Let me begin by saying that I enjoyed this issue but, despite that fact, I intend to keep this review short and to the point. If I don’t stay focused this review will mushroom into a whole essay on the entire Blackest Night series. I’ll go on at length comparing and contrasting Blackest Night with other recent mega event series. I’ll make my case for why I believe Blackest Night stands head and shoulders above Final Crisis and World War Hulk and a host of other, similarly disappointing, mega event series. Finally, I would end up going on and on about the comic industries over reliance on and abuse of mega event series. Since, this really is not the time or place to get into any of that, I’ll avoid falling into that trap by being brief.
In this issue, Geoff Johns did what so many other writers have failed at recently; he delivered a quality ending to his big event storyline. SPOILER WARNING By bringing back to life a dozen characters, including Firestorm who died in Identity Crisis and Martian Manhunter who died in Final Crisis, Johns gives us an ending with meaning. By bringing back Max Lord and the Anti-Monitor Johns laid the ground work for future storylines because you know those guys aren’t just going to go sit in a corner and behave themselves. The final confrontation between the fundamentally opposing forces of the white and black lanterns makes sense. Most important, however, is that Johns’ ending should change how comics are written for years to come. In making Nekron the underling force behind characters coming back from the dead and then eliminating that force; Johns has effectively put an end to all those phony character deaths. You know, all those ones that didn’t serve any real purpose, that made readers so jaded and then where undone six months later, through some silly story device, that just made comic books look stupid. END SPOILER WARNING All in all this made for a very satisfying ending unlike so many other mega event series that crash and burn right at the end. Let me stop before I go down that road any farther.
If you think I’ve told you everything that happens in Blackest Night #8 far from it. If you want to know what else happened in the issue you’ll have to read it for yourself. In fact, go ahead and read the whole Blackest Night series you will not be disappointed.
Keith Forney