Geoff Johns ends his Green Lantern masterpiece with a resounding blockbuster bookend. Just wow! After nine years and over one hundred issues, he took a cheesy character whose weakness was the color yellow and turned him into one of the most consistently thrilling, compelling, and outright enjoyable heroes in comics. He did this by bringing the key element of the emotional spectrum into the fold. The rings now take something special to wield them – rage, avarice, fear, will, hope, compassion, love – and over the course of this series, Johns gave us plenty of reasons to feel those same emotions right along with the characters on the page. This final issue will take you on a tour of the entire emotional spectrum, and that’s exactly the point of the journey of Hal Jordan.

Johns packs a huge amount of story into this over-sized final issue, and for $7.99, he better have. For a series that involved a robust cast with thousands of supporting players and encompassed threats both intimate and universal in scale, this is the best conclusion any fan could have ever asked for. Johns not only gives everyone a moment to shine – even G’Nort! – but he does it so expertly that you can’t help but stand back and wonder how he served every character so much justice. The page count might seem high, but he puts every panel to use in orchestrating this colossal finish to his Green Lantern epic.And what an epic it was. Every colored Corps makes a showing, filling the pages up with a rainbow of glowing aliens not seen since Blackest Night. The action is bountiful, but Johns smartly puts the characters and the tough decisions they must make at the forefront of the story. A lot of powers get thrown around and mind-bending developments occur one right after another, yet none feel unnatural or implausible in the world that Johns has created. Some have been long overdue and it’s quite satisfying to see so many elements come full circle.In fact, this ending mirrors the events surrounding Rebirth in such a poignant way that it will leave you in awe. I am speaking specifically of three major events that happen to Sinestro that previously happened to Hal in Emerald Twilight many years ago. That Johns went this route was truly brilliant in that it could not have been a more meaningful way to bring about the resolution to the feud between Hal and Sinestro. They are a strange mix of Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Luke Skywalker, with both of them starting high, falling low, and then fighting to redeem themselves and each other. If any scene will make you laugh and cry at the same time, it’s definitely their final one together.Although, this finale is not without its flaws.Volthoom the First Lantern was given a huge buildup that stalled into a lackluster showing as the big villain, so the elongated fight against him does little more than satisfy our need to see a climactic battle. And hey, for that purpose, he performs marvelously, but his confusing goal and weird powers won’t exactly have you that invested in what happens to him. Actually, the issue’s most polarizing moments come after he is dealt with for good.Carol Ferris has been a huge part of this run, but her only moment in the spotlight is giving Hal a hug. After everything she’s been through personally, with the Star Sapphires and her relationship with Hal, a more pivotal role for her would have been appreciated. Same goes for Larfleeze, who was absent for the big battle, but we do end up finally hearing the words to his Orange Lantern oath. Bittersweet.Avoiding spoilers, I will say that the fate of the Guardians felt deserved, but leave it to Johns to make you feel for them despite that they had it coming. They evolved into the overarching antagonists of the series, and their part in this conclusion will have you thinking hard on the idea of order and justice on a universal scale.The final pages were truly shocking to me. Seeing how all of the Green Lantern titles will be continuing on with new creative teams, it was unreal to see Johns detail the eventual fate of nearly every major character. All of the Corps leaders, plus John Stewart, Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, and Simon Baz (my favorite) get woven into the conclusion, each with a little wink and nod unique to their character. This is great on many levels because rarely in comics do we get definitive endings, but in the back of my head I knew that what I was reading couldn’t possibly go unaltered for long. Also, Johns drops one hell of a bombshell that will no doubt play out in his Justice League series; I couldn’t help but smile at how even when providing a definitive ending for his run on Green Lantern, he couldn’t resist setting up a new plot thread.Main series artist Doug Mahnke handles a majority of the pages with an impressive display of iconic images and heartfelt moments, while the rest of the artwork proves to be a mixed bag due to so many Green Lantern artists guest-starring on the last hurrah. At different intervals, a new artist will take over for a page or two to handle one glorious moment after another in what feels like a fun game of one-upmanship. It’s great to see, but again some don’t hit the high mark the others set. Of all the guest artists, it was especially nice to see Ethan Van Sciver make an appearance given that he was there when it all began in Rebirth. While reading the issue, you’ll definitely notice a dip in art quality from time to time, but overall this issue satisfies by offering some truly spectacular visuals where it counts.After the emotionally-draining final ending, there are several pages of kudos from fellow creators that also acts as a who’s-who of comics. Everyone from Jim Lee to Neil Gaiman offer thanks and praise to Johns, although Richard Donner zings him the best. It’s little wonder so many people are tipping their hats to Johns given that he escalated Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern franchise to the level of superstardom.A movie and an animated series have come and gone in the time since Johns took over writing duties, and I still see numerous Lantern shirts at every comic convention I attend. I have a Black Lantern Batman t-shirt for heaven’s sake! Johns and his many talented artististic collaborators have just put an end to a modern day classic unlike anything else we’ve seen in comics.I, for one, am going to celebrate this achievement by eating a whole wheel of Ratwaffle cheese.

Joshua writes for IGN and likes to think he was the inspiration for Simon Baz. Join him in some Ratwaffle cheese and follow him on Twitter or IGN to let him know how you liked the Green Lantern finale.