Comic Book Review: Blackest Night #3

The Revolution has not been that impressed with the first two issues of Blackest Night. This big event has failed to live up to the extremely high expectations that I had for this event. I have loved Johns’ work on Green Lantern and I simply do not feel that Blackest Night has lived up to the high standards that I have come to expect from Johns. Hopefully, Blackest Night #3 can finally get this story moving with a purpose. It would be nice to see something that actually resembles plot progression in this issue. Let’s go ahead and hit this review for Blackest Night #3.

Creative Team
Writer: Geoff Johns
Pencils: Ivan Reis
Inks: Oclair Albert and Joe Prado

Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Jason telling Gen how he cannot go to the movies and that he has to continue studying for class. Jason mentions that when he and Gen combine to become Firestorm that their minds are linked. Therefore, Jason knows that Gen has been thinking hard about marrying Jason and starting a family with him.

Jason says that he wants to same thing, too. However, Jason says that right now he has to concentrate on college and not on marriage and a family. Gen is hurt and says that if her thoughts bother Jason then maybe they should not become Firestorm anymore. Jason’s JLA communicator signal suddenly starts ringing.

We cut to Barry and Hal still battling Black Lanterns Martian Manhunter, Elongated Man, Sue Dibny, Firestorm, Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Zombie Hawkman attacks Hal. Zombie Hawkman comments that he would rather be beating the hell out of Green Arrow, but that Hal will do for now.

Zombie Firestorm says that he has a big empty spot in his head where Professor Stein used to be. Zombie Firestorm says that this vacancy has to be filled. Zombie Firestorm says that Barry would make a good new nerd brain for Zombie Firestorm.

Barry then uses his super speed to grab Zombie Firestorm’s black power ring. Flash pulls the power ring off of Zombie Firestorm’s finger, but realizes that the power ring is attached via black “roots” into Zombie Firestorm’s hand. The ring pulls back onto Zombie Firestorm’s finger. Barry exclaims that the black power rings are rooted to their wearer. Also, that the black power rings re-form if the host is damaged.

Suddenly, Ray Palmer springs forth from Zombie Hawkman’s black power ring. The Atom tells Barry and Hal that he shrunk down to microscopic size and escaped into Hawkman’s power ring once Hawkman attacked him.

The Atom then studied the structure of the black power ring. Ray says that the black power ring has the same porous structure as bones. That it is laced with microscopic wormholes that are channeling some kind of energy to who knows where.

We cut to the Hall of Justice. Firestorm arrives on the scene and sees that nobody is in the Hall of Justice. Gen tells Jason that whoever sent the distress signal used Aquaman’s code. Firestorm then looks at the wall of computer screens and sees news reports from all across the world about the attack of the Black Lanterns.

Suddenly, Mera appears and says that she sent the distress signal. Mera says that the Black Lanterns killed Garth and almost killed her. Mera tells Firestorm to remain very calm. Mera says that the Black Lanterns are like sharks and that they can sense emotion and then come after them.

We slide back to Ray, Hal and Barry battling the Black Lanterns. Zombie Elongated Man attacks the Atom. Zombie Ralph talks trash to Ray about how Ray’s wife killed Sue. Zombie Ralph calls Ray pathetic for still caring for Jean despite the fact that Jean was a murderous bitch. Zombie Ralph mentions how Ray won’t look at him. Zombie Elongated Man sees that Ray is glowing indigo for compassion.

Zombie Elongated Man is about to kill the Atom when two Indigo Lanterns suddenly appear on the scene. The Indigo Lanterns start kicking ass on the Black Lanterns. One of the Indigo Lanterns borrows Hal’s green light to combine with the indigo light in order to roast and kill Black Lantern Elongated Man and Black Lantern Sue Dibny. The Indigo Lanterns then create a sphere around them and Ray, Barry and Hal and transport everyone away from the scene.

We zip over to the Hall of Justice and see the Indigo Lanterns, Barry, Hal and Ray teleport onto the scene. Mera tells Barry that the Black Lanterns killed Garth.

The leader of the Indigo Lanterns introduces herself as “Indigo-1.” Indigo-1 explains how in the beginning the universe belonged to the darkness. Then there was light. For seven hundred years the universe was nothing but blinding white light. Then the darkness fought back and the white light was splintered into the emotional spectrum of lights. Every sentient being born from the light now contributes to its emotional spectrum.

Indigo-1 states that the green light is the balance of the spectrum and the essential light to destroying the Black Lanterns. Indigo-1 says that today the darkness has begun to fight back. That the Black Lanterns have attacked the homeworlds of each different colored Corps. Indigo-1 states that the Black Lanterns are attacking Earth because the metahumans of Earth have halted endless threats against the universe. Indigo-1 says that the Black Lanterns are not the invaders. That the various colored Corps are the invaders. But, they bring goodness and life.

Barry states that the Black Lanterns are not really themselves. Ray states that maybe the dead are not wearing the black power rings. That the black power rings are wearing the dead. Ray continues that the black power rings may be some sort of advance organic computer that download the dead person’s body and becomes some sort of simulator program to attack them. Indigo-1 says that the Black Lanterns feed off emotion and they use the bodies of the dead to elicit such a response.

Indigo-1 reveals that green light reinforced with another color from the emotional spectrum can neutralize the black power rings and leave them susceptible to conventional damage. Once destroyed the black power ring sends a feedback which renders the Black Lantern inert. The more colors of the emotional spectrum shining together the stronger the light.

Indigo-1 says that they are here because the seven Corps can combine to replicate the white light of creation. That together they will be able to locate and destroy the source of the Black Lanterns. Indigo-1 states that Hal has personal connections to the most powerful members of the five remaining Corps. Carol Ferris being one of them. Indigo-1 reveals that Carol is once again a Star Sapphire. Hal says that they should go to Zamaron first.

Barry stops Hal and says that Hal cannot leave. That death is literally sweeping over Earth. Hal responds that death is overrated. Barry snaps that Hal cannot tell them that death is overrated with all the loved ones that they have seen die. Hal replies that he did not mean it like that.

Barry says that this battle of the different colored power rings is Hal’s arena. That everyone on Earth needs Hal’s help. That after everything that Hal has been through, after the destruction of Coast City and Hal’s possession by Parallax that Hal still has not changed. That Hal is still running off half cocked and without a plan. Barry says that Hal lives every day like it is his first.

Hal replies that since Barry has gotten back that he has been living every day like it is his last. Hal points out that Barry has been too afraid to stop moving ever since he returned. That Barry is afraid of losing everything again.

Barry agrees and says that he has learned the hard way after Reverse Flash brought Barry back that he needs to slow down for himself, his family and his friends. Barry says that he missed out on a lot of good times while he was gone. And that he also missed out on a lot of bad times when they could have helped each other through.

Barry says that this is one of those times. Barry says that this is why he is back. Barry tells Hal for them to both slow down and figure out a plan to stop the Black Lanterns together. Hal agrees and says that Barry is right.

Suddenly, Zombie Martian Manhunter, Zombie Firestorm, Zombie Hawkman and Zombie Hawkgirl arrive on the scene. The Indigo Lantern quickly teleports Hal Jordan away from the scene despite his protestations to the contrary.

Black Lantern Firestorm locks horns with Firestorm v2.0. Zombie Firestorm talks trash to Firestorm v2.0. Zombie Firestorm is able to spit Jason and Gen apart from each other. Zombie Firestorm grabs Gen by the neck. Jason grabs Black Lantern Firestorm by the shoulder. Zombie Firestorm then absorbs Jason into him. Jason fills the void that was left behind by Dr. Stein.

Zombie Firestorm tells Jason that he is never going to let Jason go. That the two of them are now complete and that Jason has taken Stein’s place. Zombie Firestorm asks Jason if he can feel it as they grab Gen by the throat.

Jason tells Zombie Firestorm to not hurt Gen. Zombie Firestorm reminds Jason that “they” are hurting Gen. That Jason and Zombie Firestorm are one in the same person now. Zombie Firestorm tells Jason that they are going to kill Gen.

Zombie Firestorm asks Jason what the formula for salt is. Jason tries not to think about it, but does so anyway. Zombie Firestorm comments that it is like the movie Ghostbusters where at the end the guys try to keep their minds blank but they can’t and the result is the giant marshmallow man. (For those who follow Geoff Johns on Twitter you will remember how Ghostbusters obsessed Johns was once that movie was released on Blu-ray.)

Jason screams out that he loves Gen and that he wants a future together with her. Zombie Firestorm replies that Gen cannot hear Jason.

Black Lantern Firestorm then plunges their hand into Gen’s chest and rips out Gen’s heart. Zombie Firestorm then transforms Gen into salt. Gen crumbles into a pile of salt. Jason screams out in horror. Ray, Barry and Mera are still battling with Zombie Hawkman, Zombie Hawkgirl and Zombie Martian Manhunter.

We then see more black power rings arriving on the scene and blasting into the vault where the JLA was keeping the bodies of the dead super villains. We then see John Monroe, Arthur Light, Maxwell Lord, Crystal Frost, John Ravenhair and Alexander Luthor of Earth-3 among the other villains all rising from the dead as Black Lanterns. End of issue.

Comments

The Good: Blackest Night #3 was certainly an improvement over the first two issues of this title. Johns finally tried to move the story forward with this issue while still basing this issue around “Zombie Attacks” fight scenes. And the fight scenes are the true strength of this issue. Seeing the zombie DCU heroes ripping the hearts out of the living is the driving force behind this title. Blackest Night #3 will satisfy that action/horror craving that many readers possess.

Johns definitely doles out tons of action in Blackest Night #3. Our heroes brawl with the Black Lanterns throughout this issue. Blackest Night #3 is basically one long fight scene from start to finish that is broken in two by a quick intermission where Indigo-1 finally gives the reader more information concerning the Black Lanterns.

Johns lets the Black Lanterns strut their stuff as they proceed to hammer away at our heroes. There is no doubt that the Black Lanterns make for an imposing enemy.

I have to admit that there is a certain excitement derived from seeing the Black Lantern JLA’ers clashing with their old teammates. Ralph and Sue Dibny are old friends of Barry Allen and Hawkman is an old friend of Ray Palmer. I would have never imagined seeing these characters engaged in a fight to the death with each other. It makes for some great psychology in these fight scenes.

Blackest Night #3 has the best plotting that we have gotten so far on this title. Johns finally begins to pull in all of his set up work that he has performed on Green Lantern from the past two years. Johns also does a fine job continuing to try and integrate Blackest Night into DC’s continuity of past events. Blackest Night nicely builds off themes and plots that we saw in Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis, 52, Countdown, Green Lantern: Rebirth and Flash: Rebirth. By making Blackest Night fit seamlessly into DC’s continuity, Johns is able to give a richer feel to this story.

Johns also does a fine job of reaching back into DC’s continuity in order to re-establish the close friendships between Ray Palmer and Carter Hall as well as the close friendship between Ralph Dibny and Barry Allen. I appreciate that Johns is a loyal student of DC’s history and is not afraid to educate the current reader on the roots that serve as the foundation for the relationships between certain characters.

The truth is that many current readers probably have no idea at all about the close relationship between Ralph and Barry or the close bond between Ray and Carter. However, the fact is that the team-up of Elongated Man and Flash and the team-up of the Atom and Hawkman are both as classic as more well known team-ups like Green Lantern and Green Arrow.

By picking up on the relationships between Ralph and Barry as well as the one between Ray and Carter, Johns is able to utilize these relationships in order to make the clashes between Ray and Zombie Carter and Barry and Zombie Ralph that much more interesting. It helps to add some history and another layer of psychology to what would normally be a rather mindless fight scene.

Johns cranked out plenty of well crafted dialogue. Each character has their own nicely fleshed out external voice. Johns also delivered some fantastic character work. Johns displayed an excellent feel for the personalities of the various characters in this issue.

I was impressed with how well Johns handled Ray Palmer’s character. This enables Johns to show the deep sense of loss that Ray has with Hawkman now being a Black Lantern. Johns is able to convey Ray’s sadness of losing yet another person close to him without it coming across too melodramatic.

I thought Johns did an excellent job building off of Ray’s experiences in Identity Crisis and Countdown by playing up Ray’s incredible ability to have compassion for those around him. This is a natural progression of Ray’s character and explains how he always tries to help those around him. It also explains his inability to simply dismiss Jean as a heartless killer no matter how easy it would be for him to do so. Ray as the embodiment of compassion serves at the proper balance to his close friend Carter who is the embodiment of anger.

I also loved how Johns utilized Ray in this issue. Ever since Identity Crisis, Ray’s role in the DCU has been nothing more than to be a sobbing mess who does nothing other than sit around and moan and cry. Johns finally has Ray do something proactive and act like the hero that he is rather than a shell of a man with nothing left to contribute.

Ray is a fantastic character and I was glad to see him back in action and doing his best to help his teammates against the Black Lanterns. Johns did a nice job using Ray to examine the structure of the black power ring and help to shed more light on how the black power rings operate.

Johns continues to do a wonderful job with the relationship between Barry and Hal. The scene between Hal and Barry in the middle of this issue was fantastic. This was some of the best dialogue and character work that we got in this issue.

I loved how Johns was able to pick up on the duality of these two characters and show how Hal and Barry mirror each other. This scene was just brilliant. Barry’s dialogue was quite touching and made this scene have quite an impact on the reader. It was nice to see these two old friends finally stopping and trying to learn and do things better with the second chance on life that they have both been given.

Johns finally performs some actual plot progression in Blackest Night #3. Now, it is not much plot progression, but at least it is some. That is more than what we got in the first two issues. Johns doles out a small amount of information concerning the Black Lanterns. We also finally get to see the Indigo Lanterns in action.

Johns also reveals the origin of the battle between the darkness and the white light. The mythology concerning the darkness and the white light as well as the birth of the emotional spectrum all worked nicely for me. Johns basically takes Genesis 1:1-3 concerning the darkness at the beginning of the universe and the sudden creation of light that births life. From that foundation, Johns then spins off his own mythology concerning the white light being fractured into the emotional spectrum. Also, that each sentient being is spawned from the emotional spectrum.

I dig the twist that the darkness and the Black Lanterns are not the invaders in this story. That they were first. In reality, the various colored Lanterns and our heroes are the true invaders. The concept of the universe attempting to go back to its original state of nothingness is intriguing. The Black Lanterns are not “evil.” Instead, the Black Lanterns are merely responding to the attack that the white light launched against it so many years ago. I like this approach more than just having the Black Lanterns mindlessly wanting to destroy all life due to some evil intent.

The reader also learns a little about the black power rings and how they operate. I dig the fact that the black power rings are rooted to the dead and that the power rings wear the dead rather than the dead wear the power rings.

I also like the concept that emotion plays into how the Black Lanterns operate. Johns has made it a point over the past couple of issues to show how the Black Lanterns can sense emotion in their prey. We finally learn why in Blackest Night #3. The Black Lanterns track their prey by the emotion from the prey. The Black Lanterns also feed off their prey’s emotion. Therefore, the Black Lanterns choose the form of the dead in order to elicit such a strong emotional response from their prey.

This was a fantastic job by Johns to tie in the importance of emotion to the Black Lanterns and to concisely explain why the Black Lanterns operate in this particular fashion. The use of the dead to elicit strong emotional responses is consistent with the Black Lantern’s feeding off emotion. This also helps to make the Black Lanterns seem like something more than just simple and mindless zombies. It was important that Johns do something to distinguish Blackest Night from a mere zombie horror story and he succeeded in doing that with Blackest Night #3.

Now, I admit that the bit about how the different colored Corps having to combine to create the white light was a bit cheesy and predictable. The fact that the green light must be combined with another color in order to neutralize a Black Lantern so that it can be killed by conventional methods was also cheesy. All of that has a Power Rangers feel to it.

The fact that Hal is the one Lantern who can combine the colors since he has a personal connection with the most powerful members of the five remaining Corps was also totally predictable. However, these plotlines were the natural evolution of what Johns has been obviously building up to on Green Lantern for the past couple of years.

Johns also explains why the Black Lanterns have chosen to attack Earth. Yes, the explanation that Earth and its heroes have a long history of thwarting cosmic attacks was incredibly generic. But, at least we got an explanation.

I loved the ending to Blackest Night #3. Yeah, it was a bit melodramatic and over the top. But, it was still one incredibly cool kill scene. Zombie Firestorm rips out Gen’s heart and then transforms her into salt. And during the entire kill, Jason has to sit there completely helpless as he and Ronnie together as Zombie Firestorm kill Gen. That was awesome! Try and come back to life after that death! This death scene had horror, regret, sorrow and love all wrapped into one.

Gen was a good selection for a person to be outright killed rather than to be turned into a Black Lantern. I do believe that we will see the characters that are killed and turned into Black Lanterns eventually being brought back to life in some form of mass resurrection. However, people out right killed, like Gen was, are probably going to stay dead.

I believe that if a writer is going to kill off a character during a “big event” story then a minor character is the best route to go. It is much like Millar choosing Goliath during Civil War. By picking a character that at least most readers will vaguely recognize Johns is making sure that the death has at least some impact on the reader.

However, since it is a minor character Johns avoids the fan backlash that inevitably follows in the wake of the death of a popular or big name character. And we all know that when a major character gets “killed” that it is only a matter of time before they are brought back to life.

Ivan Reis, Oclair Albert and Joe Prado combined to deliver some fantastic artwork in Blackest Night #3. This was a gorgeous looking issue. Reis was able to crank out some intense and dynamic action scenes. Reis was also able to inject plenty of emotion into this issue. The facial expressions of the various characters were well done. Reis is able to bring Johns story to live in a vivid fashion.

The Bad: Blackest Night #3 still had its fair share of defects. Even though Blackest Night #3 was the best issue so far, it still did not match my incredibly high initial expectations for Blackest Night. Now, Johns did finally give the reader some information about the Black Lanterns. Johns also performed some plot progression compared to the first two issues. However, that is not saying much.

The fact is that Blackest Night #3 still suffered from pacing and plotting problems. This story is moving at an excruciatingly slow pace. Blackest Night feels so bloated and lumbering. For the most part, the first three issues of Blackest Night have been little more than a “zombie attacks!” story dressed up in a superhero format.

The majority of Blackest Night #3 was quite repetitive. I feel like I am reading the same issue over and over. I feel like I am reading the same dialogue and the same fight scene over and over for the past three issues. Our heroes have stood around and re-hashed the same dialogue about the “shock” of having to fight their dead teammates and their wondering about just who the Black Lanterns are and why they are attacking Earth. The repetitious writing on this story makes the event itself less interesting than it should be. I am getting that same feeling that I got during Secret Invasion where each issue simply seemed to mimic the previous issue.

The third issue has come to a close and Johns simply has not delivered anywhere near the proper amount of plot progression for that amount of panel space. Yes, Johns did finally give us some information on the Black Lanterns. However, the story did not really move forward much at all in Blackest Night #3.

I completely understand that Johns has said that he wanted Blackest Night to be new reader friendly.  And that is certainly commendable.  However, at no point does new reader friendly equate to no plot progression and a slow pace.  There are plenty of comic books that are new reader friendly yet still move at a proper pace and have good plot development.

The reader is in essentially the same position at the end of Blackest Night #3 that we were at the end of Blackest Night #1. Zombie Black Lanterns are rising from the dead and attacking our heroes. That is it. The lack of plot progression makes it feel like Johns is either stuck in neutral or he is purposely trying to stall in order to stretch Blackest Night out over eight issues.

While Johns did attempt to give some more substance to the story with this issue, the fact remains that Blackest Night is still a relatively one-dimensional read. This title lacks any real depth and substance. Blackest Night #3 was a fairly thin read that mainly turned on plenty of action, a “shocking” death and several more “shocking” Black Lantern reveals. Blackest Night is trending more toward a typical Marvel big event like Secret Invasion than a typical DC big event that usually has more meat on its bones.

I found it odd that Johns focused so much on Firestorm v2.0 in this issue. I have never viewed Firestorm 2.0 as anything more than a D-list character. I honestly had trouble mustering any interest at all in Jason or Gen. The opening scene with Jason and Gen was fairly heavy handed and was basically a giant neon sign yelling to the reader that either Jason or Gen was going to die by the end of this issue.

The death scene was also melodramatic and cheesy with the Jason finally proclaiming his love for Gen and his desire to have a family with her. Since I don’t know Jason and Gen, I found the drama between the two of them to be forced.

It seemed that Johns was artificially trying to create drama in order to pull off a “shocking” ending and give the death more impact and “meaning.” Since Johns failed to get me invested in Jason and Gen this death had little to no impact on me at all other than just being a cool and creative kill.

My biggest complaint with Blackest Night so far is how incredibly telegraphed every single move has been. The reader knows exactly what Johns is going to do next with each step of this story. After the opening scene in Blackest Night #3, the reader knows that either Jason or Gen is going to get killed. The minute our heroes arrived at the Hall of Justice, the reader knew that the black power rings would arrive and animate the dead villains being housed at the Hall of Justice.

The reveal that the emotional spectrum can combine together to create the white light was predictable and everyone was expecting this. The reveal that Jordan is the one who must unite the lights due to his connection to all the powerful members of each Corps was something that the reader already knew would happen. Lastly, the fact that it takes the combination of the green light and another light to incapacitate the Black Lanterns was another predictable reveal.

After three issues, absolutely nothing has happened in this story that has not been telegraphed form a mile away. The fact that Blackest Night has been so predictable has made this a relatively mindless read and has taken some of the enjoyment out of this story as well.

Overall: Blackest Night #3 was a step in the right direction and a clear improvement over the first two issues of this title. I do think that the majority of readers will enjoy this issue. Blackest Night #3 offers plenty of action, violence and zombies that is sure to appeal to action and horror fans. There is enough mindless entertainment to be had in reading Blackest Night #3. If you are looking for some popcorn for the mind and escapist entertainment then Blackest Night #3 delivers the goods.

On the other hand, Blackest Night #3 is still a slow read that offers a small amount of plot progression. Readers who demand plenty of depth and substance to their stories may find this issue simply too thin for their tastes. Also, readers who prefer to be challenged by a story and like to have their minds engaged will probably find Blackest Night too predictable and simple.
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Rokk