Blackest Night #6 (OF 8)
What did the
iFanboy
community think?
Pulls
Art and cover by Ivan Reis and Oclair Albert
Variant cover by Rodolfo Migliari
Sketch variant cover by Ivan Reis
Size: 40 pages
Price: 3.99
I’ve been struggling with this series ever since it began. I like Johns. I like Reis. I’ve been anticipating this event since 2007. So why am I so let down and unimpressed issue after issue? And more importantly, why do I keep picking it up month after month? And am I the only one out there that feels this way?
I guess it comes down to the stakes and the rules of the game. From the very first issue when heroes started to die and black rings were flying around, there was something cool about the story, but I couldn’t help feeling that it was fake, that none of it mattered. It sounded good on paper, but in actuality the BLs came off as phony and they had no weaknesses and the story seemed to be asking the reader to accept a lot on faith. But I stuck around because I’ve never been disappointed by Johns and I figure it’s only a matter of time before things start making sense and we get down to brass tacks.
But now six issues in I still don’t know what rules the Black Lanterns are playing by (they’re what? powered by death or something? Ok.) and even if I did, the rules have changed now since living people are now Black Lanterns. (Yeah I know they were resurrected, but each of them was resurrected a different way, so shouldn’t they be affected in different ways. Superman wasn’t even technically dead was he?) I have no idea who Neckron is, and I don’t care. At this point I’m only still in because now that I’ve invested this much time in it, I want to see it through to the end. I’ve already dropped out of Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps, something I couldn’t have seen myself doing 8 months ago.
Artwise, it’s kinda nice I guess, but very little about this series has made an impression on me, except maybe that first image of BL Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and some of the Martian Manhunter stuff, and I think that was the first issue.
It’s particularly disorienting to me because everyone else seems to be just hunky dorey with this story, and that makes me wonder if I’m missing the part of my heart that makes me care.
Art: 3 - Good
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Superman was very much dead.
"Superman survived his death by entering into a hibernation-like state, and the Eradicator’s use of him as a ‘conduit’ by which he could absorb solar energy ‘restarted’ Superman’s body." from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Superman
Yeah, he was dead. It’s the fourth word in that sentence.
All dead or mostly dead?
Eh, I’m enjoying BN quite a bit, but I’ll at least say that I don’t think it’s any better than the regular GL title used to be. Stuff like the Secret Origin arc was way better, imo, than BN. I know a lot of people have been psyched for this event for years. I’ve listened to podcasts from like ’07 or ’08, when people would sound like they were creaming their pants just at the mention of those two words, "Blackest Night"…something which at the time was puzzling to me, because they had next to no idea what the event was really going to be. It’s delivered for me, though. I think it’s a lot of fun. I don’t think Reis is a 5-star artist, but he’s pretty good. I’m not one of the guys who acts like he’s the greatest artist in history across any medium, but I’m definitely not disappointed. The Green Lantern title has kinda had an off-year quality-wise, aside from a few issues. I’m not complaining, though. It’s all good stuff as far as I’m concerned, but if it makes any sense I would definitely say that the series doesn’t seem like a huge breakthrough marquee marker in the history of comics or whatever. To me, BN is just another comic series I’m reading. I’m liking it a fair bit, though.
Patio, I am enjoying BN, but I must agree with you about the Black Lanterns. They are now well defined and after issue 6 come off as a big plot device. Exactly how powerful are they? They seem endless in number? Some are dead and some are not? Do they really need an emotional reaction, and if so why?They might as well be clone troopers right now.
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one feeling these things about BN– I agree with you 100%.