It's finally here. The wait is over, the build up is complete!! Blackest Night 1 has arrived and man does it deliver. Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis pick up where they left off with the Sinistro Corps war and believe it or not deliver something that just as good if not better.
There so much that goes on in this issue its hard to know what to emphasize in this brief summary, but here goes. Things are looking up for the Green Lanterns of Earth as they proudly take part in a Coast City parade. Meanwhile heroes and villains all of the world are visiting the graves of fallen friends and enemies. Interestingly enough this issue doesn't focus on the Green Lanterns as much as one would expect. The issue focus on a broad range of people from the Green Lantens to the Guardians to the Titan's to Alfred to Hawkman and Hawkgirl. In fact Hawkman and Hawkgirl steal the ending of the issue in a jaw dropping series of pages.
The writer of this issue is Geoff Johns. Johns does remarkable writing in this issue making it easily accessible for those who have never read comics and also well written for the continuity loving die hard comic fans. Johns is really able to capture the characters in the issue, which is remarkable as there are so many. The dialogue flows extremely well from panel to panel and has the tone of an epic story without it being to cheesy. This is one problem that I had with the Sinistro Corps War, but Johns seems to have fixed here. All in all Johns manages to strike a dark tone of foreboding as the Black Lanterns begin to assemble and the heroes are unaware of what is happening. One of the interesting aspects is that with all the foreshadowing there is really little known about the Black Lanterns and what there power is. Hopefully more will be revealed in the following issues as I found myself wanting to know pretty bad. Over all his pacing in the issue is fast, but he gives the reader enough information without wanting to much more, while making sure the reader isn't overwhelmed. I personally loved the story of this issue and can't wait to see where he takes it next.
The artist in this issue is Ivan Reis. Reis really knows how to capture a powerful moment and gives the issue such a sense of grandness that fits this long awaited epic. He can be so bright and colorful one moment and then dark in brooding in the next. He does an excellent job of capturing the darkness of the Black Lanterns and the Courage of the Green Lanterns. His art is clean and his handling of gore is quite good, he keeps it gruesome without being disgusting. His panel layouts are all excellent and his capturing of characters emotions are spot on. I greatly enjoy Reis' work and can't wait to see his art in other issues.
Overall I greatly enjoyed this issue. Was it worth the wait? You bet it was. I feel like I am on a roller coaster that's just starting to go downhill. I will definitely be picking up the next issue and would recommend this comic to any reader and especially to Green Lantern or fans of horror. |
