Green Lantern 47

[Terry C]

Thanks for the review, Chris.

I have to agree that I have been feeling a little meh about the whole Blackest Night crossover so far -- especially after loving the Sinestro Corps War a few years back.

I think I've just realized that Blackest Night really is a DCU crossover and NOT a Green Lantern miniseries -- and somehow that seems to make all the difference. Not that I don't like the DCU, it's just that I find the scope of this series a little too grand for my tastes.

Having read Blackest Night and all of the crossovers so far, I really do feel that we have been seeing a lot of the same over and over again. DC heroes are confronted with dead loved ones, reach emotional boiling points and then focus on the task at hand. Little plot points are revealed from time to time but I'm having a hard time becoming emotionally invested when all the stories seem to be treading the same ground and coming to the same understandings. (Doesn't anyone in the DCU talk?) I'm also finding it very strange that Barry Allen is playing such a big part in the story, when Flash Rebirth still hasn't explained his current role in the DCU.

I'm going off-topic a bit...

Still, I think the Green Lantern title is the strongest of the bunch and this issue was solid if not stellar. Some good character moments and the story moves along in an engaging manner. I'm waiting for a real "Wow" moment, though. However, I'm in this for the long haul and I have faith that Johns will deliver. Mahnke's art is detailed but a little elongated for my tastes. He kind of makes everyone look like an alien -- but, then again, I suppose that they are all aliens, aren't they?

[Mou]

Was Blackest Night always intended to be a DCU crossover, or did it get co-opted at some point in the process?

[Thom Young]

According to Dan Didio, it was always intended to be a DCU crossover. In fact, the first glimpse of "Blackest Night" was a year and a half ago way back in DC Universe #0.

[Terry C]

I remember reading that it was going to be pretty contained: Blackest Night, the two Green Lantern titles and the three-issue Titans, Batman, Superman and Tales of the Corps titles. Now at mid-point we have the upcoming One-Shots where a number of DC characters, I'm assuming. meet "the dead." I think there are also some minis coming out where the DC characters are going to "kill the dead" or however you get rid of them. Whether it was planned or evolved, I'm not sure but I'm going to have to talk to my LCS and find out what I got into when I asked them to pull all the Blackest Night titles for me.

I'm waiting for the moment when someone (maybe Dick Grayson?) realizes that of all the bodies that were not reanimated to get a rise out of the super people, the most notable exception is Bruce Wayne/Batman.

Which means... he must be... ALIVE!

[Dave Wallace]

Originally Posted by Thom Young

According to Dan Didio, it was always intended to be a DCU crossover. In fact, the first glimpse of "Blackest Night" was a year and a half ago way back in DC Universe #0.

I think that there was actually a short "trailer" before that - at the end of the "Sinestro Corps War" storyline, I believe. That "trailer" also indicated that it would be a universe-wide event:

[Terry C]

It was always pretty clear to me that Blackest Night was going to have implications across the DCU. But the image above with it's logo Green Lantern. The Blackest Night. suggested something different to me.

Isn't there a law that says DC has to us the word "Crisis" in these situations?

[Mou]

"Crisis of the Blackest Night"...? Hmmmm.

[Terry C]

I would certainly avoid "Blackest Crisis."

[Dave Wallace]

I think that the "Crisis" label tends to be used only for those stories that are concerned with the DC multiverse. (Aside from "Identity Crisis", in which the word is used as a pun/double-meaning).

They've done plenty of universe-wide crossover stories that don't have the word "Crisis" in the title.

[Thom Young]

Originally Posted by Dave Wallace

I think that the "Crisis" label tends to be used only for those stories that are concerned with the DC multiverse. (Aside from "Identity Crisis", in which the word is used as a pun/double-meaning).

They've done plenty of universe-wide crossover stories that don't have the word "Crisis" in the title.

Yes, aside from Identity Crisis*, all of the crisis events--dating back to "Crisis on Earth-One" in 1963--have been concerned with crossovers between parallel universes.

Besides, DC has supposedly had the "final" one of those crisis events--at least until they feel they can re-introduce it after a sufficient time has passed.



* Actually, considering it was sort of Ray Palmer's story to a great extent, didn't Identity Crisis also end up being a crossover between parallel universes when all was done?