Over the past week or so I have read the seven collected hardbound editions of DC Comics’ recent crossover event, Blackest Night. I’d read little bits here and there but I did what the creators would have wanted me to do and I’ve treated it as a comprehensive text.
Further, instead of blogging the individual book, as I normally do, I’m gonna’ do what’s easier for me and, again, what they would probably want and stir it all up in my mind and conceive of it as just one thing, despite multiple writers and artists all adding their own flavor into the stew.
So what do I think?
I like comics with big, bold colors, and the very nature of this story (the emotional spectrum at the engine of creation/existence as made manifest by Roy G Biv) is one giant excuse to have page after page of vibrant color explode out of every panel.
I also like when obscure, particularly square Golden Age characters show up, and, therefore, I’m a fan of Geoff Johns who loves nothing more than a solid deep cut. For God’s sake, the original Mr. Terrific shows up as a zombie – you don’t get more square than him! Seriously, everyone you’ve ever cared about in the DCU past or present gets a moment on stage here.
As an avowed Green Lantern fan (and, even more so, a Green Lantern Corps fan) I found myself more interested in the main stream of this story. Maybe, just maybe, tying EVERYTHING in the DCU wasn’t exactly for me. But for a snoozer chapter here (like, say, The Question or Jonah Hex) there is something really bizarre that takes some risks – Superboy Prime assaulting the offices of 1700 Broadway, I’m looking at you.
Nothing tops the Corps, though, and hats off to Blackest Night being a Green Lantern-driven story. Because Green Lantern is awesome. Green Lantern/Green Lantern Corps is the greatest thing happening in comics right now, and much of what has been making it cool is all the weird-ass shit leading up to Blackest Night. The Blue Lanterns are here to stay, as is Larfleeze and a rage-napalm-spitting Atrocitus.
Okay, my wife may’ve thought I was nuts wasting an entire beautiful Sunday plowing through these weighty tomes, but she’s enough of an Indigo Lantern at heart to allow me the indulgence. (Now if only I can convince her to dress like a Star Sapphire – reowr!)
