Blackest Night: Rise of the Black Lanterns


By Geoff Johns, Tony Bedard, Dan Didio, J.T. Krul, Dennis O’Neil, Greg Rucka, James Robinson, Peter J. Tomasi, Eric Wallace & various (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-4012-2806-4

After years of inexorable build-up, when the Blackest Night finally dawned it was, like death itself, unavoidable and inescapable. The event permeated and saturated every aspect of DC’s publishing schedule and even prompted the one-time-only resurrection of a number of beloved but deceased titles for one more clash of Darkness and Light.

Those all new final issues are gathered here in an intriguing but rather incomprehensible tome… unless you read it in conjunction with the other books in the monolithic crossover sequence.

The basic premise of Blackest Night was simple and smart. All those times when a hero or villain actually came back from the dead, it wasn’t a miracle or the triumph of abiding will but part of a patient plan by a cosmic death-god to end all life. The ghastly Nekron had merely permitted the likes of Superman, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Flash, the Doom Patrol and so many, many others to return to the land of the living simply to pave the way for a long-intended mass rising of the dead.

This particular trade paperback compilation – one of seven collecting the colossal saga – features individual skirmishes from the thanatopical war and encompasses The Atom and Hawkman #46, Phantom Stranger #42, Green Arrow #30, Adventure Comics #7, Starman #81, The Question #37, Catwoman #83, Weird Western Tales #71 and Power of Shazam #48, all cunningly designed to appeal to older fans whilst intensifying that all-pervading sense of doom and manic energy craved like a drug by modern comicbook readers…

One further word of warning however: these stories were released at separate times as the saga ran its course and, whilst maintaining a uniformly high quality of illustration throughout, are not meant to be read in isolation. For full comprehension you really, really need to have the other books to hand or at least fresh in your mind.

Following a crucial prose section detailing ‘The Story So Far…’ the off-camera action commences with ‘Bye Bye Birdie!’ by Geoff Johns, Ryan Sook & Fernando Pasarin (from The Atom and Hawkman #46), wherein ill-starred scientist Ray Palmer is forced to re-examine his traumatic career as The Atom before he is deputised into the mysterious Indigo Tribe.

These enigmatic aliens utilise the cool Light of Compassion and their adoption of the much-travelled physicist enables him to fight off not only the lethal Black Lantern assaults of his greatest friends Hawkman and Hawkgirl but also the dark psychological thrusts of his deranged dead wife Jean, incidentally saving the universe into the bargain…

Next follows Phantom Stranger #42, with ‘Deadman Walking’ by Peter J. Tomasi, Ardian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes once more pairing the immortal wanderer with deceased acrobat and Agent of Cosmic Balance Boston Brand – with spooky fan-favourite Blue Devil thrown in for good measure.

With the Earth’s dead enslaved to an occult invader, even the omnipotent Spectre is now trying to wipe out all life and the Stranger determines that passion rather than might will win the day.

To this end he seeks out the former Deadman – currently residing in Earthly paradise Nanda Parbat – but Brand is already fully involved in the cosmic struggle as his own corpse has been reanimated by a Black Ring and is currently assaulting the spiritual haven to end forever the tortured existence of the ethereal avenger…

With the immediate threat ended by the champions of Life, Deadman, who has gleaned wisps on information about an unsuspected “White Light”, sets out to warn the other heroes battling against Nekron’s Black onslaught…

‘Lying To Myself’ by J.T. Krul, Diogenes Neves, Ruy José & Cifuentes, from Green Arrow #30, offers a glimpse into the workings of the ravenous revenants by highlighting the inner struggles of the once Emerald Archer.

As his moral spirit struggles against the programming of the Black Ring animating his corpse and compelling it to kill best friend Hal Jordan, the newly returned to true life Barry Allen and his own wife Black Canary, the first inklings of wilful independence return.

Also in his sights but far less reluctant to fight back are Oliver Queen’s son Connor Hawke and current Speedy sidekick Mia Dearden, but even together they can do little to stop the relentless Black Arrow. It takes Oliver’s own indomitable will, bolstered by happy memories of the loved ones he’s stalking, to overrule Nekron’s vile programming and score a major hit against the Black Lantern army…

In Adventure Comics #7 a similar situation occurred in ‘What Did Black Lantern Superboy Do?’ by Tony Bedard, Travis Moore, Dan Green, Keith Champagne & Bob Wiacek, as the clonal Boy of Steel reviews his short but eventful life to combat the effects of the ebon band which had brought him back to kill his Teen Titan friends.

Again love conquered death as, whilst battling his superdog Krypto and lover Wonder Girl, their valiant resistance enabled Connor Kent to throw off the Black Lantern influence and even return to true life – for the second time…

The immortal Shade took centre stage in Starman #81 as David Knight disinterred himself to become the ‘Blackest Night Starman’ (by James Robinson, Fernando Dagnino & Bill Sienkiewicz). The firstborn son of the original Astral Avenger was only a hero for scant days before being murdered and now carves a path of frustrated death through OpalCity until the enigmatic Demon of Darkness defeated him.

Moreover when Nekron’s ring tries to assimilate the Shade it turns and flees from a blackness even deeper than death…

‘One More Question’ (The Question #37 by Dennis O’Neill, Denys Cowan, Sienkiewicz & John Stanisci) sees new truth-seeker Rene Montoya challenged to a test of skill by martial arts assassin Lady Shiva, even as the world is rent by rapacious revenants. The new Question is then saved by the old, who also finds his past a partial bulwark against Nekron’s enslavement, whilst the living duellists’ embracing of Zen philosophy subsequently starves the black zombie of the emotional fuel it needs to survive…

Catwoman #83 provided the Feline Fury with an opportunity for more vengeance when the sadistic madman she executed returns in ‘Night and the City’ by Bedard, Fabrizio Fiorentino, Ibraim Roberson, Marcos Marz, and Luciana Del Negro.

Roman Sionis was the first crime overlord to use the name Black Mask: torturing, maiming and killing members of Selina Kyle‘s family but his raging return and hunger for payback is thwarted by Catwoman’s stubbornness and the timely intervention of her allies Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn.

Weird Western Tales #71 offered a distant and different perspective as ‘And the South Shall Rise Again’ (Dan Didio & Renato Arlem) found Joshua Turnbull – descendent of Jonah Hex‘s greatest enemy – and technological corporate raider Simon Stagg pooling their vast resources to capture and forensically examine one of the deadly Black Rings. Unfortunately that only brings the unstoppable wrath of a vast posse of dead Cowboys and Indians such as Bat Lash, Super Chief, Scalphunter, The Trigger Twins and even Hex himself down on the doomed entrepreneur-scientists…

This bestiary of the bizarre concludes with Power of Shazam #48 as ‘Rest in Peace’ (by Eric Wallace, Don Kramer & Michael Babinski) explores the troubled soul of murdered Black Marvel Osiris; recalled to a semblance of life by the power of the Black Lanterns.

Baffled and bewildered, the mighty lad is driven by dark hungers but glad to see his best friend Sobek has also returned – even though the crocodile man killed and consumed him the last time they met.

However the memory of friendship and love betrayed drives the infuriated zombie to savagely settle his differences forever and even Nekron’s Ring’s cannot override the emotional storm within…

This book also contains covers and variants by Ryan Sook, Ardian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes, Greg Horn, Aaron Lopresti, Tony Harris, Cully Hamner & Dave McCaig, Adam Hughes, Bill Sienkiewicz, Jerry Ordway & Alex Sinclair, Mike Grell & Francis Manapul and a selection of info pages digging the dirt on (unlucky) 13 Black Lantern heroes and villains from the collection by Ethan Van Scriver & Joe Prado.

Alternatively action-packed and moodily suspenseful, this ambitious epic, whilst cunningly manipulative of the subtler shades of continuity, will be utterly impenetrable to all but the most devoted DC disciple, but there’s so much that is great about Blackest Night that I’d strongly urge every fan addicted to Cosmic Costumed Drama to give it a try (but you really, really need to read Blackest Night, Blackest Night: Green Lantern and Blackest Night: Green Lantern Corps if not all seven collections). Think of it as a valuable funnybook exercise to stave of the Grim Reaper of boredom…
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