The Blog of OA: Blackest Night

Showing posts with label Blackest Night. Show all posts

3/17/12

Green Lantern Animated Series News from WonderCon

3/17/2012

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Giancarlo Volpe

Yesterday WonderCon kicked off the opening of the convention season in Anaheim, California and today during day two's activities DC Entertainment hosted a special DC Nation panel talking about the new Cartoon Network programming. Green Lantern: The Animated Series producers Giancarlo Volpe and Jim Krieg were on hand to talk about the new show and show off a four and a half minute reel of footage showing off some great things we can expect to see this season.

During the panel the producers hinted at seeing Sinestro at some point down the road and when asked during the Q&A about characters like Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner Krieg responded that we might see some characters "like them". Volpe also responded to a call for a Blackest Night type of story in the animated series to which he replied that he has an idea of how to do it and whether or not they could do an adaptation would depend on the success of the show.

The following reel was shared with those in attendance and does contain some spoilers about some of the characters we will see in upcoming weeks, so anyone who doesn't want to know should not watch the video.

Blackest Night Fan Film

9/23/2011

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Stormfront Entertainment, whose projects focus strongly on the horror and fan film genres, has just release one of their recent projects on YouTube. Donna Parker: Green Lantern was released last year during the height of Blackest Night's popularity and features an original twelve and a half minute original story set during the mega DC event. Green Lantern fan films are pretty uncommon due to the reliance on special effects, but the availability of affordable computer software that can offer some pretty high quality visuals have made Green Lantern fan films and trailers a more viable option.

Donna Parker was a character that debuted in Green Lantern Corps Quarterly in 1992 with a story set during the Cold War and nuclear expansion. The original story had the Guardians of the Universe so concerned over the Earth's dangerous nuclear experimentation that they decided to pick a human to focus solely on Earth while Abin Sur would continue his duties throughout Sector 2814. Despite the great honor Donna chooses to decline the offer in order to devote more time to her children who she is raising on her own.

The film manages to merge elements of the original story into the Blackest Night timeline with Donna being a modern woman struggling to juggle two jobs and raising a family. When a Guardian shows up and drafts her into the Green Lantern Corps and a Black Lantern ring resurrects her dead sister, Donna is thrown into a struggle for the lives of herself and her children.

Like most fan films the production standards don't measure up to quality that Hollywood's multi-million dollar film budgets allow for, and the film gets a little bogged down in showing off the visual effects during the climax rather than invest in the characters, but that doesn't stop this short film from having fun with the Green Lantern mythos and reminding us how great Blackest Night was.

Green Lantern Film and Comics Universe's Collide With Abin Sur #1

6/05/2011

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Abin Sur's appearances have been buy and large limited to dying on the page or on film but we've always known that there is much more to the man beyond that, and on occasion we've seen more of the man behind the corpse. With DC's Flashpoint event altering the events of our universe we discover that Abin Sur never gave the ring to Hal Jordan, and in doing so we get an adventure that brings the stylings of the movie universe to the printed page with the first issue of the three part Abin Sur The Green Lantern story.

The Story -

Abin Sur has great love for his sister Arin and as a young Ungaran she teaches him that all life is important, even that which seems the most insignificant. The death of his sister drives this lesson home with Abin and he has in the time since her passing made that the core of his being and that passion to protect all life has made him one of the greatest members of the Green Lantern Corps.

Green Lantern Movie Art Book Available for Pre-Order

2/26/2011

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Amazon.com has a listing for a 208 page art book by Ozzy Inguanzo, who is the Green Lantern research and asset manager for the upcoming motion picture. According to Amazon's description, "The Art of The Green Lantern is the ultimate companion book to the movie, showcasing production ephemera including: storyboard art, character sketches, concept art, and still photos from the movie's sets. The Green Lantern will also contain observations and insights of the film by producers, art director, and various other film crew." The book will contain a foreword by Geoff Johns and has been titled "Constructing Green Lantern: From Page to Screen". It can be pre-ordered for around twenty three dollars.

Another book being published in May is "Green Lantern and Philosophy: No Evil Shall Escape this Book", available for pre-order for around eleven dollars. Amazon's description is as follows:

Kohl's Blackest Night Gift Set

12/04/2010

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I was Christmas shopping this morning and stopped at Kohl's for a couple of shirts and ran across a new Blackest Night T-Shirt combined with a cool collectors tin. The shirt features the moment when Nekron revives the fake Batman corpse and he spits rings out, turning all the once-dead heroes (except for Barry and Hal) into Black Lanterns. Even though Hal's face is cut in half on the shirt, I thought it was worth picking up for a measly $12.99 just for the tin.

They had similar sets for Superman, Flash, Spiderman and Captain America as well. If you don't have a Kohl's near you, the sets are available online as well.

Blackest Night Motion Comic in the Works!

10/21/2010

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Pixofactor, one of the leaders in making motion comics, has an interesting video out there showing some work being done on a Blackest Night motion comic. This ties in with some of the comments made during the licensing expo back in June when DC Entertainment listed all the ways that Green Lantern was going to be seen in the marketplace as we get closer to the release of the movie.

Check it out:

Untold Tales of Blackest Night 1 Review

10/17/2010

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It being October and what with Halloween on the immediate horizon it is a nice treat to revisit Blackest Night with a series of short tales and vignettes that fleshes out what was the hottest event in comics over the past year. Untold Tales of Blackest Night #1 features stories by a number of great writers including Geoff Johns, Pete Tomasi, new DC exclusive J.T. Krul and Ethan Van Sciver, who proves his talent doesn't just come from his artist's pen.

10/17/2010

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Ryan Reynolds

Updated! The Spike TV 2010 Scream Awards Ceremony was filmed last night in front of a live audience and among the winners was the upcoming Green Lantern movie, winning the "Most Anticipated Movie" award. This is some good news for Warner Brothers since this isn't an award where you vote based on a predetermined selection, but one given based on write in nominations where anything is fair game. Oh, and the design of the power battery has been revealed!

Given that next summer is looking to be a crowded slate of blockbusters including Thor, Captain America, Transformers 3, Super 8 and the last Harry Potter film it is good to know that the Green Lantern film has a lot of buzz even before the first trailer has been released.

Blackest Night Director's Cut Review

5/05/2010

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I love reading the behind the scenes stuff on how stories are created and what thoughts were going through a creative team's mind when they put together a great story. DC Comics released a Director's Cut for Blackest Night that does just that, giving us a backstage pass to see how this event has come to be one of the best events in DC history.

Your Blackest Night backstage pass

The meat of the issue is the commentary from Geoff Johns, Alex Sinclair, Ivan Reis, Adam Schlagman, Nick Napolitano, Eddie Berganza, Joe Prado, and Oclair Albert. This is really fun as you can also picture yourself as a fly in the room as they go through all eight issues, joking with each other and talking about some of the creative decisions they made as Blackest Night got more and more fleshed out. You also really get a sense of what a team effort creating comics can be when each member of the team adds little touches here and there that really add dimension and drama to a story as epic as this one was.

Following the commentary is an eight page cover gallery including all the covers and variants that were printed, including all the miniseries and tie-ins. Scattered amongst the images are memorable quotes from the story, punctuating all the fantastic artwork represented here. Someday there needs to be a poster for Blackest Night that iconically represents this story, much like there was for the original Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Next up is the actual script for the first issue, and that's really interested because you see what artistic direction Geoff gives the rest of the team. Following that are couple of cut scenes from the event, one featuring the Rainbow Raiders, one with Ragman, and a cover image of Black Lantern Kilowog stomped on Hal Jordan's chest. It's not hard to understand why those scenes were cut due to the shear scope of this event it would have been easy to over-pack it. Both these scenes seem like logical cuts, but it would be cool to see them added fully finished into any Absolute Edition that might show up down the road.

There's a behind the scenes glimpse into the creation of the new Hal figure coming out is one the remaining waves of Blackest Night action figures and then the issue concludes with a whole lot of pages featuring all the cool character designs created for the event.

If you loved Blackest Night this book is a must for only $6. My only criticism is that the book should have had a hard stock cover for an issue of this size. Five lanterns.

5/05/2010

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Like Green Lantern 53, this week's Green Lantern Corps 47 is an epilogue to Blackest Night. However this issue also marks the departure of Peter Tomasi and Pat Gleason from the title as Tomasi heads over to helm Green Lantern Emerald Warriors and Gleason tackles Brightest Day.

The Story -

Light it up!

Oa was hit hard by the assault of the Black Lantern Corps, with the Central Power Battery left ripped from its moorings and hundreds of rings left without bearers. So the issue starts notably with the remains of the Corps lighting up the main battery.

Guy and Kyle spend some panels recounting all they've been through during the event, Guy is either hiding from Kyle the mission he's undertaking with Ganthet and Atrocitus as we saw in the closing moments of Green Lantern 53, or it could simply be a case of these events transpiring before that issue.

There's a great scene where a memorial tree is erected on Mogo to honor the fallen members of the Corps, with each dead lantern represented as a face on one of the leaves. Since the remains of all the dead lanterns remain in Mogo's core it was decided that the tree would replace the crypts on OA.

There are signs of the growing distrust of the Guardians by the Corps, with the little blue smurfs not even showing up to the ceremony to honor the dead who perished serving the will of the Guardians. I think that this is only one rift that's begun to widen between the Corps and their diminutive leaders, one that will take the whole mythos in some exciting directions.

Salaak also directs Mogo to release all the Green Lantern rings that need new masters, so Tony Bedard will have a chance to create some of his own unique characters to add to the Green Lantern universe in the months to come.

Soranik Natu and Kyle Rayner reconnect at the site of Kyle's mural, with Natu motivating Kyle to start it over again as a way to instill morale in the Corps in the face of all they've lost during the recent events. Knowing that Kilowog will be starring in the Emerald Warriors title it's not surprise to see him turn down his post as the drill instructor. What's surprising is the selection of Stel as his replacement.

The uneasy alliance crumbles

Vath and Isamot Kol are two of the more interesting characters created for this title and in his goodbye to these characters Peter Tomasi once again plays off of the cultural rift between Rann and Thanagar. Vath lost his legs during Blackest Night and Kol donated his own legs to Vath since he might regrow them. Kol did what he thought anyone would do to help their dearest comrade, however Vath is still blinded by the racial hatred that Rann has and only thinks of how he would look to his fellow Rannians. Despite how much both men have grown to support each other, some hatred and fear still exists.

Kol's anger rises at the ungratefulness for his sacrifice and Vath is about to loose his new legs when they are made to realize the foolishness of their actions. The two reconcile and another chapter of their journey is left for Tony Bedard to write.

Guys, Arisia and Kyle kick the door down to the Guardians' chamber, demanding that they be allowed to meet despite the efforts of the Guardians to brush them off. Arisia actually clocks one of them in the face in a great "oh yeah!" moment reminiscent of some of the confrontations that Hal has had with them in the past.

Guy rightfully calls the Guardians out for blaming a lack of knowledge of some events on Scar's actions, reminding them that more important than that is the realization that the Guardians' actions have done much to undermine the Corps itself, and that those actions, like the Third Law, will prevent good candidates from joining the Corps.

Guys throws the failure of the Manhunters and the Alpha Lanterns in the Guardian's faces and Kyle reminds them that is wasn't a lack of emotion that took out Nekron, but beings with heart. Kyle tells the Guardians that they have to earn the trust of Corps again if they are to ever get back on track.

All this prompts Salaak to speak up against the Guardians for the first time, reminding them they he is not a puppet that will mindlessly follow their every command. He is putting himself in the role of the Guardian's conscience and plans to question some of their policies when he feels they are not in the best interest of the Corps.

Guy is distraught seeing what's left of Warriors and both he and Kyle talk about how the bar is needed, like the mural, to provide a place for the betterment of the well being of the Corps. As they are talking a message comes through from the Guardians that they have repealed the Third Law, and the two clink beer bottles toasting the future. The issue draws to an end, but there is a great two page spread promoting Emerald Warriors that shows some pretty intense scenes.

The Writing -
As much as Geoff Johns is credited for the revitalization of the Green Lantern mythos, I've long thought that Peter Tomasi was really the driving force for Green Lantern: Rebirth when he was an editor. The Green Lantern Corps can be difficult to write, managing a large cast and stories that have to have cosmic significance. Throughout this run Tomasi has done both these things very well, and while it's a shame to see him leave this book, he's going to rock Emerald Warriors hard.

The Art -
Pat Gleason's work is top notch, as usual. He captures all the right emotions from the anger Arisia feels for the Guardians to the solemn look on the Corps' faces during the dedication of the memorial tree. His art will be missed in the Green Lantern books.

What Do I Think?

This book has what you need after an exhausting event like Blackest Night - an epilogue that lets you know where everyone stands and sets the stage for what's about to come. Five lanterns.

Brightest Day #0 Review

5/03/2010

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All in all Blackest Night was one of the best, if not the best, events that DC has ever pulled off. The zero issue of Brightest Day picks up just after Blackest Night ends and like a lot of people I am really looking for to seeing what's going to happen with the "Resurrected Dozen".

The Story

The issue starts out with Deadman, or Aliveman as he's been referred to by many people, at his grave site, where a baby bird has just fallen and died after hitting his grave marker. "Carpe Diem" is front and center in a nice touch of connecting this issue with Blackest Night #8, but we find that Boston Brand isn't exactly happy that he's back among the living.

Boston Brand's always been an interesting character and I'm not sure how much has been revealed about his life before Deadman, so I'm intrigued with what we'll learn about him in this title. My hunch is that he'll be dead again by issue 26, but time will tell. Nevertheless, it's been years since Brand felt pain or hunger, so the sudden return of those pangs and the realization that there is no one among the living for him to return to are really hitting home for him. He takes his frustration out on his grave marker, shattering hit before seeing the fallen bird on the ground. It's only then that the only White Power Ring in existence and residing on Brand's left hand comes to life.

Everyone wondered how long "Dead means dead" would last, and it's not long as Brand's ring, perhaps fueled by his regret that the baby bird is dead, resurrects it. Yeah, I know, that's not exactly the kind of return from the dead that they meant, but I think this is the first of other returns that we'll see as time progresses in this story.

Well, that didn't last long!

While it's a little thing, it does give us some idea of what the power of this ring is and just why it may be the most sought after power ring. The power to return life, or possibly to even create life, is one that I think we'll see people fighting over throughout Brightest Day, and I suspect that we may find that there is a price to be paid for being resurrected. That being said, Brand disappears in a white light, called to help someone who may be the white entity that went missing after the dust settled in Blackest Night.

Brand appears at Amnesty Bay, where Mera and Aquaman have been celebrating the return of Arthur Curry. But Aquaman is rather pensive, wondering why he was chosen to return when others hadn't. In a moment of foreshadowing we see Curry's reflection in the ocean is that of Black Lantern Aquaman and he tells Mera that he has a bad feeling about this return to the land of the living.

In a white flash Deadman leaves the Atlanteans behind as he is taken by the ring to Eobard Thrawne's cell at Iron Heights Penitentiary just as Barry Allen whizzes in to check in on a much thinner and possibly younger Digger Harkness. Captain Boomerang has also been doing some thinking about the nature of his return, and he expresses to the Flash that he doesn't plan on staying in prison haunted by the reason why he is back.

Again Brand pops out and reappears at the Stonechat Museum where Carter and Shiera Hall are also getting busy after reminiscing about their past lives, and in fact Carter sees the ghosts of those past lives as he as Shiera are embracing. A crystal shard from the Star Sapphires that was given to Shiera attaches itself to the Claw of Horus. Simultaneously we see explorers in the Andes mountains unearthing the remains of Khufu and Chay-ara. The hawks take flight and head South, presumably to the Andes and their first bodies.

Maxwell Lord is preparing to do some extreme mental manipulation and trying to anticipate the major nosebleed it will cause as Boston Brand appears. Lord will either be successful as wiping the memories of his crimes from minds of the DC heroes, or he'll be Public Enemy number one. Moments later Deadman appears on Mars where Guy Gardner and Hal Jordan have made a visit to J'onn J'onzz, completely with a large box of Choco cookies and milk. J'onn reveals that he plans to nurture his home planet back to life and that water has appeared deep underground.

Again Brand disappears and shows up as Jade is on Oa undergoing some tests overseen by Soranik Natu, and the writing is on the wall for the inevitable catfight that these two will have over Kyle Rayner. Speaking of Kyle, he shows up and allays Jade's concerns over her actions as a Black Lantern. As Kyle and Natu leave Jade a White Lantern symbol appears.

In New York City Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond struggle to deal with Black Lantern Firestorm's murder of Jason's girlfriend. Ronnie has no memory of the events of Blackest Night but knowing the effects it has has on Jason and Jason's control of the Firestorm matrix has left him out of sorts and unsure of how to deal with Jason. Deadman appears here, too, to witness the two merge into Firestorm before popping out and appearing in Kahndaq, where Osiris is being hailed for his return and pledging to restore not only his nation, but Black Adam and Isis as well.

Next Deadman appears in Arlington, Virginia, where Hawk and Dove are beating down some bad guys, and Hawk is making up for lost time by really taking it to them. Hawk is really getting aggressive in fighting crime, promising to take a number of "preemptive strikes". Jump to Star City where Deadman laments the loss of life caused by Prometheus during the "Justice League: Cry for Justice" miniseries. Once again Brand hears a cry for help with the added request that he help the rest of the "Resurrected Dozen".

Brand's White Lantern ring suddenly stars up and a giant star shaped forest burst forth from the ruins of Star City. Boston questions the ring, asking what it wants and why were they brought back, but the only reply he gets is "help me live". In the issue's epilogue, the White Lantern Power Battery that appears at the end of Blackest Night #8 lies in a crater in New Mexico, denying anyone who tries to touch it. The issue closes with Sinestro arriving on the scene, ready to reclaim the power he held for so short a time.

The Art

Fernando Pasarin does a great job with this issue, capturing the subtleties of the facial expressions of each of the cast members and really setting the tone for this title. However my greatest pet peeve crops us in this issue - Hal and Guy Gardner's boots are green, not white. Kyle and Soranik Natu's boots were correct - can we please get some consistency?

The Writing

It's Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi - so you can't go wrong with these two guys who've redefined the Green Lantern mythos for today's comic audience. Brightest Day #0 moves at a good pace, using Boston Brand to hop between all the resurrected characters in somewhat of a predictable manner and serving as a primer for the epic story that's about to unfold over the next half year.

So What do I Think?

Brightest Day #0 does a good job of priming us for the next 26 issues, giving us glimpses of all the main characters we'll see throughout the series while foreshadowing some of the plot and sprinkling bits of information about the events to unfold. With Johns and Tomasi working on this story jointly, I have high hopes for Brightest Day and I'm really looking forward to what's to come.

If you're not sure if you want to commit to this bi-weekly series, this issue could be the determining factor for you.

Four out of five lanterns.

Blackest Night Podcast

4/13/2010

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It was once again a great pleasure to be a part of the Raging Bullets podcast, joining hosts Sean Whelan and Jim Segulin in the last part of their Blackest Night coverage.

Sean and Jim are great ambassadors for the comics medium and if you don't already listen to their show, I highly recommend you give them a shot. Raging Bullets goes very in depth into their discussions and they are always a lot of fun to listen to. If you're not careful you'll find yourself getting sucked into buying more books that you already do, because you can't help but get caught up in their enthusiasm for the subject matter. And that's I mean by being a comic ambassador - they always let you know what they found great in the books they are covering and spend more time talking about what they like than complaining about what they don't, which is refreshing giving all the negativity prevalent on the Internet from fans.

Their Blackest Night wrapup, their 202nd episode, was released last night and can be downloaded directly by clicking here, or you can visit their website to get it as well as subcribing to the show via your favorite podcast catcher. I'll be joining Sean and Jim periodically as they start their coverage of Brightest Day and I'm looking forward to being a part of their show, and you can find them at most major conventions at a booth where you can meet them in person.

Blackest Night - A Quick Look Back

4/11/2010

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The dust has just settled on the event that was Blackest Night so maybe it seems too fresh of a topic for retrospective so soon, but this event was so big for DC that it certainly deserves a look at in its entirety for what it tried to accomplish.

Certainly the true test of an even is how it is viewed in the years after it's originally published, but I have to say that, at least with fresh eyes, Blackest Night is among my top events of all time. What Blackest Night achieved, in my mind, is a great balance between the summer action superhero/zombie movie and a personal philosophical exploration about the nature of life and how we each choose to use the gift we are given. We had moments reminiscent of classic horror movies complete with creaking doors and monsters leaping out of the shadows and we had the revelation that in the DC Universe life began on Earth.

And from a certain standpoint, Blackest Night is perhaps one of the most well-rounded events in comics history, complete (or replete) with merchandising designed to keep readers' interests peaked during the whole time. With nearly every issue of Blackest Night being the number one selling book of the month by any publisher, we can be pretty much assured that DC is going to look at this marketing strategy for how they promote other big stories down the road.

Kyle's "death" in Blackest Night

A common criticism is in the number of books and tie-ins that fans felt they had to buy to get the "whole story". One very well known comics reviewer, Blair Butler, went so far as to say that she couldn't keep up with all the tie-ins from Blackest Night. I contend that DC did a wonderful job with Blackest Night in this regard. While it seems rather silly to think that someone would read the event and not pick up both Green Lantern books you certainly could have and still gotten the bulk of the story - but it does pale in comparison to the experience of reading all three of these titles. However, at no point did I feel that I was missing out on anything by not getting the mini series and one shots outside of the three main books. When I did pick them up there were things that added elements to the overall story, particularly the Titans mini - and even more importantly I found that any tie in I purchased felt like Blackest Night was an organic part of the story and not a case of shoehorning an event into a title so you could slap a banner on it an up the sales. Did sales go up on those books, certainly they did and in particular those issues that allowed fans to get the free rings being given away. But I have to applaud DC for making me feel that any purchase I decided to make was one worth making once I closed the book.

Beware their power!

Blackest Night was a story filled with jaw dropping moments and eye popping artwork. Every person who worked on this event deserves a round of applause. Blackest Night and the addition of the emotional spectrum to the Green Lantern mythos could easily have been rendered foolish if not for the efforts of the art team. In terms of memorable moments both Geoff Johns and Peter Tomasi really showed why they are two of the best writers in comics right now and their collaborative efforts really paid off for all of us. The appearance of the Black Lanterns in issue one was a creepy stroke of fun and we had great moments like that, from Kyle's "death" and Guy's Red Lantern turn to John Stewart's battle on Xanshi to Hal Jordan's indomitable will to embrace the White Lantern power and create the Corps that brought Black Hand back to life.

One last kiss before Parallax

I think it's important that each of the Earth Green Lanterns got moments to shine in Blackest Night. Some early criticism back when Rebirth first came out was how any of these characters would shine brightly and get their moments. But here each one faced demons from their past that illustrated for us that it's time for us to move on and remember the events that have made us who we are while not being chained to them. John and Xanshi, Guy and his father, and Kyle's refrigerator flashback showing how all three men are stepping out from their own personal shadows and into the Brightest Day. For Hal Jordan what greater moment than to be the one possessing Parallax of his own accord knowing what had happened years before when evil escaped his sight. While not a Green Lantern, certainly Barry Allen had wonderful moments where he showed why he finally deserves to be back from the dead.

What Geoff Johns continues to do is add more to the DC Universe without undoing the past. From the original prophecy told to Abin Sur years ago to now, Johns has managed to take elements that were no intentionally connected and woven them into the fabric of the Green Lantern mythology, and subsequently into the great DC Universe. A number of new characters, from the noble yet troubled Atrocitus to the humor laden comic relief / mass murderer Larfleeze, now join the pantheon of characters for writers to continue to play with. And other characters either discarded or full of untapped potential from the Antimonitor to Mera have new leases on life and now seem full of story possibilities waiting to be written for them.

Of course we can debate the "dead is dead" line quite a bit, but I tend to think that Blackest Night is the end of an era for DC, at least for a while. I don't think we're going to see characters snuffed out without some forethought knowing that they will be off the playing field for some time. Personally, if this means that we force writers to come up with compelling stories that don't use stunt deaths to shock us or sell the story, I'll be happy. I don't think that any character should be killed off permanently and I don't take stock in the "dead is dead forever" mentality, but I do want death to have some story telling meaning otherwise we devalue life, death and resurrection as effective story telling devices and we cheat the reader out of what should be powerful experiences.

The Brave and the bold

Buried beneath the zombies and the revelations of the Guardians' secrets is Geoff's philosophy that it's not life which gives us each meaning, but us who decides what meaning we create out of the life we are given. We all get bogged down in the mundane and we all take our lives for granted and perhaps the best lesson we can walk away from Blackest Night is the notion that we should try to live our lives larger than we do, because Nekron is out there somewhere and sooner or later we will join him. If we do that then surely Blackest Night succeeded. So we should all challenge ourselves to embrace what we have and make each day the Brightest Day.

Blackest Night 8 Review

4/01/2010

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The end is here....and so is a new beginning as Blackest Night comes to a close, ushering in the Brightest Day. Like any great saga there are closures in this final issue but not without creating some new dynamics that will change the DCU going forward. That's the nature of episodic fiction, creating tendrils that connect one story to the next.

We start this issue where we left of the last one, with White Lantern Sinestro about to confront Nekron. Geoff Johns clearly understands Hal Jordan, his strengths, his weaknesses, and what drives him. Having lost his father and seeing how his father's occupation affected the rest of his family it's no wonder why Hal appears shallow at times and a man-whore at others. It's his coping mechanism for wanting to keep everyone at an arm's length so that he doesn't have to deal with the pain when they die. It's been there all along, but now it's in black and white for anyone who didn't figure it out before.

Coupled with that is Hal's realization that he can no longer be afraid of that unknown future. It's a minor statement in an otherwise busy two page spread, but it marks a progression in Hal's character that needs to happen if he's going to evolve. If anything about Blackest Night has disappointed me it's the notion that Hal didn't face his fear head on - he really could have benefited from a confrontation with a Black Lantern Martin Jordan and I thought we were going to get that moment after seeing his grave marker a few issues back. I still maintain that such a confrontation would have been far more powerful and really put an exclamation point on the subject, but instead we'll have to settle a little for what we get. But in my mind it will remain as the single greatest missed opportunity of the whole event.

Sinestro gets the best of Nekron...or does he?

Sinestro is really pissed and he's going to take out all his long held frustration over what happened to Abin Sur on Nekron, the symbol of Abin's downfall and tarnished reputation. The battle between the two is over rather quickly, with Sinestro seemingly killing Nekron by ripping out his heart.

It's way too early in the issue for that to happen and since Nekron is technically already dead, ripping his heart out is only a minor annoyance. He's back again and starts taking it to Sinestro and Sinestro's ego and need to enforce order through control causes the entity to reject him at a most inopportune time.

Lex Luthor's greed for all the power interrupts the New Guardians, but he is felled by the most unlikely of beings....Larfleeze, who bashes Lex with his Orange Lantern before Black Lanterns start battling the New Guardians once again.

Lest we forget some of the stakes in this confrontation between the light and the dark, we see a glimpse of Hal's extended family, huddled in the home overlooking the horrific battler that envelopes all that they know. It's a neat couple of panels reminding us how much Coast City has itself embraced the ideals of the Green Lantern Corps, and that, even faced with the ever encroaching hordes of the undead, Hal's niece and nephew stand there in defiance in the arms of the parents.

Just in time to join the fray are the rest of the corps, fresh from their dealings with Xanshi in Green Lantern #46. Just when you thought that Ivan Reis had possible hit tilt with how many characters he could cram into a two page spread, he blows it out of the water with some terrific imagery of just how intense and epic this event is. I think he's managed to get every major player in there somewhere. Just gorgeous!

As everyone with a power ring on focuses on Nekron, Deadman shares some crucial information with Hal by taking over Guy Gardner. Nekron exists and will always exist because he is the the embodiment of blackness, and so long as there's any blackness from the gaps between molecules to the expanse of space he will exist. When Black Hand committed suicide it allowed Nekron to use him as a connection between Nekron's reality and our own. Get Hand off the playing field and you Nekron cannot have a foothold in the land of the living, and to do that you have to restore Black Hand to life.

Johns makes some philosophical statements using Hal and Barry to tell Nekron that in essence everyone has a connection to both life and death, but it's our choices that matter most. While Nekron may have made it possible for people like Barry and Hal to return to life, they only did so because they chose to. That life in itself has no purpose beyond the purpose we choose to give it. If you could boil this event down to one statement, one idea that Johns is trying to talk about, that's it. It's a profound one that deserves more exploration than what I can give it in this review and I'll probably tackle in an overall review of the whole Blackest Night saga in the coming days.

The short lived White Lantern Corps

Hal's realization that we are all connected and his will to live allows him and all the previously dead heroes that Nekron helped to gain access to the White Lantern and another epic two page spread. Those that were Black Lanterns are restored as the newly formed White Lantern Corps confront Black Hand dead on (pun intended!).

The WLC choose life for Black Hand and we see the white entity restore William Hand to his former self and he begins spewing white rings from his mouth. One rings flies through Nekron and to the Black Central Power Battery, restoring and freeing an Anti-Monitor who immediately starts taking Nekron to task. While Nekron and the Anti-Monitor trade blows Black Hand continues puking white power rings which surround Nekron and ultimately cause him and the Black Lanterns to explode and dissipate as we see a White Lantern ring state "Let there be light".

More White Lantern rings being stating the names of various dead characters from the DCU. Amon Tomaz (Osiris), Jennie-Lynn Hayden (Jade), Digger Harkness (Captain Boomerang), Hall Hall (Hawk), Ronnie Raymond (Firestorm), Eobard Thawne (Professor Zoom), Maxwell Lord, Kendra Saunders and Carter Hall (the Hawks), J'onn J'onzz (Martian Manhunter), Arthur Curry (Aquaman), and Boston Brand (Deadman) all have their names called. Opening up the four page gatefold:

They live again. We knew that this event was going to bring back several dead characters since DC wanted to address the "revolving door of death" and make death have more impact on the DCU. Before that door gets closed a little tighter Johns was going to have one last chance to get some of DC's toys back off the shelf and onto the playing field. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during the discussions that must have happened between Geoff and Dan Didio to hear who else might have been in consideration.

I'm sure that there are people not happy about who did and did not return. I've purposely stayed off of any discussion boards and avoided reviews because I didn't want to have my own opinions affected by others. I'm sure that many fans wanted to see the return of the Dibney's and Ted Kord. Given the level of affection that fans have for those characters it is kind of a surprise to see Osiris, Deadman, and Jade back considering they don't hold nearly the same level fan support. And the fact that it is Shiera who inhabits Hawkgirl's body I'm sure is both cause for heated debate amongst Hawk fans.

In the end though these choices are the ones made and they all have some interesting things to flavor the DCU going forward. I'm not going to spend time debating anything because it's rather pointless to wast the energy over something that has already been decided.

Having Deadman alive for one thing is very intriguing, and did you notice that he's the only resurrected character wearing a White Lantern ring? That Ronnie and Jason seem to be the new pairing for Firestorm is a change that will be explored in Brightest Day. Of course having the Anti-Monitor and Max Lord back could lead to some really epic stories in the months to come and Jade's return will make Kyle Rayner's love life very complicated to say the least. Professor Zoom's return is no surprise at all if you've read Flash: Rebirth, but it'll be great to see Digger's interactions with Barry and the Rogue's in the new Flash ongoing.

The fate of Black Hand

All of these newly returned characters have some face time as we learn a little about each. Aquaman's reappearance nearly causes Mera to die when her love extinguishes the red power of rage that keeps her body alive. Max Lord and the Anti-Monitor disappear to wreak havoc another day and Larfleeze turns Lex Luthor over to our heroes, demanding that he get his reward, a Guardian of his own. Sayd and Ganthet, who's returned to his role as a Guardian of Hope, have an exchange that understates the cosmic shift that has to take place in light of recent events. Sayd agrees to help Larfleeze and suddenly everyone realizes that Black Hand and the Indigo Tribe have gone AWOL.

I know that Geoff Johns has said that we won't be getting a translation of the Indigo language, making the next page and the last entry of the Book of Black infuriating since it's all in Indigo-speak! Black Hand, enslaved and apparently addled in the custody of the Indigos, may perhaps yet find peace surrounded by beings driven by compassion. I hope not, since he's much more fun as a twisted sociopath licking skulls and spewing twisted tales of murder and mayhem.

Jumping to Gotham and the denouement between Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, the Brave and the Bold. I hope that Johns continues to create moments for these two characters going forward. Barry and Hal are two of the main reasons superhero comics have survived the "seduction of the innocent" phase of comic book history, their creation signalled the dawn of the Silver Age and deserve their places as icons in the DCU in equal footing to the Trinity. It's good to see them together again with time spent by modern writers cementing this friendship beyond the tag teams and book sharing of years past.

The Brave and the Bold

Barry and Hal talk about life and death and encourage us all to find our own reasons for the meaning of our lives and focus on living the life we're given. Amidst the philosophy is the statement that death in the DC Universe will be different from now on, that "dead is dead". I hope so and I hope that this sticks so that we don't have event driven deaths and resurrections for the sake of sensationalism instead of using good writing to make the story a must-read. The revolving door of death has over the years devalued the ramifications of losing someone, and in turn lowering the value of life. I for one am glad to see a change in thinking.

As Hal and Barry stand there at the grave of Bruce Wayne they reiterate what we've all known since Final Crisis - that Bruce is out there somewhere, somewhen, waiting to be found. The White entity is out there, too, symbolically urging us all to stop living in the past and embrace today unafraid of the future we can make if we remember that we are all connected. With that Blackest Night comes to a close with an image of a White Power Battery in the center of a newly formed crater, teasing us about Brightest Day.

I cannot commend the team on this series enough in terms of the magnitude of the story, the amazing artwork and all the elements that have brought Blackest Night to readers over the past year. In a way I'm kind of saddened to realize it's over, but there's so much story potential going forward that I can't wait to see what's next. This issue did everything it needed to and then some to bring this event to a satisfying conclusion. It should be no shock that I give this issue 5 lanterns.

Green Lantern 52 Review

3/25/2010

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The last Blackest Night bannered issue of Green Lantern was released this week, and there's plenty of Internet buzz about some of Geoff Johns' cosmic revelations. To be sure, Johns has painted the origins of the universe is some pretty broad strokes that have fans either loving it or labelling it blasphemous. So what's the hub-bub about?

Like last week's Green Lantern Corps, this issue is somewhat of a placeholder, not advancing the plot so much as revealing the as-yet unrevealed information about the cosmic order of things and providing some action sequences to keep the issue chugging along. In fact things are pretty much the same at the end of the book as they are on the first page minus a few casualties. But it's the revelations here that highlight the issue and set the stage for stories yet to come and perhaps motivate us to contemplate on the nature of the universe and how all our various mythologies and religions could be viewed through a pseudo science lens.

The issue starts out with John Stewart and the Green Lantern Corps miles above Coast City still dealing with the throngs of Black Lanterns and Xanshi while Hal looks on as the newly christened White Lantern Sinestro deals out the damage to the Black Lanterns on Earth. Just a comment on Sinestro's new look - is there a reason that the handle bar mustache and the mask are back? He hasn't had that look in years and the only thing I can come up with is that, in his subconscious, Sinestro compares his role as a White Lantern to his glory days in the Green Lantern Corps and so his appearance is shaped by his id's desire to be looked upon as what he once was - the greatest of the Green Lanterns.

Sinestro's insights into the white light reveal a lot of information about how the entity settled on Earth, spontaneously spurring the creation of life in the oceans. A being wills itself to move and sparks its own evolution into Ion - much like I thought it might. Following suit are the other entities with a bug evolving into Parallax.

The next part is what has some fans up in arms, even being labeled a "retcon of the bible" on one message board. We see love bloom and the Predator entity form and then shortly after a snake portrayed as the entity of Avarice, "a creature eats what it does not need." There's certainly some allusions here to the biblical Adam and Eve and the snake, who Doug Mankhe draws coiled on the branches of an apple tree. Likewise parallels are drawn between rage inspiring murder between Cain and Able. Hope is drawn from prayer made during rain storms, perhaps alluding to Noah and "at last, compassion is offered to us all" certainly could be connected to the death of Jesus on the cross.

While none of these allusions is directly made they are left for the reader to determine what they mean to them. It is certainly not a stretch for Christian followers to make those connections as you can see, but for those who don't follow religion it is just as easy to see no connections at all if one chooses not to. Not being a theologian myself I'm not certain there are any biblical events that tie themselves to the origins of Ion or Parallax at all, nor do I know if any of the imagery provided links to other religious or mythological origins of life on Earth.

What's most interesting to me as someone who is not entirely sure what I believe in is that what Johns' is doing by layering the pseudo scientific concepts of the emotional spectrum on top of creationism and Darwinism is that he kinds of shows how both belief systems complement each other in a way. I think that makes some people uptight and certainly those who are adamant that their belief system must be the only way will find problems with the heady concepts that Johns is toying with.

Sinestro and the seven emotional entities

The two page spread that follows should be a poster. Here is Sinestro, surrounded by the emotional entities simply stating, "we live." The choice of the creatures is fascinating as many of them represent the kinds of creatures that might have been worshipped by various cultures long before Christianity took hold, albeit that Parallax and the Predator don't really look any anything I've ever seen before. And how a squid like creature represents compassion I don't know, nor is the Predator anything that would ever make you think he represents love. But they are intriguing to say the least and there certainly is fertile ground established to explore their meanings down the road.

Nekron attacks Sinestro and causes what appears to be a mortal wound, and once again all seems lost. Xanshi's orbital approach begins to cause massive upheaval around the globe caused by the interference of both planets' gravitational fields clashing with each other. Xanshi fires a massive energy bolt into the ocean causing a massive tidal wave that crashes down upon Coast City. Hal manages to contain the wave before it causes too much damage before being overwhelmed by Black Lanterns.

Hal on the brink of certain doom

Xanshi's technicolor destruction

Hal calls on John Stewart to rally the troops to stop Xanshi before it can inflict even more damage. John once again faces Katma Tui and as Black Hand and the Black Lanterns come ever much closer to killing Jordan, John Stewart's strike force destroys Xanshi from within. Xanshi explodes in a brilliant explosion of color and nice one page splash. Xanshi's fate causes pain in Nekron and Black Hand as a whole lot of Black Lantern rings lose their connection and Hal is saved.

As the fractured remains of the destroyed planet rain down on Coast City, every hero works as a unit to shield the city from destruction, all the while Sinestro literally pulls himself back together. Once whole again, Sinestro proclaims that he is "the true Guardian of the Universe" and our issue fades to black.

There are probably more splash pages here than in any single issue of a comic I think I've ever read. But putting things into perspective I guess that's fine considering that this is the next to the last issue of a massive event. The story is epic and so the artwork is as well, with Doug Mahnke really doing a wonderful job.

I'm not bothered at all by the big picture that Geoff Johns is painting with this story. I'm very open minded about the subject and I don't find this to be a huge stretch of the imagination, in fact I find a certain logic to it that's appealing to me. Comics can be modern mythology and I think that Blackest Night is a fine example of how we can continue to probe and examine the greatest of all mysteries without alienating everyone but those who have the most unyielding of beliefs.

For example, for those who believe in creationism can easily view the white light entity as the divine instrument that God used to forge life on Earth - the method that God used to create everything springing forth from a seed which he planted here. For those of Darwinism school of thought the white entity could simply the spark which caused life to evolve. It's all there if you choose to evaluate how literally you take your faith. Johns certainly isn't saying that is how life evolved here, but he uses his concept of how live evolved in the DCU as a way for us to examine our own belief system. So I have to give him credit for the ballsy move and appreciate his creativity.

I do however have some criticism about the execution of the issue. The dialogue is a bit clumsy at times, especially when John Stewart confronts Katma Tui (again) and we get a regurgitation of how John has gotten passed his past. And apparently "aaaieee!!" is THE sound effect for pain these days. The New Guardians and their deputies are relegated to the background and the Black Lantern Justice League is no where to be seen at all this issue. And the covers to both the regular and variant issues would have been much better sans the word balloons.

But perhaps what I'm most disappointed about, not by this single issue though, is a wasted opportunity. We've seen Kyle confront the death of Alex DeWitt in GLC #46 and Guy Gardner deal with the abuses of his past in GLC #45. This issue is not the first, but the second time that John Stewart has confronted his Katma Tui and Xanshi demons, with the first being three issues back in GL #49. But what about Hal Jordan?

Sure Hal forced Parallax to merge with him so that he could take on the Spectre in GL#50, but he didn't fight his own way at all, he only triumphed in his willingness to sacrifice himself for the greater good, but he failed to overcome that demon on his own. An the biggest missed opportunity was the chance we had for Hal to be confronted head on by the death of Martin Jordan and Hal's desire to know his father's last words. How awesome it would have been for a Black Lantern Martin Jordan to confront Hal, taunting him with the false version of history. Or a Black Lantern Jessica Jordan scolding Hal for all the things he did that drove them apart. Just as the other three Earth based lanterns got that moment so should Hal. Yes, there's still Blackest Night #8 left but I have a feeling that the final issue in the event will be focused solely on wrapping up the story and setting the stage for "Brightest" Day. And we're pretty much passed the point of adding any more new twists to the story at this stage.

While that doesn't affect my view of this issue, it does color my opinion a bit on Blackest Night as a whole. But this issue earns a solid four lanterns.