Chris_Zuercher

There were a lot of good ideas in this movie, but not a whole lot that is well executed. The major theme that I saw that Hal brought something to the Corps that they lacked: as a being that felt fear easily enough and yet could overcome it, he had a distinct advantage over the other Green Lanterns who couldn't recognize their own fear until it was too late. But they did a poor job selling this point. Instead we get way too much focus on a weak villain, and too little focus on the Corps.

Maybe if Hal could have nearly been consumed by Parallax, but at the last moment rip his soul back out of a sheer force of will. Maybe if he was joined by a contingent of the Corps and he and his very human way of dealing with fear turned the tide of battle. Maybe if they made more of the fact that Sinestro came to believe that fear was stronger than will and showed that he resented that Hal was victorious through will, his actions in the stinger would have made a lot more sense.

Also, while Green Lantern does need Hal's life on Earth to ground the character, Green Lantern works best when its basically space opera in spandex. It deals with a lot of color-coded characters wielding emotions as weapons and makes no apologies about that. It should all be silly, but it takes itself seriously and just asks you to go with it, and if you do you're in for a fantastic ride. That's what Geoff Johns brought to Green Lantern, turning it into a perennially struggling property into one of the most popular superheroes going right now.

But that's not what we got here. Instead we got a lot of what made Green Lantern a struggling property for many years: too Earthy, too small, trying to be like every other superhero instead of showcasing what makes Green Lantern unique and great.

It's not a bad movie. It's definitely not as bad as Spider-Man 3 or the Fantastic Four movies. It's entertaining, but it fails to tap into its potential. No one is going to see this movie as their first exposure to Green Lantern and say, "Ohmygosh, Green Lantern is AWESOME!" And that's exactly why you do a superhero movie in the first place: to expose people who haven't yet experienced the character to just how awesome they are. And that's why this movie is so disappointing as a Green Lantern fan even though I did kinda enjoy it.

Iconic:
Clark Kent and Lois Lane
Peter Parker and Mary Jane, though possibly ruined because no one at Marvel could ever figure out how to write Mary Jane as a married woman

Totally meant for each other, yet never meant to be:
Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle
Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris

Good, but in animation only:
John Stewart and Shayera Hol
Wally West and Artemis Crock (not yet, but I love the "they only think they hate each other" chemistry between them)

New love that's totally working for me:
Kyle Rayner and Soranik Natu, as she seems to bring out the best in him

Forgotten, but fun while it lasted:
Ben Reilly and Jessica Carradine (Ewww! Clone saga! But I liked the chemistry between them.)
Otto Octavius and Angelina Brancale (It was a pleasant surprise to see some redeeming qualities in the ol' bowlcut.)

...you turn 32 and think it's time you finally got a pet.

...you hear someone refer to Superman as "the defender of truth, justice and the American way" and your first impulse is to correct them: "No, he's the tanker of truth, justice and the American way".

...you honestly think you can outrun cars on the street.

...you make your monthly budget, and the very first expense you consider is that 15 bucks.

As they say, the only constant is change. Congrats on the newer, grander opportunity.

It's working about 50-50 for me. Half the time it works correctly and takes me back to the character select screen, and half the time I'm told that my account is already logged in, at which point I need to hit "Log In" to log back in (my password is already filled out).

Probably not the way I would handle it, but it sounds it would have been fun to be a part of. And congrats to the couple!

(Obligatory "ZOMG! I'M TEH FIRST AFTER RED NAME! LOOK AT ME!")

And here I am sitting here at work while I19 goes live. Dangit! Paragon City needs some epic incarnate-style saving and I'm stuck here. Why do I even have this job?

Oh yeah...that subscription fee doesn't exactly pay itself...

(Besides, I actually do mostly like my job. And it's not like they're going to take Issue 19 away a few days from now.)

Zee Oh Em GEE!

Devs, I probably don't say this enough...but...I love you.

After thinking about it for a bit, I'm totally in favor of making fitness inherent. Let's face it: it was the one power pool you *always* took. In fact, up until the martial arts booster and ninja run, almost all of my builds just took one "travel" pool and the fitness pool. With the need to pick up fitness out of the way, I think we'll see a lot more variety in builds. I think we'll actually see more players dip into the lesser used pools like Fighting, Concealment and Medicine. We may even get a few people experimenting with--Dare I say it? Dare I? I dare!--Presence. OK, maybe that last one is crazy talk.

If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.



It may look like things stay the same in the mirror universe, but appearances can be deceiving. These may look like the same old cops, but that's an evil donut and evil coffee. That right! It's because they're evil! And they don't wash their hands afterward either. Because they're evil!

If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.



"Is it just me, or have the Clockwork seemed more wound up than usual lately?"

I'm not at all worried about what the market will do post-merger. In fact, if the prices skyrocket I'll be happy, as most of my characters sell a lot more than they buy. With my salvage and recipes my philosophy has been that if I don't want it, I'll put it on the market so that someone who does can have it.

As for the super secret RP reasons for the merger, who says it's entirely sinister. It seems to me that the Black Market would be a great way to keep tabs on all the super-powered denizens of the Rogue Isles without their knowledge.

If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.



Niviene was a little confused when told that with the right enhancements she could "start playing in the big leagues."

I'm not certain where the line is drawn, but how prominent the character with the name is does seem to factor into it. There are plenty of "common word" names that you're just not going to get away with: Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Spider-Man, Green Lantern, Iron-Man and Wolverine. In an AE arc I discovered that I could not get away with the name "Robin" even though my character had nothing to do with Batman, and even though that is a somewhat common name.

Once you get past the first, maybe second, tier of characters, though, there seems to be some wiggle room. There are actually a lot of names that are used by both Marvel and DC Comics characters. Probably the most prominent is "Captain Marvel". Others I can name off the top of my head are "Scarecrow", "Tarantula" and "Enchantress". So apparently the big boys in superhero fiction are OK with some name reuse. I would never do it intentionally, but I'm also not going to sweat someone, somewhere coming up with a character with the same name.

*Sigh!* I guess this means I won't be able to play this game for eight weeks. That costume code better be worth it...

On the flip side, I guess my Fridays will be slightly more productive for a while.

If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.


This is what your supergroup base looks like without Ultra Mode. Any questions?

If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.



Have you been sampling your own wares? Because you just gave me a bottle of ketchup.

Latest unsubstantiated speculatio-rific rumor on teh interwebs: CoH2 will actually be for the PS3. Again, totally unsubstantiated, but out there.

Predictable non-committal response from NCSoft:

"City of Heroes is a flourishing franchise and continues to be the world's most popular super-powered hero MMO. While we cannot comment on City of Heroes 2 at this time, NCsoft is proud of City of Heroes' success and is looking forward to future product launches associated with the franchise, including the City of Heroes Going Rogue expansion scheduled for release this July."

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