For a few months now, one of the big questions I’ve had in comics is “How the hell did Green Lantern #12 happen?” That series closed with Hal Jordan, so deep in his Blackstar cover that everyone believes he flipped and joined the fascist space army, using a Miracle Machine (the machine from the end of Final Crisis that turns wishes into reality) to reset reality. And the one that came out the other side of the Miracle Machine was a dark universe where the Blackstars were on the march, on the verge of consolidating their power once they finish off Earth.

This has been the crux of the plot of Green Lantern: Blackstars, and in this third and final issue (of which we’ve got an exclusive preview for you), we find out that how. Although we kind of found it out when we talked with Liam Sharp about The Green Lantern Season Two. It was the subject of the light spoiler redaction, and we had to pull it out of nothing else but respect for the cleverness of the resolution.

But well before that resolution comes, Superboy punches the shit out of Superman.

Morrison’s writing has been sneakily subtle. He hid the real story – free will pitted against fascism, freedom vs. control – under layers of vampire planets and police violence and God arresting and multiversal toys. In Blackstars, he teased out that battle a little more explicitly, but it was still all big, bombastic visuals masking a relevant, thoughtful tale.