In lieu of yet another Gashapon review, I'm going to be doing a Blackest Night recap/review for the masses. I promise I'll get back to weekly reviews soon, but this is a huge period of transition between old events and new, and we would be remiss if we did not reflect, however briefly, on recent happenings. Especially since this particular recent event is going to affect the DC universe for at least the next year.
Pretty Colors...A quick note: This will deal mainly with the main story of Blackest Night, as covered in Blackest Night, Green Lantern, and Green Lantern Corps. (Some of) the tie-ins are interesting, but Arnab already reviewed all of those individually. Also, spoilers abound, so if you just want our thoughts, skip down to ***Blogger Thoughts***.
It's hard to talk about the beginning of Blackest Night, since the seeds were planted ages ago during the Sinestro Corps War. There was a prophecy that the two Lantern Corps (Green and Yellow) would be joined by 5 others, each powered by a different color of the emotional spectrum. This would lead to a War of Light that would destroy the universe. From that point on, we were slowly introduced to the different corps, including the Red Lanterns, the Orange Lantern, the Blue Lanterns, the Star Sapphires, and the Indigo Tribe. With the exception of the Indigo, each corps had an arc in Green Lantern to introduce them. All during this time, hints are dropped regarding Blackest Night. At the end of the Sinestro Corps War, the Anti-Monitor is dropped on a planet and consumed by a giant Black Lantern. Atrocitus fought against the Black Hand. Many little seeds dropped over the past years all pointing to the beginning of Blackest Night. In the Green Lantern: Secret Origin story, they even indicate that Abin Sur is looking into part of the Blackest Night prophecy (remember this, it comes up later).
The Prelude to Blackest Night details the gruesome way William Hand (aka Black Hand) became a Black Lantern. Along the way, the book highlights all of the major players that have died in the DC universe (Martian Manhunter, Maxwell Lord), as well as those who were brought back (Superman, Wonder Woman). And this basically sums up the whole series: Death, Rebirth, and more Death. The series opens with Black rings coming from the sky and awakening the dead, who then go and attack the living. By attack, of course I mean the Black Lanterns taunt their victims to get some emotional reaction, and then rip out their beating hearts and eat them. By the end of the first issue, when we see Hawkman and Hawkgirl savagely murdered, you realize no one is safe. I really have to give Geoff Johns credit for raising the stakes on this whole series.
As Black Lanterns continue to feed (and the bodies of their victims turn into Black Lanterns themselves), we see that somewhere, something is charging. And other questions arise too: Why doesn't the original Hawk become a Black Lantern? Why do the Black Lanterns perceive the current Dove as only white on the emotional spectrum? Are these really the people that they appear to be? Where did all of these rings come from? How do the Green Lanterns defeat them? By the end of the series, we only get answers to 3 of these questions.
With the problem spreading across the universe, Hal Jordan decides to gather a representative every Lantern Corps in the universe: Atrocitus (red), Larfleeze (orange), Sinestro (yellow), Saint Walker (blue), Indigo-1 (indigo, duh), and Carol Ferris (violet). Together they head to try and destroy the Black Lantern, and when that doesn't work Indigo-1 brings them all to Earth to fight what's coming next. At this point, they discover that by mixing any color of the spectrum with the green light, they could destroy the Black Lanterns.
From here, to save blog space, I'm going to start skipping over the finer details and just get to the really cool parts. Turns out the big-wig behind all of this is Nekron, which appears to be the embodiment of Death. This is also when Nekron 'reclaims' all of the people that have come back from the dead, making Black Lanterns out of Superman, Wonder Woman, Kid Flash, and a whole bunch more heroes. Since their rings alone aren't enough to fight him, Ganthet shows the different Lanterns that others can be deputized for a 24-hour period. Enter Green Lantern Ganthet, Blue Lantern Barry Allen, Indigo Lantern Atom, Star Sapphire Wonder Woman, Red Lantern Mera, Yellow Lantern Scarecrow, and Orange Lantern Lex Luthor. Let me just say, this reveal at the end of Blackest Night 6 gave me a funny feeling in my pants.
I was online with Arnab when I read this, so he can attest to my nerdgasmNow even with the deputy Lanterns, there's just not enough firepower to take down Nekron, so Hal decides to get possessed by Parallax since that seemed to scare the Spectre (who I forgot to mention has shown up all giant-size). That doesn't work quite as expected, and Parallax disappears. So finally Nekron slashes a Guardian and summons up the Entity (worst name ever), which is basically the source of all life in the Universe. Yup, that's right, all life in the Universe started on Earth, which connects to why Abin Sur was coming here. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of finding out 'Earth is the key', because it seems trite, and I thought the Entity looked like the terrifying White Evas at the end of Neon Genesis Evangelion. But it will lead to some interesting story in the future, so I'll roll with it for now.
Sinestro goes up to the thing, becomes a White Lantern, and in four pages does a great explanation of where all of the Aspects of the Emotional Spectrum come from. Which is really cool! Until he gets a scythe through his chest. By this point all of the different Corps have shown up in Earth's orbit and are fighting off the Black Lanterns (after the events of Green Lantern Corps, which are too numerous to recount here but well worth checking out, if for no other reason than to see Guy the Christmas Lantern dual-wielding Green and Red rings). Eventually Sinestro comes back to life, and kills Nekron. Then another Black Lantern picks up the scythe and becomes Nekron, and Sinestro loses his White Lantern powers, and then we meet the White Lantern Corps, which is actually all of the heroes that, when given the choice, chose Life. They then attack Black Hand, as he is the tether for Nekron on this plane, and bring him back to life, thus severing the tether and defeating Nekron. Blackest Night has turned to Brightest Day.
So what's the fallout? Well, besides a whole bunch of people being dead, there are now twelve people who have been brought back to life: Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Maxwell Lord, Ronnie Raymond, Aquaman, Osiris, Deadman (Yes, Deadman is not dead), Captain Boomerang, Reverse Flash, Jade, Hawk, and Martian Manhunter. The obvious question is: Why these people? Why not others? That's one of the things the new bi-monthly Brightest Day title is going to explore. Also, with Nekron's death, there will apparently be no more resurrections in the DC Universe. It used to be that a hero dying just meant they disappeared for some unforeseen period of time before coming back, but not anymore. Dead is dead. What are the full implications of this? How will that affect storytelling from here on out? The DC Universe is definitely changed from here on out.
Even with this post being as long as it is, it's still impossible to name every cool event that happened over the course of the series, and none of this even touches on specific character development that took place in the tie-ins. Both Arnab and I strongly recommend that readers check out the main storyline that takes place in Blackest Night, Green Lantern, and if you have time, Green Lantern Corps. It's a Good Story, regardless of it's Comics connections. And my fascination for pretty rainbow colors aside, the art is solid. Definitely worth at least picking up the collected editions at the library.
***Blogger Thoughts***
Mattie - If you've been following this blog at all, there's nothing I can say that I haven't already said four times over. I thought this was a great series. I'd only been tangentially into comics until last year, so a lot of the emotional "Holy crap he's back?!" moments were lost on me, but you could feel the emotions of the characters, and everything was so darn pretty. Sure, there were missteps, especially in some of the useless tie-ins. But none of this takes away that after every Blackest Night issue, I was excited to be a Comic Geek again. This is going to be the series I measure others against for a while.
Arnab -I'd like to keep this nice, simple, and short, much like Matt's review. But who are we kidding folks, that would be nothing more than a disservice to you, the good folk who read what we write.
This story, book, series, event, whatever you wish to call it, was absolutely fantastic. Sure there were parts that I felt unnecessary, to name one glaring issue would be the spotlight on Green Lantern John Stewart. While he may be a mighty Green Lantern in his own right, that issue was pointless, but I digress. The fact that I took the time to review every single tie-in should give you some inclination as to how much I respect this book. The writing was fun when it needed to be, smart, captivating, exciting, pretty much everything you need in a comic book. And the art. Where do I even start. Ivan Reis pretty much led the Blackest Night artists on a triumphant parade. Doug Mahnke and Patrick Gleason, two tremendous artists in their own right, brought Geoff Johns' and Peter Tomasi's words to life. What can I say, I'm a sucker for great art.
There were definitely parts that, in my opinion, were fantastic.
• To start with, Kyle Rayner's "death" was an emotional roller coast ride, that was brilliantly echoed with Guy's rage overwhelming him.
• Barry and Hal running two seconds into the future to outrun their black rings.
• "All will be well"
• The heroes reclaimed by Nekron.
• Don Hall not rising.
• The 24 hour Lantern deputies.
• "Beware our power"
• The Tie-Ins!
I mean, the list could go on and on, but why bore you, I can just tell you to go out and read it for yourselves. Now before you kids all get giddy inside, I do need to mention that there were two issues that I had with Blackest Night, and no I'm not referring to that John Stewart issue again.
1. The first issue I had was the glaring lack of the presence of Batman. And I have complained about this to Matt at length, so I will try and keep it short. But my feelings stand, that had Bruce been "alive" at the time you can be assured he would have been more involved. Such as it were, readers would only be able to assume that Dick Grayson doesn't give two hoots about the end of the world. Naturally Matt responded with "but he's not Bruce," as I'm sure many of you would, and to that I say, "Exactly!" Dick Grayson is for all intents and purposes the most respected and liked superhero, by the other superheroes. He has led the Teen Titans, the Titans, the Outsiders, and is now a member of the JLA. He has made it a point to maintain bridges that may have otherwise been burned by his mentor and father. And while the creators would probably argue that, 'this is a Green Lantern event not a DC event,' I'm sure we can all agree that that's just a load of crock. In reality, this is obviously nothing more than a glaring example of disrespect to the character Dick Grayson.
2. I for one did not particularly find Hal's explanation of why the heroes that returned from the dead returned, to be all that compelling. In fact, I thought it was stupid. And let me tell you why. Hal Jordan proclaiming that Nekron did not give them back their lives, but rather that their will to live was what brought them back is just absurd. For one thing, it makes the assumption that these specific superheroes wanted to live more than anyone else in the existence of time. What, Sue and Ralph Dibny didn't want to live? That if it was all just a choice, that Tim's father, Superman's father, Holly Granger, Power boy, Don Hall, that they wouldn't choose to live? I mean, I love Barry, but him saying that they gave life a purpose just doesn't float well with me. Life doesn't particularly need them. Not only does it have millions upon millions of living creatures at its dispense, but even if no one were alive the entity that is life would still exist.
Furthermore, back to Hal, these superheroes didn't just choose to live. In fact, almost every single one of them didn't even play a role in their own rebirth. Superman and Superboy were placed in a Kryptonian regeneration chamber. Bart Allen was brought back Brainiac 5 by manipulating lighting, the living lightning rod, and Bart's essence, plus speedsters don't really die. Like Barry, speedsters just get absorbed into the Speed force, which is where Barry was ripped out of. Diana and Donna were saved by the ancient gods. Ollie was brought back to life by Hal, who was brought to life by the combined efforts of Ganthet and Parallax's energy. My point being in all of this?
They didn't choose to live because life is some tool that will just bend to their will. Their desire to life wasn't so great that death itself spat them out. They were all brought back as a result of some serious efforts on certain people's parts. And in a way, Nekron is more right in saying he released them than Hal is for basically saying they just took their lives back. It's illogical and really it serves no other purpose than for these guys to parade around saying, oh I'm so awesome I willed myself back into existence.
That last rant aside, and the previous one as well, I must say that Green Lantern was a fantastic series. It had a lot of everything you look for in a comic book and some stuff you didn't even know you wanted until it gave it to you. So buck up and go pick it up already.
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So now we have entered the Brightest Day. In addition to the main title, numerous other books will be carrying the BD Banner, including Flash, Green Arrow, Birds of Prey, and JLA: Lost Generation. If Geoff Johns can keep up what he accomplished during the BN arc, it's going to be quite the interesting year. And we'll be here to gush and/or bitch all about it!
As I mentioned in our earlier conversation about Dick, I don't think Supes exactly had a huge role in the event either. Yes, we saw him as a Black Lantern, but it's not Dick's fault he never died. I'm not saying we couldn't have seen more of Dick and Damian, but I think it's a reach to read it as a personal slight against Dick Grayson.
ReplyDeleteAnd also, while Dick has a great deal of Good Will built up in the DC Universe, he's still not Bruce Wayne. Even he'd be the first to admit that. Bruce does things no one else has done. It's a bit optimistic to assume Dick, even with all of his accomplishments, would be held in the same regard as Bruce, when one was Batman for literally decades and one was Batman for a little over a year.
I do agree with your gripe about "Will to live". It was kind of a neat reveal at the time, but I don't think it holds up to any kind of examination.
Where to start, where to start. Let's first lay down some history with regards to the writers and the ambitions with regards to Blackest Night and Brightest Day. Geoff Johns as well as other heads of DC have made it clear through interviews that there intent has been to spark a greater interest in the other members of the DC realm, outside of the Trinity. Most specifically interest in the Green Lantern franchise as well as the Flash. Now, what better way to do that than to keep the members of the Trinity out of the story. You'll say that Wonder Woman had a fairly significant role, what having been a resurrected human turn Black Lantern, then turn Sapphire Lantern. However, I would then retort that in recent years Diana has lessened in favor with the general public and is not nearly as popular as she once was. And as you mentioned Superman didn't have a significant role and for that I have two things to say. One, like I said there is an attempt to turn the Trinity into the Fab Five of the DC realm. Two, technically Superman shouldn't have been involved period because at the time he was supposed to be on New Krypton, having forsaken Earth. Obviously his appearance was to maintain the plot of the returned dead, but with regards to Superman continuity, completely illogical. Oh and three, at least he appeared in the Blackest Night book.
ReplyDeleteIt's not seeing more of Dick and Damian, it's seeing any of Dick and Damian or Tim. The three of them were left out of the Blackest Night title in its entirety. And sure you might argue that there were a lot of people that weren't included. But, and here's where the neglect becomes intentional. First, it all began with Bruce. If you can recall back to Blackest Night #1, we are intentionally introduced to the terror that is to come, through the desecration of Bruce Wayne's grave and the apparent theft of his skull (as found by Alfred Pennyworth, butler to the Wayne family.) And let me ask you something, if someone was running around with your father's skull, wouldn't you be there to kick his ass? And secondly, if you can take a trip back to Blackest Night #2, you will remember that Barbara and Jim Gordon were on the rooftop of the police station with the Bat Signal on, when Green Lantern Hal Jordan crashed into it. Buildings exploded, fires broke out, the dead rose, IN GOTHAM, and you ask yourself, where's the Batman? Well if you weren't reading the tie-ins, which writer Geoff Johns and DC insisted were not necessary, you would think that Richard Grayson, Tim Drake Wayne, and Damian Wayne not only do not care about Gotham, but that they also don't care about their father, the believed to be late Bruce Wayne. And that in and of itself is an insult, but let me move onto Richard himself.
First and foremost, if you recall, I wholeheartedly agreed with your sentiment that Dick is not Bruce. But before I elaborate, I would like to point out that you saying that is a bit hypocritical, if you consider your previous statement stating that it was a "reach to read it as a personal slight against Dick Grayson." Because, if you agree that had Bruce been alive then Batman would have been included, which you have, and continue on to argue that Dick is not Bruce Wayne (which again, I agreed with) and not held in the same regard as Bruce and that is why he was left out, there is no other way to read that than as a slight against Dick. Because, for all intents and purposes Bruce Wayne is dead and Dick Grayson is Batman. Dick doesn't need to be held in the same regard as Bruce, because if being held in as much regard as Bruce was the standard to appear in Blackest Night 95% of those folks wouldn't have appeared. Which then would lead me to assumed that Dick must be held in the same regard as Bruce to make any sort of appearance as Batman, because Bruce was his mentor. And if those standards apply, that you will always be regarded as a lesser version of your mentor, then Bart, Wally, and Barry's run as the Flash should be regarded as sub-par, as well as Hal, Kyle, John, and Guy's run as Green Lanterns.
ReplyDeleteBut I digress. I am not sure if I need to clarify this, but when I say that I have an issue with the lack of Batman, I do so with every intention of implying that I don't believe that Batman is a separate entity from Richard Grayson. So the time that Richard has spent under the cowl is not important. Because as far as the story goes, had he remained Nightwing for a couple more months, he still would have been shunned from the story. My point is merely that a Bruce Wayne Batman would not have been neglected, whereas clearly the Richard Grayson Batman has. And while he had only been Batman for weeks at this time (not years,) it is my opinion that the time that he was Batman played a very small role in his lack of appearance. I mean, the world is coming to the end and Batman doesn't care?
Who knew there was a character limit to commenting
ReplyDeleteI know full well arguing with you about this is pointless, but I still think you're making a mountain out of a molehill here, and you're making assumptions on a hypothetical. You assume Bruce would have been majorly involved when you don't know that. I'm convinced the only reason we saw Supes at all in the Blackest Night book is because they were planning on turning him into a Black Lantern. The did give the Bat family their own three-issue tie-in, which they didn't for just every character.
ReplyDeleteIn reference to the other people that you mentioned (The Flashes, the Green Lanterns), while yes they came after someone else, that is a completely different situation.
I admitted we could have seen more of them, and probably should have. But you read it as a 'glaring sign of disrespect to Dick Grayson' and I think that is taking it too far. I think had Bruce been around we may have seen him in the background in one of the scenes, but I'm not sure he'd have been a major player. Should they have drawn in Batman? Yes. Do I think the reasons for them not doing so has much to do with who Batman is at the moment? No.
Frankly I have to re-read the entire series before I can continue this conversation, because I just don't remember the specifics. But my point is that your issue with the lack of Batman is as much a reflection on your love of Batman as anything else. I didn't really notice his absence. Just like I loved the stuff with Diana being a Star Sapphire because Wonder Woman can do no wrong, and you thought it was bending the mythology a little bit too much.
And you and I have already talked at length about how Comics continuity doesn't make a bit of sense. How else could Batman be in four places at once?
I wasn't attempting to make this that big a deal, it wasn't even my biggest gripe. And I agreed with you regarding Superman. He had little to no role, but that goes supports my assertion that Blackest Night was meant to move away from the Awesome Twosome that DC had become in recent years. More importantly though, it is my opinion that if anyone shouldn't have been involved, it was Superman. That would have made sense.
ReplyDeleteWhat doesn't make sense is how you can justify Black Hand running around with Bruce's (or what is believed to be Bruce's) skull and not have Dick, Damian, or Tim there. Regardless of what the reader may or may not know, that can only be read as blatantly leaving them out, Dick especially because he is the one taking up the mantle and he is the oldest son.
Furthermore I never said that had Bruce been alive he would have played an integral role. It wouldn't have made sense for him to save the day. But if you take a look at the cover to #1, you will see Hal, Barry, Diana, and Clark. Two of whom didn't really play any significant role, although Ollie is meant to play a larger role in Brightest Day. My point was simply that had Bruce been alive, he would have been in it. Whether or not it was just to stand in the shadows judging Hal, he'd have been there. And Dick was not. That has to be read with the consideration of who is Batman at the time, for reasons I explained earlier.
Also, giving them a three issue tie-in need not be read as anything significant. It can merely be explained by the Bat titles not having the time and space to block out for a Blackest Night tie-in. Just like Wonder Woman, Superman, Titans, and JSA (the Flash didn't have a title at the time.) Weird Western Tales was one of the titles brought back for January tie-ins, should it feel special for that? No, because the majority of Blackest Night readers read it, nor knew it even existed.
I can see how you could argue that the Green Lantern troupe of heroes are different, because they seem to enjoy recruiting more soldiers. But the Flashes, except for Barry, all rose to their tile through the deaths of the previous Flash.
And the Batman continuity. Just because there are four titles out doesn't mean they are all taking place at the same time. Just spread it out a week, he's still in Gotham. When someone's supposed to be on another planet, that's different.
So maybe my last comment was a little bitchy. This is why the internet is an imperfect medium for communication. Sorry about that. And as soon as I learn to quickly do an 'embarrassed' smiley, I will.
ReplyDelete