DCU Comic Book Reviews

BLACKEST NIGHT #7

Blackest Night

April 2010

Written by Geoff Johns

Pencils by Ivan Reis

Inks by Oclair Albert and Joe Prado

Covers by Ivan Reis and Rodolfo Migliari

Synopsis

In Coast City, Nekron grabs one of the Guardians of Oa.  The New Guardians and their deputies attack Nekron, but with little success.  Black Hand then attacks the New Guardians.  Yellow Lantern Scarecrow fights back, impaling Black Hand with a pitchfork.  Nearby, Orange Lantern Lex Luthor decides he wants and needs Scarecrow’s yellow ring.  In fact, he wants them all.  Over Earth, Black Lanterns descend on Coast City.  They are confronted by the arrival of a multitude of Lanterns of all colors.  They must work together to defeat the Black Lanterns.  Meanwhile, Nekron kills the Guardian, allowing its blood to spill in the middle of the Black Lantern symbol.  Nekron cries” rise” and a brilliant white light emerges.  Nekron then tries to kill it.  Ganthet tells Jordan the white light is the Entity, the living light that triggered existence.  Life began on Earth.  Jordan realizes that it is like Ion or Parallax; it needs a body.  He rushes to it, but Sinestro stops him so that he merges with the light.  Sinestro becomes the White Lantern. 

Review by Binkley (e-mail)

This was another fantastic issue as we start barreling our way to the end.  All of the different plots and various stories have merged together and we get to the moment where the villains plan is revealed.  The good news is that Nekron’s plan makes perfect sense and naturally fits into the mythology that Johns has created.  The bad news is that Johns needed some clunky exposition to make it work as Ganthet explains what is going on.  But I think that is a minor nitpick; the moment at the end works, especially the way Sinestro rails against the Guardians for what they did, helping to really solidify the reasons behind their actions.  As for the rest of the issue, it is essentially a big, giant fight, but Reis handles it all deftly with some great action and lovely, lovely pages, such as the two-page splash of the Lanterns arriving on Earth.  Overall, this was a great issue that perfectly set the stage for the finale. 

When it first happened, when I first read Sinestro had taken the White Light for himself, my first reaction is that he was chosen because no one would predict it would be him.  Kinda like a feint to create a genuine surprise because no one would think it would be Sinestro.  I was firm in my thought that Hal was going to be the one.  It may have seemed like an obvious choice to pick Jordan, but the way Jordan had become (however briefly) a member of each Corps, it made sense.  So, Sinestro didn’t feel right simply because Jordan felt more right, if that makes sense.  But after I had put the issue down, I started to think about it and it makes sense.  For as long as I can remember, Sinestro has been saying that all of his actions are not to destroy the Green Lantern Corps, but to make them better.

Lex Luthor stole the show, but I think that has less to do with him so much as the fact that he is an Orange Lantern.  Lex is essentially acting the same way Larfleeze has acted ands since he first appeared Larfleeze has been a delight.  I think it is somewhat humorous and fairly easy to write a character he wants everything he sees.  Granted, I love the moment of truth when Lex is entwined in the lasso, but Lex doesn’t act much differently than Larfleeze.  Yet, I still liked it and wouldn’t more in the next issue.  Add to the fact that it is Lex and it just makes it that much better.

I like the explanation of the Entity.  It not only provides a somewhat solid reasoning why Earth is the center of so many events in the DC universe, but it does so in way that is in character for the Guardians.  Yes, they were protecting the Entity, but as Sinestro points out their lie also happened to bulk up the importance of Oa and the Guardians role.  That type of reasoning is perfectly in line with the way the Guardians have acted in the past. 

Is that really Ash and Saarek by the black power battery?  It has been a long time since we last saw them.  During the build-up to Blackest Night, they were all over the place, but in the past few months or so they kinda disappeared.  Actually aren’t they dead?  Weren’t they pulled into the black battery by whatever is in there (Anti-Monitor?).

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