Pop Cult: Green Lantern Rock

By James Ross Gardner

WHEN THE REST OF AMERICA catches up with geekdom’s seven-decade romance with DC Comics’ emerald superhero—that is, when the film Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds, opens in June—Seattleites Kyle Stevens and Jim Demonakos will no doubt bask in the green glow. Back in 2009 the duo, whose band Kirby Krackle riffs exclusively on comics and other forms of nerdery, recorded “Ring Capacity,” about Green Lantern. “He’s our favorite DC character,” explains Stevens. The comic book’s plot: Fighter pilot Hal Jordan meets an alien who deputizes him as the guardian of this sector of the universe—Sector 2814—and bequeaths him a ring that allows its wearer to materialize any object he imagines. A grassroots movement—including some 1,200 “Ring Capacity” Facebook fans—to get the guitar-heavy ditty on the film’s soundtrack failed. But as the likely blockbuster approaches, Kirby Krackle is enjoying an uptick in interest, with requests to play its nerdcore creation at comic cons from Reading, Pennsylvania, to Sydney, Australia. Says Stevens: “Cue the dork glasses.”