Saturday 23 May 2015

Construct of the Week #34


Construct: Travel Pants


Generated by: John Stewart

Appeared in: Green Lantern #14 (vol.3), 1991



Friday 15 May 2015

Status: Dissipated


There have been many poignant moments in Green Lantern comics. Death and Lanterns are never far apart, as this long list of fallen heroes posted at the GL Wiki goes to prove.

But for my money, the saddest moment of them all comes in Green Lantern #224 when a brave little gas bubble sacrificed himself to protect his fellow Corpsmen and to save the universe from certain destruction (for the second time!).  In this, the final issue of GL volume 2, the Corps inadvertantly cause the destruction of the central power battery on Oa.  Mere minutes before they had taken the impactful decision to execute the renegade Lantern Sinestro for crimes of genocide.  What they did not realise is that the Guardians of the Universe had built a failsafe into the battery that prevented wielders of the green light from harming anyone from the Sinestro's home world of Korugar.  The reasons were noble in their intention but the disgraced former GL had somehow corrupted the Guardian's programme in the final moments before his death causing the power source to become a ticking time bomb of universal destruction.


To make matters worse, the only people who could explain what was going on and how it could be stopped where the Guardians themselves. Unfortunatley they had recently retreated to another dimension to meditate and reflect on the purpose of their immortal lives.  It was for this reason that Flodo Span had volunteered to give up his corporeal being in order to transport Hal Jordan to that other dimension.

The only problem with his plan was that Flodo would need his power ring to restore himself after the jump and with the central battery in meltdown there was no way he could get the vital recharge he needed.  This was going to be a one way trip and Flodo was only too aware of the risk involved.


It's strikes me as sad that Hal, a simple passenger on the duo's transdimensional journey, is too busy admiring the wonderous sights around him to realise that his companion has given his last moments to ensuring the Earthman's mission is a successful one.

According to the mythos and every website that has ever passed opinion on the subject in the days since Joey Cavaleri and Gil Kane originally penned our dramatic saga, Flodo is gone. Dissipated means dead.  Steve Englehart was obviously so sad that he quit the book at the end of the previous issue despite a three year unbroken run. I guess he just couldn't stand to see Flodo go.

But I like to think the gaseous hero has not disappeared for good. Instead he is floating around out there.  An infinite number of sentient particles that may some day breach the dimensional border once more and find his way back to Oa to take his place among his brethren and don the power ring he so richly deserves to wear.  For Flodo Span is a being without fear.  He is Green Lantern.




Wednesday 6 May 2015

TOP 10 GREEN LANTERN RING-SLINGS ...THAT DON’T APPEAR IN MODERN CONTINUITY!!!



Welcome back to another round of Super-Blog Team-Up where the brightest minds in blogging, vlogging and podcasting (and me!) come together to bring you their own unique take on a theme of great geekery that is close to all of our hearts.  This time out the hot topic is:
 
ULTIMATE TOP TEN LISTS!!!
 
So strap in, throw back the hard top and get ready to enjoy the crazy ride.
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
 
Regular visitors to Flodo's Page will be familiar with our recurring segment, 'Construct of the Week' (not delivered weekly).  The ring-wielding Green Lantern Corps are famed for being able to create hard light constructs of anything they can possibly imagine. Giant rescue workers, winged Pegasus' (Pegususes? Pegusi?), boxing gloves in multiple sizes - you think it, you got it!  Nowadays the standard power set of a ring is basically producing constructs, flight and communication.  But back in the silver-age, when comics didn't have to make sense or retain any continuity from one issue to the next, it seemed like a GL power ring really could do anything at all.  Not just construct an object or translate an alien language.  If a Lantern wished it so the ring would make it happen.

In tribute to the fabulous, freewheeling storytellers of that bygone silver-age I have compiled a Top 10 countdown of my favourite Green Lantern Ring-Slings ...That Don’t Appear In Modern Continuity!!!


10. CROOK BUSTER!


 
Who needs to be the world's greatest detective when you can booby-trap the loot and follow an energy trail all the way back to the bad guy's hide-out.  While the Dark Knight is out searching for clues, your well prepared Emerald Gladiator is sipping Pina Coladas by the pool, waiting for his ring to... well, ring.
 
 
9.  YA MISSED ME!

 
Protection from mortal harm was a standard piece of GL kit back in the day.  It might have taken some of the fun out of things for the average super-villain or all those editors who love a good cliff hanger but I can tell you now, you won't hear any Green Lanterns complaining!
 
 
8. NOW YOU SEE IT, NOW YOU DON'T!

 
Forget David Copperfield.  You want a local landmark rendered invisible then Hal Jordan is the man you should be talking to.  Size not an issue, all landmarks considered.
 
 
7. GHOST LANTERN!


 
Nowadays the gift of intangibility is reserved for The Flash or the likes of Dead Man and all those in the Justice League Dark fraternity but time was locking yourself in an impregnable vault surrounded 10 inch thick walls of steel only meant one thing - that you had nowhere to run when our favourite GL came calling.  Doors are for dweebs!
 
 
6. ATOM WHO?!


 
All things considered GL was essentially a one man Justice League.  Super strength - check.  Travelling at light speed - check. A little too intimate with a certain young trout at the local aquarium - chec... hey, wait a minute!  One thing is for sure.  If you needed a giant superhero or one who could shrink down to the size of a sub-atomic particle you need look no further than the one size fits all Green Lantern Corps.
 
 
5. OPPOSITES ATTRACT!

 
Magnetize your enemy so that they stick to the metal walls of their space ship.  Brilliant!
 
 
4. MASTER OF DISGUISE!

 
The age old dilemma of how to protect your secret identity from the girlfriend.  Easy when you are Green Lantern.  Just transform your pal to look like you.  "Watch where you're putting those hands, Tom!"
 
 
3. DOCTOR WHO... WHO?!


 
Travelling through space and time is all in a days work for GL.  Makes you wonder why he doesn't just travel back to yesterday and put a Power Ring Burglar Alarm on the loot.  "Two more Pina Coladas please, waiter!" 
 
 
2. PYSCHIATRICOLOGY!


 
The human mind is a delicate thing.  The most qualified medical professionals tread ever so cautiously in their investigations of the sub-conscious and the mystery of mental perception.  And that takes far too long for busy hero with a day's heroing ahead of him.  So if you really want to put a quick fix on the old noodle the only thing to do is shoot an energy beam at it.  Job done, what's next?!
 
 
1. METAL MAN!!!


 
What is the one thing that is even cooler than being an intergalactic space-cop?  Being a freakin' robot intergalactic space-cop, that's what!  The thing I don't understand is why Green Lantern ever turned himself back into a human again.  Ok, there is the little problem of your hand falling off every time you put the old KAPOW! on somebody, but what's a little welding matter when you get to be a FREAKIN' ROBOT INTERGALACTIC SPACE-COP?!! Exactly.
 
 
 


Not enough Top Ten nerdtasticness for you yet?  Then get clicking on the links below for even more Super-Blog Team-Up 'Ultimate Top Ten'!!!  What are you waiting for?!  And tell 'em Flodo sent ya.