One of DC’s biggest sales successes of the last five years remains the revitalization of their space-bound hero Green Lantern. Driven by fan-favorite writer Geoff Johns, test pilot Hal Jordan and his fellow Green Lanterns square off against an army of multi-colored Lantern Corps in July’s event epic Blackest Night, and Johns opened up about building an accessible mythology with an emotional base and Green Lantern’s potential for success as a Hollywood blockbuster.

Debuting with a special #0 issue on this year’s Free Comic Book Day and running through an 8-issue Blackest Night mini series as well as tie-in issue of Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps and over a half dozen other mini series and one-shots, the new story earned its name at the end of Johns’ 2007 The Sinestro Corps War event. That sales success revealed that aside from the will-driven power rings of the Green Lantern Corps and the fear-inducing yellow energy behind the Sinestro Corps, even more color-coded groups of alien warriors would arise each with their own emotionally-powered rings including the rage-filled Red Lanterns and the hopeful Blue Lanterns. Toss in an army of zombie superheroes controlled by the villain the Black Hand, and Blackest Night seems crammed with kinds of minutia that superhero readers love. But Johns promised that the wide-ranging cast of characters works more as an inviting and organic story device than it does a marketing gimmick.

he Continuum continues a series of interviews with the creators and cast of Green Lantern: First Flight — the next DC Universe animated original PG-13 movie coming to DVD on July 28 — with Michael Madsen, who provides the voice of Kilowog.

In Green Lantern: First Flight, movie tough guy Madsen brings to animated life the brawny alien character Kilowog, trainer of all Green Lantern recruits. It’s the first animated voice role for Madsen, who starred in such genre films as Sin City and Species.

Following is an edited transcription of the studio-provided interview

As the DC Universe gets closer to Blackest Night, J.T. Krul is guiding the Titans as they encounter the Black Lantern versions of some of their former team members — including the return of Terra. Krul, the writer on both the Fathom and Soulfire series at Aspen Comics, is not only writing the three-issue Blackest Night: Titans beginning in August, but he’s also writing July’s issue of Titans #15 with artist Jose Luis – an issue he said will be important to fans Tempest.

Hello everyone, as you can see we are moving not only towards Blackest Night in the next month but also the new redesigned Green Lantern Spotlight, which will now be the GLspotlight. The new site will merge with the Green Lantern Corps. We will have a slew of new sections that include everything Green Lantern and Green Lantern related. Forums, the latest news, Movie reviews, Ryan’s Rants. Which will feature my look at other comics that I read and recommend. More comic book reviews on all things Green Lantern, our podcasts and much, much more. It’s going to be great.

As the Green Lantern titles head toward this summer’s Blackest Night event, things are looking grim for the future of the GL Corps.

Not only is there that pesky little Blackest Night prophesy that predicts the end of the universe, but all hell has broken loose on Oa in the Green Lantern Corps title by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason. There’s a prison riot tearing the place apart, Sinestro is psychologically torturing his just-revealed Green Lantern daughter, Sodam Yat had to sacrifice himself to save others, and the Guardian named Scar is sneaking around, prodding the Guardians of the Universe to act in desperation. And that’s just the last issue. Of course, readers should have known there were big things coming from a storyline called “Emerald Eclipse,” the title of the current arc. In the Green Lantern universe, titles like “Emerald Dawn” and “Emerald Twilight” still get loyal Lantern fans talking, so all the writing was on the wall. While it may not be surprising that Tomasi is saying “nothing will ever be the same” after this story, what is surprising is that it looks like, in this case, the oft-used phrase may be true.
Working in conjunction with Green Lantern writer Geoff Johns, Tomasi is also writing the three-issue mini-series Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps, which begins in July after Blackest Night #1. Tomasi will also be writing Batman: Blackest Night, where the zombies populating the DCU this summer take a truly gruesome turn for DC’s new Batman, Dick Grayson, when he faces the “Black Lantern Flying Graysons.”
Newsarama talked to Tomasi about his upcoming work on the Blackest Night tie-ins, as well as what’s coming up for the characters in Green Lantern Corps.

Just wanted to give everyone an update. We’ve decided on a template for the new Spotlight. It came pretty close but the winning design is going to look great. We’re also dividing the sections among us, so we can do various duties to the Spotlight. I am going to hold a poll for the new name for the Spotlight starting today. In the mean time, take a look at this wonderful coloring for page one of Blackest Night #1 by Matthias.

Just to give everyone and update on things. The guys and I are working out the details on the new Spotlight site. We’re intending to do reviews on the various Blackest Night titles. As well as looks at other comics. We’re in the process of deciding on a layout for the site and after that we’ll be going into things full force. Stay tune for updates.

Blackest Night continues in August and we have all of DC’s solicitations and images for the month

Despite a lot of effort and help from my friends online. The Avengers Files will be saying good bye after 11 years in a week. I will however, be reorganizing to my own personal site. Which will still feature Avengers, talks, and other comic book related stuff and more. The new Spotlight page will feature my daily blogs, comic reads, podcasts, it’s own forum. What my reads are and focus hugely on books I’ll read forever: Green Lantern, Spider-man and Nova. Look for it at the end of June.