Art By: Billy Tan, Mark Irwin, Marc Deering, Livesay, Alex Sinclair
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: December 24, 2014
GODHEAD FINALE!
It's finally here boys and girls; the epic finale to GODHEAD, so make sure you get your favorite ring on as we dive into the final issue and see how the battle between the New Gods and the Lanterns of the Prime-Universe goes down......... You know, hopefully with our heroes winning. Let's get everyone caught up in case you've been a slacker and have missed this Act of the story. The key parts you'll need to know are that Hal Jordan and Black Hand are battling Orion at the Source Wall while John Stewart, Saint Walker, Kyle Rayner, Carol Ferris and The Guardians are working on an attack that will stop Highfather from opening a boom tube to Earth and starting his Life Equation reprogramming of the planet. Sinestro on the other hand is more direct in that he used himself as a distraction while the biovirus Fear Lantern Despotellis reprogrammed Highfather's boom tube into opening at the Source Wall where Sinestro made his escape to. All that with a bunch of Lanterns still on New Genesis in cells and Guy Gardner and Simon Baz walking around with a handful of rings trying to find Saint Walker so they can get supercharged for the final battle. Let's check out this issue and see how our heroes intend on bringing a god to his knees.
Explain It!:
The finale begins with a bang as one of the most epic things that I've seen in the New 52 happens. Black Hand grabs a hold of the Source Wall but instead of becoming one with it, he brings the ancient creatures that have adorn the wall since before known time into the fight with Orion and my jaw drops at the epicness of it all. Look at this.
Some of this will probably get lost behind some floating stuff on the right, but I wanted it to be big enough for all of you to get a decent eye full..........Clicking on it may help........I'm not really good with........things.
So now Black Hand has control of the Titans of the Wall and his timing is impeccable. Just then, Highfather's reprogrammed boom tube opens and Sinestro emerges and is actually impressed with the reinforcements that Hal has gathered together. Now all hell breaks loose on New Genesis and I'm pleased as punch that the New Gods are getting what they deserve. Pleased as punch is a weird saying isn't it? With all the ruckus going on, all our other Lanterns see their time to strike and head off to join the fight. John and Guy fly off to release all the imprisoned Lanterns and Kyle finds out that even though his ring is dead and he's without the Life Equation.............. Well he's not actually without any of these things. The Guardians tell him that Highfather could never truly take the Life Equation from him. He merely put up a block in Kyle's mind so that he couldn't access the power and actually put in a psychic link so that he could take control of it. So with that knowledge Kyle begins a fight with Highfather within his mind to take back the power.......... But this doesn't really go well.
Back to the main fight we see some events that begin to look bad for our Lantern heroes. For whatever reason Black Hand's Wall Titans begin to come back to life and with that life he looses all control over them and the affects that he fought off when he touched the wall begin to reemerge. Black Hand freaks out and goes through the boom tube cursing Hal Jordan for tricking him into touching the wall and that's the last we see of good old Black Hand here.
With the creatures alive now, Highfather sees his chance to use his power on them and again, for whatever reason the Life Equation doesn't work on them and all Highfather manages to do is cause the Titans to go into a fury destroying New Genesis. Should we just go with the Source Wall acts in mysterious ways? That's what I'm going with because there really isn't a real definitive answer on why they came back to life or why Highfather couldn't transform them into his anti Darkseid soldiers.
Okay, you know how all of this so far as been really epic and how we haven't seen anything this cool since Green Lantern #20? Well that all changes right now. Do you know why Highfather stops acting like a jerk and gives up on his ambitions to stop Darkseid with this over the top plan? Because he happened to hear Hal Jordan yell to him that he's acting just like Darkseid would. Just like that Highfather goes "Oh No" and gives up on the fight.............. I'm really not happy with that. Even though Highfather has given up on his quest to destroy Darkseid with the Life Equation, we still have a bunch of angry Titans tearing up New Genesis and since Highfather himself can't affect them, he gives the power back to Kyle who gets all White Lanterned up and just like the kid from that old Twilight Zone episode who sent people to the cornfield, Kyle pretty much wishes the Wall Titans away and now we move away from fighting and to everyone trying to stop New Genesis from crashing to the surface and killing everyone in the area.
Now for what I've been waiting for all of GODHEAD. With the revelation of Kyle being alive and the knowledge that he can replenish the emotional reservoir, Saint Walker's ring detects hope and we've got the start of rebuilding the Blue Lantern Corps! All will be well all you ring slingers, weirdos or just casual fans............All will be well!
With the powers of a Blue Lantern once more, Saint Walker supercharges Hal Jordan's ring and our Corps leader is able to stop New Genesis from crashing and finally we have the Lanterns and the New Gods standing together and not trying to kill one another. The war is over and Highfather apologizes for all he's done to the New Gods and to the Lanterns and promises never to act as harshly as he has here.
In the end our heroes go back to our universe and Saint Walker has his Mogo squirrel put Mogo's ring back on and really it does appear that all will be well. Hal and Kyle have their short talk about what's going on with Kyle and Carol, Guy makes some inappropriate comments and all is as it was before............Well all except a giant monster hand breaking out of the Source Wall........... That shit is brand new and terrifying! We don't have to worry about that now though because GODHEAD is over and all is well.
That's it for GODHEAD and while I enjoyed the entire journey leading up to this point and had to pick my jaw up off the ground throughout most of this issue, I do have to say that Highfather's sudden realization that he was being a douche just felt really anticlimactic. I mean his own people were betraying him for his actions and Hal Jordan comparing him to Darkseid does the trick? Maybe everyone out there can get behind this and I'm actually the jerk here but I just expected more. Besides for that though, this was an amazing issue and finale to this epic story and I'm so glad that I was along for the ride. While I'm a huge fan of pretty much all the Lantern art in the five series, this issue just looked amazing and blew me away. Billy Tan went above and beyond anything I expected here and has solidified his place in my Lantern fanboy heart. See you next time for............ Something completely different............ Huh, that's weird.
Bits and Pieces
This was an unbelievable issue and finale to GODHEAD and while I'm not thrilled about how everything went down, the good more than outweighs the bad. Just so many new ideas and concepts thrown at us coupled with amazing art that this is one of those jaw dropping issues that you just need to have. It's odd to actually have GODHEAD finished but it was a satisfying ride and I'm happy that I was on it and I'm sure anyone else reading out there will feel the same. I just wish that Highfather's reasons for ending the fight were a little more climactic....... But up until that point the book is solid gold, go check it out.
9/10
I knew Black Hand was gonna ressurect the friggin wall the moment he realized it was a mass grave, and as expected...friggin epic
ReplyDeleteThe thing with Hal Jordan simply telling Highfather something that others have told him already in GODHEAD, but it only working when it comes out of Hal Jordan's mouth was really lame. Same with Hal saving New Genesis on his own. Suddenly with 300% power he manages to stop what many lanterns together couldn't do. Why not show all the lanterns boosted by the blue ring and working together like they would if it was Green Lantern Corps Annual. I also don't know what leadership Hal showed? But at the end Highfather talks to Kyle and Hal as if they are the only two who really did anything. As if Hal made some amazing tactical decisions or somehow actually inspired his lanterns to do anything. Hal showed no real leadership abilities.
ReplyDeleteKyle's story was good through this, but I wish that the writers for Green Lantern series would take a step away from always having it be Kyle and Hal who do the final things to save the universe. Everyone else gets a little bit part, but it is those two who have the big hero moments. Guy Gardner and Simon Baz had a great story arc where we learn more about Simon and Guy goes through some well written psychological issues. Yet that arc ends with Guy getting pumped up to actually do something without being suicidal, but then we don't see any of it. What he does from then on is simple work that any one else could have done. We saw nothing else from him or Simon. They may work with his new inspiration in coming editions, but for him the end of this big story was really a let-down. As for John Stewart, what did he really get to do? He's an awesome leader of people, but he was constantly trying things, doing some awesome things, but then having them fail because he couldn't do anything about it. No matter what he did, it failed except for freeing the lanterns at the end. It just felt like he was along for the ride and that he was there simply because he's part of the Green Lanterns, but they didn't really do anything with him. The best part of his story was him learning that Fatality had to have had at least some small feeling for him if the Star Sapphire ring managed to amplify it. So he go something he can use in the future too, but no real part in this story. As for the other lanterns, Carol got her ring back and they made it seem really cool and important, but then she didn't use it? What was the point? They did so many things and made it seem like a build up, but then they failed to use it. The Guardians said that all of them would be important, but in the end all they did was unlock other lanterns who didn't do anything important. It came down to Saint Walker, Kyle, and Hal Jordan. As it always does. The same formula. They need to change that. I hoped it was going to change with new writers in charge, but I guess that unlike Walker, I really shouldn't have any hope.
I see your point and kinda agree with the whole always having Hal and Kyle do it all. I grew up watching John Stewart being a badass in the Justice League Cartoon, so its kinda sad having him in the back seat time to time.
DeleteAlso im pretty sure hal didnt place new genesis alone. I saw jets of green, which i assumed were the other lantern corp members. Highfather could have assumed THAT was the leadership he was talking about.
There were jets of green and other colours, but when he gets his boost from Saint walker there is a two page image where Hall is suddenly projecting a large Hall and all the others are just floating and watching him. Then someone else we can't even distinguish calls out for people to help him set it down. If it had been GO Corps annual that would have been John or Kilowag under the city when the boost came. They would have thanked Saint Walker and then called out for everyone to try together. They may have had one big construct, but they would all be contributing to it.
DeleteSo
ReplyDeleteGreen Lantern Corps, lets Highfather go and get away with murdering an entire planet of living begings
WOW, how can they let him go, its so unbelievable
No status on the Orange Lantern Ring or Agent Orange
Terrible Story arc, lots of plot holes
Yeah, I understand where you're coming from with letting Highfather go for his crimes against the Universe but really what are the Lanterns going to do? It's just a good thing that Highfather decided to give up the ghost when he did or he could of killed everyone. As for the Orange Ring, I'm sure that it will come up in further issues of the different series........probably New Guardians.
DeleteI really did not like Godhead at all. It was too long and very anti-climactic and there was no real end battle or anything. I also hate that Carrol and Kyle are now together that romance just does not make sense. Hal and Carrol have been on and off since Green Lantern started at now Kyle just swoops in hooks up with Carrol. I really hope this is not where the Green Lantern comics are headed with new writers. Since Geoff Johns is no longer writing Green Lantern I think it may be going downhill. Overall Godhead was bad compared to the 3rd army and the First lantern cross overs and the kyle Rayner and Carrol Ferris romance just sucks.
ReplyDelete