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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
Love reading Green Lantern. One of my all time favorite characters and this is a great story line.
I loved the concept of acknowledging that superheroes often never stay dead in comics. I don't normally venture far from Batman-centric DC books, but I know enough of the universe to have easily followed most of what was going on here. I don't think this is a great book for people not familiar with DC comics; however, if, like me, you don't know who Dove and Hawk are, or the Atom's evil girlfriend, you will still be able to get the gist of what's going on. The art, and especially the colors, is excellent. The parts where the different lantern corps team up are beautifully colored.
Rating 4 stars instead of 5 is more of a dissatisfaction with the general inaccessibility of these massive crossover events. It wouldn't even be enough to be a dedicated Green Lantern fan because the Flash plays such a prominent role in Blackest Night. Similar to when I read Avengers vs X-Men: I can read it and mostly enjoy it, but I know I'm missing so much.
Rating 4 stars instead of 5 is more of a dissatisfaction with the general inaccessibility of these massive crossover events. It wouldn't even be enough to be a dedicated Green Lantern fan because the Flash plays such a prominent role in Blackest Night. Similar to when I read Avengers vs X-Men: I can read it and mostly enjoy it, but I know I'm missing so much.
I'm not well-read in the DC universe, so bringing together all these different characters didn't have any emotional impact for me. I don't know their backstories and there were just too many to catch up on.
I usually prefer personal conflicts over "the ultimate evil will destroy the entire universe", so I the escalating stakes didn't do much for me either.
That said the art and coloring was amazing. And true DC comic fans will get a lot more out of this story than I did.
I usually prefer personal conflicts over "the ultimate evil will destroy the entire universe", so I the escalating stakes didn't do much for me either.
That said the art and coloring was amazing. And true DC comic fans will get a lot more out of this story than I did.
Pretty freaking awesome, a cool climax to all the buildup I've been reading. Some brutal deaths in here (Garth, Gen, Damage) with some fun zombie action. Awesome seeing all the corps, I liked Ray and Barry. Onto the tie-ins!
adventurous
Amazing crossover. I loved every bit of it, with special mentions to the Blue Lantern Flash, to the Lex Luthor/Larfleeze rivalry, Geoff Johns's amazing storylines and exciting ending. Simply perfect.
Oh and that book... stunning. I feel very proud to own such a beautiful collection. One day I hope I can pass it down to someone who will enjoy it even more than I did.
Oh and that book... stunning. I feel very proud to own such a beautiful collection. One day I hope I can pass it down to someone who will enjoy it even more than I did.
>>>before this review...read mine for Blackest Night: Green Lantern....
Okay. Confession: I misunderstood the order of the graphic novels and read BN:GL first. Wrong! Don't do that! Like any series, reading it out of order messes it all up.
I read all the preludes and buildups first. And while I appreciated the grand setup for the large event coming...i've got to show my crankiness. Specific subtleties aside: every one had the same basic plot = new color in the spectrum revealed, Hal Jordan comes in contact, of course he is taken over by the new color, back to green. Every. Single. Time. Except for the Star Sapphires, they are all women. hmm...oh yes! Long time staccacto-girlfriend: Carol Ferris.
One more bit of crankiness: I stand by my opinion that these graphic novels needed a better editor. Like I said, I read these two out of order. However, there was several times that if I hadn't read the GL one first, I wouldn't have understood parts of Blackest Night. The scope of this story was the entire DC Universe. Every character was involved. Old and new. I may not understand the difficulties of putting together a cohesive main story...still, I can claim it should be better. Its so easy to be a sideline critic!
Complaints over. On to compliments.
There is no way that I could include every amazing aspect here...that would take a page-by-page "look at this!". and, I'm not kidding. You open it. That page is amazing. Turn. Amazing. Turn. Amazing. And, that's just the art! Anyone who claims that comic-art isn't REAL art...has never read one, and definitely has not looked at this one. The detail, textures, color, full-spreads, small-panels...every single penstroke and paintcolor was beautiful (even the black lanterns). I've seem some comics where the artist was good...but, the characters each had a similar feel. The women looked the same, in different outfits. The men all had the same face. Not here. Every single character was their own character - with very individual looks, costumes, mannerisms, implied movements. It was truly amazing. The black lantern designed-look of each was so cool. There were so many that I would proudly use as art on our walls. I can not express enough how impressive the art in this series was.
Now, the danger with this kind of story was that it could easily have devolved into a facile zombie/slasher/b-movie-esque type tale. That danger wasn't realized. Johns wrote a brilliant, interesting, emotional epic. Even if the art wasn't fantastic, if the story was superficial, this would've failed. It didn't though. It was carefully crafted, emotionally-involving, detail-oriented, GL-mythology-involving, expansive story. The larger view was enthralling, but, it was the characters who kept my addicted. I've said it before, and it bears repeating: some of the best modern writing is found in comic books. (I am TRYing to describe how great it was, without giving anything away!). And, I have to say, FLASH IS SO COOL. He stole the spotlight in every single scene. I jammed through this so fast, I couldn't get enough. Now, I need to read it again - taking my time to enjoy the myriad of details.
One more thing. As dark as this tale got, it was laced with lighter details: i'll just say "zombie sharks".
GJ Hal Jordan: "A poet once said "carpe diem quam minimum credula postero", which meant, "seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future." Most people only know the first part -- "carpe diem" -- probably because not trusting tomorrow is too damn cynical. It is to me, anyway. Sure you can't rely on tomorrow, we're not guaranteed we'll have it -- but we can't be afraid of it either."
Black Hand: "Why? Life was an accident. It has no meaning. It has no purpose."
Flash Barry Allen: "LIFE doesn't give US purpose, Black Hand. WE give LIFE purpose...I don't know why the earth or sky or people exist. And the fact is, i'll probably never know...We are the ones that give life purpose...We all live for different reasons, Hal. It's up to us to figure those out."
Okay. Confession: I misunderstood the order of the graphic novels and read BN:GL first. Wrong! Don't do that! Like any series, reading it out of order messes it all up.
I read all the preludes and buildups first. And while I appreciated the grand setup for the large event coming...i've got to show my crankiness. Specific subtleties aside: every one had the same basic plot = new color in the spectrum revealed, Hal Jordan comes in contact, of course he is taken over by the new color, back to green. Every. Single. Time. Except for the Star Sapphires, they are all women. hmm...oh yes! Long time staccacto-girlfriend: Carol Ferris.
One more bit of crankiness: I stand by my opinion that these graphic novels needed a better editor. Like I said, I read these two out of order. However, there was several times that if I hadn't read the GL one first, I wouldn't have understood parts of Blackest Night. The scope of this story was the entire DC Universe. Every character was involved. Old and new. I may not understand the difficulties of putting together a cohesive main story...still, I can claim it should be better. Its so easy to be a sideline critic!
Complaints over. On to compliments.
There is no way that I could include every amazing aspect here...that would take a page-by-page "look at this!". and, I'm not kidding. You open it. That page is amazing. Turn. Amazing. Turn. Amazing. And, that's just the art! Anyone who claims that comic-art isn't REAL art...has never read one, and definitely has not looked at this one. The detail, textures, color, full-spreads, small-panels...every single penstroke and paintcolor was beautiful (even the black lanterns). I've seem some comics where the artist was good...but, the characters each had a similar feel. The women looked the same, in different outfits. The men all had the same face. Not here. Every single character was their own character - with very individual looks, costumes, mannerisms, implied movements. It was truly amazing. The black lantern designed-look of each was so cool. There were so many that I would proudly use as art on our walls. I can not express enough how impressive the art in this series was.
Now, the danger with this kind of story was that it could easily have devolved into a facile zombie/slasher/b-movie-esque type tale. That danger wasn't realized. Johns wrote a brilliant, interesting, emotional epic. Even if the art wasn't fantastic, if the story was superficial, this would've failed. It didn't though. It was carefully crafted, emotionally-involving, detail-oriented, GL-mythology-involving, expansive story. The larger view was enthralling, but, it was the characters who kept my addicted. I've said it before, and it bears repeating: some of the best modern writing is found in comic books. (I am TRYing to describe how great it was, without giving anything away!). And, I have to say, FLASH IS SO COOL. He stole the spotlight in every single scene. I jammed through this so fast, I couldn't get enough. Now, I need to read it again - taking my time to enjoy the myriad of details.
One more thing. As dark as this tale got, it was laced with lighter details: i'll just say "zombie sharks".
GJ Hal Jordan: "A poet once said "carpe diem quam minimum credula postero", which meant, "seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future." Most people only know the first part -- "carpe diem" -- probably because not trusting tomorrow is too damn cynical. It is to me, anyway. Sure you can't rely on tomorrow, we're not guaranteed we'll have it -- but we can't be afraid of it either."
Black Hand: "Why? Life was an accident. It has no meaning. It has no purpose."
Flash Barry Allen: "LIFE doesn't give US purpose, Black Hand. WE give LIFE purpose...I don't know why the earth or sky or people exist. And the fact is, i'll probably never know...We are the ones that give life purpose...We all live for different reasons, Hal. It's up to us to figure those out."
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Look I finally did it, I finally read this book. I’ll admit it, yes I loved it and should have read it earlier. Even though I probably would have understood a lot less back then.
Hal and Barry’s friendship? 100% love it
Hal and Barry’s friendship? 100% love it