"Green Lantern's Blackout!" was written by Gardner Fox with pencils by Carmine Infantino, Sid Greene on inks, Joe Letterese on lettering and Julius Schwartz served as editor.
The splash page shows us Ralph fighting some crooks alongside two men who don't appear to be very special. But, as the text and thought balloons inform us, they are Hal Jordan and "Pieface," meaning that we have the sixth superhero to team up with Ralph: Green Lantern. (The previous were, of course, the Flash/Barry Allen, Kid Flash/Wally West, Batman/Bruce Wayne, Robin/Dick Grayson, the Atom/Ray Palmer and now Hal.)
I have never liked the art on this splash page. It's frankly ugly, even with the dynamics of Ralph punching and his leg wrapped around some guy. However, now that I'm looking at it, you can tell those sound effects are Joe Letterese's work. (If you don't remember why, check out Joe's profile.) Other fun items of note: a blacked-out Green Lantern battery next to the title, and Infantino's signature in the lower left corner.
Anyway, Ralph and Sue are in Coast City, which is supposed to be a Californian city in the DC universe, again without a real-world counterpart. It's Ralph's birthday, and Sue wakes him up with a round of the "Happy Birthday" song. Ralph remembers his last birthday and what Sue did for him then, and so stretches his neck around the room to inspect it thoroughly to look for his present.
I noted that Sue quickly moves from one side of the bed to the other between the first two panels. Furthermore, I don't get why she wasn't in bed with Ralph. Unless implying a married couple would share a bed was too risque for 1966. She's wearing a near-transparent morning robe, though.
Sue says Ralph's present won't be ready until two o'clock, when she wants him to be back at the hotel. Ralph goes to sign autographs in the lobby, and is approached by Thomas Kalmuku, who tells Ralph that he's an ally of Green Lantern, who calls him "Pieface." ("Pieface" was actually a derogatory slur for people who had stereotypical Asian features. Tom was actually of Inuit origin and enjoyed Eskimo pies, which was supposed to be how he got the nickname. In time, DC has backed away from the nickname and just called him Tom, so allow me some liberty and I'll refer to him as Tom as well.) He further says that Green Lantern can't remember who he is and thinks it's the day after tomorrow, so he came to Ralph for help.Tom has to spill Green Lantern's identity to Ralph, and explains that Green Lantern returned from a mission from a deep space mission, then switched to Hal Jordan. Hal talks to Tom about things they were scheduled to do the next day. Tom then sees Hal recharging his ring, except he'd already recharged it an hour ago when it only needs it daily, and unlike every other time, he's not in costume and seemingly not wearing his ring. When Tom asks him about it, he claims not to know what he's talking about or know who Green Lantern is. An hour later, Hal is now talking as if it's the day after tomorrow and charging his ring again, spurring Tom to find Ralph.
As they arrive at Ferris Air's base, Tom and Ralph spot strange planes that have been spraying some sort of chemical. Tom notices the guards are asleep, and as they pull in, they spot crooks running around with chemical sprays strapped to their backs. Luckily, Ralph can use his abilities to punch and kick at the crooks without them being able to spray him.
Ralph pulls himself onto the roof of a building to trip a couple crooks and then whack them against the building. Hal and Tom get into the fight and eventually all three wind up taking out the crooks. Tom gets the police who cart off the crooks.This fight scene has some good visuals, but cutting between Tom and Hal and over to Ralph, it lacks the fluid motion we often get in Infantino's fight scenes.
Ralph has Tom confront Hal, who makes him concentrate on his invisible ring and have him restore his memory. The ring speaks and reveals that Hal passed through some gas that had a strange effect on him, making his sense of time screw up and forget that he's the Green Lantern.
It's now that Tom tells Hal that he let Ralph know that he's Green Lantern. Hal is willing to let Ralph have this information, but Ralph says he'd prefer to figure it out himself and Hal wipes that bit of information from Ralph's memory, and then Ralph notices that it's 1:59, and he's far from the hotel. Hal, however, transports him back with his ring.Ralph is surprised to be surrounded by the media as Sue hands him a large wrapped box, which he opens to find a new costume.
Sue comments that Ralph's costume—which, we may recall, he's had since his debut in The Flash #112 just now without the mask—is "so drab," so she designed a new one and arranged for publicity.
Ralph tries on his new costume, which is primarily red with a black v-neck shape on the chest, as well as black gloves and boots with yellow trim, with a matching yellow belt. The new design is greeted by applause.
Now, onto the new costume. I don't love it. Mainly because it's extremely similar to Plastic Man's, which would prove to be bad timing as Plastic Man would return months later in July 1966 in House of Mystery #160. This was actually a "Dial H for Hero" story that saw Robby Reed use his dial to turn into Plastic Man to save the day. (Written by Dave Wood, art by Jim Mooney.)
However, the appearance of Plastic Man would be so well received that DC began their first Plastic Man series with a November/December cover date for 1966. While Ralph's costume was supposed to be red, it would often be colored differently, and I'll definitely be pointing it out.
In addition, I like purple being Ralph's color. This completely changed it.
Next time, what happens to the old costume?
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