And Then I Read: GREEN LANTERN 13, THE FLASH 13

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About once a decade DC decides to give a new guy the ring, and this time it’s Simon Baz, a man of middle-eastern descent who is wanted by the police for good reason. In fact, he only escaped from them when the ring suddenly showed up and claimed him. This particular ring is somewhat confused and confusing: is it the one that Sinestro created for Hal Jordan? As the GL Corps is currently in the middle of a major purge and crisis of its own, this is a bad time to be gaining ring powers, but Simon sees it first as a way to help his family. That doesn’t seem to be working out well for him, though, and at the end of the issue he’s called on the carpet by greater powers. The writing by Geoff Johns is strong, with great characters. The art by Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy is terrific, as always.

Things are pretty complicated for Barry Allen in FLASH 13. Grodd and his gorilla army are invading Central City, interrupting an already ongoing battle between Barry and his Rogues Gallery. This Grodd is not as smart as the original one from the past decades of FLASH, and he passes on the opportunity to team up with the Rogues, making them turn against him. So we have the villains who were just attacking Flash now helping him against the gorillas. This makes the odd attraction between Barry and the spirit-like Golden Glider all the more interesting. While I don’t like these new super-aggressive but rather stupid gorillas, I do like the rest of what’s going on in the book. And the art by Francis Manapul continues to delight me. I should add that the color by Brian Buccellato and Ian Herring has a lot to do with that.

Both books are recommended.