With GodHead speeding towards its conclusion next week the pendulum has yet to really begin to swing in the favor the of Lanterns and Highfather, equipped with the Life Equation, seems unbeatable now more than when the story began despite the recent defection of Malhedron in Green Lantern Corps #37.  This week’s Green Lantern: New Guardians issue reunites John Stewart and Saint Walker with Kyle Rayner and Carol Ferris as they all try to band together to free the rest of the Lantern hostages and defeat Highfather.

Justin Jordan strives to find a balance between telling the story he wants to tell about Kyle and doing his part in this event.  Unfortunately he doesn’t have enough room to accomplish both goals successfully and the result is an issue which is just average at best.  I have felt through Jordan’s run that he excels at the personal story telling but at times struggles when it comes to writing dialogue for actions scenes, sprinkling a bunch of colorful metaphors as if it somehow makes the action sequences better.  Dialogue rich scenes, such as the opening sequence between Kyle, Carol and Metron seem much more natural and show Jordan’s strength as a writer.

Just like the dialog the plot points are also hit and miss.  Seeing the four successfully take on Highfather’s forces armed with nothing more than John’s power ring is too unbelievable considering what we’ve seen throughout GodHead, and Highfather’s inexplicable order not to kill Kyle makes no sense considering what we learn by the issue’s end.  The issue isn’t without its strong points, chief among them the interesting revelation that the Templar Guardians do not have the same power source as the Green Lanterns as well as what we learn about Highfather’s own power.  

Diogenes Neves and Rooney Buchemi share pencil duties this issue with three different inkers and despite all the hands involved in providing this issue’s visual the combination of artists works well together here.  As we saw in last week’s Green Lantern Corps #37 sometimes having multiple artists provides jarring results but the transitions here are much less of a distraction.  Kyle still appears a little too youthful for my liking, but at least the look is consistent.  The emotion on Carol Ferris’ face, from her anger at Kyle to her pain in recalling her time spliced with Alex are aptly portrayed and provides the emotional foundation for Jordan’s script.

Green Lantern: New Guardians #37 provides the necessary reunion between several of the main cast but fails to develop the GodHead story in a meaningful way,  Readers who don’t regularly follow the series will likely find it less satisfying than those who are routinely along to witness Kyle Rayner’s exploits.  As we prepare to head into the final week of the latest Green Lantern event this issue doesn’t feel like it is as much a part of the third act of a sprawling cosmic saga as it does a regular issue of a series.  Three out of five lanterns.

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