Blackest Night part 3

Blackest Night part 3

Blackest Night #5-8 and Green Lantern #49-52

Originally released in 2010

Written by Geoff Johns

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

As I have most of the day off, I'm hoping that I can finish Blackest Night today. I last left off with Nekron being fully revived.  I was completely unaware that he had made appearances prior to this event, with Kyle Rayner having encountered him at some point beforehand.

The representatives of the seven Lantern Corps. say their oaths, recharging their rings before going to Earth to face him head-on. (Larfleeze doesn't say an oath, seemingly because the Orange Lantern Corps. doesn't have one - he seems confused by the whole process) This is one of many double page spreads in this part of the storyline - this is a big moment for Geoff Johns' run (something that he's seemingly been building up to for years), and the artists (particularly Ivan Reis, who handled the main series for the event) want to put emphasis on major moments or big battle scenes with dozens of characters whenever they can.

In the depths of space, John Stewart is facing down the reborn planet of Xanshi and its undead inhabitants. This storyline seems like it's intended to give John closure on his guilt surrounding Xanshi's destruction, though I have my doubts that it will stick.

John discovers that Xanshi is heading for Earth, bringing in a horde of Black Lanterns to back Nekron up. However, John's warning message is being blocked by one of the Black Lanterns.  On Earth, Hal and Barry have enough problems of their own.

Nekron creates an undead copy of Batman - it's not the real thing, as established at the end of the story, but it's enough to create a connection between Nekron and the heroes who had previously been resurrected, turning the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Bart Allen (Barry's descendant) into Black Lanterns even though they aren't currently dead.

The situation becomes so dire that Ganthet, a former Guardian of the Universe, is forced to deputize anyone who's nearby with whatever ring suits them best, as all of the rings are made from technology from Oa, the Guardians' homeworld. In some cases, this is a good thing, whether it's giving an ally a boost...

...or freeing someone from the control of the black rings.

In other cases, it's following up on something that was teased but never really panned out...

...and in at least one case, it's taking a bad situation and making it much worse.

In any case, the Lanterns are going to need all of the help they can get, because the Spectre is still possessed by a Black Lantern Ring, and Hal is pretty sure that the only way to stop the Spectre is by summoning Parallax.  Considering that Parallax possessed Hal, turned him into a mass murderer, and ruined his life, this is not a decision that Hal is making lightly.

As it turns out, the Black Lantern Ring is possessing the Spectre's mortal host, rather than the Spectre himself, which makes it much more believable for the Lanterns to win.  In the aftermath, Parallax is separated from Hal before vanishing.  However, upon being freed from Nekron's control, the Spectre attempts to cast judgment on Nekron, only for it to fail and for the Spectre to be banished to parts unknown.  Unsurprisingly, Nekron won't be defeated that easily.

At this point, Nekron's ultimate goal is revealed.  Using the blood of a Guardian of the Universe, he conjures up a being that is his opposite.  Whereas Nekron is death, this Entity is life itself - the Guardians of the Universe kept it a secret that all life originated on Earth, which throws their claim of being the oldest form of life in the universe into question.

Much like Parallax, the Entity is unable to do anything without a host, while Nekron is free to attack it, which would end all life once it's dead.  The Life Entity gets its host in the most unexpected form that I could think of.

It's an interesting bit of development to have Sinestro be the ultimate defender of life - it makes me feel like Sinestro was Geoff Johns' favourite villain growing up. (going as far as saying that he was Geoff Johns' favourite character feels like a stretch)  Naturally, the power goes to Sinestro's head immediately.

As the battle rages, the White Lantern energy spreads to those who were infected by the Black Lantern Rings, reviving both those who were still alive like Superman and those who were dead before the Black Lantern attack such as Martian Manhunter.

There are some touching reunions, and Hawkwoman gets all of her memories of her past lives back, meaning that her relationship with Carter Hall is mutual rather than something he's trying to force on her.

The revival process doesn't discriminate between good and evil, though. Captain Boomerang and Reverse Flash are revived from the dead...

...and so is the Anti-Monitor, who annihilated all but five universes in Crisis on Infinite Earths and had been sealed away in the Black Lanterns' Central Power Battery since the Sinestro Corps. War.  Nekron may have been destroyed (or sealed away, since they can't destroy Death), but even the Anti-Monitor's escape isn't the biggest issue that needs to be dealt with.  The Black Hand has vanished, and as long as he's out there, Nekron could come back.

However, it reveals that the Black Hand was taken by the Indigo Lantern Corps., who (judging by his expression) appear to have lobotomized him or otherwise left him in a state where he's not going to be doing much of anything going forward.

The revival process isn't a total reset button, however, as some characters (such as Ralph and Sue Dibny) remain dead despite the sheer amount of characters (both major and minor) who were brought back.  The series ends with Hal and Barry musing on death, concluding that Batman is still alive, and being under the impression that there won't be more resurrections going forward. (which is laughable, and will likely be proven wrong within a few years of that statement at the absolute latest)

This definitely felt like something that Geoff Johns had been building up to since the introduction of the other Lantern Corps.  I've seen other series try to do big events on this scale, such as Jason Aaron's run on the Avengers, only to fall flat in the execution, but that wasn't the case here.  The biggest praise I can give this event is that, despite there being dozens of tie-in issues, I felt like I could follow the whole story despite only sticking to the material that was written by its main author (the main Blackest Night series and Green Lantern), which is more than I could say for something like Final Crisis.