Blackest Night #1

Blackest Night

Geoff Johns Writer
Ivan Reis Penciller
Oclair Albert Inker
Alex Sinclair Colorist
Nick J. Napolitano Letterer
Adam Schlagman Assoc. Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor
Cover: Reis, Albert, Sinclair
Alt. Cover: Ethan Van Sciver & Hi-Fi

Our main cover is a haunting image of a bunch of Black Lantern rings flying out from a skull. This is a more symbolic cover, representing the main idea of this story as a whole. It's dark and creepy and completely appropriate for this event.

Our alternate cover is an ugly, disappointing mess. Did Van Sciver just rush through this one, or what? Because every character on here looks terrible. The main idea is fine. Black Hand lords over our core group of heroes, while a bunch of zombified heroes lurk behind him. You could argue that the zombies should look a bit off, seeing as how they're reanimated corpses, but the living, breathing heroes should follow the basic rules of anatomy. Look at Wonder Woman's back. Look at Superman's arms. This is just amateurish. And why is Black Hand holding a green lantern instead of a black lantern?

My digital copy also includes this black-and-white version of the main cover. Oddly, it almost seems like a mistake. Like someone made a cheap photocopy of the original. I guess it just goes to show you that when the main cover is essentially black-and-white itself, then there's no reason in publishing a separate black-and-white version.

Our story begins with Black Hand traveling to Gotham City to dig up the unmarked grave of Bruce Wayne. Contrary to the Green Lantern #43, Bruce is not buried under a large tombstone bearing his name, but rather in secret next to the graves of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Black Hand removes Bruce's skull and grotesquely licks it. Meanwhile, in Space Sector 666, a black lantern on a lonely rock on a gray world begins producing hundreds of Black Lantern rings that start flying toward Earth.

The next day is a major holiday in America. It was originally a day of mourning to mark Superman's death, but now has turned into a sort of memorial day for all fallen superheroes. The four Green Lanterns do a flyby over a parade in Coast City. Conner joins Clark Kent and Martha in visiting Jonathan Kent's grave in Smallville. The new Firestorm visits the old Firestorm's grave in Pittsburgh. Many of the Teen Titans have gathered at their private memorial beneath their San Francisco Tower. Cassie tells Bart they took down his statue, but he still complains that it didn't even look like him. Mostly, though, Bart wishes they could take down all the statues of fallen Titans.

Bart's half-brother, Owen, (who he probably doesn't know about) is with the Rogues at their hidden graveyard, Avernus, honoring Captain Boomerang with a keg of beer. A smattering of heroes stop by Ted Kord's grave in Chicago, but most of the rest are at Valhalla Cemetery in Metropolis. Mera is at Aquaman's grave in Amnesty Bay, but Garth is begging her to let him move Aquaman's remains to an underwater tomb next to the other kings of Atlantis. And in Gotham City, Alfred Pennyworth prepares to place a bouquet on Bruce's grave, when he discovers that he made a terrible mistake by not having any kind of security in place over this grave.

Barry Allen meets up with Hal Jordan at the headquarters of the Justice League of America in Washington, D.C. Barry is surprised to see there is an entire morgue of deceased super villains hidden under the headquarters, and Hal explains they decided to do this after Dick Grayson uncovered a body snatching operation harvesting superhuman parts. So now just about every major villain lies in this vault, except for the deceased Rogues in their hidden cemetery. Barry vows to find that cemetery and asks Hal to tell him who died while he was in the Speed Force.

In St. Roch, Hawkman receives a phone call from the Atom, who wants Carter to join him in visiting the grave of his wife, Jean Loring. But Hawkman refuses to pay respects to the woman who killed Sue Dibny and started the Identity Crisis. Hawkgirl tries to change Hawkman's mind, but she's unable to.

On Oa, the Guardians of the Universe are uttering one of their favorite phrases: "We have failed." They see a growing shadow emerging from Sector 666, fulfilling the prophecy of the Blackest Night. They resolve to call all the Green Lanterns back to Oa, but the one Guardian who turned Black Hand into the first Black Lantern prevents this distress call by attacking his fellow Guardians. He savagely rips out the heart of one of them, but complains that the heart is worthless since the Guardians abandoned emotion long ago.

Back on Earth, Alfred tells Flash and Green Lantern that Bruce's grave has been defiled, so they quickly head to Gotham to investigate. Meanwhile, the Black Lantern rings begin seeking out deceased heroes and villains, resurrecting them as zombies, just as we saw with Black Hand. As Barry and Hal examine Bruce's grave, the zombie Martian Manhunter approaches them, saying both of them should still be dead.

Hawkman and Hawkgirl are still having an emotional, heart-to-heart conversation. They're so wrapped up in it, that they don't notice the zombies sneaking up toward them in their museum. The zombies can see the love in Kendra's heart and the rage in Carter's heart. Suddenly, the zombies of Ralph and Sue Dibny strike, killing both Hawkman and Hawkgirl. The zombies remove the heroes' hearts, which are consumed by the Black Lantern rings, which report that power levels are now at 0.02 percent. Black Hand arrives to overlook this carnage, proclaiming that the Hawks won't escape death this time. And two more Black Lantern rings fly down, commanding Carter and Kendra to rise.




This is a strong start to a classic horror story. Not only are the dead coming back to life, but they're actively killing people and converting them to their side. This is a bit gruesome, as Johns likes to get from time to time, but I can appreciate a bit of gruesomeness every now and then. I might get sick and tired of it before this event ends, but so far, it's pretty interesting. Reis is a strong artist who can easily handle this enormous cast of characters and convey the horror element of this story.

Bart only had two panels, but they were nice. His wish to take down all the statues is a nice bit of foreshadowing to this story. Are you sure you really want them all to come back, Bart? Be careful what you wish for!

Next time, we'll move into the publication month of October 2009. Ideally, that would have included the fifth installment of Flash: Rebirth, but a certain artist missed his deadline. So instead we have Adventure Comics #1, which also ideally should have come out before Blackest Night began, but hey, we're in the era of DC not bothering to print their stories in order.