Green Lantern: Lost Army #1
"Hit them hard and fast?" Start the book off with a literary cliche, why don't you? Most of the dialogue is similarly clunky, but the story is sound. A group of Green Lanterns are lost in unknown space, fighting for their lives as the book opens, and they're accompanied by Krona. They later discuss whether or not he's the same person who the Green Lanterns have fought many times. If he is, he's much younger and a lot friendlier. He's enjoying this new universe. John Stewart is in charge of the group which consists of him, Arisia, Kilowog and others. Guy Gardner turns up halfway through the book, back to his old GL uniform, but with red trim and other red, and he's got a GL and Red Lantern ring. John calls him the Christmas Lantern since he's red and green, giving us a bit of levity in an otherwise all drama issue. The issue ends as the small group find what looks like a pyramid in space that's fueled by rage and aggression.
So, some awkward dialogue aside, it's a good first issue that throws the characters in the deep end and makes them fight to survive. They can't connect to the central battery, so the rings have a finite charge. They have Krona with them, and he's always been one of the most dangerous enemies of the Corps in the past. It remains to be seen whether or not this is the same Krona, or another one from a different universe. John gets a few pages flashing back to his days as a Marine, presumably fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan, as he draws on his military background during the GL battle. I like the parallel, and it helps make the outer space fight more tangible by relating it to a more down to Earth combat situation. And of course, we already get hints of coming conflict between John and Guy. It's a solid first issue, with great art, and it's a $2.99 book so the price is better than most books on the shelf at the moment.
Batman 66 #24
This is the first issue of the book I've read since I've been watching the actual show. Jeff Parker doesn't write this issue. Instead we get Ray Fawkes, with former Superman Man of Steel artist Jon Bogdanove on art. He always drew a great retro-looking Superman back in the day.
Millionaires in Gotham are withdrawing their money from the bank, and Commissioner Gordon calls Batman. Bruce and Dick are about to rush to the Batpoles when Alfred reminds them that they're due at a benefit for wayward youth, so naturally they go, ready to deal with any problems at a moments notice. The villain turns out to be Marsha, Queen of DIamonds, who is using mind control to rob everyone at the charity ball blind (and hypnotize Dick Grayson). Bruce makes a change to Batman and pursues Marsha, with the lovestruck and hypnotized Robin along for the ride. Sadly, Robin has stripped the Batmobile's diamond studded brakes to give the diamonds to Marsha to the Batmobile can't stop. It goes over the wall at a construction site and explodes (No!), with Batman managing to escape and rescue Robin at the same time.
Back at the Batcave, Batman manages to find a way to free Robin from the hypnosis, and without the Batmobile they're forced to take a bus to Gordon's house, where they get in his car and arrive at Marsha's hideout. She tries to hypnotize him, but having worked out the frequency of the hypnosis, Batman and Robin have worked out how quickly to blink their eyes to resist it. Awesome.
From there it's just a question of taking out Marsha's goons, freeing Gordon from hypnosis, and letting the police clean up the mess.
A winner of an issue. Fun all the way through, and pretty authentic to the tv show. But how could they destroy the best Batmobile ever?