is this climax. The League arrives on Oa just in time to provide backup. Presumibly the guardians there and incoming with the league simply dont have the power to spare to call for reinforcments. Which is weird but fair enough drama wise and our heroes storm the planet , with the corpsmen from before all showing up to pitch in. But John gets there too late as the head manhunter drains the central power battery, the source of the lantern’s powers, and declares I AM THE POWER, refusing to accept he’s out of date.

And this, folks is the moment that made me love the lanterns for life. John is outgunned, the wise old wrinkled blue men who gave him his powers drained of there, starring down a massive monster planning to subjigate the universe... and he does not blink. See lanterns are picked for their willpower, their abliity to stare down things like this, and fight anyway, their very rings controlled by this, by their own force of personhood. It’s another reason besides logistics why theires only one per sector: it’s that hard to find one. Earth is so remarkable because , even if it’s simply so we could have more stars in the books over time in real world, we produced not ONE person capable of this.. but 7.. Alan Scott whose not in the corps but whose powers stll work on will and could probably use a regular corps ring very much included. John was chosen because he simply won’t give up. He gave up before.. but it was the right thing to do and ultimately biding his timea nd accepting his trial.. gave his friends time to aquit him and prove he was framed.

But now is not the time to back down.. now’s the time to stand.. so how does John win? By USING his will, by using the reason he was chosen coupled with ihs own personal dedication and concentration, he grabs his ring as it floats toward the guy, takes it back.. and starts reciting the lantern oath. And since the Manhunter is indeed “The power”.. it means he too can be controlled like any lantern energy. and thus with every bit of willpower he has, struggling all the while but not moving a damn inch, John recites his oath and shoves the monster that framed him, and the power he stole, back into the battery, all while saying an oath so badass it has been etched into my head since thanks to this episode. Say it with me now..

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!

And the credit goes to phil lamarr, who delivers the oath with all the gravitas and awesomeness it’s first delivery in this continuty it deserves. It was this that made me a lifelong fan: one man with the power of anytihng using PURE MENTAL STRENGTH AND DETERMiINATION TO SHOVE AN EVIL ENERGY BEING IN A GIANT LANTERN WHILE RECITING A BADASS AND AWE INSPIRING OATH. And if that dosen’t sell you on the Green Lantern’s being awesome I can’t help you and don’t know why your here.

So wrapup time: The Guardians genuinely thank john, saying they choose well, and John brushes off his fellows corpspersons as they should’ve belivied him and thanks the League for having faith in him even when he didn’t. And while the former part has some.. bad implications we’ve gotten into already, I also can’t entirely blame him given they did it not because he might’ve killed someone but again, because

Precisley. So our heroes prepare to head home, cue the credits.

Final Thoughts:

So how does this episode hold up 20 years later? As should be obvious, damn well. It’s a good introduction for the corps, if showing them to be kinda assholes in places, and a good spotlight episdoe for John showing who he is what he stands for and again how TRULY MONUMENTALLY BADASS the man is. And lest you think the comics versoin is any LESS badass, he once got into a sniper duel in with Bedovian, a member of the Sinestro Corps and a crab person.. who was as I forgot till looking it up, THREE SECTORS, which i’ll remind you can comprise entire galaxies, away, with a ring made sniper rifle. In one shot no less. Point is even with some.. wonkier aspects, and ones that aren’t intetnional, it still works and is a shockingly relevant episode 19 years later and the fight scenes, as are standard for the series, are overwhelmingly awesome. Check this one out, and the series as a whole. With its great animation, character work and general badassery this one’s worth a few watches. And obviously given my love of this seires, and it’s 20th anniversay next year, and my love of John, check back here for more John-centric episodes throughout the year as we celebrate the guy. And I will also celebrate the green lantern NAMED guy eventually too, and jessica.. and all of them ebcause I love them all. Yes.. even Hal. As for which John episode i’m doing next? Easy, one that intorduces me to a character I love who dosen’t get used near enough, Metamorphisis. The when I can’t say QUITE yet as my March schedule is full and most of my ongoing projects are on the backburner so I can tackle two arcs of ducktales, which coincidentally happened to be in time for the finale. That wasn’t planned AT ALL mind you, it just ended up working out really well that way. For now though tommorow I begin my coverage of the final 4 episodes of ducktales with “Beaks in the Shell” and later this week finish up black history month with blacksad, continue my Lena retrospective with a money shark and some pr work, cover the second season of close enough, celebrate Tex Avery’s birthday and also celebrate the new Tom and Jerry movie.. with the OLD tom and jerry movie. Until then, see you next rainbow.

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