Nightwing thoughts

Did you guys know that there were thoughts, talk, and even a bit of pre-pro work done for a Nightwing cartoon? Ki Hyun Ryu, who has worked on animations like The Legend of Korra, The Boondocks, and Batman: Year One, had been working on character designs. Check it:

So that was Ki Hyun Ryu's Nightwing. Here's Phil Bourassa's (lead character designer from the animated Young Justice show):

Here's The Batman's Nightwing in his two outfits (character designs for this show done by Jeff Matsuda, Jon Suzuki, Andy Chiang, Thomas Perkins, and Dave Cupczyk):

Here's the animated Teen Titan's Nightwing (character design for this show done by Job Suzuki, Glen Murakami, Derrick Wyatt, and Brianne Drouhard):

Here's Nightwing from Batman: The Brave and the Bold (character designers for this show are Lynell Forestall, James Tucker, Michael Manley, Steve Jones, and Tommy Tejeda):

Of course, then there's Nightwing from the amazing Batman: The Animated Series (character designers for this series are Bruce Timm (hopefully if you've been watching a lot of superhero media you know this name), Glen Murakami, Michael Diederish, Dan Riba, Chen-Yi Chang, Dexter Smith, Craig Kellman, Kevin Nowlan, Ronaldo Del Carmen, Michael Goguen, Paul Rudish, Mike Kim, Lynne Naylor, Debra Pugh, and Mike Mignola (crazy, huh!)):

The list of character designs for Nightwings over the years goes on and on. These are but a few. I can say I would have been really pumped for  Nightwing show, but perhaps it'll get made one day.
Now I'd like to take some time to acknowledge Dick Grayson's awesomeness.
So Dick Grayson is my favorite superhero.
I hadn't had a favorite superhero up until maybe almost a month ago (cause I don't count Ghost Rider as a hero. He's more avenger than hero honestly...).
And I say Dick Grayson instead of Nightwing cause even in his non-hero persona, he's still a hero.
He's a good person with pretty much unwavering morals, he's incredibly reliable and dedicated, he's a great role model/brother/father figure. He's pretty much the epitome of what a hero should be.
Batman molded him into a better Batman than he is. He's more than just a sidekick and protégé.
HE'S DA BEST!
Hal Jordan, Bruce, Clark, Diana, and others are great as well. I just pick Dick (lol! imagine that one a shirt!). A superhero with no 'superpowers'. Let this be a lesson to you, if you do good and the best you can, then you too can be super.

Green Lantern: First Flight

Green Lantern: First Flight (2009)
Directed by Lauren Montgomery

This movie is awesome! Animation quality is good, even great at moments (like the transformation).
So Hal Jordan inherits Abin Sur's ring, but when the Guardians find out Abin Sur's legacy has been handed down to a human they are displeased. Sinestro, a respected and feared Lantern suggests they give Hal Jordan a chance by letting the two work together for a bit. The Guardians agree.
After a short while of working together Hal Jordan sees that Sinestros methods for getting his man are all but humane. Sinestro even frames Hal Jordan for the death of the Corps' main suspect in the creation of a weapon as strong as the Green Lantern's battery. Sinestro has actually killed the suspect himself and is planning on finding and using the weapon. However because the Guardians believe Hal Jordan is responsible, they take from him the ring.
Big mistake, because Sinestro finds the weapon, essentially the same as the Green Lantern's battery but yellow. He swaps his green ring for a yellow one, then attacks the Corps.
Luckily Hal Jordan hadn't yet gotten sent back to Earth, because he find his ring and goes into the giant Lantern that houses the green battery. It seems that its dead from the attach from the yellow battery and it rains Green Lantern rings from the sky. All the Lanterns in space dies when the 'power went out'.
However, scratching the surface of the green battery reveals that under the dead outer coating, it's still alive inside. Hal Jordan holds his ring up to the battery while inside the giant lantern and becomes temporarily more super-powered that ever before.
With this new strength he takes out Sinestro and becomes the newest Green Lantern.

So when Hal Jordan transformed:

I did not make this youtube video, but it pretty much embodies how I felt about that sequence.
For the record though, this transformation sequence is totz boss. Love it.
Also, another nice touch to this movie was the choice to make Sinestro's teeth light yellow. Those little considerations add up to make a great animation.

All-Star Superman

All-Star Superman (2011)
Directed by Sam Liu 

Superman is awesome. He's an incorruptible force of good. I bet him, Jesus, Buddha, and Obi-Wan would be bffs given the chance.

So we open with Superman doing his regular super thing, saving people: he's flying practically into the sun to rescue the first manned flight to the sun because one of the scientists on board has gone nuts from being controlled by Lex Luthor back on Earth.
Of course Superman saves Dr. Quitum and the other crew that Luthor hadn't yet killed with his puppet. However, Luthor being the actually intelligent villian that he is, has just done this as part of a long term plan to kill Superman.
Being so close to the sun has basically over-charged Superman and his cells are exploding. He's dying (I don't believe the movie ever actually says how much time passes, but from what I understand it's supposed to be about a year between the Sun rescue and the end).
So there's a bunch of awesome little adventures that Superman has for his last year, the most memorable probably being a super day with Super Lois. As a gift to Lois, Superman created a serum that will give the consumer all of Superman's powers minus vulnerabilities for 24 hours (he also makes her a cute super outfit too). They have an awesome day, though I don't think Lois really needed to be so flirtatious with the time travelers than pop in to try to win her away from Superman.
Anyway, in prison Luthor is sent to the chair. For his last wish he asks for a special cocktail. They then flip the switch and fry him.
Or so they thought. Dun dun duuuhhhh!!!
The cocktail Lex had was the same as Lois had previously received. He breaks out of prison to have one final battle with Superman. Before the two fight, Lex has asked 'friend' Solaris, a giant sun eater of sorts to mess with the Sun, sending out red solar energy, so Superman goes to take care of that first.
Superman comes back to Earth for the next fight. Superman shoots Lex with a gravity gun, ending Luthor's 24 hour super day early. However his time with those powers leaves him enlightened and wanting to save the world. Unfortunately he has to got back to prison for his crimes, PLUS before Solaris was defeated, he foiled with the Sun, putting it in a dying state as well.
Unlike Superman though, the sun is 'under-charged' while Superman is 'over-charged'. For his last deed he kisses Lois, professes his eternal love for her, then flies into the Sun, just in time for him to more or less explode, giving the Sun back the power it needs to continue to support life on Earth.
Time passes and we see Lois in a park. She's approached, 'He's not coming back.'
She replies something to the effect of 'No, he's just fixing the Sun. He'll be back when he's done.'
In prison Lex passes notes to a visiting Dr. Quintum. They're for creating baby supermen. 'They always wanted children.'
Back in the Sun, Superman has become a 'solar being' and is working on... Sun stuff I guess.      
Thank you, Superman.

Yes, I cried.  

So, have you seen Handsome Face, you know, the meme(Superman/Batman: Apocalypse from 2010)? Well All-Star Superman's Superman is very reminiscent of Handsom Face Superman. I would attribute the similarities to the fact that Sam Lie directed All-Star Superman and was a character designer for Superman/Batman: Apocalypse (a lot of the crew worked on both animations, but I think that one is key).

I did not read the comics this is based on, and trying to fit 12 issues into 1 movie can be tricky. In other words, the pacing was kind of weird in the movie, where as if I had read the comics beforehand I wouldn't have been so confused at some parts. Mainly Lois' paranoia seems to come out of no where and I found myself speaking out loud when she shot Superman, "HGBEOIJGPOTBHNBLVMF FIOCJ0UHBD0 Y???!!!!!"

The other part where things were awkward was when Superman fell back to Earth when just before that he was saying 'I've found a suitable planet for this tiny city and its inhabitants that I've been keeping in my layer thus far. I'm going to go drop them off, however it'll take so long to get to this place that I may not be able to make it back to Earth to see you ever again, Lois. You know, since I'm dying and all." I just found that to not fit well because there wasn't really anything between Superman saying goodbye to him returning to indicate time had passed. When he crash landed I thought at first he had crashed on the planet where he was dropping off dat tiny city.

 dem lipz son (image from http://irfree.net/threads/391363-All-Star-Superman-%282011%29-%E2%80%93-1080p-%E2%80%93-500MB)

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights

Green Lantern: Emerald Knights (2011)

Directed by Chris Berkeley, Lauren Montgomery, and Jay Oliva

 
Wow this one was weird. I'd put it in the weirdness of Allstar Superman. Not weird in a bad way. Just   weird.
If you're like me and have not read the comics, then this is a nice little view into a hand full of other Lanterns. I say it's weird because there's so many stories and flashbacks WITHIN stories, that you can easily forget something is just a tangent from the actual overall story.
Animation is pretty nice. Choice for voices is also enjoyable (Nathan Fillion of Serenity and Firefly, Jason Isaacs from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Harry Potter, Elisabeth Moss from Girl, Interrupted, and other awesome talent).
I really really love that there's SO MANY character designs for humanoid and non-humanoid creatures. I mean I understand lots of bystander characters go into tons of animations, but usually they're all the same species as the main character(s). So lots of respect go out to the whole team that created and animated all the other worldly Lanterns.

So Hal Jordan has been trying to show rookie Arisia the ropes when evil strikes. Arisia has to go through trial by fire as Krona, in all his anti-matter villainy, enters through a sun to destroy the Green Lantern Corps.
During the wait period for Krona is when Hal Jordan and Sinestro tell Arisia all these stories of other Lanterns.

Green Lantern from Princess Laira's sector. This Lantern perished while defending Laira's father and her people. Upon this Lantern's death, the ring chose Laira next. (image from http://static3.aintitcool.com/assets2011/glekglc.JPG)