Green Lantern: Emerald Knights

Kiliwog's History Revealed

I watched Green Lantern: Emerald Knights this week prior to the premiere of the feature film and was amazed at how good it was. It was a series of stories that detailed the history of major characters in the Green Lantern Corps like Killiwog, Mogo and Laira. In a perfect world, stories like the ones told in this animated feature would be shot as a live action film, for it and its predecessor Green Lantern: First Flight far outshone the Ryan Reynolds vehicle that premiered on Friday.

Ancient Enemies
At the outset of the film, a Green Lantern on her way to Oa is killed while passing near the surface of Oa’s sun by vile beings known as shadow demons. Boy they pulled no punches in this scene either, when Green Lanterns fall, they die violently and Lauren Montgomery and her animation team didn’t hold back anything in demonstrating that in the opening scene. The shadow demons are beings of antimatter and have apparently come under the control of Krona an ancient enemy of the Guardians and who created the antimatter universe and serve as the precursors to his eventual arrival out of the star itself to destroy the Guardians, the Lantern Corps and Oa.

Avra and the First Construct

Unlikely Heroes
As the Green Lantern Corps prepare for battle and the Guardians begin spiriting away relics and other treasures like the Book of Oa in anticipation of the struggle to come, Hal Jordan (voiced by Nathan Fillion) tells a young, newly designated Green Lantern named Arisia Rrab the story of the first Lantern. Avra is a “mere scribe” who forged the first construct, a weapon that was to become the forte of the corps and the foundation of the power of the Green Lanterns. I really enjoyed this story the most of all, since its hero was such an unlikely one, and a skinny, nerdy writer at that!

Kiliwog’s Kiliwog
The next story about Kiliwog gave a great deal of insight into his character as well, even demonstrating that the term “poozer,” his signature line, was something handed down from one generation of Lanterns to another, just as the first construct was.

Laira and her Father do battle

Like Father Like Daughter
Laira’s (voiced by Kelly Hu) story was very powerful in an emotional sense and easily possessed some of the best action of the entire film. Her struggle against her family, particularly the scene of her battling her father as tender images of her childhood with him were activated across her bedchamber was like something out of Kurosawa. Extraordinary stuff.

Final Thoughts
Mogo’s story hails from an Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons comic written over a quarter century ago and was a great way to bring to life yet another classic narrative made by the immortal duo who created the graphic novel Watchmen. Abin Sur's (Arnold Vosloo) battle with Atrociticus was a nice way to round out things, particularly the philosophical conversation (or debate?) he has with his comrade Sinestro. The final struggle with Krona was excellent, far more rousing and satisfying than anything in the live action film and the reason why I have to give this film an A+, since it really captured the essence of the Green Lantern ethos in a way that few stories, animated or live action have in a long time. Go see it, you’ll have a splendid time.