I think what sums up this book the best is a bit from Bill Cosby’s “Himself” album:
What is it about cocaine?
Well…it intensifies your personality.
Yes, but what if you’re an asshole?

Of all the tie-in titles to Blackest Night, this was the book I was looking forward to the least. I’m not much of a Superman fan, and have never felt any suspense for a character who is super at everything, but after reaching the end of this book I was happy I read it. As I previously stated in my review of Blackest Night:Batman, these tie-in issues are painfully developed with a first issue that will drag the pacing in order to get the reader “up to speed”. Thankfully, Robinson assumes that a reader who is picking up this book is also reading the main event book, and jumps right to the story at hand.

With exposition taken out of a typical quiet-town-horror-film we are taken on a journey that reinforces the ideas that the Black Lanterns are merciless, single-minded in purpose, but they also retain their senses to know how to inflict the most pain they can on their targets. Their vicious tenacity to kill everyone they come in contact becomes more intensified as this damned power of the Black Lanterns corrupts E2 Superman, and for once, it looks like the Superman “family” is no longer impervious to the threats of the DC universe. The danger is real as Kal-L creates a conflict reminiscent of a Star Wars light saber Battle as Conner and Clark fight against a darker version of themselves.

The art in this book illustrates the story well, catching the right beats and emotions, but the coloring is the star if this book. The variations of the emotional spectrum through the eyes of the Black Lanterns stand out more than in the main title, and make this book a keeper. The main idea behind a tie-in for me is to illustrate the outer fringes of the main story, and this book continues to reinforce the curiosity I have for this entire event.

How will they get out of this one?