In brightest day, and blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight!

The radio trivia question of the morning, "What were the real names of Batman & Robin?" prompted me to think about superheroes and light. Just imagine, wouldn't it be cool to have your own personal Bat Signal that could be used to summon help, if ever you needed it?

Light is so important to the life of a superhero. Alter egos don't amount to much during the day — mild-mannered reporter, student photographer, swinging playboy — but at night, our heroes don the supersuits and keep watch over cities, making sure that crime doesn't pay.

Next year's big superhero movie, The Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds, is set for release in June of 2011. The film is currently in production in New Orleans, Louisiana, a place that really could use a superhero right now. The tag line for the film, "Anyone can be chosen," reminds us that there are many "Green Lanterns." All are members of an intergalactic team known as the Green Lantern Corps, chosen because they are deemed worthy candidates. Their superpowers come and go with the ring, one of the most powerful, dangerous weapons in the universe, but a force for good when in the right hands.

The original Green Lantern first appeared in 1940, a time when superheroes were a big morale booster for Americans. Artists did their part to aid in the War effort by battling the evil Axis in the pages of comic books. The first Green Lantern, Alan Scott, was a railroad engineer who comes into possession of the magic lantern, from which he crafts his ring, which had to be charged every 24 hours by the lamp to be powerful. (The character was originally going to be named "Alan Ladd," after Aladdin, who also had a magic lamp and ring of his own.) Superhero comics lost their popularity after WWII, and the Golden Age Green Lantern was cancelled in 1949. The Green Lantern was revived in 1959, reimagined for the modern age, with character Hal Jordan, a test pilot who receives his power ring from a dying alien.

This superhero scenario reminds me of another TV show aired in the afterschool TV viewing time alongside the original campy Batman series with Adam West and Burt Ward. I date myself, but does anyone else out there remember Ultraman? In this series, Science Patrol pilot Hayata's plane collides with a red sphere of light, which happens to be the transport for a red-and-silver giant being called Ultraman. Ultraman is remorseful for killing Hayata, so he merges his essence with the dead pilot to save his life. Hayata becomes the host human for Ultraman, and whenever there is trouble, he raises the Beta Capsule and transforms into Ultraman. Ultraman's powers come from the sun, and he has to be careful that he doesn't run out of energy when battling the giant monsters.

Here's a groovy TV flashback, the Ultraman intro featuring silhouettes of Ultraman and friends, complete with a nice little nod to King Kong.



Ultraman was created by Eiji Tsuburaya, the same special effects wizard who created Godzilla, the beloved superstar of the best known daikaiju eiga "giant monster" film, Gojira, which was released in 1954. The inspiration for Gojira was a real-life disaster. On March 1, 1954, a Japanese fishing boat, Daigo Fukuryū Maru (The Lucky Dragon), accidentally sailed into a cloud of radioactive debris from a nuclear bomb test by the United States, and the newspapers covered the radiation-sickness suffered by the ship's crew. The ship's chief radio operator died from the exposure, the first victim of a hydrogen bomb. That incident, combined with the success of the US monster film King Kong in 1952, gave film producer Tomoyki Tanaka the idea for Godzilla, originally titled, The Giant Monster from 20,000 Miles Beneath the Sea. Gojira was created as entertainment, but the film also commented on one of humanity's darkest hours, the release of the nuclear genie on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. You can see that this original film trailer has a much different tone than the Raymond Burr-inserted version edited for American audiences.



Today, the BP disaster in the Gulf Coast is looming large in the public consciousness. Who knows what impact will this event will have on the natural environment and the health of all living creatures?

Comic books and science fiction movies have always been essential summer fare, helping the young-at-heart kill a few hours. And while superheroes and giant battling monsters can be dismissed as frivolous entertainment, if you look to the origins, sometimes you can spot the signal of a artistic response, telling all citizens to hold out hope — help is on the way.