I’m Not Thinking About a Bird While I’m Unconscious

Before we get back to glowing space jewelry and deeply dysfunctional mentorship, The Con Men take a moment to remember Dolly Parton — songwriter, performer, philanthropist, businesswoman, champion of childhood literacy, and one of those exceedingly rare public figures who somehow seemed to belong to everybody.Adrian and Dan also preview the absolutely stacked Arkansas Comic Con, featuring everyone from Ming-Na Wen, Danny Trejo and Tom Welling to Nana Visitor, Matt Ryan, Kane Hodder, X-Men voice actors, Red Dead Redemption alumni and enough wrestling talent to body-slam the Statehouse Convention Center.LANTERNS.Episode 2, “Trust Fall,” keeps Hal Jordan and John Stewart firmly in reluctant-buddy-cop territory while giving us our first real clues about just how powerful John may actually be.Hal’s ring is running out of juice. His relationship with the Green Lantern oath is looking increasingly complicated. Rushville gets stranger by the minute.And John accidentally creates a bird that survives after the ring is removed. It acts independently. It protects John while he’s unconscious. And everyone who understands Green Lantern powers seems considerably more impressed by this than John himself.Meanwhile, Manhunters have entered the conversation, Sinestro knows considerably more than he’s saying, somebody is financing a deeply suspicious anti-alien militia, and Lex Luthor is beginning to look like an awfully obvious answer.But sometimes?The obvious answer is still the answer.