Blackest Night #6 – Review

by Geoff Johns (writer), Ivan Reis (penciller), Oclair Albert & Joe Prado (inkers), Alex Sinclair (colorist)

Story: Last issue’s combined lantern corps attack failed to stop Nekron. A bunch of resurrected DC heroes have been turned into Black Lanterns (Superman, Wonder Woman, etc), further strengthening Nekron’s hand. Black Lantern rings pursue Hal Jordan and Barry Allen to do the same. And don’t forget the approach of every Black Lantern in the universe from Green Lantern issue 49. In the meantime, the corps of light figure out that they have to do some recruiting of their own.

What’s Good: It’s a measure of the complexity and quality of the writing that I was able to say so much in the summary, and yet not reveal any spoilers. This story is chock full of great comic moments. This is friend against friend, philosophy against philosophy, ally against ally, on the biggest possible scale. The Flash’s answer to the ring chasing him was brilliant, old school fun that would have made Julius Schwartz proud. The development of Mera as a character was inspired (she stood toe to toe against Black Lantern Wonder Woman, ripped the tongue out of Black Lantern Jean and turned out to be instrumental to the lantern corps recruiting drive). Ganthet has some great defining moments too. I can’t say too much, but he does get to say “…as my last act as a guardian…” There’s also a bit of subtle metafiction going on. On page 3, Hal says “I started to think death and resurrection were only part of the job. But it’s something else.” Johns is going to take a shot at explaining why comic book characters can die and be resurrected! He is aiming to rationalize one of the biggest flaws in the superhero genre.

On art, Reis, Albert, Prado and Sinclair are always great. They deliver the personal moments (Hal asking if their success means they die again) and personality moments (Luthor’s expression as he waits for everyone he’s ever killed) again and again, amid the swarm of action and excitement.