Comic Book Review: Blackest Night Issues 1 & 2

A great start to the most anticipated comic book mini series in years, Blackest Night is well on its way to becoming a classic story for all time. Issues 1 and 2 have hit the shelves and readers are pawing at them like zombies on flesh. Writer supreme Geoff Johns has been orchestrating this event for the past five years since his launch of Green Lantern: Rebirth and his relaunch of the Green Lantern on going series to his amazing GL cross over the Sinestro Corps War. Johns has repaved and revamped the way we look at GL and continues to add relevance to the obscure. Today we talk about the first two issues of Blackest Night and what we can hope for by the end.

When the first issue of Blackest Night came out I have to say that I was a bit overwhelmed. So much happened in that single issue that I had to read it a few times to catch all of the great art and every little thing that was going on. What Johns does so well is that he makes people with super powers and “magic rings” seem possible. He adds a lot of depth to an idea that should not make sense. The big shtick for the series is that the dead will rise. This plays on what Johns has shown us about the emotional spectrum of light and gives us the undead Black Lanterns. Essentially they are the reanimated bodies of fallen heroes and villains. We start our story with the villainous servant of the black, Black Hand, unearthing the remains of Bruce Wayne. Hand is being guided by his unseen masters thoughts. We cut to a day of remembrance where civilians and superheroes alike honor the passing of fallen heroes whether they be super or not. It was very chilling to see all of these statues and tombstones of fallen heroes. I mean, heroes die all of the time in comics and most of the time the big ones get resurrected, but to see the resting places of those who don’t was a little sad. All through the first few pages Hal Jordan is narrating and retelling the stories of some of the key people that have fallen. Loved ones , partners and friends surround this list as we see glimpses of other heroes such as Clark Kent and his mother at Johnathan Kent’s grave. The lay out is great and all of the scenes have so interesting dialogue.

Issues one and two are stuffed with so much action that even if the story was not so compelling you could enjoy it. The dead are beginning to rise and seem to have the same powers they had when they were living on top of being invulnerable due to the black rings. One of the cool nuances is that when the rings are searching for there host they sound like buzzing flies. When the ring finds its corpse it then instructs the body to rise. It’s an interesting way to add some horror to a sci-fi title. Obviously there is more going on than I’m going to talk about, but I just don’t want to spoil anything for you. You may get to see one of your favorite heroes rise from the dead and see them in yet another epic smack down.

I really want this story to be so amazing that no one will ever be able to touch it. Marvel Comics has been doing their own zombie gimmick for a few years now and it’s been fun. The big let down is that it stopped being creepy a long time ago and it’s on its fourth mini series so it’s getting a bit dull. Johns has made the concept scary again and really added to the fear by making the zombie characters heroes that we loved. I think many fans were eagerly awaiting the resurrection of the Martian Manhunter, but not as an undead minon of the black. Blackest Night can be the home run record that no one could ever break if it is handled correctly. I’m not sure if they want this series to be a kind of get out of jail free card meaning when all is said and done these dead heroes get another chance. At this point that would be a huge cop out. It’s just a speculation, but sometimes comics can get that way.

Check out the series. If you’re not already a fan you will be. This was just a brief review of the first two issues. Blackest Night is slated to be eight issues total so there is still so much more to tell. Check back with us in a few months when we review the entire series and give it a Fanboyz grade.

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