Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #41 Zod's Will Finale
In what should have been an epic finale to an already action packed story arch, Robert Venditti pits Hal Jordan versus General Zod in their long awaited rematch, leaving the journey feeling greater than the destination. With guest artist Brandon Peterson on pencils, Jordan gains the upper hand over Zod, having returned to save the Corps single handedly
After somehow managing to overpower the tyrant Kryptonian, Jordan is ordered to release Zod before he's taken into custody back on Mogo. Trading Zod for Kyle Rayner's stolen power ring, the Corps leave Jekuul heading home. In a tired typical fashion, Zod claims to only have been subdued through his own free will while managing to have stolen important information from Kyle's ring. The issue ends hinting towards the Dark Stars return that had been set up months ago in previous issues.
This ended up being a subpar ending to what was an original promising storyline, leaving much to be desired. The switch from Rafael Sandoval to Brandon Peterson as artist is quite jarring, now being the third artist to be a part of this storyline also having Ethan Van Sciver on a previous issue. Tomeu Morey's vibrant colors stands as by far one of the most redeeming quality of the issue. While Peterson does a great job on the action scenes, the detail on the backgrounds of the scenes are lost, leaving excess negative space. Other than the computer area on Mogo and the few rock formations on Jekuul, Peterson uses aerial shots and negative space to cut corners for page count. The art on this title typically elevates the scripts, this issue with Peterson only helped display its shortcomings. Being primarily a Hal Jordan centric issue and keeping the focus on the titular character doesn't pay the artist any respect. The most jarring aspect of the art is Peterson's rendition of Hal Jordan. From the misproportion, the awkward poses and the maniacal faces, this Hal Jordan misses the mark.
Outside of the typical last page cliffhangers, Venditti continually goes from one storyline to the next without seeming to build towards anything larger than whatever the current storyline is. This title unfortunately spins its wheels while waiting for Venditti's run to end and the next run to begin. As the final begins to draw closer, Venditti's interest in the series seems to also be straying further away.
