Have you ever read a comic book and when it was finished you put it down and thought, “DAMN this is why I read these things!” That’s exactly what my feeling was when I reached the end of Blackest Night #5. I can’t remember the last time a series surprised me so often and managed to completely keep me in the dark as to what was coming next. Blackest Night has done this for four separate issues and with number five things get kicked up to a whole new arena.
Geoff Johns is the man, lets just lay that out there and realize it as an honest truth in the world of comic books. His ability to craft intricate storylines while ramping up the action and not losing the humanity is second to none. Blackest Night #5 opens with newly formed Lantern Team featuring Hal Jordan, Sinestro, Saint Walker, Atrocius, Star Sapphire, Larfleeze and Indigo-1 (to see how they were formed you have to read Green Lantern #48, but it’s not crucial to the story). The team is readying to put the kibosh on the Black Lantern Battery, which is nestled firmly in Coast City. Meanwhile the many Flashes as well as the Justice League are trying to stop all of the undead while also finding out that apparently Nekron is the spirit behind it all.
To go any further into what happened would be to ruin the issue for you because so much happens that by the end you feel winded. Johns has written a perfect comic book script for this issue because it touches on all the emotions you want out of great fiction. I was cheering, laughing, gasping and finally not only shocked but once again taken completely off my guard by the developments. There is one particular page where a hero rises that actually made me toss the book down and walk away for a few minutes. Yep, it’s that good.
Art wise, once again Ivan Reis nails every single panel with perfection. There’s one two-page splash where all the Lanterns are powering up to head into battle that must go down as a classic comic book image. Reis doesn’t draw; instead he creates two dimensional motion with every bit as much excitement as a movie. His ability to give The Flash movement, to add weather and background elements makes sure the eye always has something to look it, even on the third or fourth reads.
I was also amped because every single player is used on this art team. Where Reis’s pencils are incredible the way Oclair Albert and Joe Prado ink Blackest Night gives every image a serious pop. Mix that in with the eye for color that Alex Sinclair has and what you get it some of the best art DC has turned out in years. It’s so rare that everybody is so good at their element on a comic but when it happens there’s nothing like it in the world.
Blackest Night has three more issues and where Geoff Johns and his team take this series is anybody’s guess. I’m sure the cynical will say Johns can still blow out and I guess there is some truth to that. I think the next three issues will be amazing basing it simply on the quality of work I’ve seen so far. With Marvel limping into their Siege story arc and Image Comics entering that world with Image United I’m hoping everybody takes a minute to check out Blackest Night.
They could all learn something.
