Liz OhanesianSee more of Shannon Cottrell's photos in “Anaheim Comic Con 2011.” Also, check out, “Southern California Ghostbusters Turn up at Anaheim Comic Con.”
“Green Lantern is just an awesome character in general,” said Seth Xiro, who we met at Anaheim Comic Con on April 30.
Over the course of the past year, we've seen increasing interest in Green Lantern on convention floors across Southern California. (Is this the result of the forthcoming movie? We can't say for certain.) Most of this is in the form of t-shirts. Sometimes, we see cosplayers. Xiro took his own interest in the DC series one step further. Using the cosplay name Lantern Hiryu, Xiro has created a samurai Green Lantern character.
Credit: Shannon Cottrell
“A lot of people aren't familiar with Green Lantern. There are thousands and thousands of Green Lanterns in the galaxy, so it leaves the imagination so open to many, many different avenues. You can be anything.”
Xiro's character is the nephew of John Stewart, a Green Lantern who first appeared in the 1970s.
“My character is roughly based off an alternate dimension where John Stewart's nephew has been chosen by the government and the government has sort of created their own power battery,” Xiro explained. “They've chosen his nephew because the nephew wants to be like his uncle. He hasn't been chosen to gain the ring yet. So, he's sort of recruited by the government to be a Green Lantern for Earth for their Green Lantern Corps.”
There's more to the origin story than this. Without spoiling too much of the tale, we'll tell you that there's drama with the Guardians, Sinestro gets involved and Xiro's character faces a punishment that will ultimately result in the creation of a samurai Lantern.
“I have a very active imagination,” Xiro conceded.
Credit: Shannon Cottrell
The samurai aspect of Xiro's costume reflect his study of aikido and kendo.
“This is my idea of what would happen if a samurai got a hold of the ring and was chosen to be a Green Lantern,” he said. “It would be an incredible, incredible force, because they have incredible willpower.”
Xiro has been dressing up in variations of this costume for, he estimated, “six or seven years” now.
“It started from just getting a few things at Wal-Mart to learning how to perfect my craft and try different things, put different things together,” he said. “I haven't learned how to sew yet, I'm working on that.”
You can also catch Xiro on Xiro Xone Talk Radio.
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