Green Lantern: New Guardians #35 (Godhead)

By Justin Jordan, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy and Wil Quintana

This is the issue we’ve been waiting for since Godhead started; Act I, Part IV finally shows us the first meeting between the Highfather and the White Lantern, Kyle Rayner. It also gives us a better look at what these new Guardians have been doing since being freed and essentially taking over for the old, corrupt ones.

Justin Jordan, really, has been doing a fantastic job with Kyle Rayner and his crazy adventures in Green Lantern: New Guardians since taking over this book from Tony Bedard. Being a big fan of Rayner, this was obviously a personal favorite amongst the Lantern titles so now that we’re starting to see everything come full circle it only serves to increase the love of this title. Giving Kyle the chance to explore and, essentially, test out his new powers in one or two issue stand-alone books (there was an overarching theme that connected them, sure, but they were basically stand-alone) has been fun and having it sit far apart from the rest of the Lantern stuff was great but in the same breath, it’s going to be equally great to see it tie back in and maybe even get to see Kyle and the rest of the Lantern gang together again.

Plus, you add in the New Gods to the mix and you’ve got yourself a recipe for something great. Kyle, with all his power, against (or with?) someone like the Highfather and the rest of the New Gods just sounds exciting. This could have been simply a story with the White Lantern and the New Gods and it’d be just as intriguing—but having the rest of the Lantern books tie-in works just as well, of course.

This issue has some of the best art from Brad Walker we’ve seen so far. The characters, with their expressions and movement, were spot on and his version of the Highfather is just magnificent. Nothing against the fill-in artists that have worked on this title while Walker takes a break or catches up on his work, but Brad Walker was made for this title and it’s damn good to have him back. Wil Guintana’s colors for this book also really stand out amongst some of the best in comics. His white effects for the White Lantern powers look great and really give it a feeling of power, while his pages with the Boom Tube are in your face and breath taking. A duo like this should be up there amongst guys like Greg Capullo and Fco.

Does this Green Lantern: New Guardians issue reward readers who have been waiting for it? Hell yes. Godhead has been decent up to this point, but this issue brings it up a step and really leaves a feeling of longing for the next issue once it’s done. What more could you ask for from a comic than that antsy, panicky feeling that you need to read the next issue now and waiting just isn’t an option? Bravo.