Experiment Phase 4: Blackest Night issue #4

A Review by DJ, a DC aficionado

Michelle’s review of Blackest Night #4 was done over a week ago . . . I could chalk up my lateness on this review to laziness (That is certainly the case with the last three.), but laziness has had nothing to do with it this time.

This time, my tardiness was caused by my inability to phrase what I really thought about this issue. For the life of me, I couldn’t think of a way to say that I enjoyed the issue but was also disappointed by it without sounding like all those other Blackest Night haters out there. I have been contemplating a way to represent my enjoyment of this issue and my distaste for it side by side.

I guess the best way is the easiest, most straightforward.

Keep in mind while reading this that I’m still infatuated with this series. But I felt a little (albeit possibly naively) let down. Blackest Night to me is about the Green Lanterns. That’s why I’m reading it. That’s what brought me to it. That’s what my $4 is spent for. Issue 4 was entirely without the thing that brings me back month after month. Not a Green Lantern in sight (except Alan Scott, but I’m not satisfied).

Once again, don’t get me wrong. I love Barry Allen. I am enthralled with Mera’s characterization, and I feel it’s about time Ray Palmer got a fair shake. But Hal Jordan is the show I pay to see.

It’s not to say this issue didn’t have its great moments. It was jam-packed with geek-out moments and one-liners. “If I’m Superman and you’re Wonder Woman, what does that make him?” “That makes him the Flash.” Barry Allen is being shown here as the Flash we need more so than in the occasionally seen Flash: Rebirth.

The body count rises once again, and I’m actually feeling a little over the death romp through the DCU this series has been. I understand why so many died, but it’s getting old. And I feel like the death in this book proves that it will all be reversed in the end. The dead will rejoin the land of the living, and they will all have a tea party.

Perhaps it was the cover of Previews a few months back that ruined the end of issue 4 for me long before the pages saw print. But for whatever reason, the “Big Reveal” featured on the last pages of this comic didn’t feel “Big” at all. When I turned to the last pages of this book, I let out a “Finally.” Now we can go somewhere with this. Now people will stop dying and will, I hope, start kicking ass.

I did enjoy this book. I can’t say that enough. It’s just that I read a comic in which the main antagonist is revealed and our protagonist can’t be seen on a single panel or page. For whatever reason that doesn’t sit right with me.

I know it’s not about Green Lantern anymore. I get it. I really do. It’s about the entire DCU. But come on. Throw me a frickin’ bone here. Cause in my opinion, this issue was good. But this issue was without Hal Jordon, which just isn’t good enough.



A Review by Michelle, a DC Rookie

As a fan of Marvel, I often scoff at the Distinguished Competition’s books and events, especially when they call them “jumping-on points.” But for reasons unknown, I was easily convinced to do this experiment, and I began to read Blackest Night with an open mind. So I know why I’m still reading this event—to maintain my status as an awesome girlfriend. Here’s my question: Why are the rest of you still reading it?

Let me put forth this disclaimer. I have no agenda. I’m not stepping onto Stan’s Soapbox and sarcastically asking this question to convince everyone to set down their Blackest Night comics and start reading all 300 monthly Spider-Man titles. I’m asking because I really want to understand why fanpersons enjoy this book and why it’s getting only positive reviews. I just can’t get into it.

Part of the problem could be this: While I understand 40 years of Mutant history, I had no idea that Alan Scott’s Green Lantern ring was different than Hal Jordan’s. I can tell you what college Doctor Doom went to, but I can’t name all of the members of the Justice League. If you need to know that kind of stuff to enjoy an event, it doesn’t really make a good “jumping-on point.” But that shouldn’t hinder my enjoyment of the story.

I don’t hate the story. Even this issue wasn’t all bad. Atom was back with his giant telephone, and I mean, come on, your super-genius plan is to call 9-1-1? I liked that Firestorm was able to fight off the Black Lantern whose head he is inside of long enough to warn his friends. And I may be turning into a Flash (Barry Allen) fan.

This issue had the big reveal—Nekron. I don’t know anything about Nekron, but I guess he’s the big baddie. This was a bit lost on me, and that’s my fault. However, that this was the big reveal was also lost on me—DJ had to tell me that this was a big deal. And I think that’s on Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. Geoff Johns is a great writer, so he has the skills to write a jaw-dropping moment. And Ivan Reis is a talented artist. I’m not going to run off and join his fan club, but that’s a matter of preference. He’s quite good and extremely capable. So if he saw that the story was lacking, he should—and could—have picked up some of the slack.

This issue was lackluster and bland. But what bothers me is that I think it should have been something more. It seemed like Johns and Reis were just as bored with this issue as I was. This issue may have been a casualty of the need to make every limited series last eight issues.