BLACKEST NIGHT #8 (OF 8)
Review by: TehDave
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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
This review contains spoilers, click here to read
Hal Jordan delivers the key line in Blackest Night; it's no surprise, as this has always been a story rooted in Green Lantern. The heroes have failed at every turn to defeat Nekron, the clear stand-in for Death, scythe and all. The individual colors of the emotional spectrum can't defeat death by themselves, nor can they do it united.
But Hal finally has the moment of realization that we already knew - in this comic book world, Death is NOT all-powerful.
"Everyone you think you allowed to come back did it themselves. We all chose life when given the chance."
It's a critical story point, because the once-dead heroes (including luminaries such as Barry Allen, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Hal himself) become White Lanterns, and finally destroy Nekron.
But at a deeper level, Johns can be seen as making an important observation on the nature of comic book heroes as well. The line is spoken to Nekron, he who takes life, but it could just as easily be leveled at the comic writers, the people who actually give and take life from superheroes.
Johns points out that he is not the one choosing to bring these characters back. The heroes are bigger than any individual, fictional or otherwise. Superman and his kind cannot be laid low. Their life has a persistent force of its own. When they died, it was not our feelings inspired by the deaths that brought them back - be it anger, love, hope, or fear. Nor was it those shadowy powers who control life and death, be they Nekron or comic book writers. As Hal tells us, the heroes did it themselves. They were the ones who, like any great fictional characters, refused to die.
Johns gets a great deal of praise for being able to write stories that seem to embrace the core of a character. In Blackest Night, he sets his net wider, writing a story that strikes at the core of what our superheroes mean to us. They are powerful characters, not easily destroyed, not easily replaced. Twisted versions of them, be they zombies or ill-conceived "new versions," cannot replace them.
Blackest Night was a fun ride, and this book contained a number of fun moments. I loved the return of the Anti-Monitor, Max Lord's nosebleed, Martian Manhunter's smile, and Deadman's shock. True to the serial form, there are still questions unanswered. But what really put the series over the edge to me was the fact that Johns, like me, reveres this medium and these characters. And in a book like this, he affirms their power and impact all over again.
But Hal finally has the moment of realization that we already knew - in this comic book world, Death is NOT all-powerful.
"Everyone you think you allowed to come back did it themselves. We all chose life when given the chance."
It's a critical story point, because the once-dead heroes (including luminaries such as Barry Allen, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, and Hal himself) become White Lanterns, and finally destroy Nekron.
But at a deeper level, Johns can be seen as making an important observation on the nature of comic book heroes as well. The line is spoken to Nekron, he who takes life, but it could just as easily be leveled at the comic writers, the people who actually give and take life from superheroes.
Johns points out that he is not the one choosing to bring these characters back. The heroes are bigger than any individual, fictional or otherwise. Superman and his kind cannot be laid low. Their life has a persistent force of its own. When they died, it was not our feelings inspired by the deaths that brought them back - be it anger, love, hope, or fear. Nor was it those shadowy powers who control life and death, be they Nekron or comic book writers. As Hal tells us, the heroes did it themselves. They were the ones who, like any great fictional characters, refused to die.
Johns gets a great deal of praise for being able to write stories that seem to embrace the core of a character. In Blackest Night, he sets his net wider, writing a story that strikes at the core of what our superheroes mean to us. They are powerful characters, not easily destroyed, not easily replaced. Twisted versions of them, be they zombies or ill-conceived "new versions," cannot replace them.
Blackest Night was a fun ride, and this book contained a number of fun moments. I loved the return of the Anti-Monitor, Max Lord's nosebleed, Martian Manhunter's smile, and Deadman's shock. True to the serial form, there are still questions unanswered. But what really put the series over the edge to me was the fact that Johns, like me, reveres this medium and these characters. And in a book like this, he affirms their power and impact all over again.
Story: 5 - Excellent
Art: 4 - Very Good
Art: 4 - Very Good
Nicely put, old chum.
Great review.
Interesting take. Nekron is the comic book writer who is tired of writing, maybe just tired of the genre. The writer that has written that resurrection storyline once too often and is now jaded and cynical. But the characters can’t be put down. Their life can’t be extiniguished. They live somehow outside the control of the writer. And they choose to take control even if that means there is no writer to magically write them back to life anymore. Dead may mean dead, but the cynical writer who uses death as a cheap shock device is now gone.
That may be more than is actually in there, but I like the idea.