Green Lantern: First Flight Review – Spoilers ahead

Green Lantern: First Flight is the DC Universe’s newest animated feature. It puts Green Lantern, a character whose time to shine has definitely come, front and center in an epic adventure across the universe. Accompanied by various members of the Green Lantern Corp, the newest lantern, Hal Jordan, has to stop a rogue Hero-turned-Villain before he destroys the Corps and enslaves the universe. It’s big, loud, explosive, and action packed; everything one would expect from a superhero movie in general, and a Green lantern movie in particular.

Which is why it’s that much worse that the final product is mildly disappointing.

To be fair, the film does more things right than wrong. GL’s origin story is greatly abbreviated into a five minute segment before the credits even roll. Superhero origins are generally the same: Alien falls to Earth/Fish out of water – Superman, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Wonder Woman; Parents killed by criminals/Are criminals – Batman, Robin, Jericho, Raven; Bestowed power by alien/accident – Spider-man, Green Lantern, Flash; Parents are heroes – Black Canary, Huntress. The only people who don’t understand that hero origins can be summed up in a few words aren’t going to be buying this movie, and the director, Lauren Montgomery, understood this. Unfortunately we don’t get much character development about Hal Jordan before he is given the ring, but we know what we need to: i.e. He’s a test pilot, an alien Green Lantern named Abin Sur crashes on Earth, his ring finds Hal and brings him to the injured Green Lantern, Abin Sur dies, and Hal is given the mantle. Perfect, concise, and easily flows into the title sequence.

Unfortunately, this is also the film’s first mistep. Abin Sur is a pinkish-red bald alien who, other than his skin color, looks human. He has always been depicted this way, in every issue or cartoon episode that features him. So, why did DC allow the animators to put weird useless horns all over his face? What was the point? Fans of Green Lantern have been waiting for a while for a film that features their hero, and they know what the characters look like. If this was a movie for fans, as the beginning seems to suggest, why would they make such a superficial-and-unnecessary change? Now, this didn’t ruin the movie for me, mind you. But it was something I noticed and took me out of the film for a moment.

As the film continues, we watch Hal meet the Green Lantern Corp, and see many of our favorite Green Lanterns. Fans will recognize Ch’p, Boodikka, Kilowog, Tomar Re, and several others. The Guardians are wearing their old-style bright red and white outfits. And we see Honor Lantern Sinestro as he takes fledgling GL Jordan under his wing. Fans now know what story we are going to be told, and considering the fast pace of the film, we know we are in for a great ride on the way. But then, another turn away from the source material. In the comics, Sinestro is exposed by Hal Jordan as being a totalitarian who rules his sector of space with an iron fist in direct violation of what the Green Lantern’s stand for. In the film we get a sneaky Sinestro working to undermine the Guardians and institute his own universal rule by exploiting the Power Lantern’s yellow impurity. In both stories his ultimate goal is Peace Through Heavy Handed Rule. But the comics present a layered exploration of how power can go to even a hero’s head when they feel they are doing the Right Thing, and then their inevitable downfall. The film story features a bunch of generic tentacled aliens and a typical Comic Book Villain Plot with less subtlety than a CSI autopsy. Sinestro’s downfall in the comics is rather important to set him up as Hal Jordan’s arch-enemy, as he blames Jordan for his failure, not his own hubris. This is barely a theme of the film. It is there, but almost as an afterthought.

Finally, we come to the end of the film. Sinestro is defeated and Hal Jordan is afforded the respect of the Gaurdians and the rest of the Green lantern Corp, especially hard to please Kilowog. There’s some exciting space battles and explosions, Green lanterns are killed, and we get to see the Sinestro Corp uniform which is a nice nod to the fans. But it all feels empty somehow, not really earned. On the way here, there are few more errors made that, added up, make me wonder if DC actually checked this film against the Green Lantern universe bible. When a Green Lantern dies, for instance, their rings don’t go look for a suitable replacement, they go back to the Guardians and wait for them to find a new hero. This is not a huge deal, but it’s done simply for effect, to show a rain of rings that illustrate just how many GL’s died. A larger issue is that Sinestro is able to kill with his green power ring, something he should not be able to do. The ring won’t allow it. Other issues with the film: Boodikka sides with Sinestro and is killed by Hal – who doesn’t kill. Tomar Re dies stupidly. The constructs they make with the rings are overly simple and not too imaginative. Qward is in this universe. Lastly, the impurities in the rings mean the green ones can’t affect yellow things, and the yellow one should not be able to effect green things. Yet that doesn’t seem to be a problem as Sinestro shoots yellow beams that beat and ensare Green Lanterns, and green constructs throw Sinestro and his Giant Yellow Powerball around quite a bit. (I had an issue with the powerball, but that’s just me, not a departure from the comics.) Because of this, Hal’s ultimate victory feels more like an accident than a deliberate thought process: i.e. Just beat on it until we win, that should work.

All of that aside, the film is fun, probably moreso to someone who is passingly familiar with the character but not really a “fan”. The voice work by Christopher Meloni, Victor Garber, Tricia Helfer and the rest of the cast is good enough, and the scope feels appropriately epic. The art is not nearly as stylistic as the Wonder Woman animated film, but it fits the theme of the movie pretty well. First Flight moves fast and uses computer animation to great effect, especially in a hyperspace-like sequence. All things considered, if they had just adapted the comic story of Sinestro’s fall instead of using this generic and overly-simplistic story, the film would have been terrific, other flaws notwithstanding. As it stands, fans will enjoy the movie, but won’t be able to take it as a serious exploration of the Green Lantern mythos. Honestly, the episode of Duck Dodgers included on the Blu-Ray disk feels more true to the Green Lantern universe than the movie itself.

Speaking of extras, the disk has quite a few. Four short documentaries covering different aspects of GL, from Sinestro to the Guardians to the idea of the power rings. (And they are short; two of them are only four minutes long.) There is an interview with Goeff Johns, the current scribe of the comic book and the architect of the summer’s Big Event – Blackest Night, which also has a short documentary. There is the aforementioned terrific episode of Duck Dodgers where DD get’s GL’s ring from the dry cleaners by accident and decides to be a hero, as well as five GL-themed episodes of Justice League. Finally, there are short docs on three already-released animated films: Wonder Woman, Batman: Gotham Knights, and Superman: Doomsday; and an intriguing preview of this fall’s Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. This is definitely one of the highlights of the disk.

Essentially, this disk is not a waste of time for casual comics fans, but steadfast Green Lantern fans will be disappointed. It’s fast-paced, and has plenty of extras to round out your GL knowledge. Strangely, there is no behind the scenes feature or commentary track, so that’s a negative. If you just want to watch a superhero story and don’t care much about continuity with the comics it came from, or you really need a Green Lantern fix to tide you over until the live-action film is released, this disk is fine. If you are looking for something a little more intelligent or challenging, this is probably not your film.

Overall grade:

• NonFans: 4 out of 5 power rings
• Fans: 2 out of 5 power rings

 

Bad Writer, No Cookie

I have been sorely remiss in getting my words down on this electronic equivalent of paper. Sure, I can complain that the baby takes up too much time, or that I am having writers block, or any number of other excuses, but the truth is it is my own damn fault. There is no real reason I can’t write in small bursts of ten or fifteen minutes. I just need to write 700 words a day for 100 days to get my first draft done. I have the story in my head. I know how it ends, what it’s about, and who the main characters are. The only thing I have not done is – write it.

Starting tomorrow, 700 words a day, no excuses. Even if they are crap. Just words.

Lets see if this works now.

 

A note on the Shiny New Gay Marriages

Welcome to the club, friends.

Scalzi said it better than I ever could.

 

Clarion

I have aspirations to become a writer.

Well, to be fair, I am a writer – now I want to be a published author.

I had a couple of stories I was working on to send to the Clarion writing program. I was going to try to attend this year, considering it’s right down the road.

After some thought, I don’t think I’m going to try to attend this year. There are many reasons for this. Well, a few, anyway.

Reason, the First: We just had a new baby, and my wife has gone back to work. While I am certain we could get a babysitter for the six weeks of the program, I would feel awful, and it would be difficult to concentrate on the program.

Reason, the Second: Clarion costs about $1200 to attend, not to mention the $40 to apply and the selection process. We would not have the money this year for something that could be considered a luxury. I am a part of a couple of writing groups, so I can and will avail myself of that resource. That costs nothing but my time.

Reason, the Third: One of the things the workshop is interested in is your writing habits, and well, mine suck. I need to buckle down and start some. One hour a day, regardless, for now. One new story a month.

Reason, the Fourth: The stories just are not ready. I’ve learned so much writing them, and revising them, but they are just not good enough. Well, maybe they are – this is, after all, an unpublished author short-story intensive program – but I really feel like I can do so much better.

I guess that’s enough reasons for now. I’m not against going this year, I just don’t think I’m ready. I will be next year, though, and I will make sure of it. In the mean time, I have started work on a graphic novel, and I am going  to focus on that as my main project. Of course, I will work on the stories as well, and maybe if I can get published this year, I won’t HAVE to go to Clarion and spend all that money – I can just be successful all on my own – with the loving help of my wife, friends, and family, without whom I could do less than nothing.

 

Race, the followup

David Anthony Durham is the author of a fantasy novel, Acacia, and two historical novels. He was the initial impetus behind my previous post, Race in Writing in which I explain one of my views on race in direct relation to an interview he did with John Scalzi. (I linked it all on my other post.)

He is also a very cool guy.

David responded to my post with the utmost civility, which, if you read his blog, is pretty much how he does everything. So, because I’m new to WordPress and did not know specifically how to respond to his comment, I am responding here, just in case he pops over again.

David, I’d just like you to know, I really respect your comments and writings. No, I have not yet read your books, because I don’t really read historical fiction, and I generally wait until books are in mass market before I pick them up, unless the author does a tour (hint, hint). I am very excited, though, to read Acacia when it is in paperback, and I have plenty to tide me over until then. (I work at Border’s, so I’ll know. I’ll know.)

Now, the race issue.

People who know me will tell you I generally don’t censor myself. Occasionally, I edit myself, but that’s not really the same thing. So, when I post about something, I usually just say what is on my mind at the time; sometimes because I mean it, sometimes because I just want to see how it sounds so I can make up my mind, and sometimes as musings or consciousness streams. The previous post was some of the first, but mostly the second.

I leave all my writing up, whether good or bad; complimentary or rude; well-thought-out or off-the-cuff. I do this for many reasons, but the main one is Truth. I like people to know me. I like people to like me for my intelligence as well as my idiocy, and I like to see how I’ve evolved over time. When people comment on my posts, I love to see what they have to say, which is why I never delete comments, just like I never delete posts. I also use their comments as a reflection of what I’ve said, and pay attention. If I agree or not, I still appreciate them giving me something to think about, or even just an angry piece of their minds.

Well, David gave me something to think about, and while, as I’ve said, I won’t alter my previous post, I will answer David’s response to it.

David – you are correct. I based my opinion of you not only on the Scalzi interview, but on my ignorance of you, as well as some comments I’d gotten prior to writing that. Now that I’ve read your blog and conversed with you, at least within the confines of same, I know that my initial assumptions were very wrong. I stand by them as a documentation of a moment of space/time, but not as the truth. And while I do not regret what I said (since really, I don’t think I said anything insulting) I do now know it was a poorly informed opinion, and it has since been altered. (Although, if you read the first part of the post, I mentioned my desire to have David as a teacher. I stand by that assertion.)

All of what you put in your comment, David, I had already understood and had put behind me – but since you felt it necessary (and rightly so) to point out my faulty assumptions, I’m now stating what I’d already thought but never said. I do feel as if we would agree on quite a few things, as indeed we already have (even if I did mistakenly call your wife Irish.) I also feel that we would disagree on many things, as people often do, but in a good and constructive way, as people often don’t, as we both seem to be similar conversationalists. (Is that proper grammar? Oh well.)

At any rate, this is longer than I’d meant to make it, but I think I’ve made my point. David civil, Corby misinformed, “issue” past tense.

 

Race in writing

Over on Ficlets, John Scalzi has a very interesting interview with David Anthony Durham, the author of a new fantasy novel, Acacia.  I want to move to Fresno and have this guy for a Creative Writing teacher.

However. I have an issue with characterizing whites who do not make their worlds racially diverse as racists. It’s disingenuous to accuse whites of inadvertent (and not so inadvertent) racism since many whites live in a “white world”, and don’t really know the difference. For example, I live in Southern California. It’s a racially mixed bag. Lots of everything everywhere. So, how many friends of color, or any race other than white do I have? Like, two. Not because I avoid places where races mingle, I just don’t really make friends that easily, and I have to have some commonality to really open up to people (like comics or Star Trek). I’m sure I have plenty of commonality with people of all races, but the things I enjoy; scifi, fantasy, gaming, Rush concerts, etc; don’t pull much of a diverse crowd. It’s a lot of white males, and a fair portion of white females, with a small population of diversity.

So, according to Durham, I am racist, because I don’t live in the brown world he describes, and don’t write about it? He doesn’t live in the white one I am in, so maybe I should be offended that he isn’t just writing white characters. OK, well, of course not; I should be offended if he was JUST writing white characters, because, if you didn’t know, he’s not white. If he was just writing white characters, he would be selling himself short, and just writing to sell instead of writing to tell. (Hey, I like that. I’m using that again somewhere.)

But how many gay friends do I have? Almost all of them. I wonder how many gay people are in Durham’s novel. I wonder how many gay friends he has. (Well, he works at a university, so I’m guessing he has a few.) I wonder how many people are crippled in his book. I wonder if there are any people who have developmental deficiencies. I wonder how many women are in charge of armies, or ships, and are not just from a matriarchal culture, like the Amazons. How many polyamorous groups? And if any of these things are represented, are they negative or positive?

Most of my characters are clear. That’s because in many cases race is not important. Their race is whatever it needs to be to allow the reader to identify with them. I also include many gay characters in my writing, something that most writers don’t, and when they do, it’s generally as twink fairy-boys who flit around and lisp, or are conflicted by their desire for the hot prince who is in love with the hot princess (from a different kingdom, of course.)

You can’t write what you don’t know, and when you do, it just sounds stupid. Durham says that whites are a minority in the world. OK. But they may not be a minority where the story is set. Not having racially mixed characters is not racism, just like not having sexually mixed characters is not homophobia, or polyphobia. (It’s a word … now.) But pointing it out and using it to condemn an otherwise worthy writer, well, that’s just not being fair.

 

A preview of my latest story.

Generally, when George was stuck on a problem, be it work-related or personal, he liked to take walks. It didn’t matter what time of day or night; if he couldn’t work it out, he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he did. It almost always worked, sooner or later. On one occasion, he’d had a bug in one of his applications, and he just couldn’t get it repaired. He’d worked at it from the front, from the back, and he’d even asked that asshole Jenson to give him a hand, which had pretty much told everyone how desperate he was. Nothing seemed to work. So he stepped out into the hallway, down the stairs, out the front door of the office building, turned the corner on 9th street, walked down about two buildings, and saw a Buddhist Ashram that he’d never noticed before. He stepped inside and the head monk, or priest, or whatever they were called made a comment about looking for answers, which George couldn’t dispute. Then he’d given George a book, which he opened, read one sentence, and immediately figured out how to fix his programming error. George gave the monk a twenty dollar bill, kept the book, and ran back to the office. In little less than an hour, he not only had the error fixed, but had integrated two new features into the application that would enhance it for the end users while making it much easier to maintain and troubleshoot. The book sat on his desk now at work, and he’d referred to it now and again, but it had never provided another programming answer. It was a good book, though, and George frequently read it in the bathroom.

 

And … We’re off.

I’ve put up my first story here, with the promise of more to come. Please take a look, and let me know what you think. Thanks.

 

Soon. Soon.

I have a short story just waiting for the edit to come back from a friend. As soon as that happens, it will be available to read here.

I am also working on other projects, to be described when they are closer to fruition.

 

The beginning.

Hello. Hello. <bows>

<slight applause>

My name is Corby. I will be presenting to you, whomever you might be, my views on writing, my successes and failures in publishing, and various and sundry writing tools. Also, I will talk about authors whose books and stories I am enjoying, and even those I did not.

<scattered applause, a few sighs, a grunt of “hear, hear”>

So, I now bid you Adieu. Thank you for your time, and goodbye.

<Walks off stage to loud applause>