Green Lantern: New Guardians, Volume 5: Godkillers

Green Lantern: New Guardians (Collected Editions)

by Justin Jordan (Writer), Brad Walker (Illustrations)

The fifth volume of Green Lantern: New Guardians starring fan favorite White Lantern Kyle Rayner!
The fiery religion of the goddess X'Hal has brought peace to a star system that has only known conflict! Could this be the galactic paradise that Kyle Rayner and the New Guardians have been searching for? If it is, it won't last long—because the mysterious beings known as The God-Killers have X'Hal—and Kyle—in their sights!

Collecting: Green Lantern: New Guardians 28-34, Annual 2

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Dc Comics, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Fantasy

200 pages, Paperback

First published February 24, 2015

About the author

Justin Jordan is an American comic book writer. He is known for writing and co-creating The Strange Talent of Luther Strode, Spread, Dead Body Road, Deep State, Dark Gods and Savage Things. He has also written Green Lantern: New Guardians, Superboy, Deathstroke and Team 7 for DC Comics and the relaunch of Shadowman for Valiant Entertainment.

In 2012, he was nominated for the Harvey Award for Most Promising New Talent.

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 2 out of 5]

You might think that, after crossing-over through the Source Wall and seeing indescribable sights, Kyle Rayner might have some very important things on his mind that he would like to discuss and understand more deeply.... But if you thought that, you would be wrong.

Instead the White Lantern and his entourage hop from planet to planet getting involved with side-stories that have nothing to do with the grander arc of the GL universe.

No wonder the corps thinks Kyle is dead; this volume barely has a pulse.

2/5

[Wing Kee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so torn.

World: The art is fine, it's bright and colorful and the sense of motion and the power of the rings is done well. However the characters and their facial expressions is a bit...off. The world building for thsi arc alone is a five star story, especially the first couple of issues. I loved the tie in to X'hal and the Tamaran and also the link to Mogo and his origins, those were the absolute highlights to the world building this arc.

Story: The Godkiller story I really liked, it's deceptively simple, ties into the DCU lore but in reality is very dense and opens the topic of discussion. It's topical with what happening in the world today and the role that religion plays in cultures, it's good. The Mogo story is fabulous with amazing world building and a sense of wonder. The rest of the book gets back to fairly standard action adventure villain fighting.

Characters: This is where the book goes from a 4-5 star book down to a 3, the Carol/Kyle relationship. I just can't accept it, it makes no logical sense and Kyle and Carol as a character would never do this to Hal it's just simply illogical and just wrong. I don't know how else to explain it, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever and the fact that it's taken as is, it's just...no that's like having Dick Grayson and Selina Kyle date...that makes no sense and is an absolute departure to those characters, it's just wrong.

Character development for this series has been off since Jordan has taken on the book, lore and world building has been solid, but yeah...that relationship is just as stupid as magically getting rid of Selina's kid in the Catwoman book.

Onward to the next book!

[Daniel Kovacs Rezsuk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to jump back into reading the remaining New 52 volumes I have left off around 6 years ago and decided to continue with the line that drew me into contemporary DC in the first place: Green Lantern comics. Robert Venditti's GL and Van Hensen's Green Lantern Corps were surprisingly good, despite their overall lack of direction since Geoff Johns left the series and the Rebirth relaunch had been hovering over their heads. This volume though? Utter garbage. It's basically a road movie without a clear starting point, motivation or destination. Why are the Templar Guardians looking for deities on a completely inconsequential planet? What was the point of Kyle Rayner's dark side, the Oblivion entity? What's cybernetic lizard people experimenting on other aliens have to do with anything related to the New Guardians? Why all of these stories last for 2 issues only then completely forgotten about? If editorial wanted to put Kyle Rayner on the bench for the remainder of the New 52, there are better ways of going on about it. Or at least I expected more from Justin Jordan.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

This run of Lantern books continue to disappoint. What started out semi-interesting, if not unoriginal, quickly dove off a cliff into another example of Kyle being incredibly over powered and uninteresting. The Guardians continue to be the most boring characters ever and them doing something bad in the past only to have it come back to haunt them is as old as they are. The writing wasn't good, the possible new relationship for Kyle is god awful, and this series serves no purpose. There was some really good art by Bard Walker on most of the book. Overall, the Lantern mythos has taken massive quality hits during this time and its sad.

[Beelzefuzz · Rating 3 out of 5]

The white ranger and pink ranger team up to fight new people in space that we will probably never hear about again. It's fine, but probably don't bother, though the distorted art in the annual story was fun.

[Paweł · Rating 3 out of 5]

Podróż kosmicznego Chrystusa w poszukiwaniu metody na dobre spożytkowanie jego wszechogarniającej mocy życia. W tej serii poruszanych jest wiele moralnych dylematów, pojawiają się cudotwórcy, mesjasze, sceptycy i złoczyńcy. I tylko jeden Kyle żeby pogodzić ich wszystkich.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good. I never know what epic scene they will present to me next.

[Dean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably a 5/10.
Hit and miss stories but more good than not.
Some slight horror in it for mainstream superhero comics.
Carol and Kyle falling for each other is fun.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

i loooove kyle and carol together eeee

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ocena końcowa może się jeszcze zmienić, gdyż mam całkiem poważny zgryz między trójka a czwórką. Z jednej strony to całkiem przyjemna i kreatywna podróż w kosmos, gdzie autorzy mogą błysnąć pomysłami. Z drugiej zaś miejscami działania herosów stały w sprzeczności nawet z tym, co mówili kilkanaście stronic wcześniej... i relacja Carol i Kyle była naprawdę dziwna, a ja do tej pory nie wiem na czymś się ona opiera. No chyba, że Carol jako Sepphire Lantern lubi sobie pozaliczać numerki z co ciekawszymi Latarniami...

W tomie udało umieścić się trzy historie. Najbardziej oklepaną wydaje się być ta pierwsza, choć w zasadzie nie jest zła. Kyle, Carol i grupa "nowych" Strażników (tutaj odsyłam do dwóch eventów: Rise of the Third Army i Wrath of the First Lantern, opcjonalnie do Lights Out) podróżują po wszechświecie, aby znaleźć sposób na jak najlepsze wykorzystanie mocy Białej Latarni i napotykają na planetę, na której wśród wyznawców bytuje bogini ognia. Kłopot w tym, iż ktoś morduje tych niby "bogów" i oczywiście przyjdzie nam tu walczyć z nieznanym wrogiem. A w zasadzie z całą armadą średnio interesujących niebieskich, dobrze uzbrojonych indywiduów. Autor wytłuszcza nam motywy działań przeciwnika i serwuje pokaż fajerwerków, który kończy się... Dosyć pacyfistycznie. Nie da się tutaj uniknąć nawiązań do Mesjasza, choć stoi to w sprzeczności w tym co będzie się działo dalej... Ale po kolei.

Druga historia jest bardzo osobistą, bowiem w wyniku walk z Relic'iem w evencie Lights Out, Rayner zdecydował się na ostateczności i zrobił coś heroicznego... Przeżył, ale dało to pewien efekt. Stworzył swojego mrocznego odpowiednika, który wraca na Ziemię i pragnie odtworzyć to co pamięta ze "swoich" wspomnień. Kłopot w tym, że zagraża to wszystkim wokoło. Carol wkracza do akcji pierwsza, ale w ostateczności to Kyle będzie musiał stawić czoło konsekwencjom swoich poczynań. Tu pojawia się wspomniana pierwsza sprzeczność.

Ostatni case był chyba najbardziej klimatyczny i zarazem niepokojący. Ktoś uprowadza Strażnika, a jego kompani ruszając w ślad za przyjacielem lądują w pułapce. Carol i Kyle ruszają na pomoc. Napotykają makabryczne efekty zabawy w eugenikę. Przeobrażanie istot przy użyciu mechanizmów. Widok tego co uczyniono porwanemu niebieskiemu skrzatowi... To był chyba najlepszy kawałek tego tomu. A potem... Druga już sprzeczność z tym co było poruszane w pierwszej opowieści... I o dziwno dało mi to pewną satysfakcję.

Kreska jest tutaj niezła, rzemieślnicza, z kilkoma naprawdę fajnymi przebłyskami, gdzie można czuć ciężar użytych mocy, jak przy gniewie pewnej bogini. Kolejny występ Białej Latarni uznaje za udany i osobiście dalej liczę na jeszcze większe udziwnienie przygód tej hałastry. Ma to w sobie potencjał.

[Will Robinson Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite what Green Lantern fans may think about the Kyle Rayner series for DC Comics not being on par with the other Lantern books I really enjoyed this volume. I think the problems with this series have always been that it really is not about a Green Lantern. Kyle is actually the one and only white lantern. Perhaps DC Comics are didn't want to call the series "White Lantern" because they fear it might not sell without Green in the title. That to me is just silly. I wouldn't mind if they call the book New Guardians. The new Guardians do play a role in this series after all.

This volume of the series entitled God killers deals with some philosophical and very emotional plot points. I really enjoy the Star Trek like exploration of this series. Kyle is the protector and is our human perspective on some of the mysteries of the universe. The artwork is a pleasure to look at and it is always exciting to see the alien worlds and the action that occurs throughout the book. The actual "God killers" arc was a bit short but I loved the concept of the debate between the importance of religion and those who believe it is destructive. Writer Jordan doesn't appear to take a side but there is a bit of irony that the Guardians and White Lantern who wield cosmic like power can almost be mistaken for gods themselves. The end of this volume ends with a heart wrenching sacrifice by one of the Guardians and was a satisfying setup for what is yet to come.

This is a great jump on point for those looking for a different Green Lantern series or a great cosmic space opera in general.

[Cynthia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I worry that this title will never be as strong as it was in the first 6 issues, which was a brilliant introduction to what I thought would be a kick ass team book with Kyle as the front man (and lots of Yrra!). It's probably veered too far of course to be anything like that now. Right now, it's a book about Kyle and Carol whose, in all honesty, just tagging along. I wish she had more of an active role is what I'm saying.

I read it for Kyle basically, because he's my favourite lantern, and I read it because I love Carol, and I like the dynamic between the two of them. What this title is good for is probably the agency it's given Carol (besides the aforementioned). It gave her a story outside her original creation (which was to be Hal's love interest) and put her in a position where she can be appreciated as a character separate from Hal and being his love interest. It's given her relationships (both platonic and romantic) outside of Hal, too, which makes her a more rounded character in my opinion.

This collection was very weak. As much as I don't like crossovers, it allows for a lot of great character interactions outside of the usual book dynamics. I'd rather a long and satisfying arc than whatever this collection was. Art was okay, nothing stand out, and not too OVERTLY sexualised either (but still an element of), but seriously everyone needs to take a lesson on what women's fighting stances would be like from Cliff Chiang.

[Laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this title has lost a bit as it separates further away from the core Green Lantern story lines. The cast has shrunk to Kyle and Carol with the mysterious Guardians tossed in. It's hard to get into the Guardians emotionally despite their horror and despair in the final arc. They just don't think like 'we' do and are therefore hard to fathom and identify with. Also, I'm not sure the relationship between Kyle and Carol really works. Carol has so long been associated with Hal Jordan, a confident straight forward man. Kyle in this book is still struggling to find his place with his new powers and seems so much younger and more immature than Carol. I've always loved Kyle's character, he is considerate and cares deeply about the world around him, but his current circumstances don't give him a lot of room to show off his relationship skills. The art is creative and clear although I don't like the over-extended mask on Kyle. It creates a further barrier to really getting into him as a person. I would perhaps not continue with the series if I wasn't a fan of Kyle and hope for more in further books. He has wonderful potential if only he is grounded a bit more with people and situations we can all understand and identify with.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jordan seems to have found his feet here in his second volume, now that he's not mired down with an incomprehensible crossover. He maintains his science-fiction edge, but now also pays some great attention to DC history with returns to old favorites like X'Hal and the Psions. At the same time, he's introducing great new elements to cosmic DC, the best of which are the eponymous God Killers.

The book has any number of small flaws that keep it from perfection (but not from goodness). Jordan's writing tends to be a bit slow and talk-y, which continues to be an issue for the first two-thirds of this volume. I also didn't need to see yet another problem that the Guardians have caused through their inhumanity.

However, the biggest annoyance is a problem that continues throughout the New 52. We're introduced to Psions who are scarier and more dangerous than ever before. It's a good revamp. But due to the partial reboot nature of the New 52, we have no idea how that fits into old Psion continuity. Are they an offshoot? A ruling species? Were they always like this in all their old appearances? Or has the entire race now never previously been encountered?

Still, a good book.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's good to see a galactic level series actually dealing with galactic level threats for once. Although it does seem that the New Guardians team has been dieting - we've got Kyle, Carol, and a couple of the blue guys facing down gods, god-killers, and god-makers. And then there's Kyle facing down his inner demons, in the form of an external threat called Oblivion. There are hints of philosophy, especially in the first story, but the concept quickly falls into the traditional 'everyone hits everyone' format. And then a lot of the book is Kyle hand-wringing over his new powers and whether he's qualified to use them. It's a decent idea but it gets turned to way too many times. The Oblivion storyline feels a little out-of-phase with the rest of the collected issues, but the final story makes for a pretty strong sequence. I wasn't completely sold on the single issues, but it's nice to see DC actually telling stories on a galactic level somewhere. And the art is good quality, with some interesting work on the Oblivion issue.

[Nik Havert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first time I'd read any Green Lantern title, so I had no idea what was happening or how / why Kyle Rayner is the White Lantern now. He and a new version of Carrol Ferris (a star sapphire, but apparently not THE Star Sapphire), along with the last six or seven Guardians fight some warriors who seek to kill gods, some lizard people who make cyborgs in order to find what they believe to be a perfect life form, and Kyle's version of Venom - an accidentally created duplicate of himself named Oblivion. There's talk of a wall at the edge of time / the universe, and Kyle isn't fully aware of his powers and his purpose in the universe.

It might have made more sense if I'd read earlier collections, but that's the problem with the lack of done-in-one comics. It's difficult to catch up if you're not always reading the previous story arcs.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This title continues to be interesting, but not in the way it originally was. I really enjoyed the lantern corps being represented by the individual characters and not just different power sets that Kyle has.
Nevertheless, the ideas here are fresh. Godkillers, other living planets similar to Mogo, a mirror image of Kyle, etc... just wish the "New Guardians" weren't the actual Guardians.

Good art, good story, recommend... but not special.

[Anchorpete · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book feels like the other stuff I have read by Justin Jordan, filled with scenes where the main character has doubts about himself, he has deep conversations with the main female character, they flirt for a bit and then horrifically graphic things happen.

I can't say that formula excites me, but it is unique enough, and I care about the green Lantern Mythos enough that it was enough to keep me engaged.

[Connor McCarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like Kyle Rayner. Sue me. Also I really like the idea of Kyrol (that's their couple name, damn it!) for some reason. One of the few times in mainstream comics that a relationship felt real and not manufactured.

[sixthreezy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Underwhelming.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really two arc's combined.

I would have liked to see a little more of the Godkillers and less of the Makers.