After last year's Final Crisis, which was an impressive but thinly-spread event, fans should be ready for the powerhouse of storytelling that is Blackest Night. The main story takes place in a six-issue mini series, which will focus on various side characters in the DC Universe while the various Lantern Corps will take up the fight in Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps.
Blackest Night #1 by Geoff Johns
The story begins with Black Hand, an old Green Lantern villain, talking to the force behind the Black Lanterns while holding the skull of former Batman Bruce Wayne. As the Black Lantern rings explode across the universe, the heroes of Earth (as well as some villains) gather together for a day set aside to remember fallen comrades (originally it was the day Superman died but since his return it has become a day to remember all fallen heroes).
The heroes gather at separate locations before going their separate ways to be with loved ones. Wayne's butler Alfred discovers his unmarked grave disturbed and calls for help, while Barry Allen and Hal Jordan discuss who all has died between Barry's being lost in the speed force and his recent return. Jordan reluctantly shows him the images of the fallen, and Allen is shocked to see how many colleagues have died over the years. He asks Jordan how it could have happened, but his friend has no answers.
As Jordan receives Alfred's distress call while in space, the war of light between the various Lantern Corps has exploded. Scar, the tainted guardian of the universe (leaders and creators of the Green Lantern Corps), kills another guardian as the black rings descend upon the dead heroes and villains of Earth, as well as the dead lanterns buried on the Green Lantern homeworld of Oa.
Back on Earth, Jordan and Allen are attacked by a resurrected Martian Manhunter, while Hawkman and Hawkgirl are murdered by a ressurrected Elongated Man and his wife, Sue Dibny. In the last panel, black rings call upon Hawkman and Hawkgirl, ordering them to rise.
The Last Word on Blackest Night #1 illustrated by Ivan Reis
This is the way comics should be. A story that makes you sit back and say "wow," with visuals and dual-page spreads by Reis that makes you want to sit back even further just to take in the magnitude of what is happening. The story kicks off with a bang by murdering a pair of DC mainstays, and lets the reader know that they're in for quite a ride as all the lanterns who have been recently killed in the War of Light are brought back on the side of death. Just what Black Hand's role is remains a mystery, as is the reason he carries Bruce Wayne's skull with him. But fans can be assured that if things keep up the current pace, Blackest Night is sure to be an event that will certainly be remembered as one of the best Green Lantern stories ever, if not one of the best DCU summer events in recent memory.
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