Green Valley #9 (Image)

writer: Max Landis
artist: Giuseppe Camuncoli

Having caught up with the premise and first few issues earlier this year and been such a fan of Superman: American Alien, I was happy to catch the final installment of Green Valley. 

Obviously, I missed a good chunk of the story, but other than not knowing where a given element came from, it made perfect sense, not only from what I'd read but also on its own.  This is a good thing.  I was able to recall the pertinent details and keep up with the emotional rewards at the conclusion.

The problem is that I'm not sure the landing was really nailed.  It's not in the scripting or the art, which from Camuncoli remains stellar, but that the pacing seemed wrong.  You know how people complain about all the epilogues in Peter Jackson's Return of the King, and they just seemed to drag on and on?  Here it's kind of the opposite.  It feels rushed.  There's really no chance to breathe between celebrating victory and then finding out the two big things waiting for our heroes when they get back.  Plus there's a whiff in explaining what's supposed to come next.

It's not even so much that the ending is essentially a reboot.  Some fans loathe the idea of a reboot because it cancels out the emotional developments that helped make a story work in the first place.  I've seen plenty of reboots to know that this isn't really the case if you know the reboot is inevitable.  The problem here is that this is literally the first story featuring the Knights of Kelodia (that's my other main beef with Green Valley; "Kelodia" is a lousy name).

But given all that, I still love the ambition and the skill brought to the table.  Landis ought to be celebrated as a wildly talented new writer in the field.  Camuncoli has already worked at DC and Marvel; he did two issues of 52, plus scores of Spider-Man (including Superior Spider-Man), and Batman: Europa.  He ought to be considered a superstar in the making.