Blackest Night #4

Geoff Johns Writer
Ivan Reis Penciller
Oclair Albert & Joe Prado Inkers
Alex Sinclair Colorist
Nick J. Napolitano Letterer
Adam Schlagman Assoc. Editor
Eddie Berganza Editor
Cover: Reis • Albert • Sinclair
Alt. Cover: Rodolfo Migliari

Our main cover features some of the villains who have been revived, giving an unusual amount of focus to Copperhead. I admit he is rather intimidating looking, but he really doesn't play a big part in this story. In fact, he really only shows up in the background of some big group shots. I also have to complain about the design for the revived Maxwell Lord. For some reason, DC decided he needs a length of rope around his neck, even though he was quite famously killed by Wonder Woman with her bare hands. There was no rope around his neck when he died, so why does he have one now? And this isn't just on the cover — Lord has that rope on all the inside pages of every Blackest Night issue he appears in.

The black-and-white cover surprised me with the amount of flat pencil shading shading Reis did. You actually have to concentrate really hard to tell what's what on this cover, making me appreciate the inking of Albert and coloring of Sinclair much more. Of course, the true horror element comes through even more when you take away the inking and coloring. When you see the final cover, you say, "Oh, that's Copperhead. He's not a big deal." But when you strip it down to just the pencils, you're treated to an almost abstract image of claws, teeth and fangs.

Our alternate cover shows the revived original Atom, Al Pratt, attempting to devour the second Atom, Ray Palmer. This is a striking, realistic image that could pass as a movie poster. And it features a fairly important moment of this story.

Our story begins with Black Hand roaming the Coast City cemetery, muttering about the Blackest Night's eventual triumph over light, while the Black Lantern rings report power levels above 93 percent and continuing to climb. Meanwhile, Barry Allen, Mera and the Atom are battling a handful of zombie Black Lanterns at the headquarters of the Justice League of America in Washington, D.C. The handful of zombies quickly grows into a small army of revived villains, including Doctor Light, and some fallen heroes, including Firestorm. Sadly, half of Firestorm is still alive, but he's only able to take control of his body long enough to warn the living heroes to evacuate Earth.

The zombie Aquaman also shows up, and Barry prevents Mera from interacting with him by pushing all the zombies away with a whirlwind. The Atom then dials 911 on a phone and pulls Barry and Mera with him through the phone line and into the 911 call center.

In Gotham City, the Scarecrow finds himself envious of all the fear people are feeling at the sight of these zombies. The zombie Azrael approaches Scarecrow directly, but he says he's used his fear toxin too many times, and now nothing frightens him anymore. Since he's not feeling any strong emotions, the zombie Azrael can't hurt him and just walks away, killing more innocent bystanders to bring the Black Lantern power levels past 95 percent.

In Metropolis, Lex Luthor acknowledges that he has killed quite a few people over the years. And now that the dead are rising, he wisely sees that he would be a prime target for his many victims. So he secludes himself deep within his laboratory, behind many levels of security.

Back in the 911 call center, Barry takes charge, telling the phone operators to tell the public to stay indoors and to keep calm — the Justice League is on this. Since the Green Lanterns have gone off world in search of the source of the Black Lanterns' power, Barry says it's up to the rest of Earth's heroes to "hold the fort" until the Green Lanterns return. He tells Ray and Mera to find the original Green Lantern, Alan Scott, to see if his powers can stop the zombies and if he or anyone else could possibly help poor Firestorm.

Mera and Ray are both feeling a lot of doubt in themselves, saying this is a job for Superman and Wonder Woman. Barry says the two of them know more about this threat than anyone else right now, so they're going to have to act in place of Superman and Wonder Woman. Barry relates to Mera's feelings of being an outsider, and he boosts Ray's confidence by pointing out that even though he ran away to the subatomic universe, he did choose to come back because he's a hero. So Barry sends them on their mission, while he goes off to play "Paul Revere" and rally the rest of the heroes around the country. Once Barry takes off, Mera asks Ray, if they're supposed to be Superman and Wonder Woman, then who's Barry supposed to be. And in a moment of pure Geoff Johns fanboy, Ray answers simply, "The Flash."

Ray calls Mr. Terrific and drags Mera through the phone line in one of Mr. Terrific's T-spheres. They emerge in Manhattan, where the JSA are battling a handful of zombies. Meanwhile, Barry begins visiting a bunch of heroes including Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and Kid Flash (as we saw in Blackest Night: Titans #3). Barry tells them all that black rings have descended on Earth, raising their family and friends from the dead. He clarifies that these zombies are not the real people brought back, and that they're not entirely unstoppable. He tells them of the Green Lanterns' plan, saying it's up to them to protect Earth until then. Barry warns everyone to keep their emotions in check, as the Black Lanterns are attracted to strong outbursts of positive or negative emotion. He also theorizes that the Black Lanterns can be weakened by attacks of light.

Unfortunately, Barry didn't stick around long enough for Bart to tell him what the Titans have learned about Dove. But Bart (and Wally) do ask Barry where they should go. Unfortunately, Barry is only able to vaguely tell them to go "wherever there's trouble." Meanwhile, Black Hand is still muttering about the destruction of light in the Coast City cemetery, talking to a skull in his hand — presumably the skull of Bruce Wayne. As he reaches a sinister-looking door marked with the Black Lantern symbol, the Black Lantern power levels pass 97 percent.

The Atom has finally got in touch with Alan Scott, who regretfully explains that his Green Lantern ring is nothing like the Green Lantern Corps rings, connected to a power source on Oa. Alan is able to push the zombies back, but he can't actually destroy them. Bart's old friend Damage begins to despair at this, so Ray hops on Grant's shoulder and encourages him to shed his fear. Through his little pep talk, we learn that Grant is the son of the original Atom, Al Pratt, who just so happens to be here as a zombie Black Lantern.

Fearing the effect Al will have on Grant, Ray shrinks down inside Al and regrows to normal size, grotesquely tearing the zombie apart from the inside out. Ray encourages Grant to join him in beating down the zombies over and over again until it's over for the sake of the world. At this display of courage, Grant's rage, fear and love are replaced with a single emotion — hope. Unfortunately, this makes Damage a prime target for the Black Lanterns, and his heart is ripped out by none other than Jean Loring, Ray's ex-wife. And Damage's heart is the lucky one that puts the Black Lantern power levels at 100 percent.

Somehow, someway, Barry is able to sense this monumental moment, and he's drawn to Coast City. Black Hand has used the fully charged Black Lantern to transport it and the captive Guardians from Space Sector 666 to the Coast City cemetery. Once it's in place, Black Hand commands Nekron to rise, followed by the rest of Coast City. Barry helplessly watches as thousands of rings dive into the graves of the cemetery, raising an entire army of the dead, lead by Nekron, a man with a chain around his neck and a very large scythe in his hand. Nekron quickly spots Barry and says, "Barry Allen. You owe me your life. You all do."




This is still a pretty good story. The most haunting aspect here was the death of Damage. Because he and Atom were punished for doing everything right. In so many stories, a younger hero is angry and scared, but a mentor gives an inspiring speech, which fills the young one with enough confidence to go off and save the day. But in this story, feeling too much hope is a bad thing and a fatal weakness. Kind of horrific, mind-blowing stuff.

Blackest Night is ostensibly a Green Lantern story, but Johns wisely kept the Green Lanterns away for this entire issue, forcing a rather random grouping of heroes to deal with this threat. Well, Mera and Atom were random, but Barry Allen wasn't. Johns could have used virtually anybody to fill that role, but I feel like he chose Barry to show him off and almost justify bringing him back. The Flash: Rebirth still isn't done, but Johns has already put Barry front and center in a massive DC-wide event, elevating him to almost mythical proportions in terms of inspiration and leadership. It's a little frustrating, seeing as how Wally or almost anybody else could just as easily fill this role. It's also a bit strange, considering how Barry's personality here is so much different from the angry, whiny Barry we've seen in Rebirth so far. But I guess that last problem is entirely Ethan Van Sciver's fault for missing his deadlines.

Well, that's it for comics with a publication date of 2009. Next time, we'll do our Year in Review, before finally returning to Flash: Rebirth.