Because zombies will never get old, DC decided to dip into that well with Blackest Night, a cross-over/cluster-fuck story about dead superheroes rising from the grave. But rather than seeking to eat brains, they seek to meet their unlimited recruiting quota.
By now, it’s not a shock to see dead superheroes come back to life (Superman, Green Lantern, The Flash) or even come back as zombies (Marvel Zombies). Blackest Night at least tries some new ideas, albeit a tad cliché in the long run. Taking off from the events of Green Lantern, a new lantern corp is discovered (as if there weren’t enough already) called the Black Lantern Corps. How do you join said corps? You have to be dead. If you are not already dead, ask a Black Lantern officer for assistance. Black Lantern rings, when unleashed, search the galaxies for dead beings and bring them back to life, via Black Lantern energy (don’t question it; it’s comic book logic). Those processing a Black Lantern ring will mimic the personality and superpowers of the deceased, except now they are driven to expand the corp like a bad Facebook app.
Box art for purposed Black Lantern cereal.
The story mostly follows Hal Jordan/Green Lantern and Barry Allen/The Flash, two characters who were once dead and brought back to life. Hal is a bad-ass, but Barry’s personality is hard to tell apart from Wally West/The Flash version 2. In panels when they are both present, it’s sometimes hard to tell them apart. Topple that on with Kid Flash and you’ll be praying one of them dies by the end so you won’t be so confused (none of them do). Thankfully, the other Green Lanterns are mostly dealing with the Black Lanterns off-planet so there aren’t four Green Lanterns running around for the bulk of the story.
“I hate these stupid zombie crawls”
About mid-way through the story, Hal decides it’s time for the other lantern corps to quit their bitching and beat the Black Lanterns. However, seeing as how there are more dead people than living people in the universe, the corps decides to duplicate their rings and deputize Earth heroes and villains as temporary lantern corp officers. Some of the ring choices are pretty interesting like Scarecrow being deputized as a Yellow Lantern (fear) and Lex Luthor as an Orange Lantern (avarice). Others feel odd like The Atom as an Indigo Lantern (compassion) and Mera as a Red Lantern (rage).
By this point, it feels more like Power Rangers versus Zombies, and it gets only more ridiculous from there. Just try to guess which colored lantern can defeat the Black Lanterns? That’s right; White Lanterns meant to signify life. The story gets even more cliché from there. I’m surprised the different lantern corps haven’t merged together to form The Rainbow Corps. No, that’s too gay. The...Skittle Corps? Yeah, that’ll tie in nicely with the ad campaign.
Also, vampires.
Despite my gripes, it’s a fun read. This is a popcorn comic run for those who don’t want a heavily layered story, but still want something with bite and game-changing events. It’s got some cool moments and worth reading for zombie Earth-2 Superman and zombie Bruce Wayne. Sadly, there is no zombie Wayne family for extra creepiness. The art is awesome especially towards the last issue with ridiculously detailed full-page spreads. And while it has a somewhat happy ending with most of the dead being brought back to life, there are some who don’t come back…
*SPOILER ALERT*
Bruce Wayne isn’t coming back because Grant Morrison isn’t done raping that continuity yet. Deadman is finally brought back to life, but what will his superhero name be now? Living Deadman? The Elongated Man doesn’t come back for some unexplained reason. Actually, there are a lot of selective moments that occur towards the end of Blackest Night that aren’t fully explained. The sequel to this series is Brightest Day, which will hopefully explain some of the WTF moments or just spiral into a new Crisis series (You stay the hell away from this one, Grant Morrison! You had your chance with Final Crisis!).
The Skittle Lantern Corps: Taste the Justice
Final Verdict: Recommended for casual/moderate DC readers. Newcomers may have to Wikipedia some of the characters (specifically the different corps and the Anti-Monitor), but overall this is a story written specifically to see some superheroes as zombies, expand the lantern corps to other superheroes for awhile, and bring some dead characters back to life. If that sounds cool to you, then this is worth picking up.
Also be sure to check out the tie-in issues with Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, The Flash, JSA, Wonder Woman, Batman, Catwoman, Teen Titans, Doom Patrol, Suicide Squad, Booster Gold, Green Arrow, The Power of Shazzam, The Question, Starman, and Action Comics.
{ 0 comments… add one now }