There has been a lot invested in this penultimate issue of the Blackest Night series and the reactions have varied just as wide. The division is sharp and those that love it do with the same passion as those who hate it. My opinion on Blackest Night #8 has more to do with the big picture of the entire series than just this one issue.
It’s not that I don’t have my problems with Blackest Night #8 itself but after six years I think judging Blackest Night on the shoulders of one issue is to miss the point. What’s been done here with this series is awe-inspiring. Blackest Night mastermind Geoff Johns as well as all the writers involved have woven together a massively complex series of events and that’s spanned not just titles but also years and characters. Everyone in the DC Universe was involved and at no point did any of it lag or feel like filler.
If you want to understand how impressive that is look at the Marvel story arc that began with Avengers Disassembled and ended with the current Siege series. So much of that was dedicated to wasted mini-events and time consuming stories that went nowhere, e.g. Dark Reign. So before setting fire to DC Comics because Blackest Night #8 wasn’t everything you thought it should be, put it in context with everything else that’s gone on and you may change your mind.
That being said Blackest Night #8 suffers from something I never thought Geoff Johns would be guilty of; lazy story telling. There are events in this issue that seem very rushed, almost as if Johns had painted himself into a corner and decided to just toss things out in rapid succession to get out of it. The first problem had to do with Sinestro becoming The White Lantern. This started off as a great plot point but in issue eight it fizzled out having no real impact. It felt as though Johns didn’t want to make Hal Jordan the savior from the get go but needed a back door to allow Jordan to ultimately save the day.
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After the end of Sinestro’s quick run as the White Lantern the issue rapidly devolves into one plot point after the other that push the series to its conclusion. There is a sudden appearance of the White Lantern Corps that is never really explained. It reads as if Johns needed to rescue the heroes (Superman, Green Arrow, etc) who had been turned to Black Lanterns because of having come back to life at some point in their history. I was also left cold by how Johns deals with the Anti-Monitor.
Probably the most egregious example of lazy storytelling comes from a declaration by Deadman that literally solves everything. It’s not only too easy but I began to wonder why Deadman hadn’t brought this to anybody’s attention earlier. Oh wait, did I mention the badly handled way in which Johns brings back to life Martian Manhunter, Aquaman and other dead heroes and how it’s hidden behind a cheap “fold out” gag?
My last issue with Blackest Night #8 has to do with this sudden air of preaching that permeates the second half. I realize the entire point of the series was good over evil, light over dark but the way Johns writes it the conclusion of Blackest Night #8 comes off like a seminar for positive thinking. Especially the unnecessary and heavy handed wrap up scene between Hal Jordon and Barry Allen that manages to work in a nod to the upcoming Return Of Bruce Wayne series.
Yes, Blackest Night #8 is a disappointing read all on its own, but placed within the context of the entire series, starting in 2004, it does a good job of wrapping up all the loose ends. I agree with those who might be let down by Blackest Night #8 but to pan the entire series based on this one issue, even being the last one, is to lose sight of everything the arc has accomplished. I may not be impressed with Blackest Night #8 but standing at the end of this long road I give Geoff Johns, DC Comics and everyone involved with Blackest Night a thunderous round of applause.
