Have you ever been blown away by a comic book? I don’t mean reading an issue of something and really enjoying it I mean sitting there with your mouth open for ten minutes after you’ve digested the last panel. Once you can close your mouth again and focus back on the world around you the urge to re-read the issue again and again hits like a ton of bricks. I’m talking about that rare comic that pushes the genre into the world of art. That’s what I felt reading Blackest Night issue #1 a title that may do for Geoff Johns what The Dark Knight Returns did for Frank Miller.
I of course say, “may” because DC is not above screwing up something that could have been awesome (Batman RIP anyone?) but if issue Blackest Knight #1 is any indication we as fans are in for a ride that will remind us why we read comic books in the first place. I’ve been waiting for Blackest Night to begin since it was hinted at way back when Hal Jordan returned. With that kind of build up there was as much apprehension as excitement, to the point it took me almost an hour to crack the book open. When I finally did I was faced with a panel that suddenly pushed the death of Bruce Wayne into a new arena. I would be remiss if I told you what it was but it hooked me instantly.
From there Blackest Night launches into overdrive and doesn’t let up at all until the final page. There’s so much emotion both good and evil in this book that if you’re a fan of the DC Universe you can’t help but be moved. The heroic return to Coast City of the Lanterns who helped rebuild it, the melancholy as the heroes pay tribute to their fallen comrades as well as the truly disturbing appearance of the Black Lanterns. The private moments of individual heroes are also touching, especially Clark and his mother visiting Jonathon Kent’s grave and when Hal Jordan tries to fill the newly returned Barry Allen in on all the death that’s happened since he’s been gone. It’s all incredibly powerful stuff.
Johns writes this title with great confidence and an amazing amount of control. So much happens in issue one but it never becomes convoluted or confusing. Johns makes an incredibly smart choice by treating the Black Lanterns as something completely new. When these fallen heroes and villains rise up from the dead it isn’t just some other bad guy for the heroes to face, it’s something truly disturbing.
Johns makes the Black Lanterns not only evil but also sadistic and cruel. There are two particularly well-done sections of the story, one with The Guardians and the other with Hawkman and Hawkgirl that are absolutely devastating. When you add them to the power of the rest of the book Blackest Night #1 transcends genre and becomes something much more important, it becomes folklore. This will be Johns true contribution to the mythology of the DC Universe, the thing that’s used and referred to long after the writer is gone.
As good as Johns’ writing is it would be nothing without Ivan Reis’s incredible art. Starting with the gloriously dark cover Reis jumps into this story with both feet and shows just how much he understands the material. There is so much movement in what Reis does here that the panels almost crackle off the page. His ability to draw emotion into the faces of the characters makes each new revelation actually painful to read. Reis gives us so much action and then manages to center it with an emotional core you don’t expect from an event comic. On almost every page there is either a splash or at least a panel that people will be talking about for a long time.
Blackest Night #1 was everything I wanted the kick off of this new threat to DC to be. It took all the love I’ve garnered for these characters over the years and essentially used it against me. I had forgotten how much I missed the characters that have died until I saw them cruelly and horribly abusing those they once loved. If Blackest Night’s eight issue run ends with this kind of excellence it will take its place among the most important story arcs in comic history.
