Blackest Night #6 Review

Blackest Night #6 was the only book DC released this week if your local comic shop took part in the program to honor the release date. With Blackest Night taking a bit of a break in January this issue sets up some interesting new roles for some of DC's heroes even if only for a short time.

Black rings have targeted Hal Jordan and Barry Allen no because they are alive, but because they were resurrected from the dead and Nekron wants them to join his new army as he moves forward with his plan to remove all life from the universe and return it to the place of peace it was before the white light invaded. For those who haven't been following the DC universe Geoff Johns gives readers a brief synopsis about how many of the characters have died since Barry Allen in the original "Crisis on Infinite Earths", living up to the statement that this story is fine for someone who doesn't know the whole history and is able to just accept the fact that they need to know how Batman died to enjoy this story. Everything you need to know is here and if it makes you want to explore further that's not a bad thing.

Unlike other Black Lanterns, Superman and company are not reanimated corpses but resurrected heroes under Nekron's control. As such, Hal and Barry are not about to take them out since they'd be killing their fellow heroes. While Sinestro and Larfleeze want the "kill shot" Hal's not about to do that, much to the frustration of Sinestro. Barry, who has shown so brightly in this event, save both their necks in avoiding the black rings by having Hal latch onto to him and hang on while he runs two seconds into the future to break the rings' ability to target them both.

Barry has already figured out that Nekron used Batman to elicit an emotional response strong enough for the black rings to be able to latch onto their fellow heroes and so long as both he and Hal keep their composure the rings will be unable to target them. Johns has worked with Grant Morrison on making sure that Bruce Wayne's skull remained intact so that Dick Grayson could get his hands on it in their journey to discover what exactly happened to Wayne when Darkseid struck him down, so we will see it again. Ivan Reis makes the most out of the single panel that opens the issue in showing the skull resting in a bat shaped puddle. Hal wonders why Black Lantern Batman combusted rather than stay in the fight, a hint to the larger story that will be taking place in the bat-verse in 2010.

Following on the backup story in last week's Green Lantern #49, Deadman momentarily inhabits Black Lantern Jean Loring who warns Mera and Ray Palmer of the pending arrival of millions of Black Lanterns from throughout the universe. Mera rips out Loring's tongue once she evicts Boston Brand and the two heroes start looking for a way out.

Ivan Reis really is doing some amazing work in this book and he treats us to a great two page spread showing John Stewart being pursued by an absolutely ridiculous number of Black Lanterns and Xanshi itself - the concluding moment from John's appearance in Green Lantern. For anyone who's a big fan of Stewarts you have to be happy with that issue of Green Lantern and Geoff Johns has indicated that this event is a turning point for John. In an interview for Newsarama he said, "For years, John Stewart has been defined by Xanshi. It’s time to close that door and push John Stewart to a new place. 2010 is all about the new." Likewise he has twittered that John will play a major role in the main Green Lantern title in the "New Guardian" arc that rolls out of Blackest Night.

Ray and Mera emerge from Wonder Woman's ring and we are shown what will be expanded on in the Blackest Night Wonder Woman mini - a showdown between Wonder Woman and Mera, who has been to me the surprise character of the story for me. Hal and Barry return to the fray, much to the dismay of Sinestro, and the group realize that while they have all the colors represented there simply not enough members to take out Nekron.  Ganthet sheds his role as a Blue Lantern Guardian and triggers Hal's ring to duplicate itself (not that's not a retcon!) and he joins the battle as a Green Lantern.

Ganthet's last act as a Guardian is to trigger the rest of the rings from the color spectrum to do the same thing - creating deputies for 24 hours - and it's then that we see something that every fan is either whining about or geeking out about - the next group of lanterns recruited from the DCU.  Barry Allen is immediately drafted as a representative of hope.  Lafleeze tries to stop his duplicate from leaving because he doesn't want to share the orange with anyone. 

I said during my review of Blackest Night #4 and on one of my appearances on the Raging Bullets podcast that I don't think Geoff Johns shows us things that don't play out down the line.  We return to Lex Luthor who appeared in that issue in what appeared to be a throw-away moment as the orange ring makes its way past the deluge of Black Lanterns after Lex in time to save him.  Likewise a Sinestro Corp ring finds Jonathon Crane while Ray Palmer joins the Indigo Tribe and Mera rages out to her new red ring.

The Star Sapphire ring seeks out Wonder Woman since, as Carol Ferris puts it, "There is no one on this planet who loves it more than Wonder Woman."  The problem is that she's already in Nekron's control and the nature of the Sapphires is that the user has to accept it of their own free will.  Diana love is able to throw off Nekron's control and the black ring's connection is severed in favor of a new violet one. 

The issue ends with a beautiful two page splash of the new corps members.  I personally don't have any issues with this development - we know that it only last 24 hours and it makes sense to anyone who's followed that Green Lantern mythos that these rings can also duplicate themselves in times of need.  I hope that this doesn't become a story crippling crutch in the future and maybe Geoff will kind of outline what constitutes a big enough crisis that would allow for this to happen. 

And let me call out to DC Direct - Blackest Night wave for all of these guys....PLEASE! 

The "Book of the Black" entry is another disturbing foray into the sick mind of Black Hand.  It's a twisted tale that adds more flavor to what was once a joke of a villain.  Like a lot of villains he might evoke strong reactions to his world view, but you can't look away and you want to see more just to try to get into his head and understand how creepy of a place it is.  His growth as a character has put him in the big leagues of Green Lantern rogues, and I'd love to see him show up in a Batman story as well.

Ivan Reis is doing the work of his career and I cannot really find fault with anything at all he's done.  The issue's cover is amazing, even if perhaps outdone by Rodolfo Migliari's variant Nekron cover (shown on the right).

We are six issues into the Blackest Night event and this issue is a winner, getting five out of five lanterns.  But I do want to point out some misgivings about the story so far.  As I just pointed out, Black Hand has evolved as a villain to a whole other level and we have the return of Nekron in this event, but with two issues left I'm a little dismayed that we haven't seen either of them really do anything yet beside gather the Black Lanterns.

I'm left with a feeling that while there's been all this wonderful character-driven build up, there's not enough time left to get a satisfactory conclusion that will meet the expectations that have been created since Blackest Night was first teased at the end of the Sinestro Corps War.  Geoff Johns said in an interview that there's "a lot more to explore with Atrocitus, Saint Walker, Indigo and even Sinestro and Carol.  No to mention what Hal's going to have to deal with in a post-Blackest Night universe." 

I hope that Geoff has the last two issues scripted well enough so that people who got into this event as either a gateway to the Green Lantern section of the DCU or as a stand alone event are not disappointed in the outcome.  I have enjoyed everything tremendously so far and I'm looking forward to seeing the resolution to the story.  Next issue: Black Hand Unleashed

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Green Lantern #49 Review

After several issues of teasing us with John Stewart he finally gets the spotlight shone on him for a whole issue. Green Lantern #49 also includes more on the journey Ray Palmer, Mera and Black Lantern Jean Loring make into the dark matter network linking all the Black Lantern rings.

There have been a lot of comments from fans of John Stewart about his lack of presence in Green Lantern since Rebirth. And while John as a character is certainly better off as a result of Hal's return he hasn't been really utilized any more than he was during the Kyle Rayner years while Guy as benefited by co-starring in Green Lantern Corps. Geoff Johns has done John Stewart good service by integrating the Marine Corps aspect from the Justice League cartoon into his history because, in my opinion, John Stewart was probably the least interesting character of the four Earth Lanterns and needed to have something done to add some layers to him.

That groundwork pays off well here as John Stewart searches out the owner of the Green Lantern power battery he found on the reconstituted Xanshi in Green Lantern #47.  During my review of the issue I speculated that the being wearing the green and black ring was Katma Tui, but I was wrong there - it's Driq, a Green Lantern killed in the past whose ring would not allow his life force to leave, essentially an undead Green Lantern. 

The following two-page spread captures the essence of John Stewart in a nutshell.  One of the strengths of Johns' writing is his ability to boil a character down to its core and showing us who that person is.  Some would say that he tells us without showing us, but I disagree.  In Stewart's case he is a no nonsense man who in this issues faces his past and moves past it - he won't forget his mistake on Xanshi, but it is the past and while it shapes him it doesn't chain him down.

John Stewart is a bad-ass here as he uses Driq's battery against the oncoming horde of Black Lanterns.  And then Katma Tui-Stewart shows up.  For those who aren't familiar with Katma, she was one of  Sinestro's followers and eventual successor when he was found guilty of his crimes against the Korugarian people.  She eventually fell in love and married John Stewart, only to die at the hand of Star Sapphire.

Black Lantern Katma Tui uses the intimate nature of her marriage against John, exposing his greatest fear.  Geoff Johns crafts a bit of a backstory for John that didn't exist before and it works well for him.  John is sometimes so serious that he's hard to relate to, but given his past and the horrific things he did as a Marine we can understand why John Stewart is the kind of guy who's emotions will always be in check.  We see John as a marine putting it all on the line to rescue a fallen comrade in the heat of battle in a foreign land.  As a sniper Stewart has one of the most horrific duties in the military - his weapon's ability to strike at great distances means that he has to see the result of his accuracy play out in front of him at close range in full living color.  He has seen the horror of death at his own hands many times over and has had to embrace his duty with the weight of the burden it brings with it.

If I have a complaint here it's that the drama between John and Katma isn't played out a little bit more, but I can understand that the pacing of the story would be dragged down a bit and Geoff decided not to dwell.  If anything John Stewart's response reinforces the notion that he's moved on.  Ed Benes and Marcos Marz give us a beautiful two pager of John surrounded by a ring created squad of Marines as they begin to take on the ever-increasing numbers of Black Lanterns created from the dead Xanshi populace. 

John realizes that the Black Lanterns seem more concerned about keeping John on Xanshi than in trying to kill him.  He decides to go join the rest of the Corps and leaves Xanshi only to discover that the whole time he's been on the planet it has been moving and it's now near Earth, bringing millions more Black Lanterns within striking distance.  This moment dovetails into Blackest Night #6 and leads to next issue's visit with Black Lantern Spectre in what will certainly be a call back to Emerald Twilight.

It looks like John Stewart will be playing a bigger role in Green Lantern post Blackest Night.  Geoff Johns recently tweeted, "Thanks for the kind words on GL #49 - yes, John Stewart IS a bad ass. Can't wait to see his scene in BN #8 play out and... ...in the storyline post-Blackest Night in Green Lantern: NEW GUARDIANS."  While we've heard that Green Lantern Corps will be getting a co-feature in 2010, I really wish that DC would give the main GL book a John Stewart co-feature so that he has more face time.

"The Birth of Nekron" is a small back up story at the end of the issue that follows up some of the events from Blackest Night #5.   Mera, Ray Palmer and Black Lantern Jean Loring entered a Black Lantern ring and have since traveled through the network of dark matter that connects the Black Lantern rings.  The story serves to give us more information on Nekron, whose backstory has never really been divulged.  What we do know about him is that he was the ruler of the Land of the Unliving.

Jean Loring expands on the history of the universe as we are seeing it from the perspective of Nekron.  Geoff Johns recently talked about this perspective during an interview at Newsarama and, as he explains it, "Nekron isn't sadistic or malicious. His position is that life is a cancerous growth on the universe. Nekron wants peace. And it hasn't been like that since life first came into being. ....Space was here then life came and messed up everything. In truth, life is chaos and death is order."

I find a couple of things very interesting in learning about Nekron's past.  Part of that is in the Guardians and how they appointed themselves the protectors of the universe.  I wonder if this is not based on the story of Krona as we've always been led to believe, or if it really has something to do with Nekron and the first war of light.  Secondly, if Nekron was manifested as a guardian to defend the darkness against the infestation of life, then how did he get to the Land of the Unliving.  I think that both of these things could be tied directly into what Black Hand has been referring to as the Guardians' great lie.  I have some theories about this that I'll be posting in the next few days.

In terms of this issue I think that this issue was way more about character exploration and very little about telling a plot oriented story.  It reminds me of watching a movie that you enjoy watching, but when you walk out of the theater you realize it wasn't about anything.  And that's fine because this issue is an action film and like an action film you enjoy the action for what it is.  But in the end I think that while it was fun to read I was left a little unfulfilled. 

Four out of five lanterns

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The Ferris Five

Since the casting news of Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan and the news that the film will not be shooting in Australia as originally planned, there's been very little information released about the upcoming live action film.  Today, however, news is out that the casting selection for Carol Ferris is down to five actresses.

In October there were rumors that Jackie Earle Haley might be on the short list to play Sinestro, but today's Latino Review article trumps that rumor by stating flat out that one of the five actresses they name WILL be cast as Carol Ferris, who is of course Hal's love interest and fated to be the Star Sapphire should the film become a series and the decide to go that direction.  In the first film Carol is to be a 27 year old woman who has a crush on Hal.

In trying to evaluate the actresses I tried to find photos that portrayed them in ways that might reflect what Carol might look like in the film and I ignored hair color and style since those are things that are easily changed. Based on what familiarity I have with their work,  here the are candidates in the order that I would rank them:

Top Choice: Keri Russell

 I really liked Keri's voiceover work in the "Wonder Woman" animated film this year, and I've always enjoyed her performances in the films I've seen her in.  She has the range and the experience to play the woman who's struggling to run Ferris aircraft as a young woman in a man's world while both loving and hating one of her best pilots.  I can really see her as the ball-breaking Carol who one second would throw the book at Hal while a part of her would want to be in his arms.  I do admit, though, that if Star Sapphire were in the future I would have a hard time seeing Keri in the outfit as sexist as that sounds.

Second Choice - Diane Kruger

I thought Diane was great in "Inglorious Bastards" and I enjoyed her in the "National Treasure" films and "Troy".  Diane, like Keri, I think has the ability to play a multi-dimensional Carol Ferris.  In the "National Treasure" films Diane's Abigail Chase has that same quality about her of being a no-nonsense woman and I can see her busting Hal's chops.  I only rate her second because I think Keri has a better face for the role.  Given that Diane is an up and coming hot commodity in Hollywood, it would not surprise me one bit to see her land the role.

Third Choice - Eva Green

I have to admit that I haven't seen anything that Eva has done so far and that's the only reason I put her in the middle of the pack.  She's gotten good reviews in the work that she has done and she's worked with Martin Campbell before so if he's put her in his final pool of candidates then I'll trust in his judgement that she has the acting chops to pull if off.  She's certainly has the looks to pull of the sophisticated Carol with the underlying sexiness.  And she would look amazing as Star Sapphire if she makes an appearance. If I were judging this on looks alone, Eva would be my first choice.

Fourth Choice - Blake Lively

Like Eva Green, I don't know much about Blake Lively's work at all.  But I spent some time looking at clips of her performances online and they pretty much agree with my first opinion of her.  While she might very well be a capable young actress, I think she just looks too young to be believable in the role.  I could be very wrong and obviously Martin Campbell must see something if he has included her in his final five.  If she is cast as Carol Ferris I hope she proves me very wrong.  Oh, and she'd also look great in the Star Sapphire costume if that really matters!

Last Place - Jennifer Garner

Jennifer Garner is a wonderful actress who indeed has the range to pull of the forceful bitch-on-a-stick aspect of Carol Ferris as well as the sweet side.  But there are really two reasons that I put her at the bottom of my list.  One reason is that Jennifer will be 38 years old when the filming starts - 39 when the film is released and probably 40 by the time any kind of sequel were to film.  She's a beautiful woman, but she cannot pull 27 off and I'd be afraid that the movie would turn into a superhero version of "The Graduate"!  And, well, time still hasn't erased the bad memories of "Electra".

Since we don't know how much of Carol Ferris is in the final script, I based my choices on what actress I felt could bring the most presence to the character in the least amount of lines.  Please take the time to answer our Carol Ferris casting poll on the main page.

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Brave and the Bold #30 Review

I've been a fan of J. Michael Straczynski's (JMS) since the days of "Babylon 5" and in particular how well he writes character driven stories.  So when I first heard that he was returning to DC for some freelance work I looked forward to seeing how he would handle a cosmic set of characters like the Green Lanterns.  Not that I want Geoff Johns or Peter Tomasi off their books, but I'd love to see Straczynksi turned loose on the Green Lantern mythos for a mini-series or two.  This week we get a glimpse of how well he can handle Hal Jordan in a very unusual story taking place in issue 30 of The Brave and the Bold.

By unusual I just mean that this story is all character moments and very little action.  Not that that's a bad thing but maybe it's just that it is really the polar opposite to this week's action packed roller coaster ride Green Lantern Corps issue that makes it seem so different.  A team up between Hal Jordan and Dr. Fate is a great opportunity to explore both characters by creating a story where the dynamics of their personal philosophies come to the forefront, and that's exactly what this issue does.

The story really revolves around Dr. Fate and the early issues of Justice League International.  Kent Nelson seeks solitude as he ponders his future high above the Earth, encountering Hal as he leaves for OA.  Hal talks to Fate, checking in on his friend before leaving on a handshake that proves....well fateful.

Jump ahead in time and Hal is on an lifeless planet fighting for his life, a victim of misadventure.  Now I don't question that JMS knows his Green Lantern stuff, but I found it strange that Hal was so easily caught off guard by a bunch of little flying robots and severely wounded by one of them before putting up a shield around himself, but hey, since we're suspending our sense of belief anyways I can let it slide a bit there.  Hal tries to leave the planet, but the poison in his blood affects him enough that he cannot summon the willpower to break orbit and he comes plummeting back to the surface and passes out.

As Hal lay there thinking about how this really isn't the way he'd like to die, he tries to see if there might be a power source on the planet that he could harness to help him since his ring is nearly out of a charge.  The ring tells him that the only other power source is inside the ring and out pops Dr. Fate.  See, when the two shook hands Fate put a little bit of himself in Hal's ring so that, at a later date, he could pop out to see how his life turned out.  Hal explains to Kent about how both he and his wife Inza rapidly aged and died.  Fate is of course saddened to hear that he and his wife are no longer among the living and it's here that we see JMS' strength in writing characters.

The sliver of Dr. Fate has very little power left, just enough to save Hal before he must get snapped back in time.  But the robots return and Kent has to save them both, using up enough power that he now cannot help his friend and return - he will have to choose one path or the other.  Hal tells Kent that he can change his fate by using his knowledge of the future and we are treated to some great dialogue that really illustrates the contrast in their personal philosophies. 

Fate accepts that his path is predestined and that trying to change the universe through force of will is useless once you realize that will must "give way to fate, which gives us order and meaning."  Hal of course is all about free will and I love his counter to Nelson's statement where he says that fate and destiny "are the training wheels we need until we're ready to throw them off and go where will takes us."  JMS' understanding of the essence of the two heroes is very evident as Hal tries to convince Kent to use his knowledge to save himself, telling him that perhaps this sliver of himself is the part whose absence causes his death, and that in saving Hal he might very well cause his own death.  Kent simply accepts that if it's true then that's simply how it is destined to be and therefore must happen as fate would have it.

In the end Fate believes that the whole reason that he put the sliver of himself in Hal's rings was because he was meant to reappear at this very moment to save Hal and he uses what little is left of his energy to transport Hal to OA before dissipating.  In the past, Dr. Fate awaits the return of the sliver he sent with Hal that should have returned moments after it left.  Fate's inner monologue ends the story with a bit of personal philosophy about the simple truth that we cannot change the starting and ending points of our lives, but we can focus on the part in between that we call life.

This story is really good, if not a little preachy, and it's a nice change of pace to have a "one and done" story amidst the Blackest Night event.  I've always like the Dr. Fate character, so it was great to see Kent Nelson again, especially in a team up with Hal.  I also have to say that I really love Jesus Saiz's artwork in this issue and he's definitely an artist I look forward to seeing more from.  The book is really gorgeous, although there is a bit of slip up when Hal's bandages disappear for a panel or two.

Five out of five lanterns.

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Green Lantern Corps #43 Review

Last month we all saw Kyle Rayner make the ultimate sacrifice in Green Lantern Corps #42 - the issue ending with Kyle's dead body lying on OA after taking out a whole legion of Black Lanterns that were threatening to destroy the Central Power Battery.  So did this week's issue #43 give us any more information on the fate of the Torchbearer.  Well, let's just say that this issue is Red (Lantern) hot!

This issue picks up right where we left off as Guy Gardner and Soranik Natu spot Kyle Rayner's dead body.  Guy cannot accept that Kyle is gone and tries to stop his ring from heading to Mogo while Natu lands by Kyle's side and tries to contain her emotions so that she can try to revive him.  Guy simply cannot keep Rayner's ring under control and he joins Natu, although his grief quickly turns to rage and, as so many people have speculated, Kyle's death pushes Guy to the point that Vice's Red Lantern ring takes over Guy.

Now Guy Gardner is not the kind of person that you want pissed off at you to begin with - and under the influence of his new rage fueled ring he is a force to be reckoned with.  While Guy's taking apart the reforming Black Lanterns left and right, Natu struggles to keep the Black Lantern rings from taking over Kyle.  The action here is face paced and tension filled - Natu is literally stopping the rings split seconds before they are on Rayner's finger and Gardner's destructive rampage keeps adding more and more black rings to the mix as he's taking out Black Lanterns.  Finally Natu is overwhelmed and one of the rings slides onto Kyle's hand and along comes Munk to destroy the Black Lantern ring before it can reanimate the fallen Green Lantern's body. The Indigo Tribe member and Natu are surrounded by dozens of rings all trying to get to the fresh corpse, but Kilowog and more Green Lanterns reappear to help defend Kyle's lifeless body.

The scene shifts to Kryb and Star Sapphire Miri dealing with all of the dead orphans.  Kryb is angry that the orphans died when the Sapphires too her away in their attempt to turn her to their side, but their struggle is put on hold when Miri's ring summons her to Soranik Natu's side. The Red Hulk, er Guy Gardner, rips Kryb's arm off and stuffs it down her throat - no, I'm not kidding! 

Miri tells Natu that her love for Kyle summoned her and she reaches through Natu and Kyle's chests, saying that "Your heart is his heart.  His heart is your heart...and with an infusion of love and will two hearts are one!"  Kyle coughs some violet energy as his ring turns tail and head back to OA and just like that Kyle is back to the land of the living.  Now aren't all you whiners out there who bitched and moaned last month sorry for all the bad things you said about DC!  I don't want to say I told you so, but I told you so! Natu tells Kyle about Guy and just as they are about to go help him, Mogo causes an Oan eclipse and we fade to black.

There isn't much here to advance the overall Blackest Night story, but this issue is wall to wall action and it reads really fast.  Gleason's art was okay, but it seems a little inconsistent this issue.   For example, when Natu holds Kyle's face in her hand it almost looks like he was trying to draw Keanu Reeves instead, but one page later we have a great looking splashpage.  Between the two covers I personally thing the regular cover tops the Munk variant - but maybe it's just because the Red Lantern Guy Gardner cover looks more exciting.

Four out of five lanterns.

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Blackest Night Flash #1 Review

Barry Allen has been getting some good face time since Blackest Night started, so I have been looking forward to seeing what Geoff Johns was going to do with the Blackest Night: Flash mini series given the amount of exposure the Flash has been given in the main event book.  Blackest Night Flash #1 came out last week and it looks like we're going to see more of the rogues in this series than we are the Flash.

That's not really a bad thing in my book, since I think that Geoff's work on the Flash villains has been so strong, and seeing some of the interactions between the current versions of some of the rogues and their departed predecessors is going to be a lot of fun to read.  And no John's Flash book would be complete without Scott Kollins on pencils.  But, to be honest, before I can go any further I have to geek out on the Ethan VanSciver inspired cover and the next reference it makes to Flash: Rebirth #1.  Like the Wonder Woman issue that came out, the regular cover was better than the variant in my opinion.  Here's Kollins' Black Lantern Zoom issue next to Ethan's Rebirth cover - you gotta love the mirror image effect!

In terms of story, this issue is a mixture of Barry Allen's confrontation with Black Lantern Zoom and the rogues dealing with the Black Lantern crisis and deciding to go zombie hunting.  The timing of the issue doesn't fit in with the events of Blackest Night #5, instead they take place before Nekron's Central Power Battery reaches the 100% charge, ending at the time when Barry heads to Coast City after he sensed that something was going to happen there in Blackest Night #4. 

For those who aren't reading Flash: Rebirth, there's a nice explanation of what's gone on in that series here in a niece two page spread.  It was also a really nice touch to get a similar explanation from Zoom's perspective for people who don't know the history.  Although seeing him as a Black Lantern is kinda weird since he's alive and kicking in Rebirth - the fun and headache inducing complexities of time travel stories!

After evading Zoom, Barry heads to Gorilla City just in time to see Black Lantern Solovar doing a number on the residents.  Barry didn't know that Solovar, once the King of Gorilla City, was killed back in 1999's "JLApe" storyline that kicked off in that year's JLA Annual (#3).  Barry fought very hard to not let emotion get the best of him, knowing that doing so would allow Zoom to locate him, but is unable to contain his rage at the sight of his old friend turned into a Black Lantern.  Barry manages to remove Solovar's ring after Solovar manages to control the Black Lantern version of himself to plead with Barry to help him escape.  The Black Lantern Central Power Battery hits tilt and Flash speeds to Coast City.

Meanwhile the rogues are holed up in their lair, however Captain Cold makes the decision to go hunt the zombies before they can take over, preferring to be the hunters before they become the hunted.  Moments after they leave the Black Lantern Mirror Master (the Sam Scudder version) reaches the lair and he breaks the mirror that the rogues used to exit their hideout, potentially preventing them from returning.

Missing from the rogues gallery are Tar Pit and the new Captain Boomerang, Owen Mercer.  Earlier in the issue the two are are at the now empty resting place of Mercer's father, the original Boomerang Digger Harkness.  Mercer has questions for his father and he expects Tar Pit to help him find Harkness.

There's a lot of set up here for the next two issues, and given that the Flash plays such a large role in the main event, I don't expect to see a whole lot of him in this mini.  The next issue teaser seems to support this with the tease that we'll be seeing a "Black Lantern Rogue War" in issue two.  Like the other minis, this one doesn't attempt to flesh out the main story since they aren't required reading to follow the Blackest Night event.  It serves the purpose of shining a light in a corner of the DCU not shown in the main event, allowing for us to see how the story affects characters that aren't going to have the spotlight on them in the Blackest Night title.

Four out of five lanterns.

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Blackest Night Wonder Woman #1 Review

The second set of Blackest Night mini-series are out, and with the action really heating up in Blackest Night #5 I wasn't really sure how the Wonder Woman and Flash minis would pan out.  So after reading the first issue of Blackest Night Wonder Woman a couple of times I'm not quite sure how I feel about it.

So far throughout this event I've been really pleased that DC has stuck by their initial statement that readers wouldn't need to buy every book with a Blackest Night banner on it to be able to follow the story.  The minis have served a couple of purposes so far, in my opinion.  Mainly they serve to tell us what some of the characters in the DCU not featured in the main title are doing, while in the case of the Blackest Night Titans mini we learned some key information before it is revealed in the main event.  I think that taking characters like Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman and giving them their own mini not only gives fans a chance to get a bigger picture of how those characters are affected, but it allows for the main event to unfold without the inevitable criticism of the big three not being involved.

In the case of Wonder Woman's mini, the first issue takes place just prior to Blackest Night #5, with Wonder Woman leaving to join the rest of the heroes at the end of this issue.  So how we are going to get two more issues of a stand alone story out of it remains to be seen.  I'm speculating, based on the "Next: Black Lantern Wonder Woman!" panel, that parts two and three will spin out of the events of Blackest Night #5 where Wonder Woman has indeed become a Black Lantern and we'll see what happens to her as a result of her transformation from that issue.  Unlike other Black Lanterns, who are reanimated corpses of the dead with their memories and any powers, the Wonder Woman variation is really Wonder Woman's body.  So, like the other heroes turned in that issue of Blackest Night, how they are dealt with could cause damage to the living body of the character.

As far as this first issue goes, I love how much of a handle Greg Rucka has on Wonder Woman and in some ways I miss his writing on the main book, although I really, really like Gail Simone's run thus far.  And I continue to believe that Nicola Scott is one of the most underrated artists out there.  The issue reads pretty fast, mixing action with insights into how Wonder Woman approaches death and great one liners from Black Lantern Max Lord.

Their confrontation takes place in the heart of Washington, D.C.  There's a lot of fighting between Wonder Woman, Max, and the zombified remains of fallen soldiers.  The issue doesn't really hint at what exactly this series is going to do other than chronicle what happens to our favorite Amazon during the phase of the Blackest Night.  So I'm admittedly a little disappointed that it doesn't seem to be a bit more ambitious in the story telling department so far.  Hopefully I'll be surprised and the next two issues will be home runs, given that there are apparently some ramifications for the character when the dust settles from this event.

I did think it was nice that the better cover for this first issue was the main cover and not the variant.  For the vast majority of the issues during the Blackest Night I've personally felt that the variant covers were better, but the Greg Horn cover is just gorgeous.  Three out of five lanterns for this issue.

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Green Lantern First Flight Nominated for Annie Award

Today ASIFA-Hollywood, the Los Angeles chapter of The International Animated Film Society, announced their nominations for the 2009 Annie Awards, billed as the highest honor in the animation field.  "Green Lantern: First Flight" has been nominated in the "Best Home Entertainment Production" category. 

The Annie Awards will be presented on Saturday, February 6, 2010 at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.  If won, "First Flight" will be the first of the DC Universe Animated Original Movie line to win the Annie - both "Justice League: The New Frontier" and "Batman: Gotham Knight" were similarly nominated in the same category in 2008.

Bruce Timm, longtime producer of a number of DC Animated projects and the driving force behind the the DC animated film line, has also be selected to receive the 2009 Winsor McCay Award. According to ASIFA-Hollywood's website, "The Winsor McCay Award may be awarded to a maximum of three individuals in recognition of lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation in producing, directing, animating, design, writing, voice acting, sound and sound effects, technical work, music, professional teaching, or for other endeavors which exhibit outstanding contributions to excellence in animation."

More information can be found at the Annie Awards website.  The Blog of OA's review of "Green Lantern: First Flight" can be found here.

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