Playstation Moves, Mac gets Steamed, Superman flies again, and Activision does what Atari used to do.

Direct Link: Powetcast Episode 29: Infinity Wardfare

Audio Netcast Details
Subscribe to the Powetcast on iTunes

(What do you think about the current Activision dustup? Is anyone in the right? Leave a comment below!)

Show notes after the jump!

Panel

• Sean “No. 1 JMS Fan” Corse


• Zac “Big lob” Shipley


• aDam “vs. Capcom” Gardner


• Crazy “DLC Not Available” Jaco
  

News

• RIP Corey Haim




• Corey Haim @ IMDB


• Peter Graves @ IMDB


• Tron: Legacy Trailer


• GDC 2010: PS3 motion controller officially dubbed “PlayStation Move”, Sony shows off Not-Wii-Sports (Sports Champions), SOCOM, & more.




• Ars’ Impressions More Impressions with SOCOM 4




• Smallville confirmed for a TENTH SEASON. WHY???


• Nolan confirms Superman, Batman 3 might be his last
  (”Man of Steel” title and Brainiac as villains are just rumors, no word on director)


• JMS to take over writing duties for Superman (#700), Wonder Woman (#600)


• Pikachu Coloured Pichu for Pokemon Pearl/Diamond/Platinum available now


• MattyCollector suggests paying shipping multiple times


• Steam comes to Mac, Valve support for PS3 still nonexistent! (also Portal 2 confirmed)




• “We are treating the Mac as a tier-1 platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on Windows, Mac, and the Xbox 360.”




• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen DLC Debacle (link to front page article)




• Content no longer available on XBox Live


• Still available on the PlayStation Store for now

Roundtable

• In the digital age, how much do “old media” publishers matter?




• Activision admitted that they made a mistake not buying Harmonix


• …but didn’t seem to learn their lesson! Infinity Ward debacle:




• Zampella and West from Infinity Ward fired by Activision for “insubordination”


• Zampella and West countersue (fired RIGHT before they were supposed to get paid for MW2)


• Activision seeking internal documents of creation of new company (w/EA?)


• Activision’s statement about the lawsuit

Pimpin’

• New Videos Every Wednesday (or your money back)




• KEEP PLAYING: Rewind – Comix Zone (last week)


• Keep Playing: Borderlands (this week)


• Famicom Dojo: Season 2 – What Nintendon’t (next week)




• Powet Alphabet




• (J is for JJ, Joss, and Judd, K is for Kinnikuman)


• (L is for ?, M is for ?)




• PAX East 2010

This is your monthly reminder, collectors! On sale today is MOTUC Moss Man. Both versions of Moss Man will be on sale, but I think the version with the flocked ears will be limited in quantity since those were from before the running change to remove the flock from the ears as fans demanded. Reissue Stratos will also be available for sale. MOTUC collectors finally get a fairly light month with just that figure and reissue.

Also on sale will be DCUC Wave 12 as a set. This is the wave with Darksied as the Collect ‘n Connect figure. The Dark Knight Movie Masters Scarecrow is also up for purchase.

Pictures of each of the products after the jump.

          
Flocked Ears:
    
Unflocked Ears:
    

Back from an amazing trip to Green Lantern town a.k.a. New Orleans!! Ryan IS Hal. And Mark Strong is going to be a brilliant Sinestro.

We’ve known for some time that Ryan Reynolds has been cast as Hal Jordan in the forthcoming Green Lantern movie, and other casting notes have surfaced for secondary character over the last few weeks. Now with shooting mere weeks away in the Big Easy, the big question for who would play Sinestro is answered: British actor Mark Strong .
In this film the villain will be Hector Hammond, played by Peter Sarsgaard. Sinestro will play a supporting role in the story, as Hal’s mentor as he eases into his role as Earth’s Green Lantern. DC and Warner Bros want GL to be a major franchise not unlike Batman or Iron Man, so they’re going to save Sinestro as a villain for a later movie.
And now that I typed that, I can see Green Lantern going exactly in the direction of the Iron Man movie. Not a bad thing.

The latest issue of Toyfare, 152, came out yesterday with lots of teasers and announcements as a precursor to this weekend’s New York Toy Fair. Word is racing across the internet that among the announcements was a MOTUC vs DCUC Comic 2-pack exclusive to Toys ‘R Us. The pack will reportedly come with DC Comics Presents #47 where Superman was pitted against the most powerful man in the universe. Pictures of prototypes for a (DC) comic accurate He-Man were leaked on ebay holding the mystery sword and shield accessories shown at the Gallery 88 art show. I’ve included the prototype photos below. The Superman to be included has been said will be the same as that included in the Gotham 5-pack

This is huge news because it will mean the first time any MOTUC figure will be released at retail. This 2-pack is supposedly the first of several. It would appear that there will be a Skeletor 2-pack, but not with whom he might come. Lets hope drums up more interest in He-Man and MOTUC so Mattel will increase their production numbers more and get these figures out to fans that want to buy them but refuse to get in line for Mattel’s shady subscription service.

     

As you can see above, the rare variant cover of Siege #3 has been revealed. Art by J. Scott Campbell. As mentioned in the PowetCast, the controversy surrounding this book is interesting. Marvel is giving one of these variant books for every 50 DC Blackest Night tie-in covers they receive. Not the book, mind you, just the ripped off covers. The specific books listed were part of a Blackest Night promotion where retailers had to order a certain number of each issue in order to get a bag of Lantern rings that are the focus of DC’s crossover. That would make this variant cover worth over a $100 out of the gate, if each of those DC books were $2 a piece.

This move seems to have upset many from all sides. It will be interesting to watch what these books go for on ebay once they are out.

Thanks to DeadpoolBugle for the news.

One of the many ways one becomes a geek is by absorbing the minutiae and esoterica of any particular medium. Comic books are perfect for this, with multiple titles and weekly stories that span months and even years. But what happens when you become a lifetime comic book geek? Then you have to keep track of stories that span generations.

Blackest Night, DC’s most recent (and most recently successful) crossover event, is the ultimate fan wank for longtime readers of the DCU. Death may be a revolving door in comic books, but for some 2nd and 3rd string characters it is rather more permanent. Blackest Night brings back nearly every “permanently” deceased character for the last 20+ years since 1986, and provides and explanation for why the first-stringers can’t seem to stay dead.

Find out how this great strength of story for long-time fans is also this event’s greatest weakness, and what we can come to expect from a universe where the near-absolute authority of the Green Lanterns seems to be drawing to a close.

Prophecies

The title comes from the first line of the Green Lantern oath, “In brightest day, in blackest night…”, that all Lanterns must say before powering up their uber-powerful rings. (Don’t know what a Green Lantern is? Oh boy, you’re in trouble! Our Y article about “Yellow Lanterns” should fill you in just nicely.) Prophecies, both new and in reference to material decades old, have become the modus operandi of the Green Lantern titles ever since Geoff Johns brought Hal Jordan back from the dead (WHAT DID I TELL YOU!?). In a 1986 Green Lantern annual, one such prophecy told to Abin Sur about the end of the Green Lantern Corps nearly came to fruition in 2007’s Sinestro Corps War event, where Ranx the Sentient City returned to detonate a bomb at the heart of Mogo — a sentient planet and Green Lantern.

Blackest Night is a much newer prophecy, but retconned as an ancient Revelations-like chapter in the Book of OA, raising an otherwise innocuous statement to great prominence that would become the ultimate expression of the “emotional spectrum”, first mentioned in 2004’s Green Lantern: Rebirth story. The Blackest Night tells of the inhabitants of our the first “dark matter” inhabitants of this universe before their was light rising up against all life; only the Green Lanterns and its six sister Corps would be able to stand in their way.

Rise of the Black Lanterns

Unlike the other Corps, however, the Black Lanterns are populated by the dead. Not just any dead: specifically those to whom the living still have strong emotional ties. The Black Lantern power rings reanimate (and make nearly invincible) the bodies of deceased heroes and civilians alike to provoke a stark emotional response from their targets; at the peak of this response the Black Lanterns rip their victim’s heart out and “eat” the emotion. The worst part? The newly deceased become great candidates to be new Black Lanterns! As the living lose, their opponents become ever stronger.

This makes the story unique on several levels.

First, it tells (at least in short form) the stories of the dead who have come back to haunt the living, and the circumstances around their deaths as the Black Lantern rings “download” the memories of the person they are about to welcome into the Corps. How the character feels about this death plays into the vignette told through the heroes the newly-minted Lantern has come back to torment. This setup brings a sense of accountability and consequence for older readers, as well as provides a quick history lesson for newer readers.

Second, it provides concise character pieces for the heroes who usually, but not always, survive the encounter. For some, it provides a depth where little existed before. For others, a new dimension to their personalities is uncovered. All of them must fight against their emotions and face feelings of blame, loss, self-doubt, and guilt surrounding the deaths of their loved ones.

Last, and certainly not least, it provides an in-universe explanation for why so many of the top-tier heroes seem to cheat death time and again. We all know the real reason, of course, but making a story based on the realities of comic book publishing is nothing short of a stroke of genius. Superman? Barry Allen? Wonder woman? Hal Jordan and Oliver Queen? At the time, they died (or close enough to it) to make way for a new generation and increase sales. But now? It’s for a “reason”.

Nekron

That reason is a third-string bad guy, gatekeeper to the realm of the dead. Nekron has faced both Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner in the long history of the Green Lantern books, but was always beaten back. Now we find out that since the events of the Crisis of Infinite Earths, starting with the apparent death of Flash Barry Allen, Nekron has been running a long game to claim the realm of the living as his own, and destroy “Light” forever.

William Hand, another old Green Lantern villain, emerged as Nekron’s right-hand (haha) man, bringing out the conditions needed to allow Nekron entry into the realm of the living once again — this time to rule it forever.

As the final issues of Blackest Night approach, Nekron and the Black Lantern power battery have risen from the paved-over ashes of Coast City (destroyed by Hank Henshaw/the Cyborg Superman and Mongul during 1993’s Reign of Supermen storyline); Xanshi, a planet that Green Lantern John Stewart feels responsible for allowing to be destroyed, has been reanimated like Mogo and is on its way to Earth. With millions and billions of dead, reanimated Black Lanterns gathering for a final assault on all life, how will our heroes prevail when the mightiest (and most-resurrected among them) can not be counted among this Corps’ members?

(This article at Again With the Comics does a much better job explaining Nekron’s many appearances, and why he was an “obvious” shoe-in to be the major villain of this storyline.)

The White Light of Creation

Many of the mysteries of the Black Lanterns were released slowly in the build-up to and during the course of this event. The accumulated knowledge above was collected over the course of months. One remaining mystery is the White Light of Creation, first mentioned by the mysterious Indigo Tribe. This tribe themselves was formed in response to a prophecy, and claim Abin Sur as their savior and prophet — also one of the remainin mysteries in this story. So far the only beings that seems capable of naturally harnessing this power has been the current Dove of Hawk and Dove fame. The current Dove’s predecessor was also the only one that the Black Lanterns were unable to resurrect because he was “at peace”. The current Dove is able to sever the connection of the Black rings to those they possess — a power that has only been demonstrated elsewhere by a Green Lantern pairing with another of the emotional spectrum.

So how will our heroes prevail? Anyone with a basic knowledge of electromagnetism knows that the visible spectrum of light seen altogether appears white. The answer, then, is clearly going to be a Mighty-Morphin’-Power-Rangers-style White Lantern. Given his exposure to nearly every other type of ring, and personal connections to the other Corps (Sinestro with his Yellow lanterns in the Sinestro Corps, Carol Ferris as the premiere Star Sapphire, Ganthet as leader of the Blue Lantern Corps), clearly the man for the job is Hal Jordan.

Or maybe Sodam Yat. Or Dove. I haven’t decided yet.

Too much for new readers?

Because it’s so steeped in history, there’s a good chance that most of what happens will mean nothing to the average reader trying to get a toe-hold into this event. Learning about the history of existing characters might be enough to overcome this gap in knowledge, but are the stories compelling enough?

I had to ask myself that question when reading the R.E.B.E.L.S. tie-in book. I knew nothing of Brainiac 2 or the history of the book. The Black Lantern who appeared was the mother of Brainiac 2’s son (whom he murdered himself). I can’t tell if it was the uninteresting characters or the uninteresting premise, but it was the first glimpse I got into what it must be for the man-on-the street to walk into a comic store and try to make heads or tails of these stories.

Hopefully the previous 3-part minis — Batman, Teen Titans, Superman, Flash, and Wonder Woman — will provide enough of a background to get a toe-hold. If you feel lost, try to track down these books first before reading the main book or any of the other tie-ins. Until recently, this event was also fairly crossover-light, with nearly every installment shedding some new important insight as to the nature of the Black Lanterns and how they will eventually be stopped. I also hope that this article will provide a framework to begin to understand why this is one of the greatest comic book events of all time, inadvertently 25 years in the making!

What comes to mind when you think of the DC Animated Universe? Batman? Superman? Justice League? Well that’s just the boring junk that’s based on a comic! The real deal is the spinoff of a spinoff that is “The Zeta Project”! A love story about a robot who befriends a teenage girl with a rebellious spirit who, with access to unlimited cash, runs across the country escaping the feds.

The Zeta Project is a spinoff of Batman Beyond, and because of this the first appearance of the main character of Zeta was in a Batman Beyond episode named simply “Zeta”. In this episode, Terry ends up in the middle of a manhunt between Government agents and an artificial intelligence robot named Zeta. Batman quickly discovers the robot’s motivations to be pure. Zeta’s assignment was to kill an innocent man, and this caused him to rebel against his programming which he considered wrong. To the Government, a robot which no longer follows it’s orders is assumed to be compromised, and from this misunderstanding comes our main plot.

The original ending of this episode was to have the robot be destroyed, but this decision was ultimately abandoned in favour of the kind of happier ending that Kids WB was encouraging at the time, and it’s a good thing too, because what was meant to be a one shot character gave rise to a great show with it’s own rich mythology.

The show’s pitch, “like the Fugitive, but with a robot”, was something the network agreed to instantly. Other details took some work to figure out. While lots of shows on at the time, such as Batman, Superman and Batman Beyond, had a great appeal to older audiences, there was at the time a strong push to make cartoons aimed primarily at the bankable 6-11 year old age group. Pressures existed at the time to make Batman Beyond, which was a dark a broody type show, take place more during the day, in the high school, and more all around kid friendly. There was also interest in shows which would attract more of a female audience.

While The Zeta Project was first envisioned as an even darker, edgier show than Batman Beyond, this wasn’t what the people at Kids WB were going for. The original idea was to have a killer robot going against his programming, but that had his killer edge sneak through from time to time. Needless to say, this is not the show that was ultimately made. As cool as that may have been, what did end up being made was a great show on it’s own, though understandably more kid friendly than it’s predecessors.

Finally The Zeta Project was took place in a bright vibrant futuristic world both similar to the world created in Batman Beyond but at the same time having a completely different tone. Zeta himself gets a huge face lift, going from a robot that doesn’t even have anything resembling a head to a very humanoid and more relatable character. His voice is similarly changed from a metallic kind of creepy sound to a soft spoken unthreatening tone. Zeta, now also going by the hipper name “Zee”, has all kinds of cool tricks up his sleave! Of course he’s a killer robot, so he has all the sweet weapons, but he’s also got Inspector Gadget style extending arms and best of all, a holographic emitter which allows him to alter his appearance at will. Naturally this gives rise to the “Mission Impossible Effect” where you never really know who’s who. We are constantly presented with scenes beginning with the appearance of a previously unseen character, often holding a large object roughly the size of a 15 year old girl who we then discover is actually Zee and his partner in crime.

Rosalie Rowan, or just Ro for short, is Zee’s trustee sidekick. They’re a couple of misfits on the run trying to find their families. When we’re first introduced to the spunky Ro she’s a homeless orphan without a friend in the world. Good thing she ran into a robot with unlimited creds. (That’s money in the Zeta Project world) Her character has a great personality, with a lot of sass and wit, and is the perfect contrast to Zee’s robotic personality, and a perfect guide to his quest to become more human. Ro’s trying to find her real family, and Zeta is on a similar quest. He’s looking for his creator, who we later learn is a Doctor Selig, and although he often has brief encounters with him, they always fail to reconnect.

But just having two people looking for their families isn’t that compelling without having someone chasing them! As in the original Batman Beyond episode, Zeta continues to be chased by Agent Bennett of the NSA and his cronies. Whenever he reveals himself or accessing confidential information, the NSA gets back on his trail. As a bizarre tie in to the rest of the DC universe one of these agents is Agent West. West shares a last name with Wally West, the Flash, and is even voiced by Michael Rosenbaum, voice of the Flash in Justice League. Still, Agent West is in no way super, and is a source of endless comic relief.

The show features a great mix of individual single episode stories mixed with an overall story and continuity that’s fitting with other DC animated universe shows. Running for only 2 seasons, a total of 26 episodes, there isn’t much of a conclusion as the show was canceled abruptly before it’s time. Some elements do, however, get some semblance of closure. The main issue we’re facing for Zeta is him trying to find out why he is like he is, and in doing so he does learn that Dr. Selig put a conscience in his programming. While Zeta is still unable to have a heart to heart with Selig, who appears to die, it is insinuated in a cliffhanger without a followup that he never actually died at all. Agent Bennett, always convinced of Zeta’s guilt is also privy to this information about Zeta’s conscience. Since this happens in the last episode occurring chronologically as the story goes, we again never really get to see if that will affect the dynamic of Agent Bennett trying to catch Zeta.

Ro’s quest for her family does find some limited success. She finds some peace with her adoptive family in Hicksburg, though ultimately decides to keep going and looking for her real family, knowing they’ll always be there for her. She also, after a red herring by an unscrupulous talk show, finally is reunited with her real brother Casey. Still, while being reunited with her parents is something that never pans out, both her and Zee find true friendship and family in each other in the bond they form throughout their travels.

Throughout the series there are many character that come and go, but none more often than the wonderfully irritating Bucky. This kid genious invents a remote which can control any machine, even Zeta, and high jynx ensues. In numerous appearances Bucky is always annoying but ultimately develops a good friendship with Zeta and Ro.

The cast of the Zeta Project is totally solid. The main man Zeta himself is played by the great Diedrich Bader, best known for the role of Oswald in the Drew Carrey show, he gained his place in popular culture playing Rex, the creator of Rex Kwon Do, in the hit movie Napoleon Dynamite. Playing a robot isn’t easy, and here we have an actor who like actors such as Brent Spiner before him, is capable of a great amount of emotional range, but has to tone it down and give a fairly dead pan performance to be convincing as a robot.

Julie Nathanson, who plays Ro, really brings the character to life. She really is responsible for making that character great. Though Julie originally came in to audition for a role in Static Shock, she was asked to read for this character, and then got the part. With her great performance in this show I was anxious to follow her career in more shows, though I still haven’t seen her in much outside of that one Animal Crossing commercial…

Michael Rosenbaum also needs mentioning, as the great Agent West. Kurtwood Smith, also known as the Dad from that 70s show or the guy from Robocop, plays Agent Bennet and also on the team is Lauren Tom, Amy from Futurama and of course Terry’s girlfriend Dana from Batman Beyond.

The show also featured some pretty cool guest stars! The Lawrence brothers showed up in “Eye of the Storm” to fight tornadoes. Well actually it was just older brother Joey and youngest brother Andy. I guess Matthew wasn’t down with twister busting. Geek favourite Wil Wheaton also makes an appearance. In “The Wrong Morph”, Wil plays Kevin, a physically disabled boy who is accused of stealing a device capable of making him walk.

As with many spinoffs came the opportunity for crossovers. In the Batman Beyond episode “Countdown” and the Zeta Project episode “Shadows” Zeta and Ro go to Gotham City. The art style of the Batman Beyond episode is fantastic, as we see Zeta Project designs for Zeta and Ro adapted to the style of Batman Beyond and Gotham city creating subtle but noticeable differences while still having the characters look like themselves. Here Zeta appears as he does in the Zeta Project, not like he did back in his first appearance on Batman Beyond. Both of these crossover episodes aired on the same day back in April 2001. So much to say, if you’re a hardcore Batman Beyond fan, you’ll have to watch his Zeta Project episode to get the whole story!

To date, half the series has been released on DVD. Season 1’s 12 episode are gathered in this first fairly inexpensive 2 disc set. The two episodes of Batman Beyond in which Zeta appears, “Zeta” and “Countdown” are also included, though it’s hard to imagine a hardcore Zeta Project fan not also being a Batman Beyond fan. Also included is a very cool featurette, “The Making of Zeta”, which talks to a bunch of people involved with the show and gives a great deal of backstory. Also shown throughout this feature are various storyboards and pieces of production art for the show. Here’s hoping sales for the first season were enough to encourage a second season release.

Ultimately, the Zeta Project was just a great show. Many fans may have passed it up due to it’s childish exterior, and while it truly is aimed at a younger audience, the quality of the show does not suffer for this, but instead we get a different approach to a show by the people responsible for bringing us some of our favourites like Batman, Batman Beyond, Superman and Justice League. If you’re looking for something fun, quick and easy to watch, you can’t go wrong with checking out The Zeta Project.

For more on the Zeta Project, check out:
My old Zeta Project web page “Ground Wire” with hundreds of screen caps
The Zeta Project at the World’s Finest
The Zeta Project at the Internet Movie Database
The Zeta Project at the DCAU Wiki
Julie Nathanson’s official web site

It appears Hawkman is being considered as a next step for WB to get some serious comic movie cash before the gravy train runs out and people start wanting Westerns or something. Could be cool move, as there isn’t a lot of guys like him on screen now, and his abilities could make for some good visual effects sequences.

This is a real wild card though, since Hawkman has such a diverse history, they’re is no telling if he’ll be a reincarnated Egyptian or a cop from the planet Thanagar. Also will the wings be real or fake? Odds are if he makes it into a movie he’ll have to put on a shirt.

Hawkman will appear in live action form in Smallville next month, played by Michael Shanks. DC could be testing the waters, but then I think the people still watching Smallville at this point are a poor sample for future success.

Warner Bros has had a lot of false starts in recent years, and it seems they’re thinking outside the bat. Green Lantern is already a sure thing with shooting expected next year for a 2011 release. What could come after this for DC? Taylor Swift Supergirl?

Who should play Hawkman in the movie? Leave a comment!

The story of the Yellow Lanterns is the story of how a slew of plot devices and some incidental uses of color eventually coalesced over the course of decades and countless comic book writers into the Sinestro Corps and the War of Light.

The Green Lantern Corps

The Green Lantern Corps is an intergalactic police force charged with upholding order and meting out justice in the universe. Each corps member patrols one of an arbitrary 3600 sectors of space, armed with “the mightiest weapon in the universe”: an unassuming green ring which channels power from their headquarters on OA via small, person-sized lanterns. (It’s not just a clever name!) The rings create constructs out of pure (green) energy, the complexity and effectiveness of which are limited only by the ring-bearer’s will. Mostly.

Unlimited power is a practical concern in any society — much less in comic books that need to remain interesting week after week, and decade after decade (see: Superman). In order to curb this power, a ring candidate must demonstrate a formidable will, and an extraordinary power to “overcome fear”. (Remember that.) Also, quite bizarrely, the rings were originally ineffectual against anything that was the color yellow. The explanation for why this is has varied over the decades since the original concept for the GL Corps, but the most basic is that it was a measure of control put in place by the Guardians of the Universe so that the tragedy of the Manhunters (not to be confused with the Martian Manhunters) would not be repeated. It is for this reason that the Green Lantern Corps is made up of only sentient, living creatures. However, life creates all of the problems with order and perfection the Guardians have dedicated themselves to eliminate. Life brings chaos and emotion. Emotion clouds reason and logic (Remember that, too.)

The Yellow Ring

Eventually, a young upstart from Earth by the name of Hal Jordan was called to protect Sector 2814. Arguably the greatest Green Lantern of this time was a pinkish-purple guy named Sinestro, who took to mentoring the young Jordan. It didn’t take long for Jordan to see the flaws in the Guardians’ perfect society, the actions and philosophy of Sinestro being a prime example. (Right, as if the name didn’t give it away!) Eventually Sinestro was outed from the Corps, but — not being one to let things go — soon began plotting his revenge.

Remember that weakness to yellow? What better way to fight the Green Lanterns than someone with intimate knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses. It was bad enough that 3600 of the most powerful beings the universe has ever known could be felled by a banana peel, but what if you could actively fight them with a Yellow power ring? Sinestro was able to obtain this ring from the Qwardians, fascist versions of the Guardians from the anti-matter version of our universe. (It feels so silly to say that out loud.) This lead to the Lanterns having to learn how to defeat Sinestro (and all dangerous, yellow things) indirectly, since brute force would not work.

Since then, the yellow ring has been passed around by one former Green Lantern or another who has had a beef with the Guardians and their Corps — notably with notorious hothead Guy Gardner during the early days of “what do we do with him now that Hal Jordan is back” days culminating in the most-excellent Guy Gardner: Warrior. Despite these seemingly endless phases, the yellow ring always ultimately ends up in Sinetro’s hands.

That is until…

Parallax

Every hero dies; Superman is no exception. Also, seemingly without exception, they always seem to come back, sometimes only to die again. (Remember that along with the other two things. This is important!) In fighting one of the four men who stepped in claiming to either be Superman, or simply honoring his legacy, Hal Jordan’s home of Coast City was destroyed by the monstrous pirate-turned-dictator Mongul. (Did I also mention he was yellow?) Enraged, and in a formidable show of will, Jordan beats Mongul within micrometers of his life — despite the yellow impurity. When the Guardians refuse to help Hal bring his city back, he goes on a rampage of his own that ends at the Central Power Battery, mortally wounding (or just regular wounding) all of the fellow Lanterns who stood in his way. Once there, he enters it to absorb its power directly. What came out was Parallax.

As Parallax, Jordan one-ups the Manhunters and erases all of space and time during the events of Zero Hour in order to recreate it “perfectly”, and succeed where he felt the Guardians had failed. He is stopped by many heroes, including his successor Kyle Rayner. In order to prevent Hal from repeating his cosmic genocide, he destroys the Central Battery, but also many of the limitations that went with it — including the yellow impurity.

Rebirth

Hal eventually attempted to redeem himself by giving up his life and power by reigniting Earth’s sun after it is ravaged by an interstellar sun-eater during the events of Final Night. After a brief (but fascinating) stint as the host for the Spectre, Hal Jordan returns to the land of the living to fight Parallax.

What?

Hal Jordan’s crimes left an indelible taint quite literally on his soul, and so was the reason he joined with the Spectre. Even his return to life would not remove that taint, so it was necessary from a story perspective to personify Parallax as a separate entity and scapegoat upon which to blame all of Hal’s actions. Parallax is an elemental being, the embodiment of fear, who was trapped long ago by the Guardians of the Universe inside the Central Power battery. The blow to Jordan’s psyche after the destruction of Coast City was enough for Parallax to worm its way into Jordan’s mind, tricking him into freeing it and serving as its host — much like the Spectre. Did I mention that Parallax is yellow?

The Green Lanterns apparently also have their own avatar, Ion. That was the name Kyle Rayner called himself when he absorbed what remained of the Jordan’s Parallax power from when he reignited Earth’s sun. It was too much for one man to contain, and apparently with good reason. Ion now resides within Green Lantern Sodam Yat from the planet Daxam. Or, at least, it did before Sodam seemed to give his own life to turn his world’s red sun yellow — giving them powers like those of Kryptonians and Superman. Why do this? To allow his oppressed people to fend off the powerful…

Sinestro Corps

Did I mention that in his rampage to the Central Power Battery, Hal killed Sinestro? Oh yes, snapped his neck. Did I also mention that Hal spent quite a bit of time in the afterlife with Sinestro? No? Did I also mention that when Hal came back, Sinestro did too as the new vessel for Parallax? Hm. Those are very important, true facts.

Being much more amenable to the ways of Parallax, Sinestro returned to Qward to enslave his former masters to create his own yellow rings for a fear-based corps he egotistically called The Sinestro Corps. The Sinestro Corps will always be the Sinestro Corps, even when temporarily usurped by Mongul (son of the original Mongul who destroyed Coast City), who had decided to make Daxam his new Warworld. Unfortunately for Sinestro, the release of Parallax meant no more yellow impurity, but since emotions — especially fear — can sap a Green Lantern’s will, they are still a formidable threat.

The tale of the creation of the Sinestro Corps was told in a 2007 event of the same name, tying together elements of the destruction of Coast City, the new-resurrected Anti-Monitor (from the events of the previous year’s Infinite Crisis). The final pages of this saga told of a prophecy hidden by the Guardians, a war of light between seven corps against an eighth, of which the creation of the Sinestro Corps would be the first sign. This event would be known as…

Blackest Night

Taken from a line in the Green Lantern oath: “In brightest day, in blackest night, not evil shall escape my sight”, the prophecy tells of of the emergence of seven corps that would battle powers of darkness and anti-life for the fate of the universe itself:

The Red wrath of Rage, born on the planet Ysmault to Atrocitus — a Green Lantern villain whose home was destroyed when the Manhunters exterminated Sector 666. He had plenty of reason to hate the Guardians, and thus harbored sufficient rage for the Red Power Battery to be born. Red Lanterns have their hearts and blood replaced by rage… and a red plasma against which few other lanterns are impervious.

The Orange aura of Avarice that would only be controlled by a single person. No corps exist for this lantern as such — each member is a construct of a being who attempted to claim the orange light and failed. For billions of years it remained hidden away in the Vega sector, previously (an inexplicably) a no-fly zone for Green Lanterns, and as such was a great place for criminals to congregate and plan their dirty deeds. Larfleeze, owner of the Orange Power Battery, was promised peace if he turned over Parallax. That promise was eventually broken by the Guardians, and so Larfleeze left the Vega system on a quest to obtain all other power batteries.

The Yellow light of Fear has been called the opposite number of will, and so exists in Sector -1 in the Anti-matter universe, where the Qwardians are slaves that serve the Sinestro Corps. Unfortunately for them, their avatar is once again imprisoned on OA in the Central Power Battery. Parallax’s presence means the yellow impurity has returned, but now any Lantern who can completely overcome fear can overcome this problem. The new recruits, however…

The Green glow of Will represents the emergence of the first life forms of the universe, where inert matter made itself move and be alive. As the pages of Blackest Night unfold, we begin to discover that the Guardian’s control over this elemental force is a lie. So far they claim it is without emotion — sitting in the center of the emotional spectrum, this seems to be true. So what does this mean?

The Blue light of Hope Ganthet, originally the sole survivor of Hal Jordan’s deadly rampage, and fellow Guardian Sayd, one of the newly created female Guardians when Kyle Rayner helped recreate the planet he had destroyed, were exiled from their brethren for daring to embrace emotions. (Sure it wasn’t Ganthet’s ponytail?) They found the Blue Power Battery on Odym, a planet that has never known death. Their corps is only three members strong, but very powerful. A Blue Lantern can keep a Green Lantern’s ring charged beyond maximum capacity, but cannot access any of its own power without the Green Lantern presence. Similarly, they can drain the power from a Yellow Ring, or absorb the toxic miasma emitted by Red Lanterns. Recently, they have been shown to ease the immense hunger that the power of the Orange light creates in its host.

The secretive Indigo light of Compassion is protected by a tribe who hails Abin Sur — Hal Jordan’s predcessor — as their prophet. True compassion is among the rarest of all known emotions, and so the number of the Indigo Tribe are few. They are able to use and mimic the power of any lantern with which they come into contact, often with potentially-devastating effect. It is through them that the Blackest Night may be won.

The Violet power of Love was finally crystallized by the Star Sapphires, lead by the original female counterparts of the Guardians of the Universe. The Star Sapphire has been a villain of the Green Lanterns (Hal Jordan in specific), but — like the Yellow rings of Qward — has masterd a portion of the emotional spectrum. Since, like the Red light, it is on the edge of this spectrum, this “good” light can be easy perverted and become all-consuming. Their central battery is powered by the crystallized bodies of two lovers, representing the undying bond of love between them. Implications during the events of Blackest Night is that these are the original Egyptian bodies of Hawkman and Hawkgirl, who became the first victims of…

The Black Lanterns, devoid of light and life, claim to represent the true order that the Guardians seek. Before the emotional spectrum “intruded” into the universe, it was a peaceful place. Life makes things terrible for the land of the dead, and so now the dead rise. The Black Power Battery formed around the twice-freshened corpse of the Anti-Monitor (after the events of the Sinestro Corps War). The rings seek out those who have died that still have emotional ties to the living, and then uses those ties to have the living reach an emotional peak, where the Black Lantern will literally feast on their hearts. Of course, this means that the newly-deceased has become a wonderful candidate for the Black Lantern Corps.

This event is still ongoing with just two months to go! It is easily one of the best crossover events I have ever read. Longtime fans of Green Lantern (and DC in general) will appreciate the long memory of the writers, who have found a way to tie together seemingly worthless old villains, help us remember the stories of the past, and also address why death seems to be a revolving door in comic book stories.

One of the greatest events in comic book history owes its existence to a story that seemed destined to be told: that of the Yellow Lanterns.

(Also, there is a guy called “Yellow Lantern”, but I really don’t want to talk about it…)

Check out the chaos!

Audio Netcast Details
Subscribe to the Powetcast on iTunes
Direct Link: Powetcast Episode 23: Turtle Fever

(Are there any upcoming remakes that are turning your head? Leave a comment below!)

Show notes after the jump!

Panel

• Sean “Online Gamer” Corse
• Zac “Extreme Fever” Shipley
• aDam “Sick of Waggle” Gardner
• Logan “Call of New Mooney: Modern Warewolf 2″ Roop
• Crazy “Mutant Ninja” Jaco

News

• Dollhouse canceled
• EA closes down Pandemic Studios
• Happy birthday, Xbox 360!
• Jackass 3D in 2010?
• OPTIMUS PRIME QUITS!
• Animated Arcee and Cybertron mode Ratchet TRU Exclusives
• MattyCollector releases for November (Scareglow, He-Man rerelease)

Roundtable

• Remakes, Wiimakes, and sequels
• Is this endless parade of originality the death knell of entertainment?
• http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/11/16/only-two-of-the-top-30-grossing-films-of-this-decade-are-original/
• Does medium-jumping count?  Is making a movie from a book, comic, or video game a bad thing?
• http://www.empireonline.com/news/feed.asp?NID=25001

Cool Beans

TV

• Turtles Forever

Games

• Peggle Nights
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Everyone (but Sean(and zac (and Crazy))))
• TMNT: Smash Up

Comics

• Blackest Night
• Only two more rings left
• Interesting Star Sapphire revelation

Shows

• DaishoCon 2009

Pimpin’

• Keep Playing: Rewind – Vectorman (last week)
• DCUC store exclusives (this week)
• PowetToys (next week)
• Powet Alphabet
• T is for the Tick, U is for UNICORNS!!!1! (last two weeks)
• V is for ?, W is for ? (next two weeks)
• Powet Awards – Nominations

A reminder to all collectors. Today, at 12:00 Noon EST, MattyCollector.com will have some new items up for sale. The monthly Masters of the Universe figure, Scareglow, will be up for sale. Yes, he glows in the dark. Also up for sale is the reissue He-Man figure and the DC Universe Classics “Color of Fear” 2-pack featuring Yellow lanterns; Romat-Ru and Karu-Sil.

Continue after the jump for pictures!

             

Audio Netcast Details
Subscribe to the Powetcast on iTunes
Direct Link: Powetcast Episode 22: In V We Trust

(What do you think about the new V? Did you watch the old series? Leave a comment below!)

Show notes after the jump!

Panel

• Sean “Dojo Master” Corse


• Zac “The Ballad of Gay” Shipley


• aDam “Cat is sitting on my keyboard” Gardner


• “Rated R for strong language” Sindra


• Crazy “Black Lion” Jaco




• Sweet Black Lion Photo

News

• Arnold Schwarzenegger & Bruce Willis Filmed A Secret Scene With Sylvester Stallone For ‘The Expendables’




• (Also stars Jet Li, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Steve Austin, Charisma Carpenter, Eric Roboerts and Dolph Lundgren)
  


• Halo Legends DVD Release Date




• “The Babysitter” premeired on Halo Waypoint Nov. 6, new episodes will run every Saturday in November


• 
  Acousto-haptic “yoke” enhances audio experience


• 
  Hasbro gets Micronauts, Jem & the Holograms
  

Roundtable

• Immersion in Entertainment




• Why do we even want it?


• What’s wrong with our actual lives?


• Examples:




• Mirror’s Edge


• Indigo Prophecy

(Heavy Rain coming out for PS3)

Cool Beans

Movies

• Terminator Salvation: The Machinima Series

TV 

• Heroes still sucks, but last week’s episode was pretty good


• V premiere




• Highest-rated premiere since LOST

Games

• Dead Space


• Guitar Hero 5

Comics

• Blackest Night Update




• Rings available with tie-in comics starting this week: Sinestro Corps


• 
  Who is Nekron?
  



• 
  Boston ComicCon
  

Pimpin’

• One year of A Video Per Week! (2008/10/22)


• PowetToys – HML Nemesis Wave Part 2 (last week)


• TSCC Blu-Ray Season 2 (this week)




• New video review show title?


• Keep Playing: Rewind (next week)


• Powet Alphabet (S is for Sailor Moon (aDam), T is for ? (bRad) U is for ? (zAc))


• Monday Mashups

• Sean and Phil on TV15: The Dangers of Online Gaming


• The Reality Check interview with Phil Plait “The Bad Astronomer” where we spend half the time talking about science in movies




• The Reality Check #61: Phil Plait Interview


• DaishoCon 2009, Nov 20-22nd Stevens Point, WI

So Batman sometimes has to be the snot out of allies. This happens in official books and toons a lot, but when you open it up to the world of fan films, edits, and satire, you’ll get some good stuff.

Click after the jump to see 4 films of Batman fighting another hero, monsters, a holiday, and himself.

Batman vs Hellboy

Excellent example of movie splicing. Isn’t Hellboy the kind of character Batman wouldn’t get along with?

Batman vs Alien vs Predator

Classic fan film, this one’s been around the net more times than the n64 kid. Did you know the Joker is played by the guy who was Boner on Growing Pains? True!

Batman vs Halloween

From “Community” on NBC. Batman can never enjoy Halloween.

Batman vs Batman vs Batman vs Batman

And the ultimate trailer mashup. Who was the best Batman? Fight for it.

Fellow poweteers Sindra and Raistlin joined me this past weekend at the Fall ‘09 Boston Comic Con. This small convention has started getting attention and has been growing by leaps and bounds each show. Traditionally held at the Back Bay Events Center near Copley Square, the show runs twice a year, once in the Spring and once in the Fall.

Read on for more about the convention and what I thought!

The great thing about this convention is that it is still small enough to not be running any panels. At no time do you feel pressured to be somewhere. You can wander guilt-free from table to table looking for cheap trades, books, toys, statues, and posters or just browsing at some of the beautiful art on display by the many talented artists attending the show. Its one giant room of comic book vendors, a giant room of well-known artists, and several smaller rooms with lesser-known artists. Thats about it. Nothing more. Nothing less. As you walk in, you are greeted with a table with posters that range from small posters to posters that are six feet tall of more. All of the posters are reprinted classic comic book covers from milestone issues, variant comics, and some fan favorites. This table is a popular stop just before people get in line for the headlining artist’s table for an autograph.

Bill Seinkowicz was scheduled to be there this year, but unfortunately his appearance was postponed until April. I was looking forward to seeing him as I really enjoyed his very unique art style in New Mutants back in the day. As a stand in, they managed to get Walt and Louise Simonson to attend. As an X-Men fan, I hadn’t realized that X-Factor was started by the pair and their run even included Apocalypse’s first appearance. Walt is also very well known for a very popular run on Thor. It was a treat to see someone pull out a Sideshow Collectibles replica of Stormbreaker, Beta Ray Bill’s hammer for Walt to sign and Walt’s reaction.

Also in the big artist room were Tim Sale, Eric Canete, Herb Trimpe (co-creator of Wolverine), Jim Calafiore, Scott Wegener, Khoi Pham, Cliff Chiang and several more. I picked up a wonderful set of 6 postcards from Cliff Chiang called “Bombshell Beauties” that were basically swimsuit style pin-ups of popular characters such as Cheetara holding up Ma-Mutt from Thundercats, Teela from He-Man, Supergirl and more. You can see some of the here by clicking on Pinups.

Moving to the lesser-known artist rooms is a bit of a mixed bag most of the time. This year wasn’t bad. There was really only one table that I felt really uncomfortable walking past. The artist was socially awkward and only had two small pamphlets for sale on a big white table. It was barren except for those two items. Two tables down from him was the complete opposite experience. Another lesser-known artist by the name of Sara Richard had her art on display and sale. The art drew passersby in right away and she was able to keep them there by being social. Having worked the Artist Alley at AnimeBoston, thats the exact combo I found to draw people in long enough to realize they liked the art they were looking at. Add to that a very unique artistic style and the result ended with each of us buying at least one print. Both Raistlin and Sindra picked up Vash the Stampede, with Sindra also getting a Gambit print. I came back later and picked up a Transformers:RoTF Ravage print. Probably one of the best non-official pieces of TF movie artwork I’ve seen to date. You can check out more of her work here. Click on Icons to some of the prints we bought.

There was a constant pull to get back to the vendor room to see if any new trades had been put out in the 5$ Trade Paperback bins. The three of us have come to find the $5 Trade bins to be the hallmark of this convention. I ended up buying about 13 trades. We’ve started a new thread on the forum to share what trades we’ve bought recently or are currently, so if you are interested in what I picked up, check it out here!

I stated at the beginning that one of the great things about this convention is that there are no industry panels. This con isn’t about whats new and whats coming, its about what has already happened and an opportunity to experience some of that for yourself. Its a comic book convention for comic books. Something that many larger shows can no longer say.

The next show, in April, will be held in a larger venue and feature major artists such as Jim Lee and Mike Mignola. Not to mention the rescheduled Bill Seinkowicz. See you there, Poweteers!

I must have missed this a couple weeks ago, but TNI had news of a Mattel update regarding the Chemo Collect ‘N Connect figure:

A lot of fans have asked about the two types of Chemos showing up at retails. Simply put, we made a running change half way thought production to add a bubble piece inside of his chest to create a cool liquid effect. (we actually tried real liquid but that was not working out!)

I pity the collector who tries to get all variants of a figure in scenarios like these.

Music:
Level 1 – The Streets
Level 3 – The Lab

Special Thanks:
for his run-through that made my run much easier.

In what appears to be a clear and obvious direct response to the Disney acquisition of Marvel, DC has announced today that it is restructuring. After a 40 year courtship, DC and Warner are going ahead with their merger!

Warner Bros., parent company of DC, has created DC Entertainment to better leverage the greater potential of DC Comcs properties across all media outlets. This new company will be headed by Diane Nelson.

From the release:

DC Entertainment, a separate division of WBEI, will be charged with strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses. DC Entertainment, which will work with each of the Warner Bros. divisions, will also tap into the tremendous expertise the Studio has in building and sustaining franchises and prioritize DC properties as key titles and growth drivers across all of the Studio, including feature films, television, interactive entertainment, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products. The DC Comics publishing business will remain the cornerstone of DC Entertainment, releasing approximately 90 comic books through its various imprints and 30 graphic novels a month and continuing to build on its creative leadership in the comic book industry.

Current President and Publisher of DC Comics, Paul Levitz, was effectively demoted back to editorial and writing roles. He has already been slated to work on Adventure Comics.

So what does this mean? Sounds like Warner and DC are actually merging for the first time since DC became a subsidiary of Warner in 1969. Warner has largely stayed out of DC Comics’ editorial decisions as near as I can tell with the expection of the DC Implosion. That being said, I didn’t do much research. Frankly, Marvel was managing to do more on their own, than what DC was able to do under Warner’s wing. We’ll see how this plays out with a non-editorial person in the top seat.

Obscenely long official press release can be seen after the jump

WARNER BROS. CREATES DC ENTERTAINMENT

Diane Nelson to Serve as President, DC Entertainment

Paul Levitz to Segue from President & Publisher of DC Comics

To Writer, Contributing Editor and Overall Consultant to DC Entertainment

(Dateline – Burbank, CA) Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI) has created DC Entertainment Inc., a new company founded to fully realize the power and value of the DC Comics brand and characters across all media and platforms, to be run by Diane Nelson, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, and Alan Horn, President & COO, Warner Bros.

DC Entertainment 1

DC Entertainment, a separate division of WBEI, will be charged with strategically integrating the DC Comics business, brand and characters deeply into Warner Bros. Entertainment and all its content and distribution businesses. DC Entertainment, which will work with each of the Warner Bros. divisions, will also tap into the tremendous expertise the Studio has in building and sustaining franchises and prioritize DC properties as key titles and growth drivers across all of the Studio, including feature films, television, interactive entertainment, direct-to-consumer platforms and consumer products. The DC Comics publishing business will remain the cornerstone of DC Entertainment, releasing approximately 90 comic books through its various imprints and 30 graphic novels a month and continuing to build on its creative leadership in the comic book industry.

In her new role, Nelson will report to Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, in order to best capitalize on DC Entertainment’s theatrical development and production activities and their importance to drive its overall business with each of the divisions of Warner Bros.

Nelson will bring her expertise and more than 20 years’ experience in creative brand management, strategic marketing and content development and production to ensuring DC Entertainment’s dual mission of marshalling Warner Bros.’ resources to maximize the potential of the DC brand while remaining respectful of and collaborative with creators, talent, fans and source material. Additionally, Nelson will continue to oversee the franchise management of the Harry Potter property, which she has done since 2000, and also continue to represent the Studio’s interests with the author of the Harry Potter books, J.K. Rowling. Nelson will segue from her post as President, Warner Premiere but maintain oversight responsibilities of that division. (An executive succession plan for Warner Premiere will be announced shortly.)

Paul Levitz, who has served as President & Publisher of DC Comics since 2002, will segue from that role to return to his roots as a writer for DC and become a contributing editor and overall consultant to DCE. This transition will take place as expeditiously as possible without disrupting DC’s business operations.

In his new role, Levitz will be called upon for his deep knowledge and more than three-decade history with DC Comics, both as a comic creator and an executive. Besides serving as a writer on a number of DC Comics titles, he will be a contributing editor and consultant to DC Entertainment on projects in various media. Additionally, he will consult as needed on the transition and integration of the DC Comics organization into DC Entertainment and will utilize his unique experience, knowledge and relationships with the comics industry’s creative community to help achieve DC Entertainment’s goal of maximizing the value of DC properties. Further, Levitz will advise DC Entertainment on creative and rights-holder relationships, in particular regarding the legacy relationships that have been a part of DC Comics for decades.

Widely recognized and respected for his support of writers, artists and creators in the comics industry, Levitz is best known creatively for his work with DC Comics, having written most of the classic DC characters, including Batman, Wonder Woman and the Superman newspaper strip. At Comicon International in 2008, Levitz was awarded the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award as part of the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the only industry executive ever so honored.

DC Entertainment 2

“DC Comics and its super hero characters are truly touchstones of popular culture, and the formation of DC Entertainment is a major step in our company’s efforts to realize the full potential of this incredible wellspring of creative properties,” said Meyer. “Diane knows our studio as a creative executive, a marketer and a senior manager, and this varied background will help her effectively and creatively integrate the DC brand and properties across all our businesses. We’re also thrilled that Paul will remain involved with DC and we’ll be able to tap his expertise to help us reach our goals for this new business.”

“It’s no secret that DC has myriad rich and untapped possibilities from its deep library of iconic and lesser-known characters,” said Horn. “While we’ve had great success in films and television, the formation of DC Entertainment will help us to bring more DC properties across additional platforms to fans around the world, while maintaining brand integrity and authenticity. Diane is a terrific choice to lead DC Entertainment, and with Paul in his new role as a valued consultant and contributing editor, both our company and comic fans win.”

“Based on the great success we’ve had working with DC Comics to create some of the most popular and successful super hero films of all time, I’ve long believed that there was much more we could do across all of Warner Bros.’ businesses with this great body of characters and stories,” said Robinov. “The prioritization of DC and the creation of DC Entertainment is a great opportunity that reaches far beyond the film group. There are endless creative possibilities to build upon the many significant successes already achieved by my colleagues Kevin Tsujihara and the Home Entertainment Group in the videogame, home video and direct-to-platform arenas and Bruce Rosenblum and the Television Group in live-action, animated and digital series. Collectively, we have the ability to grow a body of properties highlighting the iconic characters and the diversity of the creative output of DC Comics.”

“The founding of DC Entertainment fully recognizes our desire to provide both the DC properties and fans the type of content that is only possible through a concerted cross-company, multi-platform effort,” said Nelson. “DC Entertainment will help us to formally take the great working relationships between DC Comics and various Warner Bros. businesses to the next level in order to maximize every opportunity to bring DC’s unrivalled collection of titles and characters to life.”

DC Entertainment 3

“After so many roles at DC, it’s exciting to look forward to focusing on my writing and being able to remain a part of the company I love as it grows into its next stage,” said Levitz. “It’s a new golden age for comics and DC’s great characters, and I hope my new position will allow me to contribute to that magic time.”

DC Comics will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2010 (NEW FUN COMICS #1, the first DC comic, began publishing in 1935), at which time more explicit details regarding DC Entertainment’s corporate and management structure, film and content release slate, creative roster and business objectives will be unveiled at a multi-faceted anniversary celebration and press conference in the first quarter of the year.

Current DC properties in development and/or production at Warner Bros. Entertainment include:

– “Human Target” is being produced by Warner Bros. Television for a mid-season debut on Fox.

– “Midnight Mass” is in series development at Warner Bros. Television for consideration for the 2010-11 season.

– “Jonah Hex,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ supernatural Western starring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox and John Malkovich, recently wrapped production in Louisiana.

– “The Losers,” Dark Castle/Warner Bros. Pictures’ action-adventure drama starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans, began principal photography mid-July in Puerto Rico.

– “The Green Lantern,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ next big superhero tentpole release, recently cast Ryan Reynolds as the titular character. The film has a projected second quarter 2011 release date.

– “Lobo,” based on the DC Comics anti-hero, has Guy Ritchie attached as a director; Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona are producing for Silver Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.

– Warner Premiere’s direct-to-platform DVD animated release of “Green Lantern: First Flight” debuted July 28.

– Warner Bros. Animation currently produces “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” which airs on Cartoon Network.

– Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released “Batman: Arkham Asylum” on August 25, a dark, action packed videogame adventure for Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and Games for Windows.

Prior to being named President, DC Entertainment, Nelson most recently served as President, Warner Premiere since its founding in 2006. Warner Premiere is a Studio-based production company which develops and produces high-quality, direct-to-DVD and short-form digital content, including the highly successful line of DC Universe animated DVD titles, and also pioneered the development of the motion comics category. Under Nelson’s leadership, Warner Premiere functions as a full-service production entity with its own resources and release schedule, furthering the Studio’s mandate of being a destination for both established and up-and-coming talent to create stand-alone properties as well as experiment in new media.

Before that, Nelson served as Executive Vice President, Global Brand Management, Warner Bros. Entertainment, with the primary responsibility of working cross-divisionally and throughout Time Warner to maximize and optimize all the various windows and outlets available to the Studio’s signature franchises, brands and event properties on a global basis. In this post, Nelson’s primary focus was the management of the Harry Potter brand, which she has overseen since the brand’s launch at the Studio in 1999. These efforts have helped drive the success of the brand to become the most successful film franchise of all time, as well as a respected consumer property that has generated billions of dollars for the Studio.

At Global Brand Management, Nelson and her team of more than 15 employees worked in all media and platforms to support a number of other key franchise properties, including “The Matrix Reloaded,” “The Matrix Revolutions,” “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight,” “Happy Feet,” “Polar Express” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” among others.

Prior to overseeing Global Brand Management, Nelson had served as Executive Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures. Nelson rose quickly through the ranks, having also served as Senior Vice President, Domestic Marketing, Warner Bros. Pictures and prior to that, Senior Vice President, Family Entertainment, Warner Bros. Corporate Worldwide Marketing and Planning. She was also Vice President, Worldwide Corporate Promotions, a post to which she was promoted in March 1998, after joining the Studio in September 1996 as Director of Worldwide Corporate Promotions.

Nelson came to the Studio from Walt Disney Records, where she served as Director of National Promotions. She is a graduate of Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications.

But without being mired into forced respect for characters, Giffen and DeMatteis began to follow the highly expressive Kevin Maguire’s pencils and write a funny book. Martian Manhunter becomes obsessed with Oreo cookies. Black Canary becomes a militant feminist. Captain Marvel is a super powered boy scout who just wants to sing songs and go camping with his fellow leaguers.

The initial story arc, collected in the first paperback volume, has one of the most infamous pages in the history of comics. Guy Gardener, who has challenged Batman repeatedly for leadership, takes off his ring and forces the dark knight to a fist fight. This does not go in Guy’s favor. In any other book, this might’ve been a sobering moment, but Blue Beetle’s “One Punch!” line is the perfect example of the characters not taking themselves too seriously. Its not quite Adam West camp, but its enjoyable.

While this line-up’s effect on the DC universe going forward wasn’t the greatest (what with the frequent continuity shake-ups and such), fans always wanted more. In 2004 they got their wish as the creators returned with “Formerly Known As The Justice League” and then in 2005 with “I Can’t Believe Its Not The Justice League,” which were written from the start as comedy series and introduced Mary Marvel and others to the circle.

Of course then DC raped and murdered Elongated Man’s wife Sue Dibney, had Maxwell Lord kill Blue Beetle, and push other favorites from these series back into the world of the grim. Thankfully, the current Power Girl series seems to be at least be a spiritual successor to these series, if not a sequel.

Most older comics can be tough reads since the writing and art can look dated, but JLI seems just as fresh as if it were printed today. You’ll have to overlook the 80s pop culture references, though. Note that volumes 3 and 4 are only available in hardcover, but will be in softcover in December and March, respectively. I’ve also taken the liberty of including a link to a set of Maguire inspired action figures, as well as the trio’s run on Marvel’s Defenders.

Audio Netcast Details
Subscribe to the Powetcast on iTunes
Direct Link: Powetcast Episode 15: SDCC, Marvel, LOST, and DC

(What was your favorite San Diego Comic-Con panel? Are you as excited for the final season of LOST as we are? Share your thoughts and theories in the comments!)

Show notes after the jump!

Welcome to the Powetcast, Powet.TV’s twice-monthly audio netcast about Games, Comics, TV, Movies and Toys.

Panel
*Sean “More than Logan” Corse
*Crazy “Thats no moon! Thats a a space station!” Jaco
*Zac “Roundy” Shipley
*”The Simply Spectacular” Sindra
*aDam “Admiral Zed” Gardner

News

*Taco Bell dog dead from stroke
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32085116/ns/today-today_pets
*Fox fires entire Futurama voice cast. New season in 2010!
http://www.411mania.com/movies/news/110793
*Next Xbox Live update hits August 11th
http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/100/1005784p1.html
*Halo Anime!
http://kotaku.com/5320898/details-about-halo-anime
*Marvel Twitter: Marvel Characters coming to LittleBigPlanet
“RT @cbake76 Oh, if it hasn’t been reported yet, the special announcement was Marvel characters coming to LittleBigPlanet.” (Crazy)
http://kotaku.com/5323260/marvel-super-hero-sackboys-coming-to-littlebigplanet

Roundtable

*SDCC!
**How much did they pay to get Google to chang their logo?
**Tron Trailer IN HD!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1IpPpB3iWI
**Comic-Con: War Machine Revealed in Iron Man 2 Footage
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/07/25/comic-con-war-machine-revealed-in-iron-man-2-footage
**Line-up for The Avengers’ Movie Revealed
http://io9.com/5322974/marvel-announces-the-avengers-line+up-plus-thor-and-captain-america-news
**Super Hero Squad is getting cartoon with AMAZING voice cast!
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/07/sdcc_marvel_super_hero_squad_gets_super_cast.php
**Marvel acquires rights to Marvel Man (aka Miracle Man)
http://geeksofdoom.com/2009/07/24/sdcc-marvel-acquires-rights-to-marvel-man
**Avatar (25 minutes of footage)
http://movies.ign.com/articles/100/1005883p1.html
**Peter Jackson (The Hobbit)
http://movies.ign.com/articles/100/1007061p1.html
***District 9 Short Film
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ1vHRs_EOs
**Batman 2011
**IDW Announces New Transformers Series
http://www.idwpublishing.com/news/article/751
***Transformers ongoing: art by Don Figueroa, written by Mike Costa
***Bumblebee: writer Zander Cannon and artist Chee
***Last Stand Of The Wreckers by Nick Roche (no pencils announced)
**LOST!!!
http://powet.tv/forum/index.php?topic=3154.615

Cool Beans

Movies
*Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
*Green Lantern: First Flight

Comics
*Blackest Night
*Batman & Robin
*Power Girl

Pimpin’
*T2 Blu-Ray Endoskull Collector’s Set Review (last week)
*Keep Playing: Rewind (this week)
*Powet Toys (next week)
*Powet Alphabet (E is for Ewoks, F is for ?)
*The Reality Check interview with Adam Savage of the Mythbusters
http://www.ottawaskeptics.org/the-reality-check/62-episodes/242-the-reality-check-47-tam7-adam-savage-interview-twitter-popularity

Green Hornet
Can’t find much info for this movie aside from pictures of Green Hornet’s car, Black Beauty.
Seth Rogen is the Green Hornet.

Soloman Kane
Geeks of Doom has the panel write up.
Story sounds familiar but takes place in Puritan times. Greedy guy forced to look upon is past actions and reforms. Now fights evil. Etc Etc. Hadn’t heard anything about it before.

Cabin in the Woods (Joss Whedon)
Some movie posters were posted on Wired.
Joss Whedon takes a stab at a horror movie. yuk yuk yuk,
Some more details from Geeks of Doom including cast.

Batman 3
Starts filming next year (2010). from SuperHeroHype via Gary Oldman

Iron Man 2
Panel Description from Geeks of Doom.
Farvreau keeping tabs on Thor and is involved in Avengers in some capacity.
Crazy description of the trailer shown.

Tron 2
HD Trailer. ‘Nuff Said.

Wanted 2
Pre production to start in about 8 weeks.

Kick-Ass
Panel description from SuperHeroHype.

Sherlock Holmes
Opens Christmas Day 2009.
Panel description from SuperHeroHype.
Description of full boxing match from trailer. Very cool.

Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland
Geeks of Doom have pointed to the new Alice in Wonderland trailer in HD from Tim Burton. Appears to be a sequel and not a retelling. Interesting.
They also have a panel description as well with a guest appearance of Johnny Depp himself.

Twilight: New Moon
Panel description from Geeks of Doom
Meanwhile, Obi Wan Kenobi continues to irritate Twilight fans on Twitter to the delight of many.

Today marked the start of the pop culture mecca known as San Diego Comic-Con. To celebrate, Google swapped their logo with a rendition done by comic artist legend Jim Lee. Lee posted a link to a larger version on his twitter account @jimlee00. (see larger image after the jump)

Further, the Google blog announced new skins for iGoogle home pages featuring comic art by many known artists. Many of these skins are not just ’superhero’ comic themed either, though there is plenty of that to go around, too. There happens to be a theme for ‘American Born Chinese’, a wonderful graphic novel I recommended back during the holiday season.

As SDCC progresses, we’ll be posting some round-ups to help everyone stay on the same page of all the great news sure to come from the convention. Stay tuned!

A real Green Lantern movie is being planned now for release summer 2011.

Clips assembled from:Planet of the Apes
Serenity Trailer
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Stardust Trailer
The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring
Firefly
Dragonball Evolution Trailer
Galaxy Quest
The Fountain Trailer
Superman Returns Trailer
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Smallville
Justice League TAS
GI Joe Trailer
Contact
Star Trek Enterprise
Star Wars Episode III
The Mutant Chronicles Trailer
Iron Man
Star Trek Trailer
Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe Cutscene
The Chronicles of Riddick
Kamen Rider
Bedtime Stories
Escape from Witch Mountain Trailer
The Matrix Revolutions
The Chronicles of Narnia – Prince Caspian
White Noise 2

Voice Audio clips from Justice League TAS, The Batman, Battle for Terra Trailer, Justice League: The New Frontier, and The Lord of the Rings.

Rock it out with us in the Powetcast for the week of May 18th, 2009!

(Are there any prequels you have an opinion about? Angels and Demons turning your crank? Huge fan of Dumb and Dumberer? Leave a comment below!)

Audio Netcast Details
Subscribe to the Powetcast on iTunes
Direct Link: Powetcast Episode 10: War of the Prequels

Show notes after the jump!

The Panel
Sean “Zach Braff” Corse
aDam “Rulz” Gardner
Crazy “requires additional supply depots” Jaco
Sindra
Zac “Bang a Gong” Shipley

News
*TV Renewals/Cancellations
**Terminator cancelled:
http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2009/04/fall-tv-cheat-s.html
**Dollhouse remarkably renewed for second 13-episode season
http://www.tvweek.com/tvmojoe/2009/05/welcome-to-another-season-of-d.php
*Duke Nukem “ForNever”: 3D Realms closes shop
http://digg.com/gaming_news/Duke_Nukem_Developer_3D_Realms_Shuts_Down
** OR DID THEY…?
http://kotaku.com/5259942/3d-realms-were-not-closing-spent-20-million-on-duke-nukem-forever?skyline=true&s=x
*Master Replica sold.
http://toynewsi.com/news.php?catid=251&itemid=14470
*Nintendo Power: Tatsunoko vs Capcom Coming To US
http://kotaku.com/5257869/nintendo-power-tatsunoko-vs-capcom-coming-to-us
Danger Mouse to release blank CD-R
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8053471.stm
*Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek’s George Kirk) cast as Thor
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/exclusive-chris-hemsworth-is-thor/

Roundtable: Prequels
*What, if anything, makes them work? And why so many lately?
**Star Wars, Wolverine, Temple of Doom, Underworld, Terminator Salvation
*Francis Ford Coppola credited George Lucas with devising the term:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prequel

Cool Beans

Movies
*Star Trek

TV
*LOST Season finale
*Transformers Animated – One episode left to go.

Games
*Klonoa on Wii

Comics
*Power Girl #1
*Star Trek Countdown

Pimpin’
*Keep Playing: Rewind – Alisia Dragoon (last week)
*aDam’s review of the new Star Trek series (this week)
*Star Trek movie review (next week)
*Sean and Zac at High Noon (airing Wednesday night, 8pm CDT)
http://www.wyou.org/WYOUStreams.html
*Much of Powet Crew at BotCon 2009
**Next Powetcast will be from there!
http://www.botcon.com