DCeased Green Lantern

In the Batman review, we called DCeased "DC's Marvel Zombies," even more than Blackest Night was. Blackest Night took place in the main DCU, but DCeased is its own continuity (same as Marvel Zombies was) and so is freer to make bigger, wilder changes. In this Elseworld, Darkseid is doing his usual "gotta find the Anti-Life Equation" thing, and realizes the key to it is inside Cyborg. He kidnaps Vic to Apokalips, extracts the code he wants... and then everything goes to hell. Darkseid is not immune to the Anti-Life Equation, so becomes its first victim. Desaad, being smart enough to recognize what is happening, tries to save his world by Boom Tubing Cyborg away. It doesn't work. And it gets worse when, back on Earth, Cyborg's robot parts do what they do, connecting to the local WiFi; since the Anti-Life Equation was gestated inside Victor Stone's half-organic, half-mechanical body, it's capable of spreading through the internet, instantly infecting anyone who saw it. Within minutes, an estimated 600 million people worldwide were infected, and it was growing exponentially. The internet is how Hal Jordan was infected. Celebrating the Justice League's seeming victory over the forces of Apokalips, Green Arrow and Black Canary had gone camping, and dragged a grumpy Green Lantern along with them. Not enthused about the idea of singing songs around the campfire, he retired to his tent and was scrolling through his phone; the next moment, his ring was warning him that lethal force was not sanctioned while he attacked his teammates. GL was sculpted by Paul Harding, who didn't worry much about copying the wounds seen in the comic - even though Hal was, like your embarrassing uncle, turned into a monster by what he saw on Facebook, the first thing people who got infected did was try to claw the virus out of their own heads, so he had some thin gouges across his face. This toy gets the same sort of cuts, just not in the same place as in the comic. This time not having any injuries on the body makes sense, but the toy gets new hands: the left hand is the same Batman had, but the right had to be new in order to get his Lantern ring. The body is the same used for lots of DC Essentials men, but the head seems slightly too small on it. The problem in doing things piecemeal. Hal may not have any wounds on his body, but this isn't a direct copy of the existing Essentials Green Lantern. His costume is the modern(-ish) GL look, with the green "shirt" stopping at the waist instead of continuing down to become trunks, but the shade of green chosen for this toy is darker than the previous one, so he looks more sinister already. Then he gets speckled with blood (and dirt?) to make him look even worse. The GL logo on my figure is applied slightly off-center, so I should have paid more attention when I was picking him out at the store. DC Direct was nearing its end when they started the DC Essentials line, which is why they tried to save money by reusing bodies so much. Hey, it's not like they're alone in that - we've currently got more than a dozen pages chronicling the generic bodies Hasbro uses for Marvel Legends, and ages ago we did an entire PoA about Mattel's use of a similar plan. It's a reality of the business now. But at least a shared pool of molds means we know what articulation to expect, right? A balljointed head, hinged neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, double-hinged elbows, swivel/hinge wrists, hinged chest, swivel waist, balljointed hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, swivel shins, and swivel/hinge/swivel ankles. Green Lantern gets no accessories, because the ring constructs he was making at this point were too large and violent to work in toy form. Hal Jordan got zombified in easily the stupidest way of any of the heroes in the story, which is admittedly pretty funny. His only claim to fame (other than long-term dating a 13-year-old) is his supposedly unbreakable willpower, but he's also one of the first casualties because he just can't resist another round of Candy Crush. Maybe all the people who called him "the greatest Green Lantern" were doing so ironically? -- 03/30/22

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