In Brightest Day, in Blackest Night...

WARNING: This blog contains large amounts of comic related topics and fanboy geekiness that some readers may find obsessive.


One of the first comics that I ever bought was Marvel Secret Wars #2. I remember that I picked it up in an airport, but I don’t remember where. I found it breathtaking. As a matter of fact, the entire 12 issue mini-series was the coolest thing I had ever seen up to that point (please remember that I was 12 at that time). When I look back at it, that series wasn’t that great. It basically was Earth’s greatest heroes battling Earth’s mightiest villains (and Galactus – who’s not of Earth). It wasn’t intellectual stuff, just cool fight scenes and some important plot twists. When you get down to it, the most important thing that came from Secret Wars was the black Spider-Man suit that eventually evolved into Venom.

I bring this up because every year, it seems, the Big Two (that’s Marvel and DC to you newbs) roll out a major event that is supposed to shake up their respective universe and change characters radically. Lately, it seems that these big events either get bogged down with their own self-importance (I’m looking at you Secret Invasion) or leave you with more questions than answers (now I’m looking at you Final Crisis) Well, people, I’m happy to say, that I have found a comics event that just might live up to all the hype – Blackest Night.

No, I’m not talking about a sequel to the Martin Lawrence film, Black Knight, it’s DC’s big event starring the Green Lantern Corps. It just happens to be written by my newest object of obsessive affection, Geoff Johns. What I find slick about this event series, is that Johns planted the seeds for this back in December of ’04 when DC released Green Lantern: Rebirth. The result, thus far, is nothing short of genius. “But how can you make that proclamation after just one issue?” you’re asking yourself. I’ll tell you, it’s because the ongoing Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps titles have been building up to this for ooohh about five years.
I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about the background, etc. because most of you reading this are comic book geeks. But the addition of the new Lanterns who compliment/offset the Green Lanterns fascinates me. I’ll admit, I didn’t really start to understand that concept until the Star Sapphires appeared in the core Green Lantern series about a year ago. And while Geoff Johns has given rings to all the ROYGBIV colors of the spectrum, the one that has drawn the most interest is the new Black Lanterns. See, each color represents a emotional trait (more or less), with the colors correlating to one another – Green is willpower, and is offset by Yellow, which is fear. Violet and Indigo are love and compassion respectively, and Red is rage (see how this works). Well, the black is different. The black rings have the power to re-animate the dead. And the re-animated dead have a propensity for ripping living people’s hearts out.

So far, confirmed Black Lanterns are Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Kal-L (Earth 2 Superman), and Ralph and Sue Dibny. The last two are by far the most frightening. Ralph and Sue are the most endearing couple in the DC Universe, in some circles more so than Clark Kent/Kal-El and Lois Lane (and Jimmy Olsen – ménage). Seeing their zombified bodies drop both Hawkman and Hawkgirl with hardly any effort, frankly, scared the hell out of me. It was creepy. And to make this more interesting, the undead Black Lanterns retain the powers they had before their death. When Flash and Hal Jordan take on a Black Martian Manhunter, he tells them, “Don’t forget, I’m just as powerful as Superman,” it is extra creepy. Seeing the usually calm, benevolent Jonn Jonn’z trying to decapitate his former teammates would give anyone the willies. Each hero that gets killed has the potential to come back from the dead. And lest we forget, didn’t Bruce Wayne die during the aforementioned Final Crisis? So what do we make of the desecrated grave of Bruce Wayne in issue #1? Will he surface wearing a black ring, or is Bruce Wayne still alive somewhere? The possibilities are endless.

I’m excited about this event. For the first time since Peter Parker tore off his mask in Civil War #2, I want to read more. Hopefully, unlike Civil War, I’ll feel this way two months from now. The potential of this series in the hands of a master craftsman like Geoff Johns is seriously off the charts. There are questions and speculation running rampant – just check out the dccomics.com message boards (cheap corporate sellout). And here’s something to ponder….The absence of all the colors of the spectrum creates black. The combination of all of them creates white light. So, while Scar, the demented little Guardian of the Universe with the messed up face has been puking black stuff all over the place, Ganthet and his girlfriend are holed up on the blue lantern home world. Did I mention that every time they are shown, they’re both wearing white robes? Hmmmmm…

I know I often have people poke fun at me because I'm an adult and I read comic books. But if ever there was a chance for a writer to bring legitimacy to the superhero comic, this is it. Geoff Johns, everything you touch turns into gold, my friend. I wonder if he'd want to start a bromance with me?

Until next blog....Excelsior, true believers!!!