Blackest Night: Green Lantern

"...and I shall shed my light over dark evil.

For the dark things cannot stand the light,

The light of the Green Lantern!" ~ Golden Age Oath

Even as his allies on Earth struggle to contain the newly awakened dead, Hal Jordan and his partner, John Stewart, have problems of their own to face - gathering the separate Corps for battle, as well as avoiding the wrath of their own hunters. Whilst Hal, along with Indigo-1, attempts to ensure co-operation between the opposed and confused members of each of the Lantern Corps, including Sinestro, Atrocitus and Larfleeze, John Stewart has encountered a much bigger problem - planet-sized, in fact. The dead world of Xanshi has risen again, but for what purpose?...

Dramatis Personnae:

Hal Jordan

John Stewart

The Justice League

Sinestro

Atrocitus

Saint Walker

Carol Ferris

Indigo-1

Larfleeze

The Black Lantern Corps

?????? (hidden)

Plot Summary:

After their battle with J'onn Jonzz, Green Lantern and Flash escape to the JLA Watchtower, where they attempt to safeguard the corpses of the villains they've faced. However, their efforts are in vain, as the black power rings enter the morgue and raise every villain stored there. Faced with such odds, it seems that Hal and Barry too will fall, until help comes unexpectedly; Indigo-1, leader of the Indigo Tribe, arrives, and uses the powers of her ring and staff to teleport Hal to safety. Once away from the Black Lanterns, Indigo informs Hal of their mission; the Black Lanterns can be stopped, but only with the combined force of all of the Corps.

Meanwhile, John Stewart has made a terrifying discovery - the planet Xanshi, which he failed to save, has returned, and with it another ghost from his past. However, when the night seems blackest, unexpected allies will appear....

Verdict:

Much like Blackest Night itself, BN: Green Lantern is a collected edition you would be a fool to miss. Though the events of this book are the same fundamentally as those of the main collection, it is told from the perspective of Hal Jordan, and as such the reader learns of the other battles in the Blackest Night, and how the rise of those long dead is affecting them all.

Of note, really, is the unlikely alliance between the aforementioned Corps, and their most prominent members. I have to say, this section once again reminded me of why I loved certain characters in the Preludes. Larfleeze, in particular, ends up showing his quality (though not exactly in a heroic manner) and amuses me no end with the dialogue and mannerisms he displays. His initial reaction to Atrocitus is particularly great; I can't help but laugh at the almost slapstick imagery of the skinny, frail Agent Orange squaring up to the hulking Red Lantern. The writing of Sinestro seems to have recovered from the oddity of Rage of the Red Lanterns, and he's back on form as the purple-skinned mastermind we all know and love, complete with some witty dialogue of his own; Sinestro's more serious and tactically-minded inputs complement the weirdness of Agent Orange's ridiculous demands and complaints well, and make for a good contrast when pitted together in the more hectic scenes. Atrocitus is, well, very angry, but that's no bad thing; he even gets a moment worthy of any action superstar when confronted by the resurrected Inversions, which I utterly loved. It's hard not to root for him in that scene, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who did. 

One of the more interesting character choices in the book is Carol Ferris reprising her role as the Star Sapphire; this time, though, as a member of a Corps of such females. Unfortunately, the "male gaze" in comics is somewhat evident in her costume, but at least Geoff Johns has the good sense to make fun of it in a tongue-in-cheek style. Her dialogue is, for the most part, sharply witty, especially when she and Sinestro face off on Zamaron. I don't know about anyone else, but I do so love it when a character has the keen wits to be able to take Sinestro's jibes and make him look like a twit. 

Hal Jordan and John Stewart are, as ever, just great. John Stewart in particular really shines in BN: Green Lantern. Even before we travel with him to the surface of Xanshi, we can see that Geoff has deliberately chosen the one thing that John Stewart feels guilty about most; he was unable to save Xanshi before due to his refusal of backup, and the failure has lived with him ever since. However, it is in this collection that Stewart shows his quality, and, in my humble opinion, dispels the nay-sayers who claim him to be inferior to Hal. John's fight against the vengeful Xanshians is easily one of the greatest heroic scenes I have ever had the pleasure to read, and I cannot stress enough how much I have been impressed by Geoff John's handling of it; it could very well be a rival to the ending of  Batman: RIP in my opinion.

The art, really, is of the same good quality as Blackest Night, and I'd be wasting time really to go over it once more; suffice to say that it is consistently good quality, and I was happily engrossed by it throughout, especially given the scope of some of the centrepiece pages of the collection. 

Overall, then, I hold Blackest Night: Green Lantern in the same high regard as the central collection itself. It's about £18.99 in stores, but a canny shopper could find it for £12.99 or thereabouts on Amazon or sites like it. Easily a must-have for any DC fan.

Rating: 

9.2/10

Blackest Night

"The Blackest Night falls from the skies 

The darkness grows as all light dies

We crave your hearts and your demise

By my black hand - the dead shall rise!" ~ Oath of the Black Lanterns

Finally, the Blackest Night is upon the universe. Black Hand, the newly revealed Herald of the Black Lanterns, has defiled the grave of Bruce Wayne, known far better as the Batman. With the dark knight's skull in his possession Black Hand has unleashed a plague upon life - the plague of the Black Rings. From Mars to Earth, from Oa to Ysmault and beyond, they seek out the dead. 

Now the deceased rise once more, and the end of the universe seems nigh...

Dramatis Personnae:

The Justice League of America

The Green Lantern Corps

The Sinestro Corps

The Red Lantern Corps

The Blue Lantern Corps

The Star Sapphires

Agent Orange

The Indigo Tribe

The Black Lantern Corps

Black Hand

Scar

?????? (hidden)

Plot Summary:

Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, visiting the grave of Bruce Wayne, are reminiscing about the fallen heroes they have known. It is a scene taking place all over the world, as masked avengers take time out to honour the superheroes who were killed in the line of duty. However, their day of peace will soon be turned into a nightmare.

Black Hand locates the grave of Batman, and, digging it up, steals the former Dark Knight's skull for his diabolical ritual. With the cadaver in tow, he recites a new oath, and brings about the release of thousands of black power rings. On Oa, and in the various graveyards of heroes in the universe, these rings seek out the dead, and resurrect them for a new purpose - to take the hearts of the living.  As Hal and Barry fend off the body of their old friend J'onn J'onzz and the surviving heroes find themselves attacked by their own loved ones, now in the guise of Black Lanterns, all seems lost to the darkness...

Verdict:

 If there is to be an apocalypse-based story published by any other company, it had better take note of DC's crossover here. 

Blackest Night is, simply, magnificent. I couldn't believe how well all the hints and nudges we've seen and all the Preludes have been sewn into this rather epic final stand for the universe. Everything, from the references made to this event as far back as Green Lantern: No Fear, to the destruction of Xanshi has it's place in the telling of Qull's doomsday prophecy.

Some history, for those who don't know. This Crossover has it's roots in an Alan Moore story, called Tygers, in which we see Abin Sur as he encounters the prophetic Qull. Of the three questions asked of the demon, one concerns the ultimate threat faced by the Green Lantern Corps in the future. What Abin Sur is told is the infamous Prophecy of Blackest Night. This short story was published in 1986, and this makes the book I'm looking at now 24 years in the making.

The characters involved here are fascinating to watch. The story is centred around Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, Ray Palmer and John Stewart of Earth, and how they react to the rising of the dead and the attacks on both Earth and other planets. Our first encounter is with a Black Lantern Martian Manhunter, and believe me, the scenes with him in are just fantastic. The threat emanating from the Martian is palpable, as is the shock and confusion of the Flash and Green Lantern. This is, of course, quite understandable, as after all he's meant to have died, and seeing him return would be a shock to anyone, but here's where Blackest Night gets a little clever, in the vein of Marvel Zombies. The Black Lanterns aren't just shambling zombies, or even fully animate puppets; they take on the exact personality, mannerisms and speech patterns of their living counterpart. In effect, Hal and Barry don't end up fighting a monster, they end up fighting J'onn J'onzz as he was in life, except more corpse-like in appearance now. This injects the action with even more tension than before; after all, J'onn has fought alongside the Justice League for many years, and as a result, he knows all their tactics. Who better, then, to beat them?

What is more interesting, for me, is the way the Black Lanterns are expanded upon as the plot progresses. Two key hints are given that the Black Lanterns are not all that they seem; Deadman's corpse rising without him, leaving him as a ghost, and the Spectre's host body taking on the form of the Spectre as a Black Lantern, despite the Spectre being still inside it. Essentially the idea being alluded to here is that it is the rings wearing the people, as opposed to the people wearing the rings, which both ties in with the overall climax of the series and also, in the case of Deadman, makes the events of the book even more tense, as he is forced to fight to repossess his body before it can do anyone harm. 

Now, no great collection is complete without some great art to go along with it, and I'm glad to say that Blackest Night does not disappoint. Throughout, the artwork is stylistically rendered and utterly crisp to a fault, and I cannot really fault anything I saw in there. Black Hand looks horrifically sinister, even more so now he is a Black Lantern herald, and Guardian Scar just terrifies me to look at. Seriously, she's like some kind of horrifying sentient zombie dwarf, which is somehow the scariest thing I've seen bar the "familiar faces" that attack Atrocitus in this. Many of the Black Lanterns have slight costume redesigns in order to fit in with their new corps, and I'm glad to say that these redesigns are just excellent. The central feature of each character, of course, is their shiny new Black Lantern symbol, and it's often interesting to see how these are applied to the characters in question. Some of them are obvious, some are subtle, but either way all of them are inspired to some degree.

Overall, then, I am delighted to be the owner of this collection, and strongly advise people get it. It's about £18.99 in stores, but it's much cheaper on the internet if you know where to look.

Rating: 
9.2/10