Summer of Green Lantern, 3: Blackest Night

Batman died in January, but he might get better. That’s an implicit message of the first issue of Blackest Night, an eight-issue miniseries that also refers, collectively, to DC Comics’ big “crossover” event of 2009. Since Blackest Night started earlier in July, you can barely set foot in a comic book store without spotting some reference to it. I even got a free “Black Lantern power ring” when I bought Blackest Night #1 at my neighborhood shop, although I have to acknowledge that it’s made of plastic and exhibits no powers over life and death. So far.

Promising that “The dead will rise...”Blackest Night is the brainchild of writer Geoff Johns, who’s been foreshadowing it for years, almost immediately after he began his intriguing run on Green Lantern. (John took inspiration for the sprawling, spooky plot from an obscure Green Lantern Corps story written by Watchmen creator Alan Moore in 1986.) Blackest Night will continue to be a major part of Green Lantern continuity while encompassing most of the”universe” of DC’s caped crusaders. Blackest Night #1 begins with an interesting, credible touch by revealing that this comic book version of America observes a national day of commemoration for fallen superheroes, not unlike contemporary memorials of September 11. It also provides a justification to offer a role call for the (temporarily) deceased, including Batman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and more obscure good guys and bad ones.