For the event, too, it's a very satisfying conclusion that manages to practically save the DCU. I read this way after the New 52 was already a thing, so, learning that these events wrapped up a mere year before the New 52 began is a bit disappointing, but I'll get into that once we get to Issue 8. For now, let's get on with it.
Previously on "Blackest Night:" Zombies and ah crap now the Justice League is all dead and Batman showed up and now NECKRON has raised all of the dead Coast City peeps to fight against the remaining heroes. Luckily, through the power of colorful art, a brand new breed of Lanterns has awoken and is stepping up to combat the evil Black Lanterns in what will be all-out war!
Issue 7 starts off with Neckron interrogating some of the remaining Guardians he's retained to fuel his battery, asking them if they remember why they even want to preserve life, and they claim that they can't remember. I would say it's like when you do your job for so long that you forget what got you started, but, these are the Guardians, they should probably know why they are guarding anything. Back on the battlefield, the combined power of the two Lantern teams are tearing through all the Black Lanterns except for Neckron and Black Hand, who are taking the attacks like a champ. Ray Palmer even has a bad joke, oh joy.
I don't really like what happens next, now that I think about it. Black Hand claims that the only reason he is doing all of this, being a Black Lantern and all and raising Neckron, is so he can make everyone equal, because when he was alive others were more blessed than him. This whole time, it really seemed like Black Hand was doing this simply for the purpose of spreading evil and just wanting to kill anything and everyone he can. While this tries to add some tragedy to his tale, it really just makes him another generic villain who wants vengeance for the life he couldn't have. Because, you know, super-heroes are more privileged than him or whatever. It seemed to bog him down so instead of just some maniac hell-bent on chaos he's some guy who thought he was alone in life and wants to take everyone else down.
So he tries to kill Atroticus, the Red Lantern leader, but Hal Jordan stops him, and Black Hand tries to go after him, but Scarecrow--feeling the full effects of the Yellow Lantern Ring--takes him down, claiming it's finally his time to shine. Then, of course, everything starts to hit the fan. Lex Luthor succumbs to the greed of the Orange Lantern Ring and starts going after everyone's rings, claiming he wants them all on his own. While it is great to see villains such as Scarecrow and Lex Luthor as Lanterns, it's also probably a bad idea. Well, not so much Scarecrow in the moment. He'd be a great Yellow Lantern, but, Lex Luthor is just a jerk. Even Larfleeze, the greediest of them all, has an issue with this. Can't really argue with him, Luthor is abusing his power. But what do expect, it's Lex Luthor!
Back in space, John Stewart has arrived near Earth with apparently more Black Lantern zombies than there are people of Earth. Luckily, a massive--and awesome!--two-paged spread arrives to save the day!
Aw yeah! All the remaining members of the Lantern Corps have finally arrived for the final battle against the big bad Black Lanterns!
The problem is that not all of them are over their little scuffles as of late, and some of the Green Lanterns, namely Guy Gardner and Kyle Rayner, are having an issue with fighting alongside those they just fought against. But I mean come on! This is the entire universe at stake here, if they don't hold Earth, especially now with everyone gathered, then they're all pretty much dead. Thankfully John Stewart is there to talk some sense into Kyle, saying that there isn't much choice.
In Coast City, Dove continues to radiate the powerful white light that counteracts the Black Lanterns but is suddenly struck down when a voice calls out from inside the Black Lantern battery. Neckron kills the Guardian and Hal Jordan basically makes the assessment I made about Luthor just a moment ago.
But in a pretty gory moment, Black Hand rips out some of the insides of the Guardian--all colored the same colors of the Lantern Corps--and slams them on the ground, summoning a great white light: the same white light that started the Light War at the beginning of it all! :O
Oh and Lex Luthor wants to be Superman and Larfleeze tries to kill him so that's a thing but--
:O!
And the plot twists just keep coming! Ganthet, the Green Lantern Guardian, exposits that not only is this the Entity that gave light to the universe, not only did life actually begin on Earth, but that the Guardians knew about this and buried the Entity on Earth just as they did with Parallax.
Sinestro, feeling they betrayed Green Lantern Abin Sur, rushes off toward the Entity, who is being attacked constantly by Neckron to be destroyed, which is in turn damaging the Lanterns, since it is a living power source. Hal tries to take control of it, but Sinestro gets in the way, saying this is really his moment, and he becomes...
SUPER SINESTRO! (though I don't know why that had to be a two-page spread I have to turn on the side but whatever).
The final issue begins with Hal Jordan's exposition. Uh...okay? But don't worry, we get yet another two-page spread I have to turn on the side as Sinestro battles against Neckron. His dialogue, while supposed to be epic, is actually a little humorous.
"I AM SINESTRO, SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE." It reminds me of Team Four Star's parody of when Goku declares he is a Super Saiyan. It's still cool that Sinestro's a White Lantern.
As a brief aside: I love the White Lantern Corps, they're actually my favorite. They're the most pure of all the Corps and are capable of defeating all the others. Surely not incorruptible, as someone as vile as Sinestro is now a member, but still open to these people becoming a part of their Corps. Plus, just the bright flash contrasted against all the other colors looks really cool.
Everyone basically sits on the sideline as Ganthet reveals Sinestro's power is essentially equivalent to a god's, and to prove it, Sinestro rips out Neckron's heart. Smooth. Yeah lots of organ-removal this time around, isn't there?
However, Neckron gets back up, because he's dead and doesn't need a heart. Silly Sinestro. He begins to lose control over the Entity as his ego takes over instead of his desire for truth, justice, and the American way! Not really, Sinestro's basically a meat-head is what they're saying. Lex and Larfleeze have a brief scuffle before the Black Lanterns get the upper-hand on the heroes again, who feel absolutely lost with what to do with the Entity and how to defeat Neckron.
Thankfully, all of the Lanterns show up once more on Earth and now the final battle against the Black Lanterns begins, as all the colorful Lantern Corps charges in against the Black Lanterns!
But no actually, now all the Lanterns redirect their attack on Neckron, each of them shooting a beam at Neckron trying to recreate the power of the Entity. Deadman takes control of Guy Gardner for a moment to tell Hal Jordan that the only way to defeat Neckron is defeat his tether to this world: to make Black Hand live again, and then the dead will fall.
Neckron separates Sinestro from the Entity and Neckron and Black Hand target Hal Jordan, who now they want to put under. Hal claims that all those who were brought back had the option to return, and chose life over death, thus their connection to the living is more powerful than that of the dead. Hal rushes into the Entity, and all the resurrected suddenly have their power overriden to create...!
YES!!!!
This is my favorite spread in a comic book ever! I love it so much. It's so amazing, it's so refreshing. After all of the gloom and doom and nonsense of the dead we finally see the Justice League come fully back to life in the power powerful Corps. United as one, they go charging straight at their foe completely unafraid ready to avenge themselves and their friends. This moment might not last long, but it's still extremely epic to behold.
If you think about it, too, that "blackest night, brightest day" prophecy I can't spit out off the top of my head builds up to this moment. This is the moment that all the prophecies have been building up to, and this is the moment where Earth's greatest heroes get shine--literally--and show us what makes them awesome. None of them want to die, they want to live, they want to fight and charge straight into the enemy like the heroes they are!
And that's just what they do, launching an attack on Black Hand, rather than Neckron interestingly, and bring him back to life. The White Lantern rings shoot through Neckron and begin to destroy him. What could have been bad is that the Anti-Monitor was also resurrected, but it would appear that Neckron puts him down just before the White Lantern power obliterates him and starts to spread across the universe.
Now, for the first time, we get basically a four page spread.
I say four pages because half of this is on two pages, and the other half on the next two.
But who cares!
Now, several heroes that were previously killed can come back to life, even those taken out during this book. To get back to the point I made earlier, this really opened up the door for several new plot threads to be explored. And yes, most of these characters did get rebooted following this event but that was very short-lived in the wake of Flashpoint. Perhaps one day I'll give my thoughts on that book but for now I'll just state that I'm kind of mad that the New 52 cut off what could have been a complete revival of the DCU from just this story alone. It almost feels like its own reboot, given how many characters returned here.
And there were a great many mysteries to be had here. Ralph and Sue Dibny didn't return to life and Deadman was brought back to life, despite the fact he needs to be dead. Also, the Anti-Monitor and Black Hand have gone missing. Luckily, we get one of those answers now, as we see the Indigo Tribe has taken Black Hand into their custody.
Thus our comic ends with Barry Allen and Hal Jordan looking over the grave of Bruce Wayne, figuring that not only is dead officially dead in their world, but that Bruce is alive because that resurrected Batman did not have any real emotional tether to them. Hal expresses doubt that the White Lantern power is now spread out across the universe or was used up, and on the final page we see inside a crater that a White Lantern battery is sitting there all on its own, having appeared there out of nowhere.
Man, I really like "Blackest Night." It did everything it needed to as an event comic. It filled you, for the most part, on what'd gone down in the DCU before and gave you the status of all the major players, whether they were dead or alive, and how that would factor into the miniseries. It also featured several prominent members of the DCU and introduced brand new elements such as the Black Lantern and White Lantern powers, both of which would be later exploited in the New 52. Though it does suck a little that the "Brightest Day" elements of the follow-up books would be cut short for the New 52, at least we still got "Blackest Night" in before that.
If you're new to comics and looking for an event to read, this is definitely the one for you. Or if you're a fan of comics and want a fun event to read, then you have to check this one out. It's also pretty cheap to find not only only but in store, so, buy it. It's way more than worth it.
Well, it's been fun reviewing an entire storyline. Next month that'll change as we move onto solo comic issues again, but we're not quite departing from the DC Universe. For some reason, I've gotten this curiosity to see what's going on in the world of Miss Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, so next week we'll take a peek at the New 52's Supergirl #36 and see what shenanigans she's up to now that she's not a Red Lantern and all that.
If you want to stay up to date on when I post, follow me on Twitter @seanovan13 and on Instagram @seanovan10. Thanks for reading!
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