After waiting for years for this to finally come out, I can say the wait is worth it. This issue is exactly what I wanted. Geoff Johns knocked it out of the park. By now, you know the premise. The dead will rise. The longer format of the book gives him time to set a mood before things really take off, but when they do, it gets really dark really quickly. If I had any doubts left about the tone of the series after last week’s Green Lantern #43, this book erased them. I won’t spoil what happens, but just know this is going to be a very brutal series. Also, I had seen some of those toy solicits and read some previews but I was still surprised by some of the people they brought back or hinted that they would bring back.

It’s been way too long since we’ve seen Ivan Reis drawing on this book. We now see what he’s been doing in that time. This art is stunning from cover to cover. Phillip Tan made a valiant effort to hold down the fort during Agent Orange, but Reis is in a whole other league. This is the best stuff I’ve seen from him since Green Lantern #25

It looks like this could be one of the rare event books that live up to the hype. Also, after Final Crisis, it’s refreshing to read a DC event book that actually makes sense.