Green Lantern Annual #3 (DC)

via Comic Vine

writer: Robert Venditti

artist: Billy Tan

The conclusion of Venditti's longest Green Lantern crossover arc to date, "Godhead," after three months of the whole ring spectrum battling the New Gods, it comes down to the matter of Kyle Rayner's status as the White Lantern to resolve things.

Geoff Johns was the one who established the stream of cosmic crises as the defining element of Green Lantern storytelling, and Venditti was likely handpicked to succeed him on his ability to maintain the trend.  "Godhead" is the one with the same Johns scope fans know best, so it's a good sign for Venditti's continued reign as head writer of this franchise.

(Will, this, ah, change after March's sweeping cancellations of Green Lantern Corps, Green Lantern: New Guardians, and Red Lanterns?  Time will tell, after the Convergence two-month layover that follows!)

It's Rayner who sticks out in the issue, along with Saint Walker, the Blue Lantern who lost faith at the start of the crossover.  Everyone else is basically along for the ride.  There's an ironic turn of events involving Black Hand, and Venditti's first big idea (literally), Relic, is temporarily unleashed again, from the Source Wall, only to turn full Metron (although Metron himself does not) and become a scientist studying curiosities.  

At some point in the pages of New Guardians, Rayner and Carol Ferris, first of the Star Sapphires and erstwhile perennial girlfriend of Hal Jordan, seem to have become an item.  There's a moment where Hal and Kyle talk about that.  Johns had tried to respark the Hal/Carol flame.  It's interesting.

The whole Venditti era is like "Godhead."  It's not quite the dire playground Johns had.  Big events can still happen, but there's more interest in keeping the mythology squarely defined.  Maybe that's a good thing, given that Johns never did manage to make Green Lantern as popular as the concept became important.  

Oh, and the next big threat is teased on the last page.  Is it Relic again?  I guess we'll see...