If the Green Lantern film that comes out this summer is popular, much of that will be due to the winning screen presence of Ryan Reynolds. That'll get the normals in. The fans, though - the ones who can rattle off the names and sectors of the Green Lantern Corps without consulting the DC wikia are still awaiting confirmation that the movie will pay more than lip service to the immense multiverse that is the GL mythology.
There will undoubtedly be some who feel the Hollywood version wimps out, and for them DC Animated offers this consolation prize: a hardcore deep-dive into the heart of the mythos.
Perhaps baffling to a newbie, Green Lantern: Emerald Knights is actually five "Tales of the Green Lantern Corps" stories with a framing device. It is set in a continuity that is somewhere between Volume 3 and Volume 4. And the look is 100% new.
We open with the life force that is Krona escaping from the Antimatter Universe and slicing up Lanterns as he does it. The Guardians recognize that an evacuation of Oa is in order. This greatly effects the training of the spritely, just-arrived "kid sister" noob Arisia. So in between powering up their rings, flying to safety and setting up observation posts around a dimension-portal sun Hal Jordan (and Sinestro) regale Arisia with stories.
The five short films are all taken from existent GL comics, but with some tweaks. A name change here, some plot twists there, but for fans of the classics, it is intense.
How did Kilowog (voiced by Henry Rollins) get to be such a badass? What secrets is Laira keeping? From where does Abin Sur's nobility spring? And did you ever hear the story of the Lantern known as Mogo?
Yes, friends, it is true. Alan Moore's famous gem of a micro-comic "Mogo Doesn't Socialized" is featured in this animated film and woe be to the person who tells him. Though even a snake-charming warlock curmudgeon like him ought to get a kick out of Rowdy Roddy Piper voicing Bolphunga the Unrelenting.
As a whole, I'm not certain Emerald Knights actually gels as satisfying storytelling, but visually this is a whole new ballgame for DC Animated.
Taking some of the best cues of anime, Emerald Knights exploits the best science-fiction elements of the "Tales," as well as the extreme, bright colors that are currently spilling out of today's GL comics.
The space ships and otherworldly settings are richly detailed, bathed in colors and rendered in ways both hyper-real and then (for a flash) impressionistic. The battles (of which there are a tremendous amount) are painted in big strokes, reaching levels of near abstract expressionism. When the "first Lantern" Avra discovers how the power of Will can destroy a fleet of enemy ships with light, it is a glorious visual symphony. Seeing Kilowog save Tomar-Re from space quicksand, escape an erupting volcano or take on an armory of purple-spewing laser guns made my eyes giddy. I simply don't know what people who don't know how modern Green Lantern comics look like are going to react to this.
Those who want to play "spot-the-Lantern" better set aside some major time with their pause buttons now. All the favorites and some seen-em-once creatures show up - eyeballs, ameboids, flat purple squares, you name it. Man, it is some weird sh*t.
I love that the DC Animated films are profitable enough that they have zero interest in infantilizing the viewer, or even caring about making something for a curious consumer. This is clearly not the place to go to first learn about the Corps. Unless, perhaps being thrown into the deep end like this, it may be a way to flash-test if someone might ultimately get into it? Abin Sur would call it destiny, Sinestro would call it luck..I guess it all depends on if the ring calls to you.
