BLACKEST NIGHT #8 (OF 8)

Review by: Joshrector

What did the
iFanboy
community think?

1124
Pulls
Avg Rating: 4.6
 
Users who pulled this comic:
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and Cover by IVAN REIS, OCLAIR ALBERT and JOE PRADO
Variant Cover by RODOLFO MIGLIARI
Sketch Variant Cover by IVAN REIS

Size: 40 pages
Price: 3.99

So we’ve reached the end of Blackest Night… and I’m disappointed
to say that this issue gave me the same slightly hollow feeling that the entire
series did.  There were some great
moments throughout this series, but in the end I’m left feeling that this story
wasn’t really about anything.  

This issue itself progressed fairly predictably.  The big cliffhanger of Sinestro becoming the
White Lantern lasted all of five minutes and ultimately amounted to
nothing.   And Hal uses the white power (snigger), to defeat
Nekron and save the day.  Hero’s are resurrected,
new status quos are initiated, and things are set up for the next event in the
endless cycle, Brightest Day. 

But it suffers from the same thing the entire series
suffered from- it never gave me a reason to care about any of this.  The scale was epic and the action and
adventure was all there… but to what end? 
Ostensibly Hal and Barry were the protagonists of this story, but Johns
never gave me a reason to care about them. 
And it’s not even a continuity quagmire, I know who these characters are
and their recent history… I was just never really given a reason to root for
them.  They didn’t really actively want
or pursue anything; they just reacted to things that were happening.

And when your main villain’s want is to kill everything,
what is there to grab on to?  It’s almost
just evil for evil’s sake.  Which is kind
of boring.  Although to be fair, boring
is a fairly apt description of Nekron and his non-existent personality.  The Black Lanterns were interesting for a
while… but between the multitude of tie-ins and an extended schedule, their
shtick got old very quickly.  Show up,
say mean things, rip heart out, repeat… for six months.  It’s the same problem that Secret Invasion
had.  Both the Skrulls and Black Lanterns
are one note, and when they dominate the schedule for half a year that note
becomes tiresome. 

And it’s a shame, because I enjoyed the lead up to Blackest
Night.  I loved the various Lantern
Corps, and I’m still excited to see where those stories go.  I thought the all Black Hand issue of Green
Lantern was fantastic.  I was really
excited for the story.  And the action
beats were there and the plot flowed well, but there really wasn’t a “there”
there.  I mean, I guess it was supposed
to be about death, but that concept was never really explored other than one or
two platitude filled speeches at the beginning. 

Overall Blackest Night wasn’t bad; it just didn’t manage to
be anything else either.

Story: 2 - Average
Art: 4 - Very Good

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