The Green Lantern event "Godhead" just wrapped up and it's changed quite a bit in the Green Lantern universe. What happened though? We decided to take a look at the finale of this epic arc GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #3 as Highfather and the New Gods, who now have the Life Equation prepare for war against all of the lanterns in order to prepare for their eventual battle with Darkseid and the forces of Apokolips.

Warning: There are spoilers for the end of Godhead here. Tons of spoilers.

GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #3 was written by Robert Venditti, with Billy Tan doing pencils, Mark Irwin w/Marc Deering & Livesay on ink, and Alex Sinclair doing colors.

Black Hand Reanimated the Creatures Trapped in the Source Wall

In order to increase their chances of winning the battle against the New Gods, Hal Jordan enlisted the help of the one ring holder not involved in this battle, Black Hand, the keeper of the black ring. Black Hand can reanimate the dead and make them into his personal army. He finds that he can not only touch the Source Wall without being trapped in it, but he can also bring them back to life under his command. He frees them all to battle under the Black Lantern Corps banner.

This is a pretty big deal, since the Source Wall was at one time the edge of the universe and while Kyle Rayner broke through it before, no one has escaped it, let alone touch it and survived.

Relic is Back

Black Hand's powers of reanimating beings trapped in the Source Wall doesn't last. While they serve him for a short time, all the beings he reanimated actually come back to life, and one of those beings is Relic, the being from the previous universe who told the lanterns that they were draining the emotional spectrum from the universe, which will ultimately end it. He discovers something is wrong with the Source Wall. We'll get back to that.

It seems Relic's focus is on the Source Wall now and not the Lanterns. Kyle replenished the emotional spectrum, so it seems this cosmic detective may have bigger things to pay attention to. How long until the Lanterns come up against Relic again? Will he be friend or foe?

The Life Equation Never Left Kyle

In a long time tradition in Green Lantern books, the Guardians lied to Kyle Rayner, again. He thinks that Highfather stole the White Lantern powers, AKA Life Equation, from him by taking his ring. However, Kyle and Carol learn that the Life Equation is actually a part of Kyle and not something that can be ripped from him alone. Kyle still has the ability to be the White Lantern.

At moments like this, you wonder why anyone wearing a power ring would trust any of those Guardians or why they'd wait this long to tell Kyle about it. However, this is a HUGE turning point in the story because...

Highfather Realizes He's Become Darkseid

The whole point of getting the Life Equation was so Highfather could bring an end to the tyrannical reign of his brother Darkseid, who controls the Anti-Life Equation. After a long battle, Kyle knocks some sense into him by letting him know that this obsession has made him into his brother. Highfather quickly realizes that the Lanterns are the protectors they claim to be, even though the battle on New Genesis almost destroyed everything.

It's almost too little too late for Highfather and the New Gods. They let the war come to them and thought they could win it. Things went too far. The New Gods pompous attitude almost let New Genesis be destroyed. It's "almost" because...

Hal Saves New Genesis

While Highfather stands down and realizes the error of his ways, many lanterns decide to get out of town, as New Genesis falls to the ground, and if that happens, everyone in the city will die. Hal stays back to help out and with a little bit of help from Saint Walker, a super-charged green ring is all Hal needs to save the city and put it back on the ground with minimal damage.

This is a big moment in the issue. Even though the New Gods have been nothing short of terrible to the lanterns, Hal still values life over his pride and ego, which is actually a pretty big step for him. Most importantly, saving the city will lead to better relations in the future with the New Gods. Who knows? Maybe they'll need to team up in the future.

Hal's Totally Cool With Kyle and Carol

Kyle is a pretty awesome guy and great boyfriend for Carol Ferris, However, fans were worried that Kyle and Hal would come to blows over it. Luckily, Hal seems pretty cool with them dating and the two shake hands over it. Hal has bigger things to worry about anyway, like getting everything back to normal.

This was a great moment in the issue. It was such a minor thing, Kyle and Carol together, but it's something in the back of every fan's mind since they first hooked up. "How is Hal going to react to this?" It feels like both characters grew up a lot during this event.

Mogo is Back

Mogo has had a real rough run in the New 52: it's been blown up, put back together, and gotten it's ring taken away, essentially making it a dead planet. Fans were not happy to see Mogo get the shaft again. Luckily, Mogo gets its ring back at the end of this arc and the Lanterns finally have their home base/friend back again.

Things seem to be getting back to normal, and Mogo getting its ring back to pretty much close out the arc is a nice way to wrap things up for Godhead. Fans may wonder if not having its ring on the planet has any other effects on Mogo. We may have to wait and find out, since we don't get too much here.

Something Has Breached the Source Wall

Earlier, Relic mentioned something was wrong with the Source Wall. In the panel where Relic is floating in front of the wall (not the cropped one here), you notice a giant crack in it. To cap off the issue, a hand breaks through the Source Wall here. There's something seriously wrong with the wall. Whose hand is it? Does this all go back to Black Hand or is it something else?

With all the world's that are connected in the DCU, it may make fans wonder if in fact this hand is from somewhere other than New Genesis or Apokolips. We'll have to wait and see.

A lot happened in GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #3 and while this spoils a good chunk of the issue, a few other big things happen here as well. If you haven't, make sure to check out Godhead, which was a long but very good read. What did you guys think about the developments in this issue?

awesome recap, thanks for keeping me up to date with whats going on

I didn't know Kyle and Carol were dating. At first thought, it seems pretty crazy and out there ,but its cool no biggie now.lol

I didn't like this event as much as others.

Totally love these developments.

I'd be VERY happy if it turned out that Superboy Prime was finally breaking out of the Source Wall.

just how old is Kyle?

I think it might be the Anti-Monitor

I was totally thinking the same thing!

Early 20's I think

Interesting, dunno who it could be thats coming through, but it seems odd to me if it is a known figure, since all of the likes of the Anti-Monitor, Darkseid, Trigon and Nekron have entered the DCU under their own power, sort of.

It might however be Yuga Khan.

That said, it could just be the Source Wall reforming itself if we imagine Black Hand only brought out the outer layer of prisoners.

No... please let him stay there...

This was a fun event and great use of the New Gods. Sure, Izaya wasn't his nice cheery old self but this is character development to the Highfather we remember. Hopefully, this means New Genesis will stand with Earth when Darkseid arrives.

Or Krona

I smell convergence

Buying this in trade. Hopefully the new gods didn't look terrible in it.

Could it be darkseid's dad??.....he is usually shown as part of source wall

Hal Jordan, you're a good man

I don't like Kyle and Carol. Don't like Carol as a Star Sapphire. She was an important non powered character and now she is one less in a dwindling type.

I called the supposed change in heart in Highfather. I'm wondering if it will stick

And Saint Walker is blue again!

This was a GOOD event.

@batmite1995: It not Darksied's dad "Khan". He was kill buy Darksied and Highfather when they became new gods.

@jonny_anonymous: it's not. The anti monitor was shown in forever evil

@holyserpent: Well yeah but that doesn't mean that's not who this is

What? Don't you want him to kill more people... to death!

My theory is Yuga Khan, too.

@meatwadf: I want someone to serve him some cheese :)

How about the big red cheese with his whine? :p

It'd be great if it is, I love that character. I don't think they fit him in the new 52 yet though. I'm looking at ds's new 52 origin issue, he didn't kill his father, but stole the powers from the old gods, not mentioning them as a relation in any way. So they have to figure how Yuga got his power.

All great conclusions from a great arc. Im wondering what will happen with Bekka after being offered a yellow ring. But who ever emerges from the wall will have a huge part to play in Convergence.

I hope larfleeze's ring went back to him. Mehn i miss that guy's book.

Yeah, from what I could tell, he shouldn't be dead. He seems like a pretty interesting character, and his return could set up some sort of "enemy mine" situation with Highfather and Darkseid. So, it's either him or Doctor Doomsday from Amalgam, is my guess.

@amazingwebhead: ain't he though.

@holyserpent: AM was shown on Earth 3, it could be him breaking into Earth Prime's universe.

This whole New Gods saga was meh to me with the exception of Sinestro and Black Hand showing how awesome they are. Highfather's change of heart and the way the story wrapped up left me feeling something was missing, also Billy Tan's art is average at best.

It is nice to see Hal cool over Kyle and Carol

@dayvid3: Khan was killed in Forever People issue 5. Darkside murdered him while he was trying to kill Highfather

I'm gonna miss my New Guardians. :(

Judging from Futures End: Green Lantern this may be Krona.

This was a great event. Better than Marvel's AXIS!

Great event that got me into Green Lantern and New gods. I'm happy I decided to take a chance with it.

@stmichalofwilson: it's Rob Liefeld

@rainja: which isn't saying much really. I've read fortune cookies that were better than Axis. I'd give the New Gods arc a C+.

That's hilarious!

That's what the Anti Monitor looks like.Look at the hands here and the hand coming out of the source wall ,I don't think it's him and I don't see why they would change his design.

@bizzy4chem: You and me both!

If its coming from behind/through the SW, then it could be Darkseid/Highfather's father, OR another new third brother. If the NewGods follow other pantheons, there are usually 3 brothers, Zeus/Posideon/Hades, Odin had 2 other brothers.

Or Gog or someone from the third world.

Someone from Grant Morrison's BS 5th World, one of those evil Monitors maybe.

& yes Hal is cool with Kyle having a turn with Carol. Bros. I mean she is using the light of Love, it & the red light are supposed to be have the tightest hold on the user, she should be 100% horny all the time trying to rip the clothes off of any man, woman, or creature she sees.

I love Billy Tan's art personally. There's something simply and sharp to it, and the colors make it really cool to look at in my opinion.

Anyways, I loved the event even though I only read the main GL book and New Guardians parts. I'm also really excited to see Relic back; he's an awesome villain that I'd love to see more of. Really excited to see whats coming next.

What? Oh no! He was one of my fav's. I gotta check it out. Although who stays dead in comics? Maybe this will be the one time that won't be a kick in the ass :)

I hope so!

"Kyle is a pretty awesome guy and great boyfriend for Carol Ferris".

This has to be a joke right? Most GL fans weren't worried about Hal's reaction to the relationship, because most fans hated the relationship in the first place. In fact one could argue that GL: New Guardians sales falling harder than Red Lanterns for a while was because of the Kyle / Carol relationship and how poorly developed and forced it was. It scared off fans, and for good reason.

What an awful issue. Somehow they were able to top the lameness that was GL Annual 2. Plot points galore and storytelling problems ahoy, and look-e another villain for the GL's and DC universe to face. Wonderful!

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. This story is coming from a guy (Venditti)) who has never read a Green Lantern comic in his life prior and uses the movie as his source of information. Yikes!

As a huge GL fan, it pains me to say this, but I'm officially giving up on Green Lantern, at this point I don't want to continue reading what might just be the worst run of Green Lantern I've ever read. It also doesn't help that GLC and RL are being cancelled.

Love not lust and while one doesn't preclude the other; they aren't the same emotion.