GREEN LANTERN

Imagine if the ring on your finger was more than a piece of gaudy jewelry. Instead, it’s the universe’s most powerful weapon. It can create whatever you wish out of pure energy, its might limited only by your imagination and will. And with it comes exclusive membership to an exclusive intergalactic police force with alien officers spanning the cosmos.

The only catch? Mastering that power and being a Green Lantern means facing your fears, and for headstrong Hal Jordan, that’s something he’s been avoiding his whole life.When just a boy, Hal witnessed his greatest nightmare—his pilot father dying in a tragic plane crash. Nevertheless determined to follow in his footsteps, Hal repressed his fears, becoming a reckless, defiant test pilot. But when a dying alien crashes on Earth, the irresponsible Hal is chosen to be that alien’s successor in the Green Lantern Corps, a universe-wide peacekeeping force over 3,600 members strong.

And his life only gets wilder from there. Alien romances. Intergalactic wars. Power-hungry super-villains. Wielding a Green Lantern power ring—a weapon fueled by willpower—he can fly and create constructs made of pure energy, generating anything from massive green fists to emerald rifles that can snipe from a planet away. But while Hal tends to ignore his fears, he’ll learn the only way to truly master his ring’s power is by confronting and overcoming them.

Prepare for 'The Flash' with DC Comics' 'Season Zero'

While the Flash is gearing up for a run on his own CW series, debuting Oct. 7, you can get a jump on the scarlet speedster’s adventures today with DC Comics’ Digital First series The Flash: Season Zero.

Written by executive producer Andrew Kreisberg, along with series writers Brooke Eikmeier and Katherine Walczak, The Flash: Season Zero takes place after the pilot and before the rest of the series. It follows the young superhero as he begins to learn his powers with the help of his S.T.A.R. Labs team, under guidance of the suspicious Harrison Wells, as well as his role as protector of Central City as he faces off against newly super-empowered criminals.

While the Flash’s main Rogues Gallery, including Weather Wizard, Captain Cold And Heat Wave, are scheduled to appear on the TV series, there’s still a limit to the scope of what the show runners can realistically produce for television. The comic book series, however, will take advantage of artistic expertise of Phil Hester, showing The Flash take on even more outlandish foes from the DC Universe, starting with Circus Barker Mr. Bliss, and his Carnival of Meta human Freaks.

But the comic won’t just be all spectacle. Expect more intimate moments between Barry and his supporting cast; his imprisoned father Henry Allen, mentor Detective West, best friend/unrequited love Iris West, and her new beau, Officer Eddie Thawne. With each issue containing some clues hinting at future episode storylines, the writers ultimately want this to enrich the TV viewing experience. Just don’t expect an Arrow/Flash crossover in these pages. Due to the shifting timelines between the series, the writers are saving that for the screen.

The first chapter of The Flash Season Zero is available today. New issues of The Flash and Arrow will be available bi-weekly, alternating every Monday, and they will also be collected and published monthly, the first print issue of which will be available on Oct. 1, the week before the TV series’ season premiere. Check out a sample of the artwork below by Phil Hester.

10 Crazy Villains The DC Cinematic Universe Will Never Admit Exist

For the past several years, DC has been watching the money pour into Marvel’s coffers as they’ve expanded their cinematic universe well beyond ten films, with plans to expand it even more.

Now they’re learning.

Between Superman Vs. Batman, the Justice League film, and a Wonder Woman movie, DC is taking a trick from the fellow comic giant’s book and developing their own cinematic universe. That leaves fans with more questions than a child pondering the inception of a newborn, like Who’s going to get a full movie? When are those movies going to come out? What lesser known (yet greatly loved) characters will get nods and cameos?

But even more than the heroes, fans are curious about the villains, because while many of the heroes that the DC Cinematic Universe will incorporate are very obvious, the studio choice of villains isn’t always so clear-cut. The DC Universe has some pretty well-known characters that will obviously be drawn out, such as The Joker, Lex Luthor and Sinestro, but there are also some pretty hokey characters that will send filmmakers running to the hills faster than The Flash himself.

In a spirit of embellishing the ridiculous, reveling in the unbelievable and mocking the cheese (and the corn), these are the villains that DC writers probably wish they’d never been so high as to create in the first place.