Blackest Night Review – “Blackest Night #2”

The second issue of DC’s current event hit shelves this week.

General Information

Title: Blackest Night #2

Author: Geoff Johns

Illustrator(s): Ivan Reis (pencils), Aclair Albert with Julio Ferreira (inks), Alex Sinclair (colours)

Cover Date: October 2009

Cover Price: $3.99 US

Premise

The dead are starting to rise. Hal Jordan and Barry Allen are fighting off J’onn J’onzz in Gotham, while others are returning elsewhere.

High Point

“Barbara’s quick enough to know I’ve already beamed my intel to her hard drive. She’ll alert everyone she can. Which means everyone.”

Low Point

Once again, one of DC’s highest selling titles has minor printing errors, the likes of which also appear in four of my seven issues of “Final Crisis.” It’s almost like the printers can’t handle the demands of this volume. In this case, the art on page 3 looks fuzzy, as though the inks and colours aren’t quite lined up.

The Scores

This maintains the original feeling of the first issue. It also gives a good dose of the unexpected on more than one occassion, and that never hurts in this category. I give it 5 out of 6.

The artwork continues to deliver. The details are great, and the dark colour palette works very well for the content. I give it 5 out of 6.

The story continues to rapidly progress. It feels like it’s still at the stage of setup, which isn’t a bad thing. Heroes have more questions than answers at the end, but that doesn’t stop us from knowing how Barry and Hal operate together, how Atlanteans are reacting, and how some of DC’s current living, dead, undead, and otherwise are involved. I give it 5 out of 6.

The characterization of these individuals is made quite clear. Particularly illuminating are Hal, Barry, Oracle, Hawk and Dove, Boston Brand, and the Atlanteans. I give it 5 out of 6.

The emotional response is excellent. This grabs the reader quickly with a rather memorable visual, and doesn’t slow down. I give it 6 out of 6.

The flow is smooth. There’s a lot going on here, and we run from mark to mark without missing a beat or causing confusion. I give it 5 out of 6.

Overall, it’s another solid entry in both the miniseries and the crossover. I give it 5 out of 6.

In total, Blackest Night #2 receives 36 out of 42.

Blackest Night Checklist

A History of the DC Universe: Green Lantern

Preliminaries

The Main Event

  • Blackest Night #0 (Free Comic Day edition), #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, , #7, #8, complete series
  • Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps #1-3
  • Green Lantern #44-??
  • Green Lantern Corps #39-??
  • Blackest Night: Batman #1-3
  • Blackest Night: Superman #1-3
  • Blackest Night: Titans #1-3
  • more to come…