DC Reviews: Blackest Night #8

Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Geoff Johns
Artist: Ivan Reis
Cover: Ivan Reis

Spoilers!

“Blackest Night pt 8”: This has been one serious emotional roller coaster ride and we’ve been given so much awesome work from Johns and Reis that it’s a shame that this part of it is over.  Issue after issue has been worth getting and the Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps tie in books have actually been valid and definite must reads that help enhance the Blackest Night experience. 

The final issue brings everyone and everything together for a hell of a fight!  White Lantern Sinestro has pulled himself together and delivered what he thinks is the killing blow to Nekron, however everyone soon finds out that you can’t kill what’s already dead and he comes back just as pissed and determined to end this!  As both sides launch massive offensives against each other it’s Deadman that clues Hal in on how to beat Nekron while possessing the body of Guy Gardner for a bit.  Nekron then goes on a tirade about how everyone who has died and come back are only there because he has allowed this to happen but Flash and Hal let him know that the ones that came back did so because they chose to.  And it is at this time that the White Lantern Corps is created from those who had died but but had come back regardless of what ring they are wearing, while some are just brought back to life, for better or for worse.  Now of course there’s a lot more to the story but I’m not trying to spoil too much for anyone who has yet to snatch this up.

This is the end of one of the best cross over events to come out of any comic company and despite my praise for the entire series I’m sorry to say that my personal feelings about Blackest Night #8 are kind of a mixed bag.  Geoff Johns still crafts a good script, I just didn’t like the outcome of what happened in the end.  I know this has been a segue into Brightest Day but I expected some type of finality and I don’t think that happened here or at least not to the degree of what I expected.  Too many characters came back from the dead which basically takes away any danger and weakens the story a little because I think a bigger payoff would have been if some of the characters who had been dead for the past several years that we got to see as Black Lanterns would have remained dead *cough* Aquaman *cough* when it was all said and done.  I mean yeah the 8 Aquaman fans out there will be ecstatic that he’s back and if I just spoiled it for you I’m sorry but it’s been plastered all over the place in ads for the Brightest Day storyline coming out for months now.  I also felt that there was so much going on that maybe the story could have used a few more pages to lessen the congestion and better show off some of the artwork.

Ivan Reis has been consistently giving Blackest Night fantastic visuals and that doesn’t stop here in the final installment.  From the very full two page spread of the heroes going up against the Black Lanterns to Black Hand throwing up power rings this book was just great to look at.  It was refreshing to have one consecutive artist that didn’t slack off at the end of the story; oh, and his huge four page layout of resurrected characters wasn’t half bad either if you like that sort of thing.  At times it did seem that too much was being crammed into certain panels just to make the story more epic but damn did it look good!

For this to be the ending of Blackest Night it just seems like some of the more climatic events that took place earlier in the series didn’t even matter because of this issue.  I actually should have suspected this because not too many companies have the balls to kill off some of their top characters and leave them dead so other characters can be expanded on and brought to the forefront.  I will say that as a whole I did enjoy Blackest Night and had fun, though I’m not sure it surpasses the Sinestro Corps War, and now we can only wait to see how Brightest Day stacks up and builds on the events that began here.

Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net

This Post Has 16 Comments

  1. Andy

    I absolutely loved this issue and thought it ended perfectly: lots of unanswered questions. That didn’t bother me as Brightest Day has a LOT of ground to cover which makes me excited.

    And not all the characters who died returned: Elongated Man and his wife, the chick Hawk, Tempest, some others I can’t think of at the moment…so it’s not all hunky dory in superhero land!

  2. Andy

    Besides, it also fits with the whole Easter theme: rising from the dead and all that.

  3. InfiniteSpeech

    Maybe Brightest Day will eventually change my opinion of THIS issue but as of right now I just thought the ending was weak when compared to the fantastic buildup we were getting. Like I said though, in it’s entirety this was one of the best cross overs out there

    And notice Andy I did say “some” not all and does anyone really care about Elongated Man? That’s why it was easier to kill him and keep him dead (at least for now) And I thought Hawkgirl came back with Hawkman and they were swappin’ spit.

  4. Andy

    Did the chick Hawk come back?? I forget…

  5. InfiniteSpeech

    Andy was your hair in your eyes man?? They had at least a page and a half of dialogue and then a smooch fest! lol

  6. Arnab

    Hawkgirl (Shiera) did come back. I believe Andy was referring to the female Hawk (Holly Granger), of the Hawk and Dove pairing.

  7. Arnab

    I forgot to mention, that the female Hawk(Holly) did not in fact come back.

  8. Aron White

    No, man. The chick Hawk. Not Hawkgirl. You know…Hawk and Dove? THAT chick Hawk!

    I agree that Blackest Night was badass. I also agree that it ended rather weakly. I also agree with you in that I don’t think it was better than the Sinestro Corps War. The Sinestro Corps War was BADASS and then told us that Blackest Night was coming in a year. I hope Brightest Day will be just as awesome. If it tails off, I will be disappointed. And to think that we have the great Alan Moore to thank for all of this badassness!

    What I really want to know is if the Jean-Paul Valley Azrael came back to life. But I think he got died again in Blackest Night #3 or 4 or something. Of all the characters I’ve seen come back over the years, I’m still waiting on the return of Jean-Paul Valley!

  9. Billy

    Uhm Speech, I think your’re givin Aquaman way too much credit with those 8 fans. lol -Isn’t everybody always punkin on Marvel for bringing dead characters back?

  10. InfiniteSpeech

    Gotcha Arnab but again it was a character that won’t be missed as much as Martian Manhunter would, a Flash, or even *ugh* Auquaman.

  11. InfiniteSpeech

    It’s both companies Billy. I think it’s weak storytelling when you kill someone off every few years then bring him/her back later on then rinse and repeat again and again. There is no more drama or surprise anymore. Hell someone may die in X-Men: Second Coming but I really don’t care because if it’s a marque guy/girl they’ll be back by the time my daughter starts 1st grade (she’s four now) and if it’s some random mutant then who will really care?

Leave a Reply