Blackest Night...the Finale
Of all the times for my computer to go out on me, it HAD to happen right as the final episode of Blackest Night burst upon us in all of its glory. And Glorious it was, from Ivan Reis's magnificent artwork, to Geoff John's wrapping of it all up.
Some people didn't like Blackest Night. Some people don't know how to have any fun, so pooh on them. Yes, it was a tad overwrought upon occasion. That doesn't bother me a bit, when people like Sinestro are involved, it is SUPPOSED to be overwrought. There were resurrections, defeats, victory, and a whole lot of questions that will presumably be answered in Brightest Day.
The whole Sinestro as a White Lantern thing was fun, but in usual Sinestro fashion, his reach exceeded his grasp, and Nekron was about to make confetti out of him. Fortunately, it turns out that Deadman had the key to the whole thing. Take out Black Hand, and you take out Nekron. But Black Hand is DEAD! So...make him NOT dead!
Next thing you know, white rings are pouring out all over the place, and Nekron sort of explodes. Oh, and the Anti-Monitor gets shipped back to the Anti-Matter Universe, where he can sulk for a while. And we get...THIS!
Be still my heart. I really hope that they make this into a poster, because it is gorgeous. It is also a bit surprising. I was hoping for Aquaman and Martian Manhunter, so I am quite pleased by their appearance. It's nice enough that the Hawks are back too. And frankly, I'm delighted that Max Lord is back amongst the living...although it would be a nice twist for it to be the GOOD Max, and not Evil Max. But...Osiris? Old Captain Boomerang? Crabby-pants Hawk? Those were characters that I didn't feel a great groundswell of support to bring back from the dead. And quite frankly, I'm with Barry...where the hell are Ralph and Sue? Not to mention Ted Kord.
Still, there were some very nice moments.
Awwww!
And Guy manages to get his hands on Max, only to get a mind whammie-jammie.
He's going to be kicking himself over this one, dagnabit.
Jade comes back, which is ok I guess. She's certainly not much of a favorite of mine. She also runs over and starts slobbering all over Kyle, much to Soranik's dismay. And hopefully, Kyle's. Dump her, Kyle, she's no good for you!
There was also the nice bit with Hal actually quoting some Latin. A number of persons were outraged that a mental midget like Hal would actually know Latin. For one thing, Hal really isn't stupid...although he occasionally does act that way. Secondly, it is a quotation that makes a lot of sense and probably has a fair amount of meaning for someone like Hal. To quote Florence King, "...every semi-literate redneck with a gun rack in his pickup knows the meaning of the Confederate tombstone inscription, Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori..." So, I have no problem with Hal knowing the entire bit of Carpe Diem. Besides, he probably had Guy or John translate it for him.
And you know what else was nice? This.
Hal finally got to be a White Lantern. This is nice, because he would have been terribly terribly hurt if it was only Sinestro. In fact, practically everyone got to be a White Lantern! The more the merrier.
So, it's all over and I hardly know what to do with myself. I believe that Brightest Day will be starting in a month or so. The new JLI will be starting up soon too, along with Birds of Prey, and Guy is going to be in a new Green Lantern book with Kilowog. The current state of Comics has a great deal of promise.
posted by SallyP @ 12:25 PM
11 Comments:
Great issue!
My problem was... the rings are off the fingers of the heroes quite fast... specially from the Atom... and what about Scarecrow?
Larfleeze´s awesome in this issue anyways... I just love him!
Can´t wait to read about Brightest day... They let the door open to keep all the corps! I was sure they´ll finnish them with BN
I was delighted beyond belief when I read the last pages of Blackest Night 8. The reunion of Aquaman and Mera actually brought tears to my eyes. It was worth having him retconned out of life after the end of that weird thing that was called Final Crisis.
My main concern still stands, though. Where is Ted Kord? I really really really want him back (as if you didn't know already, lol). It was mentioned that Ralph and Sue were not back, but not a word of Ted. Maybe he was in the background too far away to be noticed? Ted is definitely in the cover of that Justice League book, so, my hopes are up.
And yes, hopefully Max is no longer a maniac. That never made sense in the first place.
Anyway, loved the ending. The story did stall for a while, but the closing act was superb.
Errr... I have bad news, Chris. That blackened figure on the JLI Lost cover was revealed to be Captain Atom the day after Blackest Night 8 came out. As much as I had been betting on (and backing) Ted, they did stay true to the continuity within Blackest Night. Booster and Jaime deposited Ted's remains at the end of time for the body to be out of the black ring's grasp. Wouldn't have made sense to allow the white ring to enable time travel, which the black one wasn't able to do.
As big event books/stories go, this was rather entertaining. I do wish Sue and Ralph were back, tho.
Aren't Green Lantern rings supposed to protect from mind control? Particular if the bearer knows it's coming?
Yeah, Mac, they are, though writers often ignore this when it's convenient to the plot. Guy knows Max well enough that he should have (and in my opinion, would have) been expecting this.
But I'm excited about Brightest Day. I can't wait to see what happens with the New Guardians, and where Generation Lost goes. I'm a little sad that Guy's new title doesn't even have a release date or solicit yet (MONTHS AWAY, GAH!), but I'll live, I suppose.
Kilowog's expression in the panel where Jade kisses Kyle right in front of Soranik is priceless. "Er, uh... geez, this is awkward."
The second group of ring-wearers was only supposed to be temporary anyway, so that's why Atom, Wonder Woman, Flash et al, were able to revert after all the business with the white rings...no more need for them to wear the other colors anymore.
Yes, I'm quite bummed about Ted being stuck at the end of time, and therefore unavailable to be resurrected. Dammit.
I'm equally bummed about Ralph and Sue. However, the mere fact that Barry (and Geoff Johns) made such a point of mentioning them, makes me hopeful that perhaps they WILL be used in the future. The whole "Ghost Detective" idea was a good one, and it should be used more. Somebody has to take over for Deadman after all, now that he's alive. And quite disconcerted about it!
Yeah, Guy should probably have been a little more prepared for Max's mind-whammy, but to be honest, he's probably a little on the tired side, and it's possible that he was a little too anxious to get his hands on Ted's murderer, and didn't think it through completely. Oops. I have a feeling that Max is probably going to be showing up in the forthcoming JLI books.
Both Soranik and Kilowog look a little flabberghasted, as Jade plants a liplock on Kyle. THAT is going to an interesting subject! Considering how poorly Jade treated Kyle in the past, and considering that Soranik used her love to BRING HIM BACK FROM THE DEAD, I hope dearly, that Kyle tells Jade to take a flying leap.
She can go hang out with Roy! He's used to taking Kyle's leftovers!
LOL, Sally. Given that Cheshire's name is actually Jade, if Jade does take up with Roy, Roy won't have to worry about calling out the wrong name. heh heh
Well, he does have a thing about the name Jade. ;)
What I want to know is how did coming back from the dead help Captain Boomerang drop all that weight?
Is this the start of a great new diet? Die, then be resurrected to lose 50 pounds!
There was so much going on at Blackest Night that I actually forgot that Ted was sent to the end of time. Too bad :( I guess they still want to give the new Blue Beetle a chance, too bad, again. Well, at least most of the dead characters got brought back. It was about time. And I guess Ted will be the Jean Grey of the Justice League for a while.
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