Blackest Night

ARTISTS

Writer: Geoff Johns
Penciller: Ivan Reis
Inker: Oclair Albert
Colorist: Alex Sinclair
Letterer: Nick J. Napolitano
Editor: Eddie Berganza

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CHARACTERS & SETTINGS

heroes: Black Canary II, Booster Gold, Fire, Green Lantern IV, Ice
supporting: Skeets II

Setting: 21st-century Chicago, IL, USA

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ISSUE SUMMARY

Cover Description: There are multiple covers to this issue. In the most common, A skull swallows Black Lantern rings. Others feature various heroes and villains of the DC Universe. (No cover includes Booster Gold.)

Brief Synopsis: Booster Gold joins the Justice League International in mouring Ted Kord.

Costume Worn: MARK I.v2 power-suit

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ISSUE ANNOTATIONS

Page 11, panel 5
Booster Gold and Skeets join former members of the Justice League International Black Canary, Fire, Guy Gardner, and Ice at the Chicago grave of former teammate Ted Kord. (Ted, as Blue Beetle II, was murdered in 2005's Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1.) The heroes are gathered on the anniversary of the death of Superman (as seen in 1993's Superman, Vol. 2, #75), now a national holiday marking a day of remembrance for fallen super heroes. Exactly how many years have passed in continuity since Superman's death is unclear in the wake of the events of Infinite Crisis, though it has most certainly been more than two years. Skeets inexplicably appears as he did during the events of 52 (an oblate spheroid with free-floating "fins"), not as he currently appears in Booster Gold, Vol. 2 (a flattened version of Skeets I).

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ISSUE REVIEW

Boosterrific Review: I should say upfront that I hate zombie stories. (Yes, I'm looking at you, Marvel.) I also hate company-wide crossovers and event stories. So you can probably guess that I am not excited about Blackest Night.

That said, I admit that writer Geoff Johns has set up the story very well, teasing the reader with heroes loved and lost and clearly demonstrating the potential for a story about the departing being used as weapons against humanity. And the art of Ivan Reis, Oclair Albert, and Alex Sinclair manage to elegantly depict both the bright heroes and sinister villains in the grandiose manner that they deserve, even if I personally feel Reis is overly gory in detail. (I blame that on the typically exaggerated melodramatic style of Johns.) I suspect that this story will bog down in drawn-out emotional hand-wringing and pointlessly bloody horror, but at least the first issue is a well-crafted story.

Boosterrific Rating:

• Currently 3.0/5 Stars.

Average Fan Rating:

• Currently 3.0/5 Stars.

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