BLACKEST NIGHT!

As it is zombie week it would be wrong if someone didn’t take the time to mention what has become the biggest event in the comic book world this year. DC Comics huge Green Lantern crossover mega event Blackest Night is dominating the comic book sales charts each month. Written by Geoff Johns and pencilled by Ivan Reis, the eight issue series is crossing over into all of the monthly Green Lantern titles as well as many of DC’s other core monthly books.
Just what is Blackest Night, and what does it have to do with zombies? Watch the video below for a little teaser and then jump to learn more about the series and find out how you can download a free copy of the Free Comic Book day Blackest Night issue 0 (cover to the left).

Blackest Night, while a story that stands on its own, is really the third act in a story writer Geoff Johns began four years ago in Green Lantern: Rebirth. and continued in Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War. While these stories, and the monthly issues that helped build up to them, centered mostly on the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corp, many other characters from the DC Universe have been involved as well. Blackest Night brings us a story that could destroy everyone in the DCU and will have consequences and ramifications for many characters outside of the Lantern books. Geoff Johns describes it as “…a tale about the darkness those that wield the Lantern rings must shine their light on. It’s a tale about the nature of death in a universe of super-heroes. And, like all Green Lantern stories, it’s a tale about overcoming your greatest fears.”

A quick primer for those of you new to the recent events surrounding the Green Lantern Corp. There are now power rings and corps for each color of the spectrum. Each ring is powered by a different emotion and when members of different corps team up, their rings act in adverse ways pending the colors involved. For example, a member of the Green Lantern Corp will see his ring’s power levels multiply when in the presence of a member of the Blue Lantern Corp. The Blue Lantern’s hope feeding the Green Lantern’s willpower. The seven power rings are:
RED: Emotion is rage.
ORANGE: Emotion is avarice.
YELLOW: Emotion is fear.
GREEN: Emotion is willpower.
BLUE: Emotion is hope.
INDIGO: Emotion is compassion.
VIOLET: Emotion is love.

Of course that still leaves Black…and that corps is death. And in a comic book universe, there’s plenty of that. Lead by the classic Green Lantern villain Black Hand (that’s him over Bruce Wayne’s tombstone to the right) and with it’s lantern battery powered by the corpse of the immense Anti-Monitor, the Black Ring Corp is resurrecting heroes (Aquaman above and Earth 2’s Superman below) and villains throughout the DC Universe.
So are members of the Black Ring Corps zombies? DC Universe’s The Source blog addressed that recently and here is what they wrote:
Zombies attack mindlessly.
Black Lanterns have all the characteristics of the living, just meaner.
Zombies growl and don’t speak.
Black Lanterns are nasty taunters.
Zombies want flesh, particular ones want brains.
Black Lanterns seek only our hearts feeding on emotion.
Zombies either shamble or run.
Black Lanterns can float.
Zombies wear the tattered remains of their clothes.
Black Lanterns accessorize their Black Rings with a dark version of their
clothes or costume.
Zombies can be stopped by chopping their heads off.
Black Lanterns reconstitute any limb that is severed.
Zombies have no purpose for rising from the grave.
Black Lanterns …. Do.
So where do you start? Well, with Blackest Night issue 0 of course, and DC Comics has made that available as a free download. It features a cool twelve page story starring Green Lantern Hal Jordan and The Flash. The issue also includes a handy guide to each power ring corp, the key members, corp powers, and corp weaknesses. It’s a brilliant primer for the series. They have also assembled a great Blackest Night website that will help bring new readers up to speed. The site features a reader’s guide, character bios, checklists to help keep track of the comic books involved in the crossover event, many downloadable items, a cover gallery, and much more.
What does all of this mean? A ton of exciting comics to read for one, and hopefully a mega cross over event that will have readers excited and talking for years to come. I’ve only read the first three issues so far, and I know I’ve got a huge stack of comics waiting for me to dive into when I visit my brother-in-law for thanksgiving. The Blackest Night books will be at the top of my list!
The dead….they rise.
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