Today, Patrick and Shelby are discussing Green Lantern: New Guardians 21, originally released June 19th, 2013.

Jingle bells / Batman smells / Robin laid an egg / Batmobile broke its wheel / and the Joker got away.

-Traditional.

Patrick: I know there are variations on the above. There are the small variations, like the difference between “broke its wheel” and “lost its wheel”; and there are the big variations, like the difference between the Joker getting away and dancing ballet. We’ve all been that little shit – belting away over a chorus of vanilla Jingle Bells. While it’s mostly nonsense, there are a few simple truths buried in those lyrics. The first being that superhero stories are simple and repetitive, but the second being that that the superhero trappings are all it takes to make the story engaging. If the “police car” broke its wheel and the “bad guy” got away, it’s not the same story. A new creative team on Green Lantern: New Guardians trots out all the all the trappings of the Green Lantern universe and threatens to do something new with it, before doubling back to the space operatics we’ve come to expect. Continue reading →