Blackest Night #7 – Review

by Geoff Johns (writer), Ivan Reis (pencils), Oclair Albert & Joe Prado (inks), Alex Sinclair (colors), and Nick J. Napolitano (letters)

The Story: The nature of the white light of creation stands revealed.

What’s Good: How high can a single cliffhanger ending raise the overall experience of an entire issue?  That’s often a question I wonder when I write my reviews, but in the case of a comic like Blackest Night #7, the answer is “very, very high.”

The last few pages are guaranteed to make your jaw hit the floor.  This is, barring any sudden reversals, the biggest single development that I’ve read in a comic since Captain America got himself shot.  What makes the surprise most effective is that it is very close to the conclusion most readers saw coming since the start of Blackest Night.  In fact, leading up to the book’s final page, Johns seems to gesture towards this expected conclusion and then, seemingly out of nowhere, he hits a hard left and essentially sucker-punches the audience who were sure they had it all figured out.  Johns shows himself to be a master of playing with our emotions, and the whole episode is executed in an epic fashion that gave me chills.

While the ending of this issue is what defines it, that’s not to say that the rest of the comic isn’t solid as well.  Some of the newly deputized lanterns are a lot of fun.  Scarecrow in particular is just awesome, his insanity bubbling over into a sort of glee that is so contrary to his surroundings that you can’t help but enjoy his raving.  Lex Luthor, meanwhile, boils over in explosive fashion as the orange ring ends up removing his restraint and fully unleashing his worst characteristics.

Between Scarecrow and Lex, there’s a whole lot of chaos and seeing Scarecrow fight Luthor and Black Hand for attention in a comic brimming with massive characters and developments is a laugh, as in a fit of self-awareness, he screams “this is my moment.”  It’s a clever little moment, as  Johns makes literal the battle for the spotlight that often plagues comics like Blackest Night.

As far as the artwork goes, Ivan Reis continues to stake his claim to being the best artist in DC’s stable.  The sheer number of characters he’s able to cram into the page without sacrificing detail is ridiculous. Everything continually gives off the feeling of being barely contained.  There are a couple splash pages that will definitely catch breath and give pause and Reis’ work with the White Light in particular is alien, creative, and creepy while still awe-inspiring.

Green Lantern #51 – Review

by Geoff Johns (writer), Doug Mahnke (art), Randy Mayor (colors), and Rob Leigh (letters)

The Story: Parallax returns to battle the Black Lantern Spectre.

What’s Good: This is a really, really fun issue.  A lot of this is thanks to the twists and turns that Johns provides with the emotional spectrum.  One such twist, involving the Spectre and Atrocitus, is particularly well-played and is, at least for a moment, absolutely jaw-dropping in a “why didn’t I think of that” kind of way.

Then there’s the real star of the issue, Parallax.  Johns writes the character as well as he ever did, sounding absolutely monstrous with just the right amount of sneer.  The great thing about Parallax’s presence though is how Johns essentially writes the character as if he was pulled out of a timewarp from back issues.  Suddenly the old Spectre/Parallax conflict takes centre stage, as the two characters almost forget the Blackest Night around them.  The total disconnect of these two characters, Parallax in particular, from their current surroundings in favour of their old animosity feels clever and a little surreal, as though things are put on hold.

Another highlight is the grappling between Lex Luthor and Larfleeze that we all knew was inevitable.  Suffice it to say, the dynamic between the two is about as much fun as expected.  Hearing Luthor dress down, contemptuously deride, and belittle Larfleeze is comic gold, particularly since the latter never seems to really understand Luthor.

Then there’s Dough Mahnke’s artwork.  This issue is visually awesome.  The level of detail Mahnke manages to pack into the book while still completely maintaining traditional comic sensibilities is truly a sight to behold.  He’s able to pack a great deal onto the page while never having it become overwhelming, while also delivering the massive, iconic images that make a comic like Green Lantern great.  Truly, his Spectre looks amazing and his Parallax looks about as insidious as I can imagine a character being.

It also bears being said that this issue is the first to give us some real hints as to where Johns intends Green Lantern to go after Blackest Night, as he plants some very ominous seeds, one involving Atrocitus and another regarding Parallax’s fate.