Blackest Night #3

Well! Things are happening all over the place, aren't they? Ivan Reis is hitting on ALL cylinders when it comes to the artwork, and Geoff Johns is coming up with some very interesting concepts here. VERY interesting!

We begin with a little bit of foreshadowing, and talk of committment between Jason and Gen, the two parts of Firestorm. Love and committment? Oh THIS won't end well!

Then we leap right into the action, with Barry and Hal battling their brains out, against the undead Justice League,including the Old Firestorm. When it comes to trash-talking, these Black Lanterns are really doing a bang-up job. They keep trying to provoke our heroes into displays of emotion, from which they can feed. Finally, fed up, Barry seizes Firestorm's hand and tries to pull off the ring...only to discover that it has roots that have grown into their bodies. They also reform from any damage, and their powers seem to be increasing. Our Boys are feeling a bit hopeless as they battle, but get a boost, when who should appear, but Ray Palmer! Woohoo! He's not dead, although he is beaten up a bit.

"I jumped through the phone line to Carter's hoping to have a little heart-to-heart. He took it literally."

Heh.

Anyway, Ray shrunk down and went inside Hawkman's new black ring, and discovers that it's nothing like Hal's ring. It has the same porous structure as bones...or dark matter, and is laced with microssopic wormholes that are channeling energy. My guess is that that emotional energy is being syphoned by the black rings, right back to the mysterious entity who is behind all of this,or to the Anti-Monitor, as he is the apparent battery. Nice to bring in the idea of dark matter, to go with the Black Rings.

Good Firestorm and Gen meanwhile are having their own adventures, as they check out the dark and deserted headquarters of the Justice League. You can practically hear the spooky music being played in the background, as they see all kinds of mayhem on the monitors. Oh...and then they are attacked by Mera, who managed to beat feet away from the murderous Aquapeople last issue. Mera...who rocks, by the way...has figured out that the Black Lanterns are feeding on people's emotions...like sharks smelling blood in the water.

Ray, Hal and Barry are still putting up a fight, but getting a bit on the weary side, when Sue and Ralph sense compassion emanating from Ray. Ralph is about to rip his heart out, when suddenly, the Indigo Corps shows up!
Wow, that's good timing! Somehow, using Hal's will, they are able to use their own powers and disintegrate Ralph...not to mention Sue.

The boys decide that it would be a good idea to meet up with Firestorm and Mera and compare notes, so they all join up at the JLA Headquarters, along with the Indigo Corp, who have suddenly decided to speak English after all. This is a great relief to Hal.

Indigo-1, is the leader of the Indigo tribe, and she gives a brief history lesson about the Universe and the nature of the light and darkness. It is an...elegant explanation. Plus Barry and Ray realize that the Black Lanterns aren't REALLY their dead friends. It isn't the Dead who are wearing the rings, but rather the Rings are wearing the Dead. Furthermore, the green light of Willpower, reinforced with another of the various corps light will neutralize the Black rings, and leave them succeptibl to conventional damage, and makes the black energy inert. So...the more the various corps band together with the Green willpower, the more they can battle the Black Rings.

See? Easy as pie!

Too bad that Indigo-1 makes the mistake of letting slip that Carol Ferris is a Star Sapphire again. Hal is all set to rush off and save her, and leave the rest of them, up the creek without a willpower paddle. Thank goodness that Barry is there to knock a bit of sense into him. Hal can't resist a bit of tit for tat, but at least he's simmered down a bit. Too bad this is when the rest of the baddies make their very splashy appearance and the fight is on again...except that the Indigo Corp decides to go...and they take Hal with them.

So, it's Firestorm vs Firestorm, and Ronnie takes over Jason, and poor Gen is out...and out of luck. And they are ALL in a lot of trouble, since the Black Lanterns decide to raise up the various villains that are also interred under the Hall, such as Doctor Light, Max Lord, and Alexander Luthor, not to mention quite a few others.

Our heroes are in SO much trouble!

This is good. This is fun. This is a serious threat to the world, if not the Universe. The art is gorgeous, and the story is rollicking along. I can hardly wait until the next one!