Blackest Night part 2

Blackest Night part 2

Green Lantern #46-48, Blackest Night #4

Originally released in 2009

Written by Geoff Johns

Art by Doug Mahnke (Green Lantern) and Ivan Reis (Blackest Night)

Blackest Night continues - so far, I've been able to follow it fine with just the main series and the Green Lantern tie-in, and it seems like the main series works well on its own so far (without needing to read any tie-ins), though I'll see if it stays that way.

Today, I mainly focused on the Green Lantern run, which is about an uneasy alliance forming between the various Lantern Corps. to stop the Black Lanterns.  Some, like Indigo-1 (the members of the Indigo Lantern Corps. seem to have lost most of their sense of individuality) or Saint Walker of the Blue Lanterns, are fine with joining up with Hal.  Others, like Sinestro, realize that the alternative is the end of everything that they've worked for. (Carol Ferris, as Star Sapphire, has no problem working with Hal for now, though her ring is parasitic and may take control and decide that it has other ideas)

Others, like Atrocitus and Larfleeze, aren't so easily convinced.  Despite it being clear that the Black Lanterns want to destroy everything, the two of them aren't willing to set aside their grudges as easily as Sinestro is.  In Atrocitus's case, it likely helps that he is literally too angry to die.

Before they can recruit Sinestro, they have to put a stop to Mongul's uprising.  I'm not sure what Mongul's been up to since his recruitment to the Yellow Lanterns (I'm sure it's detailed somewhere), but he's apparently killed several members of that group and taken their rings for himself, which backfires tremendously.

Hal, Carol, Sinestro, and Indigo-1 are also attacked by the undead versions of Abin Sur (the Green Lantern who gave Hal his ring in the first place) and his sister Arin Sur, who was the love of Sinestro's life.  Arin Sur died somehow beneath the surface of Sinestro's world Korugar, and despite Sinestro's claims to the contrary, it's clear that this event still haunts him.

Throughout the Black Lanterns' assault throughout the universe, they have been absorbing emotional energy from their victims, with the charge on their rings gradually building up as a result.  As it turns out, this charge is spread across the whole Black Lantern Corps. rather than individual members.  Barry Allen also notes that only people who have a strong emotional connection to ring-bearers and other heroes are being revived so far, which explains the relatively small numbers of the undead.

Indigo Lantern rings don't have power sources that are as easily accessible as Green or Yellow Lanterns, so their charges are limited, which is unfortunate since they're the main way of defeating the Black Lanterns.  They aren't the only way, however - intense light from any source will weaken the Black Lantern rings, and destroying the ring while it's vulnerable will destroy the Black Lantern who's wearing it.

Superman and Wonder Woman are unavailable, and with Hal taken away by Indigo-1 to gather the seven living Lantern Corps., Barry Allen takes charge of the fight against the Black Lanterns on Earth as the Flash.  He gets Ray Palmer as the Atom, along with Mera, to help him out.

Unfortunately, Jean Loring (Ray's undead ex-wife) rips out the heart of Damage (the son of the original Atom) after Ray gets Damage to feel enough hope that he becomes a target, which leads to the Black Lanterns' charge reaching 100%.  So this isn't a good day for Ray Palmer.

Upon the charge being filled, the leader of the Black Lanterns, Nekron, is revived.  His first act is to tell Coast City to rise, causing all of its dead to walk the Earth rather than just the ones connected to superheroes or supervillains, giving us a taste of what's to come.

"A taste of what's to come" summarizes this whole section of the Blackest Night story, really; it's building up to a climactic showdown between Nekron, who seems to be the embodiment of death (or at least an embodiment of it - there's also Death of the Endless from Sandman, which I should read more of, the Black Racer from the New Gods, and the Black Flash who specifically targets people who use some version of the Speed Force), and the Lantern Corps. that represent the colours of the rainbow.

The event feels really cinematic so far, though unlike the Sinestro Corps. War, it seems like it would take a lot of build-up for this to ever get made into a movie. (at the very least, enough characters would have to die for it to be worth doing; given how quickly comics come out and how long they can go on for, they can build up a backlog of dead characters that would be harder to accomplish in movies) The series does a good job at making the threat feel overwhelming but not to the point where it seems like the heroes' inevitable victory will require a Deus Ex Machina, so hopefully that continues to be the case going forward.