Green Lantern
Prior to this evening, my only knowledge of the “Green Lantern” was that he was a comic book character, and that Doctor Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory TV show keeps emergency money up his ass. It's probably worth noting that Sheldon owns a foot tall plastic figurine of the Green Lantern – he obviously doesn't store money up the real Green Lantern's... oh, forget it.
We sat down with a mountain of pizza this evening, and watched the movie – the live action movie, not one of the myriad cartoon movies starring the “Justice League” (whoever the hell they are). I remember seeing the usual quotes from Rotten Tomatoes when Green Lantern first appeared at the cinema – it seemed to turn into a playground kicking, where half the critics probably put the boot in without bothering to watch the movie.
I'm starting to wonder if my judgement of movies is incredibly misplaced,because I really enjoyed it. Sure, it made no sense, but it's a super hero movie! They're notsupposed to make sense. Why can Superman fly? Why can Batman beat anybody in a fight ? (he's just a nutjob with expensive toys – he has no super-powers). Also, didn't Edna Mode demonstrate pretty conclusively in “The Incredibles” that capes are a really, really bad idea ?
Now I find myself wondering about buying a comic book to see how the original version of the story compares to the movie. I have no doubts it will be wildly different, but then finding a “first issue” of anything in the comic book world seems to be frustratingly difficult – short of buying a book containingall the issues in a given run.
I flip-flop all the time with the idea of reading comics. I very rarely read them growing up, but they have become such a strong part of popular culture now that I can't help feeling I missed out on something. I very nearly bought a copy of “The Watchmen” book a few years ago, but changed my mind at the last moment. Instead, my only real connection with comics until very recently has been their through their artwork on the internet – over time I discoveredartists such as Adam Hughes, Alex Ross, Amanda Conner, and Nicola Scott.
Perhaps I should look up a few of the big-name comics at Comixology. I have the app on the Kindle, and can't help feeling that if I don't take the plunge andread a few issues at least, I'll always wonder what I'm missing. I'm usually the first to point the finger at those looking down their nose at anything they have not tried, so perhaps it's time for me to step up to the plate.