Ryan Reynolds Lands Green Lantern Gig

Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively star in Martin Campbell's film

(NEWSER) - Green Lantern is chock-full of special effects, but they’re not enough to rescue this superhero flick. Critics complain:

• “Green Lantern is bad,” writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times . It’s "impeded by lame jokes; evocations of better movies; an ugly-bruise palette of black, green, and purple; and a formulaic script that mechanically switches among story threads as TV shows often do.”

After dropping citizenship, hero salutes land of 'second chances'

(NEWSER) - Superman made headlines last month with his decision to drop his US citizenship —but he’s still American at heart. That’s made clear in a new issue of Superman, which features the superhero reaffirming his love for the country, Bleeding Cool reports. “That’s the American way. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness—and second chances. None of us are forced to be anything we don’t want to be,” he says, gazing up at Metropolis. More»

Silver Scorpion the brainchild of disabled US, Syrian kids

(NEWSER) - It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... well, this time it's something a bit different: The latest comic-book hero will be a wheelchair-bound Muslim boy who lost his legs in a landmine accident, reports the AP. The Silver Scorpion began to take shape when a US philanthropist, inspired by President Obama's outreach to the Muslim world, gathered a group of disabled American and Syrian kids to talk storylines. More»

'Twilight' vampire tops Forbes list; cartoon superheroes fare well

(NEWSER) - Upheaval in the financial sector has widespread implications—it even affects the annual Forbes rankings of the wealthiest fictional characters. Entering the list at No. 1 is Carlisle Cullen, the Twilight vampire patriarch, who has a serious advantage in that he's undead and has had 370 years to accumulate his $34.1 billion fortune. The full list is here ; the rest of the top five are: More»

'Hardcore fan' pays record-smashing price for Action Comics #1

(NEWSER) - Superman's first appearance has sold for a price that would have allowed his creators Seigel & Shuster to retire on the spot. A mint-condition copy of Action Comics No. 1 from 1938 went for $1.5 million on Internet auction site Comics Connect. The sale broke the record for the most expensive comic book in history for the third time this year. More»