You know how people have variations on what’s considered the ultimate thrill ride? Some might say it’s jumping out of an airplane at a absurd height level. Others might say it’s jumping into a shark cage waiting in the deep ocean to see JAWS (not the film of course, but holy shit that would be cool). What if I told you the ultimate thrill ride is riding in a fighter jet, while escaping the Omega Beams! Warning they’re will be spoilers going forward! You have been warned!

While I am a strong advocate of this current generation of comics being new reader friendly, I’m completely opposed to the idea of dumbing aspects down just so new readers can understand a concept right away. This issue is a great example of introducing an idea that hasn’t been shown since this story arc, but is just a slew of panels Venditti lays down the threat level of said idea. I’m of course referring to High Father’s dad Yuga Khan. In just a few panels, readers first see the name of Yuga Khan and even if you don’t know who that was prior to this issue you can see the urgency in John Stewart’s face and body language. It give context of who Yuga Khan is without divulging a page full of exposition on him. The air of mystery is the best kind of air.

Now that we’re several issues into this New Gods story arc, I’m convinced that Robert Venditti issued himself a personal challenge to top himself with the batshit insane action. I’m normally a fan of comics that are more character driven, but even I can appreciate the spectacle that Venditti and Sandoval are providing us with on a bi-weekly basis. I adore how Venditti manages to give each Earth Lantern something to do in such a giant battle, with their personality shinning through. My personal favorite was for John as he takes in the conditions surrounding him right before taking the perfect sniper shot. I’ve read plenty of cosmic clashes where writers would omit the personality of the characters and just write a boring long fight sequence that should feel epic but doesn’t.

Is there anything else that I can say about Rafa Sandoval that I haven’t said at this point? Thankfully, there is something in this issue that we haven’t seen him draw prior. I absolutely love his rendition of the Source Wall! If you’ve been reading Venditti’s run on Green Lantern before the Rebirth initiative then seeing the Source Wall is exciting but nothing new. Even though it was a tiny fraction of the boundary that separates universes, the detail on the figures encased into the Source Wall was mesmerizing. Even though I’ve praised Venditti for the action sequences, let’s be real Sandoval is the one I should be praising. The sense of scope and urgency in this battle between cosmic giants and Green Lanterns is something we’ll only see in this medium. Whenever Sandoval decides to

Now that High Father and Orion are secured and the threat seems to be defeated, I’m extremely curious as where the story goes from here. I’m sure the answer will surprise all of us.

Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #29 earns a 5/5