GREEN LIGHTNING

ORIGIN STORY

Green Lightning first came into being when I was 10 years old. I started fantasizing about being a super powered being able to beat up the local bully who was picking on me and beating me up almost on a weekly basis. But I didn't want to fight him Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee style, I wanted to kick him into the next county. So Green Lightning was born. He started out dressed in an all green version of the costume Robin wore when he first met Batman, but with a floor length yellow cape. His powers varied depending on what my sick little mind needed at the time: defy gravity, teleport, invisibility, xray vision, superhuman strength. You name it. He was an alien from another planet who chased a dangerous criminal to Earth. He manages to capture him, but is nearly killed in the battle. A Wizard rescues him, and transfers his soul into a ring to preserve him. If someone wears the ring and reads the inscription, they will transform into Green Lightning. What can I say? I was 10, and I had the ring.

By 12 years old, I'd beaten the bully during one last showdown on the way home from school and he became a friend. He had stopped bullying all together by the time we went back to school, and even taught me how to shoot a .22cal rifle! But the need for Green Lightning was still there. Now I was battling an enemy that no one can beat: being dirt poor. My dad got laid off from work, and was doing odd jobs, so we had clothes on our backs, food to eat. But not much else. I would sit in the backyard dreaming up things I could do if I was Green Lightning. So his costume changed to something a little flamboyant: The tight shorts were replaced with long pants, and the cape was now attached to his wrist and was shortened. He now had a secret lair in the sky (I wasn't reading Marvel comics yet, so I guess I came up with this one without the aid of S.H.I.E.L.D), a really cool car (somewhere between Batmobile and The Green Hornet's car), and a rocket powered motorcycle. But no superhuman strength. No heat for xray vision. He was just super cool and super rich.

And still all this time, no rhyme or reason to call him Green Lightning other than it sounded cool.

By 16, I had started drawing both DC and Marvel comic characters. I had a pretty good life, a part time job, a car and money in the bank. But no girlfriend. Didn't want or need one either. I had Green Lightning, Red Devil, the DC and Marvel Universe.... and Heavy Metal (both the magazine and the music). Who needs girls?

By this time, I started giving him what would become his final costume change. He was now about 25, so the kid wear gave way to a full on Flash-like suit complete with cowl, gloves, and boots. But no cape. His powers were now super human strength, agility, invunerability, sight, hearing, and he could shoot lightning from his fingers. He could fly by manipulating the air currents around him with a static electricity charge. I changed the alien origin to a particle from a distant planet, which hurled its way across the galaxy after the planet explodes. It nearly lands on John Forester, who touches it and becomes Green Lightning. Hokey, right?

At 21 I attempted to work for Marvel and was turned down. They said my art was good, but my portfolio lacked in Marvel heroes. They wanted someone how drew their characters their way. I was crushed, but at the same time I was realistic. The world didn't need Green Lightning when it had 15,000 other superheroes fighting for it.

5 years ago I came across Poser 8 in Baharain of all places, at a Navy Exchange. I was curious about what the box said, so I bought it. As I started getting into it more, I started waking up the old fires inside me. Green Lighning was begging to get out. So I started learning the program, and everything else I was going to need, because I was going for the gusto: I was going to make a full length Green Lightning movie. Yeah, it's five years later and still no movie. But I do have a pretty good back story. I think.

Let me preface that by stating that superheroes and comics have been around nearly 100 years. There are no original 'origins' anymore. So what I have here best fits both John Forester and Green Lightning best.

In 1948, Arthur Forester and Niles Bespin started an electronics company. Everyone thought they would fail. They were wrong. By 1965, they opened their first factory. The night before the grand opening of a factory that would give jobs to more than 2,500 employees, both men were on the main floor, a little champaign, a little celebration. Suddenly, a small particle burst through the roof of the building and lands at Arthur's feet. He picks it up, saying his son would like something like this. By 1985, the factory had closed and everything was moved to a much larger, more modern facility. By this time the Forester name was synonymous with quality, and the family was worth millions. Also in 1985, the family welcomed Jonathon James Forester J. into the mix.

In 2010, 25 year old college graduate John Jr. was set to take over the company. He had full reign, but there was one catch: the original factory, which stood as a figure head for the Forester name, was to be left alone. This didn't stop Carlo Beneducci from making an offer every week for the property; first to the Arthur, when he was turning over the company to John Sr., then to Sr., and his first offer to Jr., who said the same thing as the other two men: the factory stays in the family, but mistakenly added: "as long as the factory stands."

This put a wild thought into Beneducci's mind. He hires two of the best to rig the building to blow.

Karen Sanders started at Forester Industries only a couple weeks before John Jr. came home to take over. She fancied him, but he was way out of her league. He was tall, handsome and rich. She was his employee, and liked her cupcakes with extra frosting, extra whipped cream...uh...

But Karl Stevens, one of the want-to-go-all-the-way-to-the-top as fast as he can types, seems to take an interest in Karen. She's not stupid, she knows it's to get in the big door. John's office door. Not on her watch. But she plays along with his monkey business long enough to actually fall for his bull. He sets a date with her at the factory, 8pm. She has the key, right? Sure. Ok.

The particle that Arthur Forester picked up on the factory floor all those years ago now resides on a necklace around John Jr.'s neck. It was an heirloom handed down from his grandfather and he swore to never take it off. It was on his neck the night he didn't call the police before him and best friend Alex Perkins went to investigate the silent alarm at the factory. It was on his neck when he entered the building just seconds before the bomb went off at 8:05pm. It wasn't on his neck when they dug his body out of the rubble. And he wasn't hurt. Not even a scratch. But he was in a coma for a week.

That's all I am giving you. Karen Sanders becomes Blaze. Living fire. The particle was absorbed into their bodies, combining with the DNA and enhancing everything. John is Green Lighning because he hit a charged electrical panel when the concussion knocked him over. Karen was roasted alive and became living fire.

If I had a nickle for ever time a woman told me to get lost, I could buy Manhattan.